AMT Shelby GT350 build

[adlabs6]

Very little time logged this week. Mostly just crafting the Shelby emblems. I'll need three, one for the dashboard (installed), one for the front grille, and one on the trunk. The only one included with the kit was molded on the grille. As you may recall, I am going to try to use a photo-etch grille, so replacing the emblem is easy enough.

Blanks cut from .020 sheet styrene:


Finished product. All three covered in bare metal foil, then detailed with blank ink and yellow paint, and finally coated in glossy acrylic varnish. You can also see the parking brake handle well in this shot.


There is also a bit of work done on the clutch and brake pedals (most of it, actually), and this coming week I'm hoping to get them and the still unfinished gas pedal installed. Maybe get the dash glued in place, too!

[adlabs6]

Pedals are done, and I also completed the detailing on the scratch built fire extinguisher, too.

New things here include:
Little blue Cobras on the lap belt buckles.
Shift knob with shift pattern painted on (Yay new 00 size paint brush!) and glossed.
Headlight dimmer on the floor (silver) and windshield washer fluid pump pedal (black, above the dimmer button).
Gas pedal and mounting arm through the floor.
Yes, the carpet was dirty, but is now nice and vacuumed after the work is done.





The fire extinguisher. Detailed the label, added the charge gauge green zone and yellow needle, then covered it with a tiny plastic lens. Metal foil used for the spray nozzle and mounting bracket. Steel wire for the ring. Gloss coated.



Pic showing the lens catching a bit of light:



Not much more to do outside of gluing all this in final place now. Still procrastinating a bit on that, making sure I'm not forgetting anything.

[BLOWHARD]

As good as going to the parts store and getting a real extinguisher

[adlabs6]

Ok, I finally have glued the dash in place, and outside just a couple of little touches, I'm moving on from the interior. I used two pieces of popsicle sticks and a rubber band to hold the interior sidewalls in place while the glue dried, tightened by the plastic cap and pen parts as you see.

You can also see where I chose to place the fire extinguisher, in the passenger foot well. I know the details are hidden here, but such is the case with so much on this model... Truth is, I just couldn't bring myself to place it on the tunnel between the seats. It seemed too obtrusive, and if this were my own real car, I wouldn't put mount an extinguisher between the seats. In the foot well, it's accessible, yet out of the way for me and a passenger.



Still shows pretty well when looking in the open door.



And from there, on to working on the trunk. First the stock lower chassis. The kit does provide a solid carpet texture floor to go here, but I'm going to make my own. The colored wires are detail elements on the bottom of the car, blue wire is the fuel sending unit power cable, green and black are exhaust hanger brackets.



First the shaping of the welded bodywork and the top of the gas tank. All this is .020 sheet styrene.



Then I made an insert modeling the top of the tank and the filler tube, here with the body fitted.



Looking forward, some of the walls closing up the open areas forward of the trunk, still more to come on this.



Finally, I was thinking ahead to the spare tire. Look at this. I didn't make the trunk any smaller, or the tire any bigger. Yes, I have read on it and some of the factory cars shipped with 5 Kelsey wheels and a full size spare, according to what I've read.

I'll just have to fake something that looks right and not question why it won't actually fit, lol!

[adlabs6]

Late last night I had some time to experiment with the spare tire that won't fit. I went into the attic and grabbed an old 1/25th tire from a kit I had as a boy (a 1968 Plymouth Road Runner). It was even bigger than the tires that came with the GT350, but here we go...



Cut off a sidewall to start the work:



Then square it to let it butt up against the rear of the interior, and allow the trunk hinge to clear when closed:



It fits, but is still too big. You can see it poking out through the tail light hole:



So I thinned the sidewall, and cut a length of treads from the remnant of the tire to superglue to the sidewall edge.



Since you can clearly see the chopped off tire, I put a thin black circular card on the trunk floor below the tire. This seems to help trick the eye into seeing a full round tire:



But less so from the side view, but some strategic black paint on the trunk interior walls could really help here.



So... Is this dumb? There are no rushes on this part, so I have some time to think. I also need to find out if the spare tire cover (which matches the trunk mat) that is sometimes seen in photos was a factory item.

[BLOWHARD]

I don't think that spare tire will work Really nice work!

[adlabs6]

Well, it's weird the spare tire won't fit. I've not measured the model, but I have read owners say that the GT350 would carry a full size tire back there.

Doing some research on "delete kits" for the rear seat, and then you put the spare tire back in the rear window. These were mostly stock on the 1965s I think, but not the more comfy 1967s. So that would be in aftermarket territory.

Well, I ran across some video (and one photo) that show the elusive rear seat carpet color... as black! I had previously found this one photo which seemed to show the two forward sections of TAN carpet and a chrome hinge:

You can see that photo on this page, looking into the trunk. The view in question is through the rear window:

1967 Shelby GT500 Fastback - Auburn Spring

And that was all I ever found, and went with it. But researching the delete kits, I found these on GT500s:

http://www.nvsaac.com/photogallery/i..._500_624_k.jpg

And this video which shows the same, black carpet in the "parchment" interior:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=p8yY8ujcY0U

Now I am thinking that I may have misinterpreted what I was seeing in that first photo. Those two tan areas divided by chrome may not be the carpet on back of the folded seats... That is the TOP of the upright seat, with the open hinge across the top!

In short, I may need to repaint the rear carpet!

As for the spare, still thinking on that one. In a way I hate to do a delete kit in that nice parchment interior. Heck I wasn't even able find a REAL delete kit for sale to fit a 1967! Supposedly you can mod a 1966 kit to fit, but... I dunno.

[adlabs6]

Today I repainted the carpet to black... well really dark gray, same as the front carpet. Also I had forgotten the seat back support plates! They are the small chrome plates in the rearmost corners of the rear deck.

[adlabs6]

This week, a few small structural details on the pass through door.



And then I got to thinking... It's getting later in the year. If I spend another month detailing the trunk, and then sit down to a month of body prep work, it's going to be getting the point that I can't do any primer (enamel) work on the body outdoors. The tiny pieces left at this point can be enamel primed with a brush, and I already do my acrylic spray work indoors.

So I'll begin on the bodywork NOW!

First, removing the flat molded windshield wipers for later replacement. Scraped off with a blade and then wet sanded.


Also from my to-do list of bodywork, there are two missing panel lines rear of the hood. I masked off the area leaving guides for my blade.


The hood pin moldings are too far forward, so they get the same treatment as the wipers.


Working on the sun visor and mirror mounting hardware. The wire is just test-fitted at this point. Added two thickeners to the windshield pillars, and may get another.



Here are the finished scribed panel lines. I tried to use a raking light to reveal them a bit better.

[Serval]

Great work.
Have you allready considered using a 3D printer to make some parts?
Probably less fun than this?