The Car From Hell...

This was a hard luck project from the "get-go".

I wanted something a bit different for next year's Pony Wars proxy race. During my duties as vintage race photographer, I had seen a `63 Ford Falcon at several vintage races. It apparently had Trans Am history... ran one race in Marlboro, Maryland then continued road racing and rallying for a number of years in Texas (I think).

The vintage racer looks like this today...


I found a body from MT Racing Resins who specializes in oval track modifieds.


The body I received apparently had been made from a die-cast original... Not a very good diecast original. Also parts like tail lights, rear bumper, headlamp lenses and hood detail weren't included. I must have gotten their last casting because MT sent another with it labeled "Blem"(the guy must have been clairvoyant). It was a bit warped and wasn't quite as good a casting as "the good" one. Another thing was it was a standard Falcon Tudor, and not the Falcon "Sprint" that the real car was...

Hmm... a challenge. I should have practiced modifying the body with the blem, but the bit was in my teeth... I didn't. I ruined the good body alarmingly quickly... bugger. I went back to MT and found they were out of stock. I turned to the blem. I fixed the things I could and thought hard about how to create the Sprint's fastback. After some careful measuring I did my cutting, glued the works back together and the made cuts to re-angle the C pillar. I created a structure with brass wire and used bits from the C-pillar and plastic rod to make a framework. I then mixed up some resin and used it as filler in the cracks left over from making the mods. Further detailing was done with Plastruct and filling with 2 part automotive glaze. I wanted to do the car as it is raced today... to my eye it looked cooler, which meant cutting off the front bumper. I then made the detail of the radiator and frame rail.

I hit the wall with paint this time. I used Duplicolor automotive silver for the trim, then laid on 4 coats of black... so far so good. When I peeled off the masking tape along the side trim some of the black went with it... Once the body was completely dry I touched up the errors and added the windscreen surround detail. Let everything dry for a few days. When I clear-coated the body as usual I carefully dust coated to protect the decals. The numerals on the side bubbled up instantly. I let the works dry to the touch then carefully pressed the bubbles down with Teflon baking paper, it didn't help. Onec the car was clear coated planned on touching up the mess of the decals. I think I was frustrated and just wanted to be done with the project at that point.

I hand made the taillights from Aluminum Tubing and rod. I Scavenged the Headlight lenses and driving lights from my bits box. To conform to the specs for the series I used a Pioneer Mustang chassis which was stretched 1.8mm. The chassis also needed to be narrowed in the rear a bit (maybe 3mm). This was done by cutting off the rear bushing reinforcement and filing some brass from the outside of the bushings. Gears are from Slotit I used the roll cage from the donor Pioneer Mustang, the interior is plastic card, the driver was someone I found in my bits box. The front wheels came from a Revellogram GT350, which were surprisingly concentric. The rears are my last BWA32004s, with inserts turned down from the GT350.





Greenman62