Global Scale Modeller

My choice for the group build is a Revell 1964 Ford Thunderbolt with aftermarket Fred Cady decals, aftermarket batterys, wiring, and seatbelts, as well as a scratch built rollcage and driveshaft. The car will be built to look exactly as it’s real life counterpart, from decals to paint to engine. In 1964, 100 of these cars were manufactured with the intention of winning the 1964 NHRA Super Stock title, which they accomplished successfully. 100 of these cars were built; 11 painted burgundy and 89 painted Wimbledon white; 51 with a 3 speed Cruise-o-Matic automatic transmission and 49 with a four speed manual transmission. The cars started life on a ford assembly line as Fairlane 500 models, which were sent partially assembled to Dearborn Steel Tubing where they were heavily modified. Modifications included fiberglass doors, hood, and fenders for weight reduction. Also to reduce weight anything that wasn’t necesecarry was removed, including arm rests, passenger windshield wiper, heater, radio, and sound deadening material, among other things. Up front they put a 7 liter, 427 cubic inch engine capable of around 600 horsepower. This engine had a very large air intake, which brought in cold air from vents that replaced the cars high beams and drew out hot air though the cars unique airdrop shaped hood. The car I’m replicating is Don MacBeths Fugitive, which was painted Wimbledon White with a red interior and black wheels. I will be cutting open the trunk and wiring 2 batterys in from there. I’ll be wiring the engine, as well as scratch building a roll cage from evergreen styrene and a driveshaft from k&s aluminium tubing. My goal is to have this model built as close to the real thing as possible.

Cool, a drag car
Don’t think I have seen any built on here, great choice
Have a few old Revell Funny cars in the stash

I used Stynylrez grey primer for the body and black for the remainder of the parts. To smooth down the primer and prepare for body paint (Scalefinishes Wimbledon White) I use a Ultimate blue/white polisher

A lot of after market gear on this one, looking forward to seeing where it all goes.

Oh looking nice so far, cool layout of the sprues and paintwork.

Nice!

I used a micro mesh polishing set (3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000 grit sanding cloths) to wet sand the first paint coat and prepare for a second. I find myself usually putting 2-4 coats of paint on a car to achieve the smoothest and most realistic looking results. After all the coats are done and the surface is flawless, decals and bare metal foil will be applied. Usually with scalefinishes paint I skip the clear coat and just polish it with micromesh and the surface will end up perfectly smooth, sometimes even mirrorlike.

Photos of the actual car and what I’m going for. Note: the MacBeth Fugitive Thunderbolt, when raced in 1964, had black wheels which is what I will be doing rather than the ones shown in this image

Looking good, and a great history on this classic!

Stepping away from the body for a moment, I move on to the scratch built/modified pieces. In 1964, all 100 of these cars had twin headers that lead to a single, thin exhaust with one muffler. It was common among the owners of this car to cut the muffler off, so I took a piece of 1/8th inch K&S aluminium tubing and carefully bent and fashioned an exaust to match the kit one, ending where the muggler began. Next, for the driveshaft, I used a piece of 1/8th tubing and a piece of 5/32 tubing. I slipped them together and used the ends from the kit driveshaft, carefully trimming them down to fit perfectly.

Here is the modified driveshaft compared to an untouched one from another Thunderbolt kit I have in the stash.

Mocked up functional head and taillights, as this is just a mock-up I don’t show how but when I get to the point of actually wiring it I’ll show a blow-by-blow.

"Light bulb"
One brute of a car.

D by sean marquardt, on FlickrD by sean marquardt, on Flickr

I painted the frame components bright aluminum and left the rest of the floor pan matte black. Once that was finished I rubbed some burnt red and oil stain from tamiya weathering kit D over the entire floor pan.

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr D by sean marquardt, on Flickr

I painted the lief springs semi gloss black, the subframe bright aluminum, and used real stainless steel springs instead of the plastic ones from the kit.

Looking good so far mate

Next it was time to make the engine. Then engine in this kit is 2 pieces, and then there are 2 separate transmissions as well (an automatic and a manual). Since the car Im replicating has a manual transmission that is the one I used. Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
I used a Detail Master distributer with looms, and arranged the wires according to the firing order of the actual motor.

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
I painted the block Ford Engine Blue and the transmission Tamiya flat aluminum

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
I painted most of the remaining engine components Tamiya aluminum as well

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
Once I had connected the engine to the completed suspension I just needed to put the wheels on
D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
I did a very basic interior, mostly just matte black everywhere.

with the interior and chassis sub assemblies finished, all that was left before the final assembly of the build is the body.
D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
I started with using bare metal foil for the chrome trim and window trim
D by sean marquardt, on Flickr
after I had completed the bare metal foil all that I had left for the body was decals and windows

before applying decals, I mated the body, interior, and chassis

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr

I installed the grille and rear bumper and wired all the lights in. I wired all of the lights to the trunk, and connected them to the battery wires using heat shrink tubing

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr

D by sean marquardt, on Flickr

all that was left was to install the bumpers and the air intake, and to do decals.

Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

I used aftermarket decals from Fred Cady, decals which were exceptional in every way. The film was so thin that they laid down effortlessly and conformed to the smallest details with a minimal amount of decal set.

Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

And the completed product:
Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

One last thing:
I needed to scratch build a trunk that would successfully hide all the wires and the battery from the light. I didn't do anything fancy or what the actual car looked like, and instead I just roughly scratchbuilt one out of .010 styrene sheet painted flat black

I started with the floor and side panels, just cutting pieces to size and adhering with tamiya extra thin

Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

I bent the back panel to shape on the corner of my desk and just squeezed it into place with no cement, as I wanted the area behind it to be accessible to turn the lights on and off and change the battery

Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr

The addition of 2 in trunk batteries completes the build. As the real car was made with the battery in the trunk, and the trunk is sealed closed on this kit, the kit does not come with a battery so I was required to use some resin ones

Untitled by sean marquardt, on Flickr