1968 Shelby GT500

Bill Newcomer
Spent a bit of time prepping the body. Had to fill in some sink holes and make sure both ends fit properly.

Bill Newcomer
Robbed the 427 SOHC motor out of this one to go into my 67 Mustang GT. A more appropriate 428 Cobra Jet from a 69 Mach 1 will into this one.

Bill Newcomer
Chassis and interior bit primed and painted today. Body in primer.

Bill Newcomer
Airbrushed the body with decanted Testors Orange over Tamiya white primer. Good coverage but came out flat as flat could be. Not sure why.

Bill Newcomer
After two weeks of curing and some scrubbing with a Scotchbrite pad, I knocked down the flatness enough to be adequate for clear. The hood went into the purple lake 60 seconds after a failed paint attempt. Very little of the paint came off but it has no texture so it will get another coat. Wish me luck.

Tim Heimer
Why it's flat? To high of psi or too far away from model or too small of tip or temp was high and dry air.

Bill Newcomer
I thinned the paint too much trying to get it all out of the jar. I am still debating doing a full detail on the body then clearing it. I would hate to put in all that effort to find out it fails.

Tim Heimer
Been there, done that! Best wishes Bill!

Bill Newcomer
Basic black interior assembled.

Bill Newcomer
Hacked out the engine bay from a 67 Shelby graciously donated from Bob for my 68 Shelby.

Bill Newcomer
This project is officially stalled. The interior is done the engine is mostly done but the lack of ability to paint is putting it back in the box at least until spring.

Bill Newcomer
Got the opportunity to paint the hood. Most of the Testors orange I decanted turned to Jell-o in the jars. I was lucky to salvage enough to spray after some lacquer thinner and straining. Otherwise, I would have been starting over. I sure hope clear coat brings it to a nice glossy finish.

Chaz Gordon
Interior is looking tight.

Bill Newcomer
Messed up the hood. Hit it with too heavy of coats of Testors Wet Look clear lacquer. Since I am out of the orange, I am apprehensive about attempting to remove the clear. Does anyone know what takes off lacquer without damaging enamel?

Tim Heimer
You can try wet sanding with 800 grit 1st to remove the heavy areas then around 1000-1500 grit and then 2000-4000 and finish off with Nexus #2 or another polish. It's more controlled doing it that way. For what it's worth.

Bill Newcomer
Tim, Sanding is one of my poorest skills. I have a lot of patience for assemblies but for some reason not for finishes.

Ben M
I had luck in a similar situation wet sanding with 2000 grit, had never had luck with it before, but it worked

Bill Newcomer
I tried using 91% alcohol and a Q-tip to see if I could smooth out the clear. A minute or so of saturated rubbing yielded no results. So I got really brave and poured a puudle in a petri dish and dropped the hood in. In about 20 minutes, I headed to the sink to rinse it off. I was pleasantly surprised when all the Testors clear came off with out affecting the enamel underneath. I did have just a wee bit of an issue on one edge where the orange was coming off of the white Tamiya primer. I simply touched it up with a peach colored Sharpie. The project has been saved for now.

Tim Heimer
Glad to hear that!

Nigel Chapman
Bill, I have had to up my finishing skills on my builds and come to realise what an art form this is, still practice makes perfect.

Ben M
Bill, that's awesome. I will add to what Nigel said and say problem solving is also a part of every single build.

Chaz Gordon
I was about to suggest the Black hood often seen on Muscle cars of the era would be a great contrast to the Orange.

Bill Newcomer
Thank you for the encouragement gentlemen.
Chaz, a black (or carbon fiber) hood was like plan C. Not sure if it would have been appropriate for a Shelby though.

Nigel Chapman
I like that orange so leave the hood as it is.
Do you know if that orange was an original Shelby colour and was a black hood available as an option?

Bill Newcomer
Nigel, I was not aware of that. Any pics?

Bob Hall
I think Nigel was asking you, but no, Orange was never an option on Shelby's until 1969 and the was was just the Grabber Orange and Shelby never did offer his cars with a black hood, just the Stripes were an option.

Nigel Chapman
Thanks Bob

Bill Newcomer
Well then, Thank you Bob for clearing that up. I found a few pics of orange 68's which was why I chose that color. However, I have just learned it was NOT an option for those buying new Shelbys in '68. (if only I did my homework first)

Bob Hall
Shelby Paint Colors: ( compare years )
Code Sample
Raven Black A
Medium Blue D
Lime Green (Lime Gold*) I
Wimbledon White M
Dark Green R
Candy Apple Red T
Gold Y
Yellow blank
*1968 Ford Mustang color name
mustangattitude.com/mustang/1968shelby.shtml

Bill Newcomer
Thanks Bob. 🙂

Nigel Chapman
Interesting, thanks Bob.
That website is real comprehensive

Bob Hall
Yeah, It's kind of the Mustang Bible. It's my go to for all things Mustang.

Chaz Gordon
Amusingly enough, when you click the picture on that site for an example of the Candy Apple red, the title pic for the page it takes you to is the cover of a book on Mustangs, featuring 3 Bright Orange Shelbys!

Chaz Gordon
Maybe that's the true meaning of BOSS Mustang "Bright Orange Shelby Special"

Munkyslut
Looking good Bill! That garage dio is fantastic for showing build progress 👍

Nigel Chapman
Chaz, love the acronym!
Bill, keep it orange as long as you don't mind the 'why that colour?' Question from now on!

Bill Newcomer
Thanks Munky. Nigel, I will keep it orange as long as I don't screw it up any further.

Bill Newcomer
Made a little progress this weekend. Since I saved the hood, I felt I could continue forward progress. Applied most of the BMF to the body. I need to get some Future on the paint ASAP as it wants to chip off of the primer very easily. The kit engine bay is very generically lame. I started some grinding to place a 67 Mustang engine bay inside to give it the proper look with shock towers and all.

Bill Newcomer
After managing to add BMF, panel line detail and some miraculous Molotow application, the paint is hanging in there with minimal touch ups. After rechecking my reference photos, I noticed the kit has no rocker trim that the 1:1 has. I had to figure out a way to add it without screwing up the paint on the rockers. Most all adhesives have some sort of solvent which was way too risky to use to put on a very thin strip of evergreen. Testors window maker could work but mine is old and not very thin any more. Since the whole body is soon to get painted with Future, I figured I would use it as an adhesive for such a light piece. It worked fantastic with no boo boos on the paint. After a day to cure I applied BMF to simulate the trim. It turned out reasonably decent.

Bob Hall
I have a spare set of Modern silver GT500KR stripes like what's on your Orange demo pic if you want ?

Bill Newcomer
Thank you for offering. It will probably be awhile before I build the next batch of Mustangs. As an aside, I used Keith Marks silver Mach 1 decals on my 69 years ago.

Bill Newcomer
I have been working on getting the hacked out 67 Mustang engine bay to fit in the 68 Shelby chassis and body. I had to do a lot of thinning of the 67's shock towers. They want occupy the same space with the 68 kit's bogus inner fenders. I could not use the nicely detailed 68 firewall so the simple 67 one went in for better fitment. I did used the 68 radiator after trimming the ends.

Nigel Chapman
Excellent work, looks really good

Bill Newcomer
Thanks Nigel. It is coming along. I have been procrastinating it for awhile.

Chaz Gordon
I'm going to stop procrastinating tomorrow.

Tim Heimer
Nice engine bay hack! I am so disappointed with the AMT engine bays that aren't even close! I have not gone to the lengths that you have, but I did make the tower supports on my 71 build. LOL

Bill Newcomer
I got some shock tower supports from Bob for this build.

Bob Hall
Hey ! Did you ever get that Bronco ?

Bill Newcomer
Nope. We never officially finalized our trade. Besides, my cat decided the Coke decals I was going to give needed chewed on. Grrrr.

Bob Hall
OK,I had it boxed up and my boy was suppose to send it, I tell him to send it out this week.

Bill Newcomer
This one is coming along as well. Engine has been shoehorned in. Body and chassis have been permanently joined. Carb has been attached and headlights clear coated and installed. Won't be long now. Though I still have to select which Shelby wheels and tires it will eventually get.

James C
Nice work Bill 👍

Bill Newcomer
Thanks James.

Bill Newcomer
Finally on the last task. The wheels and tires. Dug through my 3 boxes of tires and found a set of Pirelli tires that will fill the meager wheels wells. Made a choice of which Shelby-like centers to use and got to work. Sanded the backs of the Shelby rims to eventually get the windows open. Spent a good chunk of the days machining two pairs of hoops to wrap around them. Finished the evening, sanding the tire treads and detailing the wheel centers. I hope to have them all attached by next week end.

Munkyslut
Epic wheel work as usual Bill 👍 You are the master 😉

Bill Newcomer
Thanks Munky, I am finally starting to get the look I have been wanting all these years

Bill Newcomer
Almost done. Fitting some new "shoes".

Bill Newcomer
We shall now call this one done. (except for the license plates... again)

Kerry COX
Bill. A most impressive addition to your already stunning collection. 👍
Have you been using bare metal foil for the 1/4 glass strut and wind shield surrounds. ?
If so. It's a great result. 🙂
Have you done the timing on the motor yet. ??? hahahahaha 🙂

Bill Newcomer
Kerry, Yes. It did not turn out as smooth as I would like but it is a somewhat complicated combination of surfaces. Timing? No but I may have done the firing order correctly as I researched it.

Peter Hardy
Lovely job Bill!Does the button under the door handle work?

Kerry COX
Bill. I should have looked a little more closely, noting the BMF in the comments. Egg on my face. 😉

Nigel Chapman
Bill, looks superb. You should scratch build a showroom diorama complete with turn table.

Chaz Gordon
And another one hits the Road. Love that Orange

Bill Newcomer
Thank you Nigel and Chaz.

Christian W
It looks very nice! Well done.

Dominik Weitzer
the wheels are amazing! like the stance and the wide wheels at the rear.
well done, like it!

Bill Newcomer
Christian and Dominik, Thank you.

Tim Heimer
Awesome work Mr.Bill, and I love the detail in the garage as well!

Bill Newcomer
Tim and Kathleena thank you 🙂

HuetMotors
Nice 🙂 , very good job !

Rui S
So shinny. Great work as always 👍
It almost makes one want one like that in the garage 😉
I'm always impressed with this type of paintjob. I would never be able to make it 🙁

Ben M
I agree Rui, these car modelers who do the high gloss finishes like the one on this car amaze me

Bob Hall
SO MODEST ! LOL !!!!!!!

Bill Newcomer
HuetMotors, Thank you. 🙂
Rui, Yes this is easy to do. The orange paint (ancient, decanted Testors enamel) came out extremely flat. The clear coat is old Future floor polish applied with a 3/8 wide paint brush. Easy peasy.
Ben, Nothing amazing here. The modelers that polish and wax their paint jobs, that is a amazing.

Jarrett
Bill another awesome car! Just flawless. Love the fast backs. I am building a couple of car with my Son and Daughter. Of course my Son's has to be red and my Daughters pink. I love the orange, man it looks like you just waxed it! Great job mate!

Munkyslut
Excellent finish Bill!!! Car looks fantastic in that orange, inspired choice 👍

Bill Newcomer
Thank you Jarrett and Munky.