XE Falcon S-Pack ** so anyway 8 years later- **

Hi all, I've been wanting to do this one for quite a while. It will be made by doing the two sides first then joining them up with the bonnet, boot and roof. I don't plan to use a lot of kit parts just tyres and wheel backs and the steering wheel rim, everything else will be scratch built. I don't think that I'll make a detailed chassis for it either.

For our overseas members, this is a 1983 XE Ford Falcon S-Pack. There wasn't anything really special about it just a stripes and lights package. Powered by Fords reliable 4.1L (250) 6 cylinder engine.

What makes it special to me though is that there were two of them in my family, My parents Monza red version,

and my grand fathers beige one (no pics). As I grew up around these two cars they hold a special place in my world.
I started by using a picture from an XD brochure and cleaned it up in MS paint to get the basic line shape.

Then I used the scale calculator that Kane posted https://ozautobuilders.forumotion.com/t3753-scale-calculator-site
and upsized it to 1:24 scale using some measurements of the real car and used that as a basis to do the final transfer drawing onto the evergreen sheet.
I drew the line drawing twice onto some 0.4mm sheet and cut out the basic shape.

I tacked the two shapes together and did a little sanding and trimming to make sure they were both identical as possible and used a dremel to grind out the wheel arches. At this stage I also cut out the head light and tail light reccesses. After that was done it was time to scribe some lines.


The deep crease line you can see was made by running the corner of a chisel type blade through the scribed line to make it deeper and wider.
The next step is to start to put some shape on to it. The upper lightly scribed line was gently bent backwards and filled with a thin strip of evergreen to maintain its angle.


After the glue dried it was gently sanded and has kept its shape. I have also massaged the front quarter panel to give it a slight inward bend and also the bottom section was curved in as well. I added another layer of 0.4mm evergreen on the inside and on the outside bottom sections to add width and help with strength. At this stage the door lines are scribed onto the bottom section and the wheel arches are shaved out a little so I can add a strip of styrene to start the wheel arch flares.


a bit of bog


and some sanding and you have some wheel arch flares.


I have made the A and B pillars and the window frames and carved out the door handle reccesses.

Here is where I'm currently at.

I'll add some trims and work out where I'm going from there. I'll be joining the two halves soon and working on the bonnet, boot and rear valance. I am making this all up as I go so if you have any suggestions or questions send them my way.
So far most of the time spent on it has been waiting for the glue and putty to dry, but I'm enjoying it so much that I'm thinking about a XF ute afterwards. We'll see.

CheersSS

Awesome!!...............please tell me this ones going to get cast in resin

Mate, That is bloody awesome, you have a god given talent let me tell you. it's blokes like you that make modeling fun.well done and i will be watching this with great interest.
Cheers Marshie

Well Bugger Me! That is looking fantastic Shawn.
Good start. and great to see someone else having
a go at this scratch building thing.
Moparsteve and I have been thinking about this.
but you have beat us there.
I got too much other stuff on the boil.
Keep up the good work.

mate thats awsome, i want one already, and the xf ute

top stuff! your attention to the little details is wicked!

don't skimp on the pics mate!

That's amazing Shawn , well done , will be watching this one closely .

Model engineering at its creative best - you're going great guns with this one Shawn. Worthy of a story in ModelArt magazine methinks.
One to keep an eye on!


Tezza

Got to love these scratch built cars that you guys do. You make it look so easy.

Looking great so far Shawn.

This is really cool. Very ambitious...I look forward to seeing how you go. I assume you will cast this in resin when you are finished?

And where do you get yellow bog?

Seems that this will be a great start for a new model. Find a resin caster. I would be interested in a resin copy.

Fantastic, cant wait to see more progress.

Ben

looking forward to seeing take shape
perfect lines and dimension,
this model ford also has a place in my heart.
my first car was an 302 xd wagon and i have also owned 2 xd sedans and i am currently driving my grandfather xf which was left to me in the will,has only 142000ks on the clock (which is f$%K al for the 250 crossflow. ill probably still be driving this when im 60. really hope this gets cast as i would love to build a pro street version

well done

Go to the top of the class !!!
Rod

Bryce wrote:

This is really cool. Very ambitious...I look forward to seeing how you go. I assume you will cast this in resin when you are finished?

And where do you get yellow bog?

wow thanks for the great reception guys, it's going to take a while but I reckon I'll get there. I've given myself the rest of the year to get it done and as I'm only going to use a few kit parts there is a hell of a lot to scratchbuild.

I will be casting it but I don't know how many copies I'll be able to make. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it and just focus on getting it to that point first.

Bryce the yellow bog is Tamiya Polyester putty. I got it from bnamodelworld.com.au

thanks again guys, more updates soon.
CheersSS

Amazing work, can't wait to see more updates. I thought this type of build would only work with military vehicles but this is shaping up great.
As a previous owner of a Monza red xe S pak this will be one of the few that doesn't rust away.

Cheers Peter.

Dude..... you must be insane!! Stunning job so far, amazing. If you ever feel the urge for another scratchbuild, might I suggest a 65 Type 3 VW Squareback..... would go nicely with my real one!

outstanding work

This is fantastic!! I've been planning a similar approach to an XD in my head for a while now so I'll be watching this closely. Awesome start and great detail.

Just found this
mate all i can say is

thats amazing work keen to watch this build & not even a ford fan lol, great work................

That is unbelievable. I would love to have 10% of your patience. Way too cool. If you do cast I would be interested in one too.

Good luck with it

Hi guys. Thanks for the encouragement. It's gonna be a long haul and I'll need all the motivation I can get. Here's a sunday arvo update.
I glued a strip of evergreen along the sides to replicate the mouldings on the real car.

After the glue had dried on those it was time to join the two halves together. I started by drawing the length and width dimensions onto a piece of paper and sticking that onto a board.

I made a jig using my mould casting box sides to make sure that when I glued the bonnet and boot on, the sides of the car were straight and even. I used the double sided tape to stick the box halves onto the board that the dimensions were on.


I used some Lego to get the base of the jig box to the height I required.


Then using thin double sided tape, I stuck a strip of styrene onto the outside of both sides of the car.


and then stuck the two halves of the model to the sides of the jig box.

I then double sided taped some more Lego onto the inside just to minimise any movement of the jig box.

Once all of that was ready to go, it was time to glue the boot and bonnet on.


After the glue dried I carefully removed the box sides and added some bracing on the insides of the car so I can handle it without it flexing too much. I'll remove those later when it's done.


I have started work on the rear of the car first. My main aim here is to get things in place and add and remove plastic and putty as I go.



That's all so far but obviously I plan to keep plugging away at it so I'll keep you all updated as I get things done.
I have also noted a few things that may need rectifying so I'll be asking your opinions on those soon. If you see something that I might have missed please let me know.

Thanks for looking
CheersSS

Truly I am gobsmacked Shawn. This is wonderful stuff, watching a model being scratch-built this way. This forum thing is great and more people my age should be joining in IMO. I hope you don't mind, but I am collecting your information for a future story in ModelArt Australia (with your permission of course). I reckon there will be many who would be interested to see it's not only military models that are scratch-built. Thanks for your updates - go get 'em mate.