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

Shawn you are amazing me!
Where did you get those bolt heads from?

Oh yea!! It just gets better and better (is that even possible?)
Insanely good work Shawn. Please never finish this, I couldn't bear the fact there'd be no more updates.

you put a lot of effort into those tiny engine mounts. That will certainly add to the final look. you'd better make some v8 mounts too.....

Thanks fellas.

Kane wrote:Shawn you are amazing me!
Where did you get those bolt heads from?

I get them from
http://www.bnamodelworld.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&inc_subcat=1&search_in_description=0&keyword=%25&manufacturers_id=88&page=5
You can get many different types of tiny little details like allen heads, flat and phillips head screws, hex heads, hex heads with flanges etc.. Just need .03 or .04 drill bits to attach them to your models.

mopar68 wrote:Oh yea!! It just gets better and better (is that even possible?)
Insanely good work Shawn. Please never finish this, I couldn't bear the fact there'd be no more updates.

Thanks, It'll be around for a while yet and sometimes it feels like I will never finish it anyway. Plus there's other things planned for after the Falc so stay tuned.

aussie muscle wrote:you put a lot of effort into those tiny engine mounts. That will certainly add to the final look. you'd better make some v8 mounts too.....

V8 mounts??? This is the only version I will be making with an engine. I don't think I could go through all of this again. After this one it'll be curbside all the way.

I'm happy that my building mojo seems to have returned and I'm keen to keep working on it til it's done. I have started writing a to-do list for the build and there will be plenty more to show you all, thanks for your continued support.

CheersSS

I have just worked myself through this thread and I'm very impressed. This is problably the most interesting and educating build log I have ever seen. Absolutely brilliant work.

Cheers
Kevin

I'm really impressed. Is an amazing job with an incredible level of details!

Hello again. It must be Sunday. Here are a few more pics to continue on from the last update.
The engine mounts are in place on the crossmember and the engine and all of its parts fit nicely without any interference.



I've been busy still working on the front end, this time it's the front suspension. Before I continued on to the engine bay itself I needed to have the upper A arms located and while I was doing that I figured that I should get the rest of it done as well so I could see what it looked like sitting on its own four wheels.
Here is what I started with. It's the setup from the Revell 64 Mustang. I had originally planned to use it as is but because of the change that I had made to the chassis rails it became unusable, It's only good for parts now.

I took one of the arms off and cut it down and remade it to suit the Falcon.

You cant see it too well in this pic but I cut it down to just the middle section then I reshaped it and added new sides.

Here is the finished item ready for casting. I decided to cast the part rather than try to make another one the same. It will also come in handy for when I do a detailed Mustang at a later date.

The upper suspension arms were also based on the Mustang kit's parts. I started by cutting out the centre.

and then carving out part of the sides to give it some wings. I have added two small discs to the sides at the pivot points and a small lump at the front.

Here are the originals with the cast parts ready to go.

The steering knuckles were next. The parts were originally from AMT's '67 Mercury kit. I carved a section out of the centre to make it look less like a toy part and removed the thick locating pins and replaced them with thin evergreen rod. The original part is on the left.

Then I made the spring pivots with some evergreen sheet and rod.

The parts are ready for test fitting. You can see that I have relocated the spindles and added some T2M nuts to the sides of the upper arms.


I put some springs and shocks on just for laughs. I won't use these particular parts but I will make some new ones when I have done the shock towers in the engine bay.

I finally got around to finishing the wheels and centre caps. The wheels were one of the first things that I made for this whole project but I never got around to finishing them until this week. I cast those this week as well.

The tyres are nice 80's style Michelins from this kit.

For some unknown reason that kit has been nagging at me to buy it for a few years so when I got it this week I was supprised to find some other handy parts for the Falcon like the headlight lenses and reflectors.

The lenses will need just a little trimming and shaping then they will be good to go. They are obviously for an alternate version of that kit because the box art and instructions show the quad light version. Finding them in the box was quite a pleasant suprise.
Here she is sitting with what will probably be the final ride height. Obviously I am going for a stock ride height.




How's the ride height guys? I probably can't drop the rear any more than .5 - 1mm but I am ok with how it sits now. If you have an opinion please let me know.

This week I might finally glue the front crossmember in place and finish the other areas of the front suspension and steering. Now I have the upper arms in place I can start work on the engine bay too. Plenty more to do so stay tuned.

CheersSS

Awesome work!

Im still gob smacked at the level of detail you get on such small bits like wishbones and torsion bar brackets.

~Mind bowing. Ride height looks OK to me.

As usual Shawn incredible work, loving every minute of this.
The ride height looks about right, could go just a little lower but then I am biased

Astonishing Detail Shawn.

The ride height looks right as it is only a standard version, but a little lower would look magical

Holy shit man, that is cool. Well done.

Unbelievable work Shawn, looks amazing sitting there.

I am still mesmerized by this build. It keeps geting better and better.

I think it sits fine for a stocker but like some of the younger guys, I am biased to copious amounts of lowering.


AJ

Shawn, I think you have actuallyhave a shrinking machine!!! The detail is awesome!! Ride height looks spot on for stock S pak.

its awesome watching this been built,and the scale detailing that is going in to it is just mind blowing

The ride height looks good and would be pointing at the sky if it was dropped any more at the rear. the factory look is pretty tall, looking at real cars, the tires need to be more baggy.

engine is looking good, the detail really makes it pop.

mopar68 wrote:As usual Shawn incredible work, loving every minute of this.
The ride height looks about right, could go just a little lower but then I am biased

Adam Clark wrote:Astonishing Detail Shawn.

The ride height looks right as it is only a standard version, but a little lower would look magical

Thanks guys. The moment that I wrote the two words 'Ride Height' I knew that you two would be the first to pop your heads up and say you love 'em low.

The tyres are nice but they are a bit too wide if anything. They have a nice sidewall bulge that doesn't quite come across in the pics. Correct style tyres for 1:24 1980's Aussie passenger cars are hard to find for some reason. The main problem with the stance is the rear track is too wide but I can't do much about it as the rear tyres are as far inside the body as the wheel tubs on the chassis allow. Never mind, it should all work out in the end.

Thanks for posting that pic Aussie that's one of my favourites. I can remember seeing it as a young'un and doing a drawing of it. I can't remember if the drawing was any good though.

Thanks for your comments and support.
CheersSS

Hi all. Hope you all had a good weekend. Here's a little more work on the front suspension for you. I started by finally glueing the front crossmember in place and making the brackets for the radius rods.
This was what was left of the Monogram Mustang kit part. It incorporates the radius rods and the sway bar. I was going to use the brackets from this part but they weren't moulded evenly, so I decided to make everything from scratch.

I cut some strips of evergreen and stuck 'em together.


Then put them in place on the chassis.

I also made the locating brackets for the sway bar.

After much cutting, bending and test fitting I got the radius rods glued in place.

I got some T2M threaded rods and nuts in the mail during the week and made some rubbers for the rod. I drilled a hole in the rod and stuck the threaded rod into that hole.

I also made some extra parts to add to the underside of the front crossmember.

All test fitted together.

My attention now turned to the sway bar. I started by making the brackets for it. I sanded some round grooves in a strip of styrene and glued some rod pieces into those grooves.


Once the glue had set I sanded the edges smooth and drilled a hole in each bracket and then cut each bracket off the strip.


For the sway bar, I used a length of aluminium rod, made a few bends in it and slid the brackets on, then bent the rest to shape and flattened the ends of the bar with my pliers.


I drilled holes in the areas that I flattened and put a T2M bolt in it.

The shaft of the bolt locates nicely in piece of rod that I glued underneath the suspension arm.

I added some bolt heads to the suspension arms and to the brackets and was pleased with the whole final result.

I might cut 2mm from the threaded bolts to shorten them a little more.

I was going to hold this update until next week when I'd done some work on the steering but there would have been too many pics. I'm sure you don't mind.

I still haven't come up with a way to do the engine bay yet so I'll begin work on the steering and the brakes and probably do the driveshaft and remake the rear sway bar too.

'til next time.
CheersSS

This just gets better and better! Nice work!

it getting more and more blowing the mount of detail is going into this one

Shawn this thing just gets better and better!!
I'm always impressed with your scratch building skills they are top notch and precise looking too.
Can't wait to see this extensive project finished, it's an absolute work of art mate