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

ShawnS wrote:There's a Great Wall ute across the road, those things are pretty suspect Does that count?

Hmmmmm!!!! Just keep the owners under observation.

Is the Ute black and does it have a canopy on it?

Awesome stuff as always, I know its a bad thing to say but I hope this build never ends, so we can all watch you keep building this insane thing!!

tezza43 wrote:Is the Ute black and does it have a canopy on it?

Ha! nah it was a regular white one. Funny thing was that as soon as I had written about it on here, it dissappeared never to be seen again. Pity 'cos I was gonna ask if I could take some photos and some measurements for my next project.

slowlylearning wrote:Awesome stuff as always, I know its a bad thing to say but I hope this build never ends, so we can all watch you keep building this insane thing!!

Still plenty of life left in it yet. Sometimes I feel that the end is close but then I write another 3 or 4 things on the to-do list and it drags it out a bit longer.

Hi all. I've been catching up on a few half completed things over the last couple of weeks like the exhaust manifold.
I started it when I was making parts for the engine but put it away when it exceeded my ability and over the last week or two I finally figured it out. I started with the exhaust manifolds from AMT's '67 Mustang and cut one pipe off of each then glued them together.


I stopped taking pictures at that point but I had problems with the strength of the part when I cut and shut the AMT plastic so I cast the basic manifold in resin. I then thinned out the width of the pipes and added flanges, nuts and a heat shield.
Here it is with the original part.


I also started work on the rest of the exhaust system. Just needs some mounting brackets.

I made the hose that goes from the heat shield to the air cleaner snorkel from fine wire and plumbers thread tape.




When I was dicking around with that I figured I needed to make a dipstick. I used a bit of 0.5mm brass tube from Albion and a 0.3 bit of wire. I flattened the end of the wire and bent it over a drillbit. The dipstick will be removeable should I need to check the oil at any stage. I was thinking of putting a couple of drops of oil in the sump so when the dipstick gets pulled out there is some oil on the end. (Not really. My OCD isn't that bad yet )



One of the other bits of house keeping was to deal with the problem of the part of the engine bay sidewall that can be seen through the hole in the top (next to the brake booster).

I cut a wedge of tube and glued it to the side wall.


I filled it with putty and when it was dry I sanded a groove and it was all good.


Have you ever had an idea that you couldn't let past? Well for me it was the mud flaps. I was reviewing my reference pics and came across this pic.

In an instant I figured I just had to give it a go. I knew I had these in the stash so that's where I started.

They are stick-on badges made by a Chinese company called Easy Decal. I have only ever seen them on BNA model wolrds website. I made the ribbed area the same way that I made the cowling vents with layers of different width and height styrene strips. I then resin cast it so I could make as many mistakes as I wanted and didn't have to make a new one each time I stuffed up.

I cut out a small section and chiseled out an oval for the badge.

The badge goes in nicely.

A shot of primer and it's ready to be cast.

I put some black pigment in the resin for effect.

The other bit of house keeping was to finish the upper front suspension and make sure everything fit where it should, and it does. I made new springs and shocks and added a bump stop rubber to the spring guard. I also drilled holes in the engine bay side walls for the brake lines.



That'll do youse for this week. I had intended to keep working on mounting the head lights and on hinging the bonnet but once I started the exhaust manifold I changed my attention to the things that I had previously started and that needed finishing first. I have a few things left to do to the chassis and engine so I'll sort them out first.

'Til next time
CheersSS

I just shake my head in awe!
If I had half the scratch building talent that you do, I would be a very happy boy. Well done Shawn keep it up.

If he had half your scratch building talent, he could build my models too! Well done Shaun, you amaze me every time, mudflaps?? that is just crossing the line i think, your OCD is active, i can't see much difference between them and oil in the sump mate, maybe put a bit of black paint on the end of the stick, that will make the buggers take a second look i reckon.

Well, F**k me, I was amazed by the exhaust manifold, but the other details?? Blew me away!! This is outstanding Shawn, truly outstanding..

Shawn, I am enjoying this project more than you know. And it's only a Falcon! Imagine if it were a Valiant? I'd be locked away in a mental institution right now for being a little too happy

I've tried making a dipstick like that before, but mine wasn't removable I'll have to keep an eye out for tube that small, seems 1.6mm is the smallest K&S does.

Those mudflaps are insanely good mate, do you know if those decals come in other makes too? I can think of a heap of uses for em

Keep it up mate, this thing is a piece of modelling history!

just pick up my jaw off the floor again

mopar68 wrote:Shawn, I am enjoying this project more than you know. And it's only a Falcon! Imagine if it were a Valiant? I'd be locked away in a mental institution right now for being a little too happy

I've tried making a dipstick like that before, but mine wasn't removable I'll have to keep an eye out for tube that small, seems 1.6mm is the smallest K&S does.

Those mudflaps are insanely good mate, do you know if those decals come in other makes too? I can think of a heap of uses for em

Keep it up mate, this thing is a piece of modelling history!

Thanks guys,

Zac, there are plenty of different Euro, Jap and US manufacturer metal stick-on decals at the same place I got those.
http://www.bnamodelworld.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&inc_subcat=1&search_in_description=0&keyword=%25&manufacturers_id=169&page=16 They are cheap as chips and they also make lots of types of regular decals too.

CheersSS

What can I say that hasn't been said before...............amazing work mate..........you're a full blown nutter and I love what you do.
That engine is brilliant............again well done.
TJ

You sir are a freak ... A bloody dipstick that works .... Is it scale length or did you just fudge it :-)

I have shown this thread to some friends of mine and they all agree ....you either have a shrink ray or nanobots ....

No I know why my builds are pretty average ....you were at the front of the line when Cliff was handing out talent ....

ShawnS wrote:

Zac, there are plenty of different Euro, Jap and US manufacturer metal stick-on decals at the same place I got those.
http://www.bnamodelworld.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&inc_subcat=1&search_in_description=0&keyword=%25&manufacturers_id=169&page=16 They are cheap as chips and they also make lots of types of regular decals too.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW......this is a master pice.......

Thanks for the update, shawn. it gives me motivation to try other things in scratchbuilding in my own little way.

70cudatj wrote:What can I say that hasn't been said before...............amazing work mate..........you're a full blown nutter and I love what you do.
That engine is brilliant............again well done.
TJ

what i like is... where you or i might drill a hole for the brake lines, he actually puts a grommet in the hole!

Mate this is starting to look better than a real XF. How are u going to paint this beast, this isn't going to be easy to paint. Can't wait to see this finished

Thanks guys.

aussie muscle wrote:what i like is... where you or i might drill a hole for the brake lines, he actually puts a grommet in the hole!

Yep. Ya gotta put the extra details where they don't need to be.

Yugster wrote:Mate this is starting to look better than a real XF. How are u going to paint this beast, this isn't going to be easy to paint. Can't wait to see this finished

Shouldn't be too much more difficult then the average high detail model. The majority of the small parts aren't actually glued on at this stage and are easily removeable. ATM It's mostly held together with the pin and hole method or double sided tape or blu-tak.

Well it seems I have hit a bit of a crap patch over the last couple of weeks. It all started when I decided that I didn't like the A/C unit bracket and the way it and the alternator mounted on to the motor. I decided to remake the bracket and that's when the trouble started. First up when removing the existing bracket from the A/C compressor I made a complete mess of the compressor so I had to rebuild the compressor, it now has 50% new content. When I was fumbling around with the bracket I broke the right side engine mount. I made a new mount after many many failed attempts. Just when I was about to resume work on the A/C bracket I broke the left side engine mount, made a new one after several more failed attempts and about 6 new bolt heads that shot out of my tweasers into oblivion.
At this stage I decided that the engine wasn't the place to be so I turned to the rear end to resume work on the incomplete sway bar. Bad mistake. One of the trailing arms broke off the diff almost straight away and had to be fixed with more work than just a simple re-glue. Time to walk away from that area and to something else, the interior. It's coming into resin casting weather so I need to get the interior sorted for casting. One final test fit of the rear seat shows that the resin interior tub has shrunk a little over time and the seat no longer fits so I started sanding the sides when I hear a cracking sound, nothing major just a little super glue in the crack and it's sorted. Had a gutfull, time to put it down and walk away completely.

I guess if that's the worst thing that ever happens to me then I'm doing alright.

Obviously at this stage I have no real progress to show you but I can tell you that I am in advanced planning for the plumbing. I have been drilling holes in the fire wall for the hoses and wires. I want to get that all figured out before any painting starts.

Anyhoo just for giggles here are some induction options that Ford didn't offer.






CheersSS

That's a fair haul of bad stuff mate, at least this one didn't end up down the backyard like some models I have been tempted with.
Wouldn't it be cool if some of these options did come out.

WOW look's like murphy law hit you hard this time around,ya good to have a bit of a chuckle every now and again.

That's a real drag Shawn. What a pain in the a.. I really like the offset shaker, pretty funny.

Hey ...you wanted to build a FORD ! It seems even the models fall apart just like the real ones. Dont be surprised if when you get motivated again and go back to it ...there is a puddle of oil under it !

Tough luck hey? No good mate. The joys of modeling
On a side note, I'm kinda liking that hillborn scoop

Personally, I am for the 'Shaker' option. Sounds like you need to have a break and build an out-of-the-box project...or go have a relax somewhere.

Awesome work..........