Real life has kept me away from this most of the week, but I did manage a bit of progress.

I have finished drilling all the openings in the dashboard, refined the brake and clutch pedal rods, and some little prep work for the metal threshold inside each door. Didn't get the apply the metal foil yet, but it's ready to go.

Also did cut some styrene tube for the lower steering column which wasn't modeled in the kit. I am going to build up a few plastic bits on this column to use as the mount point for the pedals. Pics of the column test fitted (held with wire):




Second pic you can also see a hint of the wire I'm testing for the gas pedal mount.

A good bit of work completed this week, but just two photos. Most all of the work was final gluing of everything you've already seen so far in the interior. Seat belts, lap belts, seats. Seats were glued using plastic cement, but the seat belts were glued using E6000 adhesive. I chose this because it seems to hold well in my few prior uses, and it allows me a brief time to position the item before it dries.

My CA glue is literal instant bond. First touch is locked in place, and with the seat belts, the lap belt retractors especially, which need a good bit of fiddling to get the right spot, CA would have been unworkable.

Here's a photo of the Bare Metal Foil thresholds under the doors:


Next, some progress on the dash panel. You can see the early works of the new light switch and ignition switch below dash. The wires will be puttied in place (maybe Milliput) and contoured, to better place them (IMO). Also you'll see two strips of white styrene glued along the dash. One small one, between the speedometer and tachometer, the other longer, a padding that runs above the radio and glove box. Both fix deficiencies compared to photos of the real car.

These need a bit more shaping, but look the part already. I still need to add the bracket to the lower left of the dash for the parking brake handle. These should be ready for primer this week!

The dashboard continues, little by little.

Up first, a shot of the steering column and the too large and (apparently) wrong angle lever.


I cut the levers off, drilled a hole through the column, and used steel wire (with some black insulation on the right hand lever). Note the signal lever leans toward the driver a bit, rather than 90 degrees out.


And a test fit. All instruments drilled and smooth backing glued in place. AM Radio too, along with it's push buttons. I also drilled out those tiny holes in the steering wheel using three sizes of wire as bits in my pin vise. Pedals are just sitting in for effect.


Lower angle shows parking brake bracket, wire replacements for the lights switch and ignition switch, and shows off the padding running above the radio and glovebox.


Darn close to primer on this. Weather outdoors lately is either baking hot, or wet and humid, neither of them fun for spraying priming.

Well, primer went on the dash parts. Time to paint. Painted, ruined it. Just a knick on the lower parchment color, but enough to require a repaint. So, OK. I move on and do a clean job on the black vinyl dash top. And then ruin that too, making an ugly mark on the acrylic satin varnish.

So all ruined. All sanded back to mostly some scuffy paint and primer. And painted all over again, and cleanly. Whew.

Here the second coat of paint drying for the night:


And then on to applying the bare metal foil. This went well for the most part. To get a smooth finish between the instrument nacelles, I had to piece it... many many pieces. Arg. Still some remains, the radio buttons and knobs, and such. Also got the steering wheel done with foil. My florescent ring light makes the metal foil look terrible, but in person it's pretty good. I'll grab a few under better lighting before final dash installation.


And the satin black vinyl top of the dash.


Up next, printing out the instrument decals, and preparing the clear plastic lenses to cover them.

And trying not to ruin anything.

Looking really nice. Looking forward to seeing the finished build.


Wheels

Not much chance to work on this during the past week, but a bit of progress.

First, I created my gauge art and printed the decal on heavy paper.


The parts ready for assembly. Note that the orange gauge needles didn't print out as bright as I wanted. I repainted them with a 00 size brush for better intensity.


Here, the lower gauge set is done, complete with a round bit of foil on each, and then the needle painted on top, and under the plastic lenses. You can see another lens awaiting installation on the main panel, too. Those lenses are made from the plastic you find in ordinary "blister" product packaging. Slow work.

Also, you can see the foil again here. Not sure I'm really going to be satisfied with the final result here, but it's all soooooo tiny. Even my 00 paintbrush seems like a Marks-A-Lot. See the repainted needles.


Once the gauges are done, and the steel wires for the glovebox door button, and the wiper switch, and the little window for the radio dial, it should be about ready to glue in place. Maybe next week!

Wow, That dash is looking good!

Rob

Great work. I could never do it as good as you do because I don't have enough patient for it.

Ok, well a few new things here. Completed the gauges, placed their little lenses and then applied the center "hubs" on each lens. Also glued the under-dash steering column from which the pedal assemblies will be hung. Painted and detailed the fire extinguisher, still not glued in place as I'm not sure where I'll put it.

I've used these photos to correct a few little problems, and I still see a few more than need fixing. Biggest is the missing Shelby emblem on the passenger side of the dashboard. This wasn't molded in the kit, and looking closely, there isn't even one molded on the drivers side of the trunk lid, NOR on the fenders! So some extra fun making those.

I took these photos in direct sunlight, hoping to get a better result that the flat and dull florescent ring light.

Wow! Also great to see it come together now.

That looks really great.

Really great work, Adlabs! In addition to the excellent build job, your photography shows it off well, with great depth of field for such small parts.

Thanks Arthonon!

Very little time logged this week. Mostly just crafting the Shelby emblems. I'll need three, one for the dashboard (installed), one for the front grille, and one on the trunk. The only one included with the kit was molded on the grille. As you may recall, I am going to try to use a photo-etch grille, so replacing the emblem is easy enough.

Blanks cut from .020 sheet styrene:


Finished product. All three covered in bare metal foil, then detailed with blank ink and yellow paint, and finally coated in glossy acrylic varnish. You can also see the parking brake handle well in this shot.


There is also a bit of work done on the clutch and brake pedals (most of it, actually), and this coming week I'm hoping to get them and the still unfinished gas pedal installed. Maybe get the dash glued in place, too!

Is that a working glove box I see?

Hahah! No! I decided against the working glove box, though I did consider it.

Pedals are done, and I also completed the detailing on the scratch built fire extinguisher, too.

New things here include:
Little blue Cobras on the lap belt buckles.
Shift knob with shift pattern painted on (Yay new 00 size paint brush!) and glossed.
Headlight dimmer on the floor (silver) and windshield washer fluid pump pedal (black, above the dimmer button).
Gas pedal and mounting arm through the floor.
Yes, the carpet was dirty, but is now nice and vacuumed after the work is done.




The fire extinguisher. Detailed the label, added the charge gauge green zone and yellow needle, then covered it with a tiny plastic lens. Metal foil used for the spray nozzle and mounting bracket. Steel wire for the ring. Gloss coated.



Pic showing the lens catching a bit of light:



Not much more to do outside of gluing all this in final place now. Still procrastinating a bit on that, making sure I'm not forgetting anything.

Impressive detail, great work!

You have an enormous patience I could never do this amazing detailing. Its looks great.

Yea crazy patience I be dying to run around the house with it by now brum brum.... good job though wow wish I had patience to do these models

Thanks guys!



I already did that a time or two, lol!

Ok, I finally have glued the dash in place, and outside just a couple of little touches, I'm moving on from the interior. I used two pieces of popsicle sticks and a rubber band to hold the interior sidewalls in place while the glue dried, tightened by the plastic cap and pen parts as you see.

You can also see where I chose to place the fire extinguisher, in the passenger foot well. I know the details are hidden here, but such is the case with so much on this model... Truth is, I just couldn't bring myself to place it on the tunnel between the seats. It seemed too obtrusive, and if this were my own real car, I wouldn't put mount an extinguisher between the seats. In the foot well, it's accessible, yet out of the way for me and a passenger.



Still shows pretty well when looking in the open door.



And from there, on to working on the trunk. First the stock lower chassis. The kit does provide a solid carpet texture floor to go here, but I'm going to make my own. The colored wires are detail elements on the bottom of the car, blue wire is the fuel sending unit power cable, green and black are exhaust hanger brackets.



First the shaping of the welded bodywork and the top of the gas tank. All this is .020 sheet styrene.



Then I made an insert modeling the top of the tank and the filler tube, here with the body fitted.



Looking forward, some of the walls closing up the open areas forward of the trunk, still more to come on this.



Finally, I was thinking ahead to the spare tire. Look at this. I didn't make the trunk any smaller, or the tire any bigger. Yes, I have read on it and some of the factory cars shipped with 5 Kelsey wheels and a full size spare, according to what I've read.

I'll just have to fake something that looks right and not question why it won't actually fit, lol!