Customizing an Eleanor-er-racer Mustang?

Posted by hwsteveh on Mar 7, 2015 in Eleanor-er-Racer: Mustang | 0 comments

-A Scale-Master Project-

Customizing an Eleanor-er-racer?

AcceleRacer “Riveted” turned into a Modified Mustang “Eleanor”

Author: Mark D. Jones aka Scale-Master
Vehicles Needed: HWs Acceleracer Mustang

Special Tools: Scale-Master Decal Sheet, See Bottom of page

Rating: Novice
I had to get this one, even though it has a funky headlight set up for a Mustang, the rest looked pretty cool.

It has a plastic body, so it’s a breeze to disassemble. A 3/16 drill, couple careful seconds, and… there you have it.

I used Mineral Spirits with about 10% Lacquer Thinner to remove the tampos, but I realized the paint was a bit thick and would obscure a lot of detail if repainted. The mold lines were a bit prominent too.

I tried Lacquer Thinner, but it was apparent it would take the detail off with the paint, so I went for something more docile that usually strips paint well for me, Oven Cleaner! Nope, even where I had sanded to get it under the paint, it wasn’t going to do the trick. Next I tried Brake Fluid, even though I always advise against it for plastic model kits. The plastic on these bodies is different than model kit styrene. It worked in about 20 minutes. I found a sprinkler head box worked perfectly as a solvent tank.

What a difference…

…. But it still needs the mold lines to be cleaned up. A little wet sanding with 400 grit did the trick.

A coat of Krylon Gray Primer…

A coat of Tamiya Gloss Aluminum…

And a quick shot on the sides of Tamiya Light Gunmetal Gray.

Then it was back to the chassis. The spark plug holes were drilled with a #76 drill bit, and the “distributor” was drilled with a # 64 (I think).

Most of the chassis/interior was painted Flat Black including the hood, the seats were painted a Flesh color.

Body trim was brush painted Semi Gloss Black.

Decal stripes from my Scale-Master Decal Sheet #6201 were utilized. You can see the front edge still needs to be wrapped around the top of the windshield opening.

After getting the stripes lined up the way I wanted and blotting out the water from underneath, a little Decal Solvent was applied to the ends where the decals went into the window openings.

After a couple minutes a Q-Tip was used to blot out the solvent and lay the decals into the contours. The cowl stripes were put on and moved into position with the Q-Tip (still not lined up in the picture…) before putting solvent on them so they conform to the louvers.

The long stripes were cut into smaller sections for the deck and wing.

Again they were positioned before using solvent at the points they needed to wrap at.

Here the stripes are, wrapped around the edges. And also taillights from the sheet, each side is held together with clear on the sheet so the spacing is identical on each side, they also happen to line up perfectly with the molded in taillights…

Headlights from the same sheet were applied to the outer bulges of the molding after a drop of solvent was put in each socket.

The same thing for the driving lights…

After about five minutes the lights were carefully formed around the bulges with a Q-Tip and blotted dry, it just takes a small amount of patience.

The lower front valance was brush painted with the Gunmetal sprayed into the cap.

After letting the headlights dry for about twenty minutes, the orange lights were applied in the same manner, but because there is twice the ink on the decal, it took twice as long for the solvent to permeate the decal enough to conform, just be patient…

Eight wires were cut for spark plug wiring…

And cemented into the hole of the “distributor”.

And the other ends were inserted into the previously drilled holes.

The side marker lights were painted Clear Red and the scoops on the sides were shaded with a mixture of Clear and Black.

A coat of clear gloss was airbrushed on the body. I used a two part automotive urethane called EuroClear. Testors TopCoat Enamel would have been my second choice for the clear coat, but it takes a week to fully cure instead of a day or two like the urethane.