Mondays short and sweet post
Posted by Dr Diecast at 8/4/2008 6:46 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
So today I will only be covering a couple of the cars I cut up to modify last week. Basically the 95 Cobra R for Doug.
This car started as an Auto Art Saleen. Add some body parts from a Jouef Boss Mustang and we have a 95 Cobra. This involved (as I have stated already) cutting up the Boss body for a few items of need.
First off the front end. The Boss body is molded as one unit while the AA has removable front and rear bumpers and the AA taillights are separate units also.
Cutting the front bumper was rather simple though I did make my first cut a little low and will need to do some filler work. This once cut and sized up did not fit the AA body as the bumper was to narrow but about 1/4 inch. The thing is its not wide enough at the wheel well openings so instead of slicing this I just stretched/pulled/bent the outer edges of the front bumper so it lineup correctly and it did.
Next up was the hood. Both of these diecast cars have molded in hood hinges. Of course neither line up correctly and the AA hood system is a little out of the ordinary for the diecast world so I assessed the pieces and then made a decision to fit the AA hinges on the modified Boss hood. First this was cutting the hood (at the hinges) off the Boss body. See 90% of all diecast cars have removable hoods and doors but there are some cars (Jouef is one) that mold them in so they cannot be removed without breaking the metal press points that hold it in place to work correctly.
Now..... this Boss hood is also slightly narrower than the AA hood and I was originally thinking I might just cut the scoop out and section onto the AA hood but due to where the AA hinges are located I decided to fit the Boss hood to the AA hinges. Once removed I ground down where the Boss hinges were..... then took the AA hood and actually cut the hinge bases out of the hood complete. See upon inspection I could see with the height of the Boss hood and the flatness of the AA hood I would need that full area on the AA hood so once attached the Boss hood would work like normal. Wow..... lots of, probably confusing, words here but the end result is that the once everything was cut and I notched the Boss hood a hair for clearance the Boss hood worked like it was made from the factory on the AA car. I still have to widen the Boss hood a little to fill the seam gaps but this is the best way for me to do this and make it look factory.
On to the rear bumper/taillights. Again like the front the rear bumper is molded in.... along with the taillight housings. So....this took a bit more thought when it came to cutting. Once I laid out the cut lines in marker I set about removing it as one piece from the body. Once done it was off to the grinding wheel to trim, shave and trim some more. When I was finally to a point I felt the bumper would fit on the car I had to lay out the splice cuts. See this is again way narrower than the AA body as you can see in the pictures. Of course I need to save the molded in Mustang words so I couldn't just slice it down the middle. Once this was done I then realized I needed to so even more grinding to trim around the taillight openings so the would fit in the little bucket area on the AA body. Once done and temp glued in place you can see the results. I do have to do some filling to line up the gaps correctly where the bumper meets the body and of course the gaps on the face of the bumper where its spliced.
I did chat with Mr Mustang over the weekend and he suggests I make a mold for both the front, rear and hood so these can be attached to other projects down the line....... WHAT !!!!!!! other projects !!!!!!!....... I thought we had them all covered, LMAO..... just joking..... LOL.
Note the line mark on the rocker..... this will need a recess cut so it looks like the Cobra rocker trim... I just haven't gotten to that part yet.
Now I moved onto the Falcon..... and while I will not go into deep detail you can get an idea of whats involved. I will have to section the roof but the width is pretty much correct and the tail gate is pretty close to the rear car too, once cut and trimmed. These Falcon sedan delivery cars all had framed windows on the doors so I will have to construct that from scratch but I have already on a couple other cars so it should me no problem, LOL.
Ok...... thats it ....... Im out !
This car started as an Auto Art Saleen. Add some body parts from a Jouef Boss Mustang and we have a 95 Cobra. This involved (as I have stated already) cutting up the Boss body for a few items of need.
First off the front end. The Boss body is molded as one unit while the AA has removable front and rear bumpers and the AA taillights are separate units also.
Cutting the front bumper was rather simple though I did make my first cut a little low and will need to do some filler work. This once cut and sized up did not fit the AA body as the bumper was to narrow but about 1/4 inch. The thing is its not wide enough at the wheel well openings so instead of slicing this I just stretched/pulled/bent the outer edges of the front bumper so it lineup correctly and it did.
Next up was the hood. Both of these diecast cars have molded in hood hinges. Of course neither line up correctly and the AA hood system is a little out of the ordinary for the diecast world so I assessed the pieces and then made a decision to fit the AA hinges on the modified Boss hood. First this was cutting the hood (at the hinges) off the Boss body. See 90% of all diecast cars have removable hoods and doors but there are some cars (Jouef is one) that mold them in so they cannot be removed without breaking the metal press points that hold it in place to work correctly.
Now..... this Boss hood is also slightly narrower than the AA hood and I was originally thinking I might just cut the scoop out and section onto the AA hood but due to where the AA hinges are located I decided to fit the Boss hood to the AA hinges. Once removed I ground down where the Boss hinges were..... then took the AA hood and actually cut the hinge bases out of the hood complete. See upon inspection I could see with the height of the Boss hood and the flatness of the AA hood I would need that full area on the AA hood so once attached the Boss hood would work like normal. Wow..... lots of, probably confusing, words here but the end result is that the once everything was cut and I notched the Boss hood a hair for clearance the Boss hood worked like it was made from the factory on the AA car. I still have to widen the Boss hood a little to fill the seam gaps but this is the best way for me to do this and make it look factory.
On to the rear bumper/taillights. Again like the front the rear bumper is molded in.... along with the taillight housings. So....this took a bit more thought when it came to cutting. Once I laid out the cut lines in marker I set about removing it as one piece from the body. Once done it was off to the grinding wheel to trim, shave and trim some more. When I was finally to a point I felt the bumper would fit on the car I had to lay out the splice cuts. See this is again way narrower than the AA body as you can see in the pictures. Of course I need to save the molded in Mustang words so I couldn't just slice it down the middle. Once this was done I then realized I needed to so even more grinding to trim around the taillight openings so the would fit in the little bucket area on the AA body. Once done and temp glued in place you can see the results. I do have to do some filling to line up the gaps correctly where the bumper meets the body and of course the gaps on the face of the bumper where its spliced.
I did chat with Mr Mustang over the weekend and he suggests I make a mold for both the front, rear and hood so these can be attached to other projects down the line....... WHAT !!!!!!! other projects !!!!!!!....... I thought we had them all covered, LMAO..... just joking..... LOL.
Note the line mark on the rocker..... this will need a recess cut so it looks like the Cobra rocker trim... I just haven't gotten to that part yet.
Now I moved onto the Falcon..... and while I will not go into deep detail you can get an idea of whats involved. I will have to section the roof but the width is pretty much correct and the tail gate is pretty close to the rear car too, once cut and trimmed. These Falcon sedan delivery cars all had framed windows on the doors so I will have to construct that from scratch but I have already on a couple other cars so it should me no problem, LOL.
Ok...... thats it ....... Im out !
John, awesome detail in the photos. By far the most insight you have given all of us to what you have into each mod. I am sure the Mustang Master will love the new additions. I for one am really looking forward to the Falcon mod.
Take care pal and I will talk to you soon.
Reply to this
Man do I feel sorry for your Dremel! That bad boy got quite a workout.
Very cool mod. I'm sure Doug will be happy to have the only '95 Cobra R in existance!
Reply to this
Super, John. Never thought I would see this one take shape, but you are pulling it off perfectly. I agree that the Falcon needs a little channeling in the roof, but it is pretty close. So the Ford boys were thinking about a 55 Chevy when they designed the Falcon roof line LOL. Can't wait.
Reply to this