Fantasy 1/18 BRUT '71 Trans Am/IMSA Mustang

[Oldtimer]

Blending a first generation Welly '70 Boss 302 chassis and drive train with a '71 SunStar body.

Details to follow.

[afx]

I like the '71-'73 Mustang, looks like a great project.

[Oldtimer]

Taking my inspiration from this recent 1/18 scale diecast from ACME, using a little bit of license since the model is already painted green.





Already found a decal set that should work, just got to get it in hand.

[Oldtimer]

SunStar body and Welly chassis really mate well.  Had to make a few Dremel adjustments, but all in all, a nice fit.



Still need to finish up the interior, the side door bars from the Welly chassis are too long when you place the interior into the SunStar body and dashboard.





Did my "magic" on the engine compartment, swapping in a Swede70 carburetor to take the place of the mess that Welly/ACME sustain until this day.

Also added in a Swede70 export brace to the engine compartment, painted the tops of the shocks red to match the red color of those on the rear suspension (supposed to be Koni's), as well as a Swede70 Harrison oil cooler.  Might fabricate a sheet styrene cover for the gap between the front of the body and the radiator support, which, of course, will hide the oil cooler.



Couple of photo reminders of what you start with, and what I change.

     

Nice stance, but going to need stiff shocks and springs to keep that spoiler intact.



Probably going to throw a GMP Trans Am Camaro fuel cell and filler neck into the back.  The Welly Trans Am Boss 302 trunk lid is fixed, so no details there.

[Oldtimer]

Quick update - Added fuel cell and battery to trunk.



Next up is braces for the rear window.

[Oldtimer]

Had some free time, so started on locating the rear window braces.  Remember that these were scavenged from a Welly '70 Boss 302 Trans Am model.

This is where I think they should align.



However there appears to be a difference in the size of a '71 rear window and a '70 rear window (of course, the body was substantially altered between the two model years, so no assumption of compatibility was made).



My desire would be to have the strap lay flat across the window, so a little more work will be required.

[Joel_W]

What an impressive conversion. The engine bay really looks quite good, as well as the fuel cell and battery. Looking forward to your next update.

Joel

[Chris K. Hale]

Really Nice, that is a Cool Conversion and will really "POP" when done!! 5 Stars My Friend...Chris

[Oldtimer]

Decal sheet in hand, want to lean toward the BRUT livery, but other options as well.

[Joel_W]

Jim,
Looking forward to seeing what you decided on, as there's several really interesting choices on that sheet.

Joel

[Oldtimer]

First, I want to go on record that I hate to decal! I am a nervous wreck during the process, and it continues on through the first two or three beers after.

Here's where I ended up, clearly not back on the chassis, but just glad to have it this far along.

[afx]

Beer makes everything better. 

[Joel_W]

Jim,
Outstanding for sure. The 'Stang is really starting to look the part now.

Joel

[Art]

That's a neat project, Jim! The decals look great to me.

[Oldtimer]

I really like the way this one came out.  Stance is nicely aggressive.



Since it is a Moffat-based build, thought I'd see that it looked like on the ACME 1/18 scale Moffat ramp truck.



Clashes a little bit with the Coca-Cola livery, but we do have a Coke decal on the racer, so there is some consistency.

Of course, Moffat was the only Coke-sponsored racer.  Just as an aside, here's the Coke ramper with a custom Bobby Allison Nascar Grand American Mustang.



And Allison didn't just race Nascar with Coke sponsorship.  He also drove this BRE Datsun 510 in selected Under 2.5 Trans Am races.



And just for fun, I loaded the Moffat Mustang up with the fantasy Warren Tope Mustang, and parked that rig with some period Trans Am/IMSA racers on their rampers.