36 replies to this topic

[gascarnut]

I got reasonably lucky on eBay last week and picked up a pretty good Series 2 Monogram Ford GT for not too much money, and am now in the process of collecting the parts to restore it. All it really needs is tires and decals. Tires are easy, and already in my stash of Ortmann reprodutions, so that's settled, but does anyone know where I can get a reproduction decal sheet for this car? As I recall, there was not much on it, just the tri-stripe for the sides with the Ford lettering, and the side numbers (#11).

There's nothing on the ED site, and I can't find anything on the Prof Motor site either, so any help would be appreciated.

If I can't find some reproductions of the original decal sheet, then I know Patto's has a generic sheet that will work or I will make them myself.

And I will post some shots of the restoration as I go.......

Thanks!

[slotbaker]

Patto's lists a sheet for the Monogram Roadster in both 1:32 & 1:24, and quite a few other GT40s on the same page.
If you know what you're looking for, check this page out.
Code is "Fd GT40 Roadster - Mongram" just past halfway down the page.
And the K&B one here.

[TSR]

Dennis,
There are no exacting repro decals of the MONOGRAM sheet for this model that I know of, but Electric Dreams has TWO sets that would work well on this car, the best one being THIS ONE, the other being THIS ONE.
Both are made by Ortmann, and there are no better decals on the planet as far as quality and ease of installation.
Regards,

[MG Brown]

DMC has two sheets of GT40 Decals in their 1/32 line... including the attractive #15 Ford France deco.




Pendle and Ecomodelismo show these in stock.

www.rsslotracing.com shows a reproduction of the Cox Ford GT decal sheet available.

Not meaning to be sarcastic but I found these relatively easily using Google search.

[TSR]

Mick,
the first set would be great for the Cox model in metallic blue once the nose is modified to 1965 Shelby looks, but I believe that the second set is for the SPYDER driven by Joe Schlesser... because I don't recall Ford France ever racing a coupe...

The Monogram car is supposed to be the 1964 Le Mans car in white with the blue nose.

[MG Brown]

I think that decal is intended to replicate this car Sir.



Further research shows the 1/32 Cox-MRE reproduction sheet (PMTR6012) illustrated as available from Professor Motor. Having been in their warehouse recently- I would not be surprised if they have them available if you call. Be insistent that they look at the STOCK and not the computer inventory.

[TSR]

Yes, you are correct. I forgot the "customer" GT40 from 1966...
The reason being that it did not belong to the French team, if I recall it was a loan from Alan Mann.
But it is not really adequate for the Cox or Monogram models unless you completely rebuild the nose, widen the tail for the larger tires, fit cast-alloy wheels etc... lots of work!

Less work to make the Monogram model the way it actually raced in '64:

[skeeterbuck]

Here's a repo set on fleabay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item2558b54a36

I've never used this sellers decals but for the price I think that thay may be worth a try. Good luck!

Chuck

[gascarnut]

Thanks Chuck - I will do just that!

[idare2bdul]

http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item2558b54a36 isn't a current listing on Ebay

[gascarnut]

I don't know what's going on with your links, Mike, but I found the ebay lsiting and bought the decals I needed, no problem. They were on a "buy it now" and I have already had confirmation from the seller - looks like he is a good eBayer.

I will let you know how they work.

[gascarnut]

My decal set was in the mail waiting for me when I returned home last night, they look VERY nice. Great service too, from the e-bay seller who had the link shown above, he will be a good guy to do more business with as long as the decals work OK. They look similar to those we get from Patto's so I will wait till I have used them before I comment on their quality!

In the meantime, some shots of the car:





This is the only serious crack in the body:



The LH headlight cover is OK, the RH one is questionable:




I have started the restoration, removing all the paint from the interior (it was layered on miles thick!) and cleaning up the body. The headlight covers did not survive being removed, but I will make new ones from PETG sheet. I have a set of replacement Ortmanns, and I will use BWA wire wheel inserts. The motor sounds good, the magnets feel strong and the gears are perfect, so I'm optimistic for a nice car once I'm done.

[TSR]

Ouch! That's going to be a lot of work...

[skeeterbuck]

I agree, that looks like a labor of love for sure. Glad to hear the decals worked out for you. Now hopefully they'll go on with no problems.

Chuck

[TSR]

Dennis is one of the best at building a good-looking 1/32 scale model. But this one is going to be a toughie...

[gascarnut]

Dennis is one of the best at building a good-looking 1/32 scale model. But this one is going to be a toughie...

Thank you for the compliment, and I accept the challenge!

[John Withers]

Getting the driver section out could be tough. I recently did one of these and mine was really glued in tight.
I had to resort to some strategic cutting.
Do you soak the parts in a solution to soften up the paint? I use 'simple green' which almost always works
but I have come across some types of paint that it didn't even touch.
Looking forward to seeing your process and the results.

[gascarnut]

Fortunately, the interior was not glued in very tightly at all, so a little bit of cutting with a hobby knife and it came out all in one piece. The rear pillars for the body mounts were all cracked, buit all the bits were still there, so I can fix most of that.



Whoever built this car orginally did not use a lot of glue on anything, whihc is why the glass is still so good. If I could find him, I would shake his hand!

Here's the interior before I took all the paint off:




The driver's head had come loose and was rattling around inside the body, so I have it too.



I had tired some paint thinner to get rid of paint that was clogging the vents on the rear of the body and did not like how the thinner attacked the plastic, so for the interior I tried a few different things and eventually had the most success with Naptha. I got all the paint off with no damage to the plastic at all.

More photos later as I work the body. The frame went into my tumbler so that is already twinkling, and the wheels were no problem, just a bit of steel wool and they are shining too.

[68Caddy]

Dennis how are you going to strip the paint? Advise from a fool, use 99% alcohol and it will make it easier, of course it's your decision but I just what to help out, but then how can I help a pro?

Nesta

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

Dennis, this is old IPMS stuff for me. I am in the middle of a similar resurrection. With plastic bodies the easiest stripper is to use a sealed "tupperware" bowl with detergent ammonia. About a week, hold your breath when you open. it "polishes" the body in most situations. This even works for "buffed" clear parts.

That is always my first stage of the process.

Fate

[gascarnut]

Thanks for the advice, Nesta and Rocky, but it's already done:

so for the interior I tried a few different things and eventually had the most success with Naptha. I got all the paint off with no damage to the plastic at all.

I won't be stripping any more paint, as all that is left now is the original blue that Monogram applied to this body in the factory, and there's not much wrong with it. I'm not sure how Monogram did the blue application, I guess it must have been the pre-cursor of the modern Tampo printing somehow. There are very slight ridges molded at the edges between the blue and white segments. I found an enamel that is almost identical in color for touch ups.

What I have not been able to get rid of so far are the yellow-brown stains in the plastic, but fortunately they are not particularly bad, and won;t spoil the overall impression too much once I'm done.

[idare2bdul]

The project continues. Dennis stopped by BP last night to show off his new toy. some advice was given to use Novus to buff out the discolored spots, so we hope that will work. Dennis has too many cool toys!

[John Withers]

I have always thought it would be cool to scratch build the Air dam and intake at the underside of the nose. The monogram model looks kind of naked without it. The attached picture shows it well from the front but it's tough to find pics from other angles. So this project will remain on the back burner until I can find some better photos or technical drawings.

Attached Images

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[Prof. Fate]

Hi

I love the work Dennis does.

And I expect that he might have an urge to do a "stablemate" some day! Personally, I have been stressed by some of the local racers who cannot seem to just show up and race. Rather, they show up, whine and whine before, during and after. Sucks the fun of the racing right out. My buddy Kelly and I find ourselves waiting until AFTER...and playing with some 40 year old cars that "match up".

Fate

[gascarnut]

Thanks for the comments, compliments and help, guys.

John, the temptation to add the front spoilers is strong, but I think I will leave the body as original as possible this time, perhaps if I get another one later I might add that detail, as it definitely would look better. The Monogram car has a very "nose-up" attitude, but I guess back in 1964 or 5 it did not bother us as much as it does now wiht 40 years of extra aerodynamic understanding!

Rocky, if I can find a Ferrari 330PLM on the series 2 frame, that's the "stablemate" I would make.

I did a bit more work on the car yesterday:





And I decided that I was going to leave the stains alone, rather than try to polish them out, seeing as how a little applicaiton of 1500 water paper had absolutely no effect, I don't think any other polish is going to help either. This is not going to be a shelf queen anyway, and it's already better than my original model was by the time I was finished with it as a teenager! So I applied the decals I got off eBay, and painted the BWA wheel inserts. These wre not replicas of the original Monogram inserts, but I prefer the look of thses ones, with the integral knock-offs.





The last big job is to fashion some new headlight covers, which I have almost completed. I made them from .010 PETG sheet, suitably cut to shape and rolled to created the very small curves that are needed. The main issue is the amount of damage around the edges of the body where the headlight covers fit, and how to fit them without showing glue everywhere. No photos yet of the covers, but this is the front end, not too pretty, but then agqain, we have all seen much worse, right?