Dirk's AMT 73 Mustang Mad Max Pre-Apocalyptic Interceptor

[Dirkpitt289]

Onward and upward. Time to introduce my next plastic debotchery. Here's what we will be starting with



This kit is a piece of kaka. Doo doo, monkey feces, donkey doo.... I think you get my drift. Some of you may ask why I feel this way about the fine looking box of plastic. Well.... When I bought this I was looking forward to building a nice replica of Eleanor from the 1974 movie "Gone in 60 Seconds." There is nothing in this box that resembles the Mustang printed on the box top other then the body shell. I just blew $16 plus the time and gas to drive to the LHS to purchase it. Dejected I tossed the box under my bench where it sat for a few weeks. Admittedly I would kit the box every chance I got. This was childish I know but it made me feel a little better... I'm lying it didn't make me feel better but I did it anyway.

Now some of you will argue that this is a fine kit and could easily be made into a race car of some kind and you'd be right but that's not what I had planned. As the kit sat under my bench I had found and purchased a Mad Max interceptor kit. While I was waiting for it to arrive I started scouring the internet for information and what have you to get me ready to build that kit. As most of you may already know the all black interceptor that Max drove was a 1973 XB GT Ford Falcon Coupe, a car exclusive to Australia. A car that looks very much like a 73 Mustang. So... Not one to like to waste money I decided that the Mustang could be a nice accompaniment to the Interceptor when done. So the idea was born to turn this 73 turd of a Mustang into a polished Mad Max Interceptor type car. As Will Darnell said in the move Christine, "You can't polish a turd." I'm going to try and prove him wrong.

Now when everyone thinks of the Mad Max cars they always think of the Black Falcon. I decided I'm going to try and make this one into something more like its lesser known and more colorful cousins.



Here are more shots of the kit parts.



Look ma no inner engine compartment walls. AUGH!!!!



Here are the dingle berries. The smaller parts of the big turd. I crack me up. Not a single Mustang related part in this photo



I started out by giving everything a cote of black primer. That was before I decided to not do the all black scheme.



If you like the smell of an old age home or like nurseries and the oder that accompanies those places stay tuned for more.

[Dirkpitt289]

Poppycock

[Jagewa]

Hey cool project Dirk, that's a nice paint scheme.

Cheers

Jim

[Dirkpitt289]

Thanks Jim

[JohnRatzenberger]

You are saving something for the Auto GB ???

[Dirkpitt289]

As you can see I have a few options for the up coming auto GB

[Jagewa]

Hmmm is there a pattern there?

[Dirkpitt289]

Hmmm is there a pattern there?

Ya think????

[Dirkpitt289]

For me when I first start a kit I tend to get a nice start and plenty of progress. This kit is no different. Last night I started by removing the extra plastic supports on the body and got her all cleaned up and ready for primer.



Because this car will primarily be yellow I used white primer as the base. After it dried I found a few more spots that will need some more attention before I apply the first color



One of the first issues I needed to address with this lit was its instrument cluster. As you can see it didn't have one.



This however was a blessing in disguise. Seeing how I wanted to make this into a Mad max like MFP Police car I had decided that to make it more authentic it would need to be a right hand drive car. This over site by the manufacturer made my job so much easier. In my mind I was planning to cut the dash up into three sections and swap them around like dominos. No need to now.Using my pin-vice and varied drill bits I made the new instrument gauges on the blank canvas. I also took this time to properly mount the steering wheel. If you look at the above picture you can see a guide mounted UNDER the dash for the steering column. made it so it now goes through the dash like its real life big brother.



test fit the new steering column location. That's MORE better if you ask me.



More to follow.... Thanks for looking

[Dirkpitt289]

Keep in mind my goal is not to make an exact representation of the car pictured above. It's to take this POS AMT kit and make it in to a believable representation of another model of the car. Much like my local Police department they have many different cruisers in their parking lot. Caprice Classics, Crow Vics, Dodge Chargers and Doge Durangos. So I don't think that it would be unthinkable that the fictitious MFP would have other cruisers other then the Ford XB Falcon.

[Dirkpitt289]

Time for some plastic surgery



Here is what AMT feels is a good engine compartment.



With my razor saw and drummel in hand I set to work undoing this miscarriage of plastic injustice.

Due to the graphic nature of this procedure I will just show you the end results





That wasn't soooo bad



Now to let our patient recoup for a bit. While that was happening I was looking over some junkyard motors I have lying around. Just deciding if I want to use one of these or the kit supplied motor. To be fair there is nothing wrong with the kit motor I just want to see if I may want to keep it for something else in the future. It was decided to use the kit supplied motor.



Well that's it for now. Thanks for looking.

[Jagewa]

Hmmm is there a pattern there?

Ya think????

I think you have a box fettish..

[Jagewa]

Well done, that dash looks very 70's ish to me, reminds me of my Holden.

Cheers
Jim

[Dirkpitt289]

Well done, that dash looks very 70's ish to me, reminds me of my Holden.

Cheers
Jim

A Holden? Wasn't that the "Other" car in Mad Max? The one the KnightRider stole?

[Jagewa]

Yeah, mine was an older model though, a HT Kingswood (four door), put a 253cu in V8 in it, when the little 6 cyliinder went bang. I didn't change the diff and the spider gears used to eat themselves regularly I think the Mad Max one was a HQ Monaro two door, probably the 308 cu in V8. All baby V8's compared to your Detroit big irons.