Plastic model building for adults

AR Bodies Metric Muscle Car Mustang

To say I was impressed with the AR Bodies Mustang kit is an understatement. The kit arrived to my door in 3 days from placing the order for the $2995 Master Kit. The panel finish is excellent and the kit contained everything needed for the body including all panels, polycarbonate windows, pre-bent bumpers and the spoiler. Just like a giant model car kit that substitutes rivets for glue

The big cut

Any modern body is likely to require a modification to an older late model chassis in the greenhouse area. The halo and A pillar bars were cut out with a saws-all in about 20 minutes and the stubs cleaned up with a 4” grinder. Looks daunting but it really isn’t as big a deal as you might think initially……

First job was to lower the chassis to the 4” ride height referenced in the dimensions. We used aluminum blocks. A centerline front to rear should be marked on the floor with chalkline. The rear and front axle centerlines should also be marked perpendicular to the main centerline. These will be reference points used throughout.

sit the roof on the main hoop and temporarily secure it in place. This is where you work out that enough clamps is actually not enough clamps. We used Cleko clamps to secure the laser cut aluminum rear roof support which comes with the kit.

The pre-drilled front screen was held in pace to mark the fastener holes. these were then drilled out to 1/8” and Clekos used to secure the laser cut front roof support

The rear bumper cover halves were clamped together and adjusted for a perfect fit before drilling 3/16” holes and temporarily securing with rivets. We then installed the rivets with a rivet washer on the back side to prevent them pulling through the fiberglass. This is where you start to wonder if those pneumatic rivet guns are worth a damn.

The quarter panels have a scribed line to trim the rear section to which was done with a hand saw. The quarters were then clamped cleko’d to the bumper cover

I purchased laser cut aluminum quarter panel supports which were cleko’d to the quarters. These allow an attachment point for support rods and prevent disturbed air behind the rear wheels from buffeting the panels

Once clamped to the roof flange the quarter panels were riveted to the bumper cover

Next up the doors were hung and secured with Clekos along with the rear lower window support panel

The front lower window support panel was cleko’d in next. Then the entire body adjusted to the dimensions provided and clamped in place. From this point the clekos were replaced with rivets……once I’d been to Northern Tool to buy an $80 pneumatic rivet gun (how I didn’t own one of these long ago is a mystery)

So what did we learn:

• Buy a pneumatic rivet gun and at least 12-16 clamps

• Dont try to temporarily secure panels to the chassis, they need to move to allow other panels to be fitted properly

• build the entire body from the firewall back to the bumper cover off the chassis then fit it to the chassis. i think I would leave it Cleko’d but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

• used some aluminum square tube clamped to the main hoop and then to the door panels to allow the body to be set to the right height and centerline. (see pic). do the same at the near the A pillar.

• Make sure you have some good friends to help

In short, so far installing a body is not a giant pain in the ass or difficult. It’s actually pretty cool fun and is a series of pretty easy small jobs.