Day 12

The GT model is just about finished! I waited until early evening before spray painting to avoid any potential problems with the decals. A small part in the front of the model bubbled up, but other than that, the clear coat went on smoothly and looks shiny! The decals stayed on, and this coat should protect them as well as the paint.

I waited 5 hours to ensure that this coat was completely dry, and then I removed all of the blue tape from the clear plastic, as well as the aluminum foil covering the wheels and tires. The memorial decal stayed in place, which was a relief!

Then I took the 4 fender shields, put glue on the end, and slid them into place (holding them there with the tweezers until the glue set). Sounds easy, but in reality, it was incredibly difficult and required a steady hand and a lot of patience.

The pieces took about 45 seconds before sticking enough to let go. Sometimes it took 4-5 tries before I could hold it steady that long. Eventually, I got all 4 pieces in place.

And then...a good friend was kind enough to point out that I had put these "mud flaps" on the wrong side of the wheels... So, I had to rip them off, cut open another plastic bottle, and attach these new fender guards to the correct side. A couple of them moved after being glued, and the front two had to be cut shorter. Other than that, they look good!

While doing this, I noticed that the rear stripe right over the license plate was coming off. This is confusing, because I had sprayed clear coat over the top and waited for it to completely dry before doing anything else.

Well, it is now finished. But before I show you the final result, here is the "real thing". These are a few pictures of Ralphie's GT. The first two are from the rally in Austin. The third one is at Yosemite, and although it does not yet have the Gurney bubble or decals, I find the GT and scenery absolutely breathtaking together!

Here is the finished GT model:

The final thing to do (which is more for fun than anything else as they are not to scale), is add a few butterflies to the front grille. Ralphie will be able to take these off when he gets it, but I thought that his seeing them would bring back nice memories and make him smile. :-)

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog! The Ford GT model is now finished and on its way to CA to join Ralphie for Christmas. Stay tuned for the next project, which will be designing and putting together a Ford GT baby quilt for a good friend who is having his first baby boy this February!!!