Fairlane Parts - Gather, Clean, and Mod  

1.  Start by cutting the following parts from the kit trees and clean up all parting lines.  Body, Hood, Front and Rear Seat, Dash, Radiator Support, Firewall, Frame, Rear Axle Halves, Leaf Springs, Transmission Mount, Inner Fenders, Front Springs, Spindles, Spring Mounts, and Interior Panels.

2.  Take the front seat and seat back....

3.  and glue them together.  Set the assembly aside to dry.  We'll come back to this and clean it up later.

4.  Grab the 2 halves to the rear axle...

5.  and glue them together.  Set aside to dry and clean up the assembly later.

6.  Now let's start cleaning up that body.  You'll need to remove the scripts from the rear 1/4 panels...

7.  the front wipers and the top chrome molding around the front glass.  This opens up the front glass for a more realistic appearance.  Consult your reference pictures and if the car you are building does not use the side glass go ahead and remove the vent window trim as well

8.  Remove the upper chrome trim from the rear window area as well.

9.  Remove the scripts from the trunk as well as the key lock.

10.  The cleaned up body...

11.  Consult your reference material again to determine where the fuel filler needs to go.  Here I've marked my location with a black Sharpie.

12.  I use an exacto knife to make my filler holes.  Simply use the knife in a drilling motion to bore a hole through the body.

13.  Go slow so you don't make the hole too large.  Clean up the edges on the inside as well as the outside of the body.

14.  Finished result....

15.  Go back to the reference material and determine how much material needs to be removed from the front and rear wheel openings.  I usually mark on the body how much to take away to eliminate any guesswork as you are sanding the material away.  I use a sanding drum at low speed on my Dremel for this task followed by some cleanup with the Exacto knife.

16.  Finished product on the left compared to a stock body on the right.

17.  Same for the front, finished product on the right, stock on the left.

18.  Go ahead and thin out the front fenders from the inside.  This is needed for clearance around the front tires.

19.  Also need to remove some of the material from the cowl area so the body sits down onto the finished chassis later on.

20.  Clean up the hood by removing the scripts up front and slapping some putty in to the GT hood recess'.

21.  Scripts are gone and waiting for the putty do dry so we can sand the hood flat.

22.  We're going to flip flop the interior side panels to make a gutted stock car.  Remove the window cranks and door handles from both side panels.  The one on the left shows what to remove, the one on the right has been modified.

23.  On the back side of the panels there is a raised lip at the top.  Remove this as well.  Again, marked one on the left and finished one on the right.

24.  Remove the bench part from the rear seat as well as the lip that runs down the sides of the seat.  At the top, remove the seat material so the top of the seat is flat and flush with the rear package shelf.

25.  Grab front seat that has been drying and trim off the raised portions around the sides...

26.  and on the back of the seat.  In both photos the seat on the left has already been cleaned up.

27.  Go ahead and add a bolster to the front seat if you want.

28.  Modify the dash so it fits around the roll bar we will be adding.  Dash at the top is marked to show the material to remove.  Dash on the bottom has been modified.

29.  Go ahead and remove the seat mount for the passenger side.  Before....

30.  and after.

31.  Hood all smoothed out and ready for primer and paint