A Model Dose... Monday 1/12/2026

My apologies once again as it has been quite some time since I last posted a "Model Dose" - to be honest I kind of lost interest in keeping up with the task. I've been posting photos in one form or another pretty consistently on this forum since I purchased my 1st camera in late 2011. Lately, not so much.

It's for two reasons that I've stopped posting here, the 1st is that I let life get in the way and I've used the excuse of being too busy to keep me from posting. The 2nd is that since I don't really collect this scale anymore, I've sort of stopped paying attention to these models and spending time with them in this scale. I haven't taken any new photos in quite a while. Now with that, I still have a decent number of old photos in my archives that have never seen the light of day - some of them are below my standards and will probably never be posted, while others just need a little extra refinement.

So, this takes me to today's post. The diorama seen in this group was labeled "A Desert Oasis" when I built it in 2012 at my old house in Canton, MI. The next-door neighbor had planted a tree in the corner of his yard the year before I moved in. The home-owners association never approved the tree because of the type it was (although I'm don't remember now what kind) anyway they told him he had to remove it, but he never did and they didn't follow thru. He moved out about six months after I moved in, and nothing happened with the tree. It grew fast and was always a bothersome nuisance. A ton of leaves, twigs that fell constantly and these annoying little seed pods. I really hated that tree. About ten years or so after it was planted, the tree was already 20-30 ft tall and started growing big roots that popped out above the ground in many places. In these photos, you can see two of those roots in the background. That summer, since these were in my yard and lawn maintenance was becoming a problem because of their size, the grass wouldn't grow well and cutting the lawn became a chore. I decided to dig around them and cut them out. One afternoon as I dug the hole, inspiration struck. With the exposed roots and dirt, it looked like a kind of an oasis type setting. I lined the hole with some plastic and covered the edges with mulch and rock. I filled the hole with more rocks to hide the plastic and then filled it with water. I dressed up the area with more mulch, red lava rocks and twigs along with some fake little trees that completed the effect, at least to my eyes. I ended up keeping that diorama setting for a couple of weeks, covering it at night and draining the water and adding fresh as needed for each photo shoot. Eventually, I did get around to digging out the roots leveling the ground and replanting grass, although those roots did play a part in several other dioramas prior to this final one. 

Now for the model. Issued by the Franklin Mint, the Shelby-Mustang GT-350H Hurst Editions were issued in four colors. The model was a reissue/rework of the original GT-350 Shelby-Mustang that was released in 1998. All four colors came with gold stripes and accents. The 1st was Raven Black in 2006 (seen here), in 2007 were Wimbledon White and Sapphire Blue (which I don't have) and Signal Flame Red in 2008. All of these had gold stripes and accents like the 1:1 Hurst Editions. The final model of the Shelby-Mustang was issued in 2009 and was in Sapphire Blue w/white stripes and accents. it was not a Hurst Edition, but a standard GT350, I got this one and skipped the Hurst Edition in the same Sapphire Blue.  I recently did an eBay search for these models thinking that I might complete the set with the Sapphire Blue/Gold that I skipped years ago. What I found were prices considerably higher than the average of $100 I had spent for each in 2011. I will pass on the blue one once again, LOL!

1966 Ford Shelby-Mustang GT-500H 2+2 Fastback Coupe in Raven Black w/Gold Stripes. a LE #3103 of 9900

Thanks for looking.