Dirty Dave

Yeah, that's how I remember it. Very cool.

I will check it out. I have always liked the look of the aluminum hub carriers on the 1:1 Thunderbird rear suspensions, BTW. I'm using a resin 2JZ with tubular headers, bigger turbos and a fabricated intake, so not too worried about having to re-plumb everything. Yeah, this car will be ground-scraping, tire stretching tuner style. Concept and mock-up:

Well, the other reason that I want to use an independent rear end is to get the all important negative camber tilt to the rear tires. It's a look, right? I did take a quick shot of the 2JZ living in the Pacer's cavernous engine bay, though.

The 2JZ engine has a really nice six-speed molded to the back of it, and it all fits so nicely under the Pacer floorboards/chassis that I'd kind of hate to remove it just to accommodate a transaxle that I also don't have room for under the rear floorboards. Viper could be a viable donor, from what I remember of building the AMT version way back when it came out.

I'm building a canyon-carving Pacer wagon, and a live axle with parallel leaf springs just doesn't seem to go with the theme of the rest of the build so far. Does anybody have any suggestions as far as modern, mid-sized independent rear suspensions are concerned? I was thinking perhaps a Revell Challenger or Charger may be a viable donor, or perhaps a Camaro or latest generation Mustang. Has anybody built any of these that can speak as to the quality of these rear suspension sub-assemblies, and how easily they can or cannot be separated from their associated chassis? I'm not looking for a street rod style rear end, and I think I'd have to go too far back to find an available Corvette kit that didn't incorporate a transaxle. Edit: I'm using a Toyota 2JZ-GTE for power, so if there's a European or Japanese subject that has a decent rear suspension to adapt, I'm down for that, too.

That's the first time that I've seen an RWB car without a whale tail of some sort. Interesting.

I have been working on one of the old Revell snap kits for a bit...

That's more than a little awesome.

All of them... until I finish one, and then... all of them. Even if I haven't opened the box in ten years, I'm still working on it... in my mind.

That's kind of a personal subject for a model building board, isn't it? A quick Google image search for "big rig underslung genset unit" revealed several photos and links.

Shalavette and Berry Mini-T

According to the agent for the purchaser at the auction, the plan at the time of purchase was to retain the Watson paint, but to back-date the rest of the car to somewhere just prior to the time of that repaint. Being that there are already a couple of fairly faithful reproductions of the Kookie Car in it's TV-era form, there's less need to try to take the actual car back to that point, and instead preserve what original bits remain, ditching the pipes, superchargers, headrests, etc.

So far, I've just laid down the rusty base. I have yet to start putting the "paint" over the top.

Great job! Taking a little inspiration from you on a diecast I'm customizing right now.

If you want a real eye-grabber, try pretty much any of the Monogram Model A bodies over the chassis from the Lil' Coffin. It's amazing how well that chassis sets the correct stance for a late '50s/early '60s hot rod.

There are some really good video-podcasts on YouTube - the Aforementioned "The Smoking Tire" and "Still Untitled - The Adam Savage Project" among my favorites. I think that a round table discussion on modelbuilding would be best done in a video streaming format, as this allows the opportunity to zoom in on processes as they are performed, fingers as they inevitably bleed from hobby knife intrusions, and showing off kits and supplies. I've been thinking recently that getting four builders together (two of them would likely be hosts, while the others would be guest builders), all of them sitting around a table, working on projects as they discuss the hobby, recent or upcoming shows, newly-completed builds, or getting assistance from the other builders with a technique that they're stuck on, would be a great way to illustrate both the hands-on and social aspects of the hobby, all at once. There are a few Gundam builders streaming regularly on Twitch, and I'm sure some doing the same via YouTube or via FB Live. In fact, if you go on Facebook, check out Lincoln Wright's Paint on Plastic for a great modelbuilding/painting series of videos and live streams.

I like it. Look forward to seeing it all put together.

Cool.

Being that "good" is subjective, and you have indicated a neither a scale nor a subject/genre preference, I wouldn't expect too many useful answers. You'd probably be better off perusing the specific sub-board for all things diecast and resin: DieCast and Resin Kits

That half-split rear window is genius. Watching.

My personal classic Datsun is being rebuilt with a decidedly USDM look.

I say go for the 1:18 wheels, and if anybody says anything, tell them you built it in the style of a Keith Weesner illustration.

The renderings on the side of the box look like Camel yellow to me, but the box top illustration appears less orange-y then Camel. Hard to tell from a photograph of a box, though. Probably best to find some reference of the real car, if that's what you want to replicate. Edit: I went and looked at more photos of the real thing. TS-47 Chrome Yellow is probably the closest, followed closely by TS-16 Yellow.

Ahhh! The eternal struggle!

I like 'em all, but if I HAVE to choose, I'll probably go turtledeck.