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I recently bought one of my (many) childhood dream cars: a 2002 Porsche Boxster 2.7 manual. They say to never meet your heroes, but in this case it’s as amazing to drive as I’d hoped! Naturally, I had to build a model to match my real car. I started with the original issue Revell/Monogram SnapTite kit. For fun, I built it unpainted to see how it would look if I’d built it as a kid in the late ‘90s. It definitely looks like a toy and not realistic at all. It’s a very basic snap kit but the fit up is excellent and I think they captured the shape and proportions of the real car nicely. I painted the body Tamiya TS-8 Italian Red over their pink primer, which looks pretty close to classic Guards Red to me. The kit’s Turbo-Look wheels are different than my later car’s wheels but they’re close enough so I left them as is. It’s amazing how some paint and simple detail work can really set off a basic snap kit. Hood crest decal came from eBay. Kit only comes with a terrible set of stickers. Two late ‘90s Revell snap based kits of German subjects. Both come alive with a little detail work! The Boxster joins my builds of my former 1:1 fun cars. I wish I could have kept them all, but the sale of each one funds the next!

Re: kit 4463. I like how Revell assumes everyone knows what the engine, and the carbs are, and I don't know what I'm doing or know anything about Fords. Building version B with the 3 carb setup. If I knew the carb brand and model #, I can search for pictures. If you have done the carb linkage, fuel line, please post pictures. I assume there is a system where there is a cable from the gas pedal to the engine, then there are linkage rods and photo-etch parts to drive me crazy with. Regarding the fuel pump, the kit has a non-stock looking fuel tank, I know my Chevy pickup has the fuel line going through a big hole, so is there an electric pump in there? Or is there a mechanical pump on the engine? All I really want to do is fab a clear glass bowl filter for the firewall, but need to be realistic about what is at each end. I also should know what the engine is, I know hot rodders put Chevy SB in, should be accurate on the firing order for the spark plug wires. Might as well ask about the transmission too. Looks like an automatic, only two pedals. Dare I ask about linkage from the shifter to the transmission?

Another recent completion, didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked, but it looks good on the shelf. Thanks for looking.

I really enjoyed this kit. Only painted a very few details, had to glue a few small parts but overall the snap kit name applies. I would not recommend it for a novice as there are a lot of small (read tiny) parts easily lost. Finished it in 3 days. Comments welcome, thanks for looking.

I had this kit on eBay for over a year at $10 + shipping, no bites. So I decided to build it, the last completion of the year. Tamiya TS-24 Purple. It's pretty simple, low parts count but everything fit well except the hood is a little warped. Comments welcome, thanks for looking.

Finished this one Christmas morning. Used tamiya pearl green, wheels are from the Lindberg 66 chevelle kit ( these hubcaps were actually an option on 67-69 Camaros ) and amt parts pack red line tires. Nice kit, builds up well. As always, thanks for looking.

I see now and then people who hasn't followed or even read the instructions on how to mount the tires on the rear wheels on the Revell Peterbilt 359 and Kenworth W900 Aerodyne snap kits. If you do it wrong it looks horrible and if you do it right it looks a lot better...not perfect as these wheels are way too shallow to be realistic...but it is what it is. Here is how you are supposed to do it, the wheel rim goes inside the tire so the outermost lip on the rim is inside the tire, so the rims are not only pushed through the tire like on most of the kits, if you do the outermost lip on the rim shows and it shouldn't. Here is a blown up picture from the instructions on how to do it. And here is how it should look if you have done it right. And if it looks like this you have done it wrong. The right way looks a lot better, doesn't it. Easy as pie. The pictures are not mine except for the blown up instruction picture, the others are borrowed from a couple of threads on this forum.

I thought it was a good idea at the time. Boy did I learn. Building 2 of the same car at the same time is not for me. There wasn't any real problems, it was just too tedious for my liking. I ended um building them both close to box stock. I did swap out the intakes and carbs for something out of the parts box. I painted the front sway bars different. One got a red one, the other yellow. The RS has black headers and the standard gold has white headers. The RS has Goodyears the other has Michelins. Both have black interior trimmed with chrome and simulated wood. I only had one side mirror so the gold car has one from the parts box. Both cars are trimmed out with my home brew of BMF. During the builds, I ran out of my usual Testors flat black. So I hopped over to the hobby shop and they were out. I thought I'd give the acrylics a go so I bought flat black, flat white, gloss yellow, gloss red, gloss brown and gloss white. the steering wheels are painted with the brown. I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I hope you like them. Thanks for looking

Last night, the idea for this fade paint scheme popped into head. Just sprayed it minutes ago.

Here is my Revell 1930 Ford Model A Coupé. It is essentially straight from the box, and it's sort of a mix (marking wise) between a WWII US Army tank & a USAAF fighter bomber (P-47D?). Color is Tamiya AS-14 USAF Olive Green. Interior is Dupli-Color Aluminum.

This is just the very beginning stages but you gotta start somewhere. A slight touch with the Dremel and some light sanding with an emery board then a little dab of Tamiya filler Putty and the side scoops are a thing of the past. I'll let that dry overnight. Next I'll have to make a Ram Air Air cleaner. For this I was able to trim the bottom half if the shaker scoop and the top half of an extra Deserter Air cleaner. The rally lls are soaking in Mr. Clean as they way too shiny chrome and need to be painted Argent. Revell did a pretty good job on these also. You just need a little paint detailing work. The Firestone Wide Ovals are really nice. I think I might just keep the front spoiler and the wheel well pices. I know the y were specific to the T/A , but I kinda like the look of those. The same for the engine turned instrument panel applique. I always liked the look of that over the boring, wood grain of the Formula. They give you a nice decal for that.

First stage of painting on BM Camaro is done. I shot the auto-touch up white yesterday and the MCW rally green today. Plans call for installing the decals then clearing it with some Tamiya TS-13. Thanks for looking all comments welcomed.

After watching it collect dust on the shelf at the local hobby store for several years, I finally bought the Hemicuda. The Dodge 426 I built a little while ago. (These are die-cast and plastic kits.) The fuel linkages from the fuel pump to the carbs required a lot of work. I used hot water baths and a hair dryer to bend them and shape them so they would fit around the other components and meet up properly. Each is a little different in that regard. The spark plug wiring on the Dodge 426 is correct, but I took some liberties on the Hemicuda as some of the wires were just not long enough to fit on the distributor properly. The Hemicuda’s power steering pump didn’t fit very snugly, so I glued a thin strip of sheet plastic around the mounting post and then sanded that down until the fit was snug. On the Dodge 426, I didn’t really get the angle and fit of the choke control body correct, as I had to fudge it in order to get the choke control tube to line up. I fixed that issue on the Hemicuda by extending the attachment post on the choke by gluing on a piece of styrene rod of the same diameter. There were four types of screws (which I believe were self-tapping) supplied to join the die-cast parts, and most of them proved very difficult to get in. Overall though, very neat looking (and heavy) kits when finished!

A fantastic looking race car but I found the suggested yellow livery a bit boring - even if it is traditional. So I had some custom decals printed at Indycals and made up my own livery based on the colours of Ryobi Power Tools - including some Porsche Peridot Green metallic paint I had left over from a Cayman build. The kit is OK. Some grinding was involved to get it all to sit together properly. It's well detailed in some places (engine, interior) and entirely lacking in others (suspension, poseable wheels).

Makiing good use of some time off. This is Revell's 1/24 Sunoco Camaro that Ron Fellows drove in the 1996 Trans Am season. This kit was on and off my workbench several times mostly waiting for paint to cure. The flourescent yellow is Testors 1177 Neon Yellow airbrushed over white. The blue is Mr Color #322 (70%), Mr Color #328 (30%). This was done to match a diexcast in my collection which turned out to be a kind of mistake. You will see why. I chose to paint most of the yellow even though it was represented as decals. The large area on the roof was sure to wrinkle and the nose had to be painted anyway. I used a latex clear over the flourescent because it changes the color very little but takes 2 months to cure. The rest of the details are captioned under the pictures. Thanks for looking. The chassis was very detailed for a domestic kit. I added a few touches here and there but mostly it is detail painting. Getting all the pieces to sit right in the interior proved to be a challenge. Not my first time doing this chassis but it was still fussy. Body is three pieces and required several (10) small locator pins for it to sit right on the chassis. You can see three of them at the very bottom of the body. I always like this rear three quarter view. Note the chrome exhaust tips. This was cut from a radio antenna. A good source for chrome tubing of different sizes. I went way out of my way to obtain this GMP 1/18 diecast of the same car. Only to discover they got the yellow all wrong. I am seriously considering masking and spraying it.

I want to covert the 78 GMC truck to a 2WD and lower it. Any suggestions on what kits provide the best chassis and/or suspension to do this?

Here’s my build of Revell’s New Beetle! This kit is from the 2000 “Complete” glue issue that included paint (silver, gray, flat black), a brush and glue. After 20-odd years the glue was no good, but the paint was surprisingly ok. The kit was molded in blue and black, I guess with the idea that you’d leave the body in bare plastic and paint the details. The body had a lot of scratches and mold seams so I definitely couldn’t leave it bare. I painted the body in Krylon “True Blue” with a coat of Pledge floor Gloss, and the gray part of the interior is Tamiya primer. I left the black suspension, interior and trim parts in the bare black plastic. Swiss license plates came from my decal stash, I believe from the Italieri G-Wagen. It’s a simple curbside kit for sure but it builds up to a decently detailed model! The kit fits together perfectly and no warping issues. This is a great slump-busting kit, and would be perfect for a kid’s first glue and paint build.

Finished up my take on the Revell Corvette C7R. This one is done to replicate the #4 C7R ran at the 2019 Sahlens Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Unfortanently, the #4 car didn't make it more than 4 turns on lap 1 before being turned by an RSR... The build - Started with the Revell C7R kit - arguably one of the most frustrating builds I've had in some time!! This kit is borderline terrible in fit and finish. A LOT of test fitting and sanding / cutting, followed by more of the same. Thankfully I was able to glean some tips from those of you that came before me! Used the Classic Racing Resins C7R upgrade kit that upgrades the nose, rocker panels, wing, and rear diffuser. Fit and finish of the resin parts was okay, a fair amount of sanding and profiling had them looking decent. Cutting the nose and diffuser was pretty straight forward and a decent fit. Required some body filler to get the high/low but otherwise fairly pleased with them. The clear pieces on this kit were a royal challenge... ended up cutting all windows and headlights apart and fitting individually. A Dremel with a thin cutting wheel works great for this. Gravity Colors USA paint was used and dressed with Indycals and few customs I made to directly replicate the 2019 Sahlens Six Hours livery. Wheels and brakes are KMP-Scale Modeling which I feel really dress up the car and add realism to the kit. Thanks for looking! Inspiration: IMSA 2019 Sahlens Six hours of The Glen, #4 Corvette Racing C7R.

Happy spring to all,,just finished this up,,its actually 3 large scale Revell kits in one. Started with glue blob 1/2 assembled bag of parts from the swap meets. The Revell large scale police bike,circa mid to late 70's for the motor and frame,back wheel. And then I used some leftover parts from the large scale Triumph chopper kits for drive box,,rear fender + oil + battery box,, And drag style seat. Front springer ++ handlebars are from the large scale snap harley kit from the 1990's. Front wheel is from one of the ol Revell drag bike kits as is the speedometer+light. Scratch built the rear grab bar + and plate/rear light setup. Sprayed rattlecan testors orange,,hand painted everything else. Decent results from glueblob bag for 5 $ Thnx for lookin.

Going through a stack of old issues of the fantastic Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette, I came upon this review.

2 old builts from the mid 80's (pictures taken in 2020,beforse selling them off): The notorious F-100/1956 (Revell kit) is from the 1983 "Street Demons" series and could not be built stock - I discarded the ugly 2-piece plastic wheels and replaced them with Monogram's 56 T-Bird units. The interior is also customized - this kit gave me hard times: fitment was very bad, especially in the windshield/firewall/hood and the interior footwell/floor area - horrible (noticeable gaps everywhere) ! Decals are from amt's Pete Wrecker, color is car laquer sprayed from the can: The other one is amt's famous 1953 F-100 kit: I wanted it to look like a typical (?) late 50's custom so I used as many of those ugly custom parts (which were included in the kit) as I could stand; auto laquer from the spray-can, whitewalls are brushed with Humbrol matt white enamel - trim Humbrol silver, bare metal foil for the rails in the bed - this was the final result:

Following James breaking the news on this kit at the IPMS show, found here...: I figured there'd be enough interest in this kit to merit a topic of it own. All pics found here: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10807406

Here’s my latest project: The recent release of Revell’s custom Chevy van! I started off by stripping the chrome from the front fascia/grille, scribing the door gaps, gluing together all of the subassemblies and prepping them for primer. This build is going to be box stock with minimal engine and chassis detailing. Partly because there’s not much detail in these areas to begin with, but mostly because these 70s vans are all about the body, paint, and interior. So that’s where I’m going to focus my attention. I glued the hood shut to simplify the painting process and since you can’t really see the engine anyway. After stripping the chrome from the grille, I glued that in place along with the front air dam. I added some scrap sprue behind the air dam, in the corners to help reinforce the front end. Since the roof is removable, I glued the rear doors shut. The body is very flimsy if you don’t do this, plus it will help with my planned two tone paint job. The body will be painted Testors’ Purple-licious with Tamiya TS-30 Silver Leaf as the secondary tone. My plan is to do the “Stardust Express” graphics, so the top half will be purple and the bottom will be silver. I think I’ll do the fender flares in purple too to accentuate them. The interior is going to be various shades of gray, with the quilted vinyl wall panels and seats in metallic purple. Plus tons of brown wood grain. The bed spread will be orange to tie in with the orange in the graphics. The elephant in the room: this kit has two piece rubber tires. Everyone on this forum has been complaining about these since the kit was announced. In my experience, they’re not *that* bad 😂. I used Gorilla brand super glue and they seem to be holding together. There’s definitely a raised ridge at the seam, so I’ll try sanding them down. They definitely won’t win you an award, but they’re *fine* for a shelf model. I don’t have anything else that fits and I’m not interested in paying for aftermarket tires so they will have to do. Here’s everything in primer so far. I’m using Tamiya’s pink primer under the purple. It’s my first time using it so we'll see how it looks! Once everything cures, I’ll tape off the portions of the interior that will remain gray primer and hit the body and wall panels in pink. The body is definitely going to need some further work to blend the air dam, and the mold separation lines at the fenders and rear corners are pretty bad. Thanks for following along! Feel free to share any tips, suggestions or ideas!

Here’s my finished ‘76 Chevy van custom from Revell! I have a WIP posted under the Workbench if you’re interested. Built box stock with Testors Extreme Lacquer Purple-Licious on the body, with two coats of Wet Look clear and two coats of Pledge Floor Gloss. Interior is the same purple for the upholstery, and Tamiya gray primer and various acrylics for the details. This is a fun kit that goes together well!

Kitbash of the classic Monogram Ferrari 275P curbside/slot-car, a 1990 reissue of the 1964 kit, and the Revell 360 Modena Spyder that is sort of a curbside since the hood did not open, but had a window over the engine. Work In Progress I found the 275P at a Phoenix model swap last month, then saw the Modena and it was crazy time. Started Tax Day with a mock up, started butchering on the 18th, worked like a dog until the 3rd at Noon, just before heading up to GSL, 132 hours. I did rush it, could have spent a couple of weeks sanding and polishing, and it would probably would have ended up in the box like a few other projects. I just wanted something different than the typical super dooper shiny muscle car on the table. I didn't have time to write a build document, but had this for the description: Blasphemous and sacrilegious kitbash of a historic Ferrari race car that won Le Mans two years in a row, and another Ferrari that only has a 3586 cc 395 HP V8. Story is, this car was found in a chicken coop somewhere in Venezuela, missing the 3285cc 320 HP V12 engine and transmission, the aluminum tub was badly corroded from chicken poop. The Modena was bought at a tax auction, it was rolled by the drug dealer during a police chase. Built by a shop wanting to do a reality TV show, but never got funding because it’s just a Ferrari and not an American muscle car. Some of these pictures were taken at Page on the way home.