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Double Survivor Resto: TWO MPC '68 GTOs


Snake45

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Note: These models are finished, and so Under Glass, but there will be a few WIP/Workbench pics in this thread. Decided they weren't really worth a separate Workbench thread by themselves.

#1: I built this in 1968 or maybe even late ’67, in my preferred “street rat” style of the day (jacked up rear end with slicks on black open wheels—I built quite a few models that way then). I believe the paint was candy blue over Pactra light green metallic, but I don’t remember if the paint was AMT Candy Oriental Blue or Testor Candy Blue. Might have even been Pactra’s candy blue, I dunno.  The paint wasn’t perfect, with a couple nasty runs, but I always kinda liked the color.

The decades hadn’t been kind to it. There was some damage to the paint from being stored in a box with other cars sitting on top of it a couple deep, and there were a couple chips. I really should strip and rebuild it, but it’s more valuable to me as a relic of my youth, so, time for a cleanup and refurb.

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOA04_zpsharenl1d.jpg.html][/URL]

Broke it down to its component parts and cleaned everything with dishwashing soap and a large, soft paintbrush. Some minor scratches were polished out of the glass with Walmart Trim nail sticks, a pain-free 15 minute job. The black and white interior was basically okay, so I left it alone. Apparently I’d brush-painted the chassis with Pactra Flat Black and there were some thin spots, so I gave the whole chassis a squirt of Krylon Satin Black. Cleaned the tires and sanded the treads, and touched up the gray on the front wheels (Torq-Thrusts from the AMT ’55 Nomad, IIRC). I lowered the rear end about two or three scale inches from the original nosebleed stance. Redid the windshield and backlight trim in silver Sharpie, another easy 10-minute job. Repainted the rear marker lights with Model Master Clear Red Acryl, and Silver Sharpied the lower body and wheel opening moldings.

I discovered that a blue Sharpie did a lovely job touching up the small nicks in the candy blue paint, although in some lights this gives off a little bit of a purplish hue. Touched up a rather large chip on the passenger door with Testor #10 blue. Put it all back together.

It’s not perfect, of course, but it now looks almost as good as it did when I first finished it.  It’s ready for another four decades on the shelf.

 [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOA06_zpszulzwlc2.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOA08_zps8mftowfh.jpg.html][/URL]

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 #2: Bought this one from Hobby Heaven in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s for, IIRC, $18 or $20. I originally planned to strip it and completely rebuild it in Verdoro Green, but when it came, I was struck with the very clean, shiny solid blue paint. I wonder if the original builder and I had been inspired by the same magazine photo or ad, as we both did blue GTOs with nonstandard wheels and oversized rear tires. Didn't care much for his wheel/tire choice, though—some kind of wire wheels, with what looks like large snow tires out back. His chrome trim technique was interesting, too—he simply scraped the blue paint away around all the windows, including the side windows and drip rails, and the front fender emblems. And then, for some reason, brush-painted the fake hood scoops with some kind of silver paint. Still, that blue paint is kinda pretty...and MUCH cleaner than mine.

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOB03_zpsstu8uynm.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOB04_zpsv0uhsul4.jpg.html][/URL]

 

Here's a shot of both GTOs broken down for detail cleaning, before rebuild.

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68MPCGTOs03_zpssrk4hwyl.jpg.html][/URL]

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Couldn't live with that silver on the hood scoops. Thought of trying to remove it with rubbing alcohol, but a test on an underside area of the body showed that rubbing alcohol would probably remove some of the nice blue paint as well. I'd have to paint over it. Searching through the Snakepit, I found a new bottle of Model Master Blue Angel Blue, which seemed darn close. I laboriously and tediously masked off the hood scoops, and, while I was at it, the lower window edges, too, as I thought those would be hard to hand-brush and get to look good. This pic after airbrushing shows the masking involved.

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOB08_zpsk4e8bg3e.jpg.html][/URL]


 

The Blue Angel Blue was pretty close, but I decided I needed something even closer for the rest of the necessary body touchup work. Got a bottle of Testor #10 Blue, which turned out to be a near-perfect match. I wish I'd shot the airbrushed areas with that too, but I wasn't going to re-do all that again, so, ah shucks oh well.

The OB had done a lower body pinstripe with thin white tape, which wasn't in too good shape anymore. This all had to be carefully removed with an Xacto knife and razor blade, leaving a few minor spots that needed to be touched up with the #10 blue.

I polished all glass, which fortunately hadn't been glued in. The interior at first looked like it had a nice coat of a very glossy rattlecan black (as did the chassis), but a closer examination showed it had actually been brushed! Impressive as the work was, I couldn't live with it. The interior and chassis both got a quick squirt of Krylon Satin Black.

The wire wheels had to go—the snow tires had vinyl-damaged the rear ones anyway. Decided to go with the Cragars from an AMT '72 Nova. Front tires are the original MPC Goodyear Wide Ovals from the kit (man I wish I had about three dozen sets of those wonderful tires) and the rears are a set of vintage vinyl slicks from my old-school parts stash. The rear was raised slightly to accommodate the latter.

Back at the body, I touched up tiny spots here and there with the #10 blue (including the side window drip rails) and used a Silver Sharpie for the front and rear window trim and wheel opening moldings. The lower body rocker moldings were done with Walmart aluminum tape (fast, easy, cheap—what's not to like?). I detailed the taillights with black and white paint, and touched up the worn-away chrome on the rear bumper. Painted the turn signals and side marker lights, and detailed the grille with Black Chrome Trim and Testor Steel paint.

Probably could have done more, but that's “good enough for now.” Maybe sometime in the future the mood will strike me to do another round of upgrades, but here's what it looks like now. I like to think that the Original Builder, whoever he is, would be pleased with my efforts. What do you think?

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOB12_zpsfug16hsw.jpg.html][/URL]

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[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68GTOB20_zpsrrlfp43v.jpg.html][/URL]

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And here's a few shots of my “separated at birth” survivor GTOs together. In this case, photos lie: In real life, the second GTO (in the foreground, with Cragars) is actually a bit darker than mine, not lighter. It's really a nice shade of Royal Blue, but I lightened the pics a little bit to highlight more detail. Kinda cool together, huh?

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68MPCGTOs06_zpsfu1jfxbr.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68MPCGTOs08_zpslfgrglns.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Snake45/media/Model%20Cars/GTOs/68MPCGTOs10_zpsuhqzidgl.jpg.html][/URL]

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Very nice!!!! When I was a kid in the 6th grade, I got a '68 GTO as part of my Xmas haul. Unfortunately, it never got built, due to it had a melted front end, which was un-repairable. Fast forward forty years, I was able to get a couple of builders off of Ebay, and one of the various NNLs I attended. I built one, which is Dark Blue, with a Blue Vinyl Roof, and a White Interior. I have a second one that I am going to build as a replica of a friend's one to one.

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This is soooo Cool!!!

Both look like little time capsules. I think you did the right thing by not doing full rebuilds on them.

 

Thanks for that. I know there are some here like Ron (and, truth to tell, like ME most of the time) who wouldn't have thought twice about stripping both of these back to bare plastic and doing complete ground-up rebuilds. And there's at least one fellow here--I forget who, exactly-- who would have just cleaned and "preserved" them as-is, as part of history. Neither was quite special or well-built enough for that, IMHO. I tried to preserve as much of the "original spirit" of each as best I could, while still ending up with something that I wouldn't be ashamed to share with other modelers.

I've got a couple of eBay survivor Corvettes I'm hoping to be able to do pretty much the same thing with. They're not exactly the way I'd build them now, but they're kind of "too nice" to strip out and lose the period vibe forever. We'll see what works out....

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These look great Snake, really like the colours on them so good on you for leaving them alone, Do you use flash when you take your photos ?, Id like to see the colours without flash.

I nearly picked up a 68 the other day but missed out, and they are very rare to pick up over here.

 

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These look great Snake, really like the colours on them so good on you for leaving them alone, Do you use flash when you take your photos ?, Id like to see the colours without flash.

I nearly picked up a 68 the other day but missed out, and they are very rare to pick up over here.

 

I'll try to remember to get some outside photos, next time I'm shooting outdoors.

The original MPC '68s are pretty rare, but Monogram did a 1/24 '68 that's pretty common and cheap. It's not 100% accurate, being based on their earlier '69, but it doesn't look half bad when done.

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