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New! Improved! '69 Charger Glue Bomb Resto/Rescue New Pics 2/12


Snake45

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Last month at the local toy show, I bought (cheap) this sad-looking but intact and complete MPC '69 Charger apparently built at some point from a DOH reissue (orange plastic). It has the 500 rear window, hood and trunk pins, no body emblems, and no vents in the cowl (!). I thought it might might make a good, quick, easy “winter beater” or "barn find" project or something of the sort. For whatever reason, it just had to follow me home.

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I tore it apart and cleaned everything in dish soap. The paint was in better shape than I expected. There were a few scratches and scuffs, and a couple runs on the passenger side, but it still had some shine and I thought it might respond well to a LIGHT polish, which I did with water-diluted Wright's Silver Cream. The paint seemed to be very thin so I had to be careful. Looks like one coat of something—if the OB had used three coats, I could have polished it normally and gotten a showcar shine on the thing.

Interior had been spray-painted to about 90% coverage with a thin glossy black. I just shot the whole gut with one coat of Krylon Satin Black and drove on—no detailing whatsoever. I removed and polished the (tinted) glass, which miraculously hadn't been damaged by the half tube of glue that had been used to install it. When I went to reinstall it, I had to chisel great globs of the stuff out of the headliner to get the back window into something close to the right position. I could/should have used a Dremel, but didn't want to spend the time/effort for that at this time. It's a miracle that there was no glue-shrink warp damage to the exterior of the car from all the mess. I reinstalled the glass with Tacky Glue for easy future removal.

I detailed the grille with flat black and Testor Steel paint, and Silver-Sharpied the window trim and door handles. Cut the license plate off the front bumper and reinstalled it at the rear. I didn't put too much effort into the rear of the car, as it's all pretty hopeless back there, and I had a LOT of trouble reinstalling the rear bumper (which came loose in the plastic bag the model came in). Ah shucks oh well.

The only parts I replaced were the front wheels. As you can see, the left front dish mag was ruined, so I replaced both with a pair of odd, mismatched Keystone Klassic Kustomags in my spares, the theory being, they don't have to match 'cause you can't see both sides at the same time anyway. I reused the given rear wheels, but since I don't care for 4-slot mags, I painted the centers black to disguise the fact. I reused all four tires after sanding the treads.

I'm fairly pleased with the finished project, for the five or six hours and couple dollars I have in it. It's a build style I call “Somewhere Between Day 2 and Joe Dirt” (expressed mathematically as D2>X>JD) and could represent a mid-to-late-'70s driver. It actually looks like something I would/could have built around 1968.

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Speaking of 1968, here it is alongside my genuine Surivior MPC '68 Charger, which I actually did build in 1968. I recently blew it apart and cleaned it up, but decided that the original candy blue paint was in such bad shape that it wasn't worth a full restoration/refurb. It'll stay as it is, a relic of my youth.

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Comments welcome, and Model On, everyone!B)

Edited by Snake45
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2 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Turned out really nice!

I need to look more closely when I see these built "junk" kits are garage sales and stuff. You've proved they can be easily turned into something shelf worthy!

 

 

Thanks. It takes what that Mike guy on the American Pickers show would call "a good eye." Not every glue bomb is a candidate for one of these quickie refurbs. You're looking for something complete, undamaged by breakage or glue, and with fairly decent paint. And, if it's a commonly available kit, CHEAP. There's no sense in spending a dime on anything that you'll have to paint-strip and repaint if you can go buy a complete, mint, unbuilt kit at Hobby Lobby for $15 or so. Now, if a subject is rare or long OOP,  that's a different game. Such a glue bomb is worth more money and more investment of time and effort. 

The other trick is, when you start on one of these projects, set your bar low and keep it low. To keep a project quick and cheap, forget any notion of turning it into an "A-build" showpiece. Personally, my goal is just to get it to look as good as something I might have built and been proud of when I was 14-16 years old. If something comes out better than that, I'm especially pleased. 

I hope I'm inspiring others to "rescue" some worthy glue bombs. I hate to see a savable model tossed in the trash. B)

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7 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Thanks. It takes what that Mike guy on the American Pickers show would call "a good eye." Not every glue bomb is a candidate for one of these quickie refurbs. You're looking for something complete, undamaged by breakage or glue, and with fairly decent paint. And, if it's a commonly available kit, CHEAP. There's no sense in spending a dime on anything that you'll have to paint-strip and repaint if you can go buy a complete, mint, unbuilt kit at Hobby Lobby for $15 or so. Now, if a subject is rare or long OOP,  that's a different game. Such a glue bomb is worth more money and more investment of time and effort. 

The other trick is, when you start on one of these projects, set your bar low and keep it low. To keep a project quick and cheap, forget any notion of turning it into an "A-build" showpiece. Personally, my goal is just to get it to look as good as something I might have built and been proud of when I was 14-16 years old. If something comes out better than that, I'm especially pleased. 

I hope I'm inspiring others to "rescue" some worthy glue bombs. I hate to see a savable model tossed in the trash. B)

......Ya' know, a couple hours more work could turn yet another corner here....personally, I don't restore or 'fix up' builds of other's,  but in the case of your Charger here, I would ditch those rear rims, they are horrible IMO, and pop on matching Keystone's so all 4 corner's look just boss,,, and totally of the era. Secondly, a quick blast of flat black on the area's that still expose the orange plastic could be done by popping it apart again, and maybe a quick dusting of flat black spray on the complete interior....then upon it drying, buff with a clean cloth to give the dash and seats that sheen appearance. Finally, you always seem to be a modeler that jump's right in on fix-and- repair, so mix up some hand paint that closely matches the car, and take a detail brush, filling in the door and trunk lines, and gently touch up the high spots on the body where the orange plastic has been rubbed off and is exposed....top it off by installing a nice decal of your liking on the rear plate, and your there.....bet all this is a one-two hour upgrade at best....just a thought....the Ace...;)

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12 hours ago, Hmann68 said:

I think it looks great! And no biggie about the mismatched wheels, my buddy and I drove to high school in the 80's in a 69 Charger RT with slotted mags on back and ralleyes up front lol! But she was fast! Yours looks tough

No, no--the front Keystones are mismatched left and right. I bought a baggie of four Keystones from a vendor, and when I got home and looked at them, they were four completely different wheels!. :angry: Finally realized that I could use them up on the fronts of projects like this, with opens or dish mags or something on the rear, because you can't see both sides at the same time anyway. B)

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2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

No, no--the front Keystones are mismatched left and right. I bought a baggie of four Keystones from a vendor, and when I got home and looked at them, they were four completely different wheels!. :angry: Finally realized that I could use them up on the fronts of projects like this, with opens or dish mags or something on the rear, because you can't see both sides at the same time anyway. B)

Gotcha! Good thinking and it looks nice.

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On 1/9/2018 at 10:03 PM, AC Norton said:

......Ya' know, a couple hours more work could turn yet another corner here....personally, I don't restore or 'fix up' builds of other's,  but in the case of your Charger here, I would ditch those rear rims, they are horrible IMO, and pop on matching Keystone's so all 4 corner's look just boss,,, and totally of the era. Secondly, a quick blast of flat black on the area's that still expose the orange plastic could be done by popping it apart again, and maybe a quick dusting of flat black spray on the complete interior....then upon it drying, buff with a clean cloth to give the dash and seats that sheen appearance. Finally, you always seem to be a modeler that jump's right in on fix-and- repair, so mix up some hand paint that closely matches the car, and take a detail brush, filling in the door and trunk lines, and gently touch up the high spots on the body where the orange plastic has been rubbed off and is exposed....top it off by installing a nice decal of your liking on the rear plate, and your there.....bet all this is a one-two hour upgrade at best....just a thought....the Ace...;)

I appreciate your honest and thoughtful and constructive critique. Hard to argue with any of your points. 

Flash photography can often show things that aren't apparent in "real life." For example, this thing looks like it has blue bass-boat metalflake paint on it, but its really a very subtle metallic, almost to scale. In fact, until I got it home and got a GOOD look at it, I thought it was a solid dark blue. 

The flash is also revealing more naked orange than I thought was visible before I took the pictures. After polishing, I DID have a hairline of orange on the razor edge of the left front fender, which I touched up with a very fine point blue Sharpie. I can see in the pics there is just the hint of such a line of orange on the rear fender edge, too, though it's not apparent in real life. I do see some orange on the chassis sides and visible areas of the interior bucket--again, these are in shadow in real life and not that apparent. But shouldn't be too much trouble to touch up with some flat black on a brush. Same with the headliner--most of it had dark blue overspray on it but I exposed a bunch of orange when I had to chisel the tube glue out to mount the rear window. And when I Kryloned the gut, I seem to have missed the same spot on the back seat that the OB did. Probably worth another squirt. 

The orange around the trunk lines, again, is more apparent in the pics than in real life, but they're worth another look. A wash of flat black craft acrylic might clear all that up. Maybe a pass with the blue Sharpie. 

As to the rear wheels...as a general rule, I like to use as many original parts as possible in these projects, unless something is missing, or damaged, or I just flat can't stand it. With the black centers, I can just barely stand them. If this is a street car, it probably shouldn't have the big slicks on the rear, should probably have something like L60s, but again, that's what it came with and it does look cool with them. But on your comment, I'm gonna take another look at those other two oddball mismatched Keystones I have and see if they might work better on the back. And I might put L60s on back there, too. Maybe. 

As you say, shouldn't take more than another hour or two to bring the thing up another level. Truth to tell I was rushing to get five models finished New Years weekend to get them on my 2017 DONE list, and I rushed this one to the finish line so I could move on to the next. I think I'll eventually take your advice and put that last bit of effort into it. When I do, I'll post new pics. 

Thanks again for your comments, old friend! B)

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13 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I appreciate your honest and thoughtful and constructive critique. Hard to argue with any of your points. 

Flash photography can often show things that aren't apparent in "real life." For example, this thing looks like it has blue bass-boat metalflake paint on it, but its really a very subtle metallic, almost to scale. In fact, until I got it home and got a GOOD look at it, I thought it was a solid dark blue. 

The flash is also revealing more naked orange than I thought was visible before I took the pictures. After polishing, I DID have a hairline of orange on the razor edge of the left front fender, which I touched up with a very fine point blue Sharpie. I can see in the pics there is just the hint of such a line of orange on the rear fender edge, too, though it's not apparent in real life. I do see some orange on the chassis sides and visible areas of the interior bucket--again, these are in shadow in real life and not that apparent. But shouldn't be too much trouble to touch up with some flat black on a brush. Same with the headliner--most of it had dark blue overspray on it but I exposed a bunch of orange when I had to chisel the tube glue out to mount the rear window. And when I Kryloned the gut, I seem to have missed the same spot on the back seat that the OB did. Probably worth another squirt. 

The orange around the trunk lines, again, is more apparent in the pics than in real life, but they're worth another look. A wash of flat black craft acrylic might clear all that up. Maybe a pass with the blue Sharpie. 

As to the rear wheels...as a general rule, I like to use as many original parts as possible in these projects, unless something is missing, or damaged, or I just flat can't stand it. With the black centers, I can just barely stand them. If this is a street car, it probably shouldn't have the big slicks on the rear, should probably have something like L60s, but again, that's what it came with and it does look cool with them. But on your comment, I'm gonna take another look at those other two oddball mismatched Keystones I have and see if they might work better on the back. And I might put L60s on back there, too. Maybe. 

As you say, shouldn't take more than another hour or two to bring the thing up another level. Truth to tell I was rushing to get five models finished New Years weekend to get them on my 2017 DONE list, and I rushed this one to the finish line so I could move on to the next. I think I'll eventually take your advice and put that last bit of effort into it. When I do, I'll post new pics. 

Thanks again for your comments, old friend! B)

Richard, you never have to justify to other members, and cetainly least of all me, how you enjoy restoring your built cars. And a long testimonial here isn't something you owe anyone, as I merely suggested a few quick upgrades that might be helpful. I think all here on the forum know how much you contribute here in so many ways, and the fact that you truly love this hobby , and with the same genuine enthusiasm you enjoyed even 50 plus years ago.....wish I was still that ambitious myself,,,, so my suggestions were only that...suggestions, and if you are satisfied, that's all that matters, for any build,,,, yours, mine, and for all modelers......and as the Snake says,,, RESTO ON.....lol.....the Ace....:D

Edited by AC Norton
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20 hours ago, AC Norton said:

Richard, you never have to justify to other members, and cetainly least of all me, how you enjoy restoring your built cars. And a long testimonial here isn't something you owe anyone, as I merely suggested a few quick upgrades that might be helpful. I think all here on the forum know how much you contribute here in so many ways, and the fact that you truly love this hobby , and with the same genuine enthusiasm you enjoyed even 50 plus years ago.....wish I was still that ambitious myself,,,, so my suggestions were only that...suggestions, and if you are satisfied, that's all that matters, for any build,,,, yours, mine, and for all modelers......and as the Snake says,,, RESTO ON.....lol.....the Ace....:D

I didn't mean to sound defensive or "justifying." I did and do appreciate your comments and the time and effort you spent to post them. Your points were right on and well-taken. And, going forward, they might make me take just THAT LITTLE EXTRA BIT of care to make a better restoration. I just wanted you to know that I DID read and appreciate your comments. B)

As I mentioned before, one of the keys to these projects is to "set your bar low and keep it low." I know from experience that it's way too easy to say, "Well, if I fix, this, then I need to fix that, and then I might as well redo this OTHER thing," and then before you know it, you've got the paint stripped and the model entirely in pieces that will never be reassembled. The trick is to know the point of diminishing returns--to know what minimal efforts will result in maximum positive final effect. And keep moving. 

Projects like this might not be for everyone, but I enjoy them. They are marvelous "slump-busters," for me, anyway. For example, before New Years weekend, I hadn't touched a model in any meaningful way in several months. But that weekend I dug up this thing and four other things I could easily kick through the goalposts. And I made myself get 'em done. And now I'm fired up to build again. Got two or three very active projects on the bench even as we speak, and am making a little progress on one or another of them almost every day now. 

And so it goes. Model on, everyone! B)

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35 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I didn't mean to sound defensive or "justifying." I did and do appreciate your comments and the time and effort you spent to post them. Your points were right on and well-taken. And, going forward, they might make me take just THAT LITTLE EXTRA BIT of care to make a better restoration. I just wanted you to know that I DID read and appreciate your comments. B)

As I mentioned before, one of the keys to these projects is to "set your bar low and keep it low." I know from experience that it's way too easy to say, "Well, if I fix, this, then I need to fix that, and then I might as well redo this OTHER thing," and then before you know it, you've got the paint stripped and the model entirely in pieces that will never be reassembled. The trick is to know the point of diminishing returns--to know what minimal efforts will result in maximum positive final effect. And keep moving. 

Projects like this might not be for everyone, but I enjoy them. They are marvelous "slump-busters," for me, anyway. For example, before New Years weekend, I hadn't touched a model in any meaningful way in several months. But that weekend I dug up this thing and four other things I could easily kick through the goalposts. And I made myself get 'em done. And now I'm fired up to build again. Got two or three very active projects on the bench even as we speak, and am making a little progress on one or another of them almost every day now. 

And so it goes. Model on, everyone! B)

............Glad they work as slump busters for you....good to know you still work at cranking something out for your shelf...I've been in a do-nothing slump for so long I barely remember how to shake a rattle can...lol....the Ace...:lol:

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On 1/9/2018 at 10:03 PM, AC Norton said:

......Ya' know, a couple hours more work could turn yet another corner here....personally, I don't restore or 'fix up' builds of other's,  but in the case of your Charger here, I would ditch those rear rims, they are horrible IMO, and pop on matching Keystone's so all 4 corner's look just boss,,, and totally of the era. Secondly, a quick blast of flat black on the area's that still expose the orange plastic could be done by popping it apart again, and maybe a quick dusting of flat black spray on the complete interior....then upon it drying, buff with a clean cloth to give the dash and seats that sheen appearance. Finally, you always seem to be a modeler that jump's right in on fix-and- repair, so mix up some hand paint that closely matches the car, and take a detail brush, filling in the door and trunk lines, and gently touch up the high spots on the body where the orange plastic has been rubbed off and is exposed....top it off by installing a nice decal of your liking on the rear plate, and your there.....bet all this is a one-two hour upgrade at best....just a thought....the Ace...;)

Okay, Ace, old friend, here it is after Round Two in the Snakepit Rescue & Resto Shop.

I left the rear wheels alone and haven’t added a real license plate yet. But I DID:

*Pull it back apart and make a serious effort to flat-black all exposed orange plastic on the chassis sides, wheel wells, and so forth.

*Painted the headliner and the orange-showing area on the “back seat” (actually, as it turns out, just a bulkhead) flat black.

*Ran a black finepoint Sharpie around the trunk lines, followed by a blue medium-point Sharpie to kill the orange on the cut sides, followed by a blue Gel Sharpie to kill the purplish look of the black and blue Sharpies.

*I decided that the best way to handle the rear end was to paint the rear panel matte black (by hand, with a brush). And I thought if I were going to do that, I might see what I could do about the taillights.

The taillights were such a mess that I didn’t even fool with them in Round One. But I was able to CAREFULLY pry/pop/cut/cajole/finagle them out with a dull Xacto this time. I did manage to pop about 1/8” off the end of one, but luckily the tiny piece landed right on the table in front of me and wasn’t lost for all time, just for a change. Gluing it back on required some Plastic Weld and some VERY careful and delicate work.

You won’t believe this, but the taillights had been installed not only switched left-for-right, but upside down and backwards as well. I couldn’t have done that if I’d tried for a whole afternoon, yet apparently someone managed to achieve it with no effort or thought at all!:blink:

There was a LOT of dried tube glue that had to be chiseled/cut out of the taillight wells, and filed off the taillights themselves. When I got them to where they’d kinda sorta more or less fit into the holes where they were supposed to go, I painted their backsides with Silver Sharpie and freshened their faces with red Sharpie.  Reinstalled them with Tacky glue. Total taillight repair time took over an hour all by itself. They’re not perfect, but they’re 1000% better than they were.

I'm surprised no one gigged me on the missing gas cap the first time around. The glue bomb didn't come with one. But I just happened to have a “wrecked,” melted DOH body I literally picked out the trash over 30 years ago, and by some miracle, it still had its gas cap. So I appropriated it. Moral: Never throw anything away!B)

So, Ace, this one's for you, old friend, and thanks for egging me on to do “just a little bit better.”B)

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8 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Okay, Ace, old friend, here it is after Round Two in the Snakepit Rescue & Resto Shop.

I left the rear wheels alone and haven’t added a real license plate yet. But I DID:

*Pull it back apart and make a serious effort to flat-black all exposed orange plastic on the chassis sides, wheel wells, and so forth.

*Painted the headliner and the orange-showing area on the “back seat” (actually, as it turns out, just a bulkhead) flat black.

*Ran a black finepoint Sharpie around the trunk lines, followed by a blue medium-point Sharpie to kill the orange on the cut sides, followed by a blue Gel Sharpie to kill the purplish look of the black and blue Sharpies.

*I decided that the best way to handle the rear end was to paint the rear panel matte black (by hand, with a brush). And I thought if I were going to do that, I might see what I could do about the taillights.

The taillights were such a mess that I didn’t even fool with them in Round One. But I was able to CAREFULLY pry/pop/cut/cajole/finagle them out with a dull Xacto this time. I did manage to pop about 1/8” off the end of one, but luckily the tiny piece landed right on the table in front of me and wasn’t lost for all time, just for a change. Gluing it back on required some Plastic Weld and some VERY careful and delicate work.

You won’t believe this, but the taillights had been installed not only switched left-for-right, but upside down and backwards as well. I couldn’t have done that if I’d tried for a whole afternoon, yet apparently someone managed to achieve it with no effort or thought at all!:blink:

There was a LOT of dried tube glue that had to be chiseled/cut out of the taillight wells, and filed off the taillights themselves. When I got them to where they’d kinda sorta more or less fit into the holes where they were supposed to go, I painted their backsides with Silver Sharpie and freshened their faces with red Sharpie.  Reinstalled them with Tacky glue. Total taillight repair time took over an hour all by itself. They’re not perfect, but they’re 1000% better than they were.

I'm surprised no one gigged me on the missing gas cap the first time around. The glue bomb didn't come with one. But I just happened to have a “wrecked,” melted DOH body I literally picked out the trash over 30 years ago, and by some miracle, it still had its gas cap. So I appropriated it. Moral: Never throw anything away!B)

So, Ace, this one's for you, old friend, and thanks for egging me on to do “just a little bit better.”B)

69Charger19.jpg.2b447b8bab2ffd395d09d798ddeac06f.jpg

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....Great work to improve just that little extra....you're good at fixing up the 'dead' cars that others just toss aside.....wish I was still devoted...lol...:lol:....reminds me of much simpler and fun times when my friend's and I got bored with our builds back in the 60s and early 70s, then did some tradin' and swoppin' and brought home the other guy's builds to improve it and change it up a bit....good for you, Richard...the Ace...;)

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