Snake45 Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Bought this one at the local toy show for $8. The paint was intact but not great, but I was impressed by its completeness. At first I thought it was an original 1966 annual, but several of you have convinced me that it's an '80s “Customizing Series” reissue. Still pretty cool. Was wondering what cool thing I could do with a red '66 Wildcat, and then I saw a red Wildcat in the 1966 Buick showroom brochure. No one would think twice about a red '66 Impala or Bonneville, so why not a red Wildcat? The paint seemed to be some kind of general use rattlecan, like Krylon, Rustoleum or Walmart. There was quite a bit of dust and other sorts of boogers in it. I spent a couple evenings carefully wet-sanding those out with #1500, then tried polishing with Wright's Silver Cream, which smoothed and shined things out a bit but didn't come close to removing all the orange peel. The original plan was to do all the chrome trim with foil. I started with the strip down the hood, and then when I went to clean up the foil residue with 92% rubbing alcohol, my standard practice, to my horror it started to take off the red paint! Luckily the stuff was fairly thick and I was able to re-polish it, but I switched the plan to doing all the chrome VERY carefully with Silver Sharpie (dry-brushed the fine emblems with Testor Chrome Silver). Then I applied a couple coats of hand-brushed Future for some shine. Of course I detailed out the wheels, grille, backup lights, rear panel and so forth—all standard Snake-Fu. I didn't do a thing to the interior, chassis, or engine, except clean the interior out with dish soap and water. The glass got polished with Wright's Silver Cream. It didn't come out too bad, considering what I started with. Good enough to put on the shelf, anyway. I have maybe 8-10 hours of work in it, most of that in wet-sanding and polishing the original red paint. That's about a quarter of the time I would have spent getting one on the shelf from out of the box. (Of course, it would look better, but probably not four times better.) As always, comments welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmodelbuilder Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Nice save! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charger74 Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 It turned out very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelbuilder Mark Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Nicely done , definitely worth the extra effort ! Love those Wildcats ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DumpyDan Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Wow what a difference, you have brought it back to life. Nice work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classicgas Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom99 Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Good save! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbowser Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Don't often see these built. Great work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Nice work. Looks a whole world better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldcarfan27 Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Awesome preservation of an old build. I admire your dedication to save the paint. I probably would've just dumped it in the Purple Power and been done with it, but then I wouldn't have it completed on my shelf now. Good Job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peekay Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted May 26, 2018 Author Share Posted May 26, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Oldcarfan27 said: Awesome preservation of an old build. I admire your dedication to save the paint. I probably would've just dumped it in the Purple Power and been done with it, but then I wouldn't have it completed on my shelf now. Good Job! If I'd wanted a perfect paint '66 Wildcat, I'd have built one of the brand new kits in my stash. (But, we both know, I'd have put a lot more work in it.) The challenge and fun of these Snake-Slap projects is to see how little time and effort can be expended to get something acceptable on the shelf. My personal standard is, if I can get it looking like something I'd have been proud to have built in 1968, I'm happy. If it looks like something I built in 1969, I'm ecstatic! Rare or especially desirable (to me) subjects get the "full treatment," of course--stripping, repainting, doing whatever's necessary to end up with a good model. But that's another whole level of time, effort, and usually money. Edited May 26, 2018 by Snake45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeCee Posted May 26, 2018 Share Posted May 26, 2018 Nice save, turned out pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donb Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 What sharp looking car. Nice save! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 (edited) Looks great Snake!!! Edited May 27, 2018 by slusher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phirewriter Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Nice resto, I've always thought that was a good looking car and a nice kit despite it's inaccurate interior. Kind of surprised Round 2 hasn't got around to reissuing it with original box art, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PARTSMARTY Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 On 5/25/2018 at 11:32 PM, Lordmodelbuilder said: Nice save! x2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carrucha Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Good job on the save. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoopdog Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Great looking Buick. Long live the Sharpie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aurfalien Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Hi, Wow this is a very nicely done restoration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
om617 Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 Great transformation. The styling on these are fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted May 28, 2018 Author Share Posted May 28, 2018 On 5/26/2018 at 6:21 AM, DumpyDan said: Wow what a difference, you have brought it back to life. Nice work I didn't so much "bring it back to life" as just finish it. I wonder if the OB got discouraged by the mediocre (and that's generous) Krylon paint job and just threw it together to be done with it. The interior and engine didn't look half badly done; perhaps he did those first and then lost interest in it after painting the body. We'll never know.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robberbaron Posted May 28, 2018 Share Posted May 28, 2018 Glad to see it turned out so nicely. Paint sure looks nice in the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hmann68 Posted May 28, 2018 Share Posted May 28, 2018 Another nice resto! Love the red!! Anytime I picture a Wildcat or Riv in my head it's dark brown lol so this is a nice change. Way to Model On! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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