I think I enjoy restorations the most

[Motor City]

I picked up an MPC '66 Corvette assembled kit and a '71 Chevelle SS promo at a model car shop in the Detroit area decades ago.  The Corvette had a nice paint job and interior, but the suspension was a gloppy mess and one wheel that wouldn't stay on.  I recently picked up a '65 kit that was never completed, so it has the pieces I need to fix it.  The Chevelle had silver trim sloppily applied to the windshield, emblems, and ram air door!  It had a slight bow in the passenger side windshield post, and had a '72 rear bumper.  I was able to get the correct bumper, straightened out the bent pillar very slowly and carefully, and was able to get the paint off.  It also had the exhaust system painted, and the interior had been messed with.  I used a variety of small polishing tips attached to arbors (in my drill) to clean off the chassis, polished the glass and put the interior back together properly.  It now is a very nice promo.   

[carrucha]

Nice to see an old build get a 2nd chance to look good.

[Bills72sj]

I have only one restoration under my belt. It was done only because of budget vs. the desire to have one. Over all, I can appreciate the efforts required but I am still developing skills like fabrication. Here is a link.

 

 

[Tom Geiger]

The original mess... roof had been broken off and lost. Suspension totaled.  Found in the bottom of a junk box at a model show.

Complete!  Added replacement roof from a clean body. Replaced suspension and added nice period wheel / tire combo. 

Replaced mirrors and antenna that were broken off. 

Created new decal for roof from Internet scan of original issue decal sheet. Decals were flaking off the original body so we clear coated everything.  A little scrap fabric on rear shelf to cover a glue mess.

Note that this car never came  apart. Things had to be masked for the paint operations!  

Committed is when you crack open a new copy of a kit to restore an old one!

[Tom99]

Here are some before and after pictures of my 1961 Pontiac Tempest, that I restored.

[espo]

1 hour ago, Tom99 said:

Here are some before and after pictures of my 1961 Pontiac Tempest, that I restored.

Looks neat. When that model first came out and the 1:1 was first on the streets the Maroon color was very popular.  Besides the nice detailing of trim in your restoration the color choice makes it look richer to me anyway. 

[espo]

17 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

The original mess... roof had been broken off and lost. Suspension totaled.  Found in the bottom of a junk box at a model show.

Complete!  Added replacement roof from a clean body. Replaced suspension and added nice period wheel / tire combo. 

Replaced mirrors and antenna that were broken off. 

Created new decal for roof from Internet scan of original issue decal sheet. Decals were flaking off the original body so we clear coated everything.  A little scrap fabric on rear shelf to cover a glue mess.

Note that this car never came  apart. Things had to be masked for the paint operations!  

Committed is when you crack open a new copy of a kit to restore an old one!

From the top shot picture it looks as if the builder was trying to replicate the '58 Ford 4-light tail lamps. At one time AMT offered a lot of different front and rear body treatments and with this it looks as if some may of even come from other AMT kits of the time. I still have some of those style decals in my stash from back then, I'm sur they would be unusable today. Nice save here. 

[Tom Geiger]

Thanks! It was a fun save. When I pulled it out of the vendor’s box he commented that he was going to throw that mess away, and if I wanted it, just take it! So I did!

The moment I saw it I knew it needed to live again.  All the custom parts on it came in that first issue of the kit.

[espo]

I thought that might of been the case. I have built several of these kits through the years but I'm more of a street machine type builder so I don't build but a hand full of these then. 

[Mr mopar]

Restoring is way more fun........!

[StevenGuthmiller]

One of my most successful restorations was probably a Johan '62 Chrysler 300 that I received on a trade from Al Rich, (thatz4u)

It was in relatively nice condition, but still required a good amount of modification to look right, especially in regards to the convertible up top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Scott8950]

39 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

One of my most successful restorations was probably a Johan '62 Chrysler 300 that I received on a trade from Al Rich, (thatz4u)

It was in relatively nice condition, but still required a good amount of modification to look right, especially in regards to the convertible up top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

A local 4x4/ performance shop has one of those engines in the showroom, its complete with intake, carbs, and air cleaners. They have a 426 hemi complete but its got a hole in the block from kicking a rod out.

[alan barton]

Yeah, definitely a big fan of the restos! Tom, that 57 custom is exactly the combination of parts that I used on my very first 1/25th scale build, after graduating from 1/32 scale Lindbergs, Pyro, Aurora and Airfix..  Many of the hot rods in my collection are restos as it was the only way I could afford a copy, especially in the eighties before all the re-issues.

My latest build is for our annual club diorama.  We are going to do multiple themes of American Graffiti.  I had been given a gluebombed AMT Galaxie - the body, hood with a hole, and the complete weirdly painted interior.  I have no idea what year this Galaxie is because Every single chrome trim, body line or moulding had been filed from the body!!!!!  It could be a 61,62 or 63 - the experts here may be able to tell.  I have a mint 63 chassis that will go under it but as you can see, i have started roughing a 4 door Town Sedan roofline so that I can do the iconic rear-axle-ripped - from - the-police-car-scene.  Got a long way to go but near enough WILL be good enough for this project and I don't have to pay eBay prices to get started.

[StevenGuthmiller]

5 minutes ago, alan barton said:

Yeah, definitely a big fan of the restos! Tom, that 57 custom is exactly the combination of parts that I used on my very first 1/25th scale build, after graduating from 1/32 scale Lindbergs, Pyro, Aurora and Airfix..  Many of the hot rods in my collection are restos as it was the only way I could afford a copy, especially in the eighties before all the re-issues.

My latest build is for our annual club diorama.  We are going to do multiple themes of American Graffiti.  I had been given a gluebombed AMT Galaxie - the body, hood with a hole, and the complete weirdly painted interior.  I have no idea what year this Galaxie is because Every single chrome trim, body line or moulding had been filed from the body!!!!!  It could be a 61,62 or 63 - the experts here may be able to tell.  I have a mint 63 chassis that will go under it but as you can see, i have started roughing a 4 door Town Sedan roofline so that I can do the iconic rear-axle-ripped - from - the-police-car-scene.  Got a long way to go but near enough WILL be good enough for this project and I don't have to pay eBay prices to get started

 

From the shape of the front fender around the grille, I'm guessing it is a '63.

The police car in the movie was a '61.

 

Just so you know what you are dealing with.

 

The AMT '61 "Club Coupe" would make a nice starting point for the movie car.

I think an "after" build would be pretty cool!

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[alan barton]

Thanks Steve!  I will use that photo to correct the mouldings around the front.  At this stage I only have the custom grille for a 63 to fit into the front but I have til July to find a 61 - I do have a childhood build of the 61 convert so maybe I should resin cast that one?

In the diorama it will be standing on it's nose as the rear axle leaves the building , cops at the wheel and a bit of smoke and dust from underneath. Looking forward to it - it's been fun so far!

Cheers

Alan

[junkyardjeff]

Here is a toy that is close to 1/25 that I am restoring,I am suprised it did not get thrown out but will live on.

[Twokidsnosleep]

I enjoy doing the glue bomb rescues as well. Perhaps I like torturing myself. I am doing an a/c Cobra on here right now and did this Porsche Slant nose a year ago.

Actually I use the opportunity to try out new things and techniques

I resin cast the rear deck for the Porsche, made brake disks and callipers and pretty much remade the running gear in brass.

 

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Twokidsnosleep said:

I enjoy doing the glue bomb rescues as well. Perhaps I like torturing myself. I am doing an a/c Cobra on here right now and did this Porsche Slant nose a year ago.

Actually I use the opportunity to try out new things and techniques

I resin cast the rear deck for the Porsche, made brake disks and callipers and pretty much remade the running gear in brass.

 

I remember that! It was a GREAT rebuild! I have the same kit, also missing the engine lid. Another member here donated a second glue bomber (with lid) to the cause, so now I have enough parts to build up at least one, and almost enough to do a second, if I had the rear deck. Oh well. 

[Twokidsnosleep]

On 1/22/2020 at 5:19 PM, Snake45 said:

I remember that! It was a GREAT rebuild! I have the same kit, also missing the engine lid. Another member here donated a second glue bomber (with lid) to the cause, so now I have enough parts to build up at least one, and almost enough to do a second, if I had the rear deck. Oh well. 

If I could cast that rear deck well enough to appease my OCD I would do it for you in a heart beat

It just isn’t 100%, one of  the reasons I have it propped open

there are aftermarket Porsche rears and wings

[Bugatti Fan]

Scott, I really like what you have done to that old Porsche model. Not only the restyling but also your choice of colour scheme. Funnily enough I have an old Revell Porsche Targa Snapkit that one of my kids made (badly) about 25 years ago in my stash. Got me thinking!

I also have the remnants of an Airfix Lotus Cortina that I attempted to customise way back in the 60's. Now that my skills have improved over the years I will be attempting to restore it back to how it should look.

[Mike999]

Not strictly a restoration. But I just learned something that may help others doing restorations:  some old AMT promos are built to survive nuclear war.

Another board member needed some parts from a '62 T-Bird hardtop. I've had that promo for a long time, to part out so I can build a "mainstream" hardtop. Using the newer AMT '62 T-Bird kit and a resin hardtop body, promo hubcaps etc.  Collectors may have heart attacks, but '61 to '63 T-Bird promos are plentiful and fairly cheap, even on eBay.

I thought it would be simple: just remove the 4 screws and everything will fall apart, right? Wrong!  Those promos were mostly put together by heat-swaging; melting the plastic together.  Getting the interior out required cutting thru 4 plastic "washers" that were melted to it.

The rear bumper/tail lights were a real challenge. The tail lights pass thru the back bumper, into round tabs molded into the body. Then they're heat-swaged to that tab.  The tail lights are pretty delicate parts. I carefully scraped at them with a knife until they released from the round tab.

The dashboard is also heat-swaged into the interior.  I want to save the swing-away steering wheel for the conversion.

Some good news, I guess: the engine isn't molded as part of the chassis.  It's an insert, so if you can remove it, you basically have a kit chassis you can drop an engine into. It appears to be heat-swaged AND glued in.

And some weird news.  Even though this was a promo, the 4 custom headlights from the kit are on the glass. You can see them in this shot of the back window:

[Twokidsnosleep]

11 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Scott, I really like what you have done to that old Porsche model. Not only the restyling but also your choice of colour scheme. Funnily enough I have an old Revell Porsche Targa Snapkit that one of my kids made (badly) about 25 years ago in my stash. Got me thinking!

I also have the remnants of an Airfix Lotus Cortina that I attempted to customise way back in the 60's. Now that my skills have improved over the years I will be attempting to restore it back to how it should look.

Splash Miami Blue...lovely paint

was looking for a beach/ surf vibe with it 

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Twokidsnosleep