customline

Yeah, they do look too big, Dave. They are the same exact size as the ones in the kit. I dunno, Dave, they had a 6 volt battery in it too so all they had in the boxing department that day was black wall 15s from the '41 Plymouth. But it's a pretty small car so...they're staying, dam it! ?. I'm out of options without busting another kit. Now.....I've been busy..... Now with the skirts on its a bit easier to accept the " big feet" attitude. The bumper fell off for the side view. It may improve the look with it on. I'm going to go back down in the rear. See how that looks with skirts. And then up on all fours...just to see ?. I started on the roof "improvements" . There is a roof by Drag City but it looks like a clone of the kit's. I had to take matters into my own hands. I shaved off the trim (to be replaced later.) I added some Evergreen to the roof, reinforced with CA. Bondo followed. Still need to add more to match the windshield curve. Then I will need to add vent wings. This was supposed to be a quick, easy one....? a couple of small issues to keep me busy; the right tail light area had mold defect as did the rear lower trunk. Thanks for hangin' out!

The top picture says it all. I need to "improve" the roof. Is there a correct porthole roof out there somewhere? In resin, maybe? I can make vent wings easily enough and modify the roof but the porthole might be .....not much fun?? It's the chrome trim around the glass...hmmmm ?

I don't know, Greg, what I see now is the top of the body is level to the ground and the taper of the body to the rear makes the rake. I will need to mock it up with the skirts on and see how that strikes me. Thanks for weighing in. Oh...I remember how I would smear that filler on with my fingers. I can still smell it ?. Yeah, the windshield....that's not going to be fun. It's causing me some anxiety. I'm glad you mentioned the vent wings. Gotta look into that. I was noticing the curve of the A pillars and how the roof meets at the top. Very curious ?. Thanks for your input, Bob.

A bit more improvement on the front of the frame. I wanted the lower A-frames to attach to something so I faked a front cross member and frame horns. It's about all I could do for it. Anyway, here's some mock-up pix for your inspection. Here I have located the rear wheels in the stock height holes and the fronts in the "lowering" holes. A little rake - good? bad? Thanks for looking and your comments are welcome

This was an open box special, Bob. It was on Ebay for $12.50, I offered 10.00 and it was accepted. With shipping and tax it totalled $18.93. All the bags were sealed except the big chrome tree.

Oh David....yes it does look like it's ready for a day at the lake. This is the inners without the outers- they kept falling out ?. But never mind, I cracked open one of my....wait for it.....'41 Plymouths and lo and behold.... WHITE WALL TIRES! I remembered this from a previous endeavor( that I still haven't finished ?.) Perfect fit! Now this is the sort of thing you find in a kit like the ancient AMT '57 Thunderbirď It seems my inner wheels have contracted a case of Monkey Pox. Well, after some moderate fiddling I got the hood hinge to work reasonably well. I know, but I had to try. There was no spring clip in the box so ....anyway, this project continues to provide me with a fair amount of "fun" so maybe I'll finish this one. Note to self: replace radiator tank.

I watched some of this. Everything was fine until HPI guy started on the chrome engine. It made me very ......I dunno....I couldn't watch it. Knowing where it was going, it was full stop for me. I appreciate you putting it up though, it was enlightening ? to say the least.?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder....hey, what do you call it when you buy a thunderbird and then you fix it up and re-sell it for a profit? I'll let you think about it. ? Got the engine put together. Not the greatest Y-block out there but good enough for an old screw-bottom. Had to swap out the 6V battery for a 12V. Nobody told them, I guess. Decided to hinge the hood. I hope it works. My inner wheels are still in the bleach but they're nearly done. Too slow for my liking. Gotta get some commercial grade oven and grill cleaner. Zero chrome in 5 minutes. I must say, though, the lacquer coating under the plating seems to be dissolving in the Clorox. We shall see. Here's some pix. Many thanks for everyone's comments. BTW, I agree with Bill about the styling of this 'Bird; I may forego the Continental kit. And the stock hard top - something doesn't look right about it. Could be me, though. ?

Exactly. ?

Well I'm just having fun with this little 'Bird today. I added more plastic to the front spring areas to make the frame look more "there". It's not very accurate but it's a slight improvement. More can be done in that area but I thought I should do something about the driveshaft- it's been bothering me. The material is very thin around the "shaft" and I was able to slice across the u-joint and just run my #11 down both sides. Gone-zo! Wrapped some .005 over the top and found a shaft from one of the Revell coupe/roadster kits. I added a "snout" to the front joint so it will look like the tail shaft housing poking through the "X". Behold: I think that replacing the blob rear end with a "real" one wouldn't be difficult but I'm happy with leaving it here. This was going to be a OOB build ?. The engine was painted yesterday with very well shaken Ace gloss red and it seems like it doesn't want to dry. I chased all the panel lines because they were kinda weak. One of the front fenders needed some repair work. Some parting lines needed sanding but mostly the body is good. The inner wheels are in a bowl of Clorox for the night... that's about it. Thanks for your interest and I welcome your thoughts ?

The Tasca T-bolt is planned ( I built it once but gave it to my son ) and one of the mustangs if I can score one of those kits The kit was built box-stock but the next one will sit higher. A lot higher And the roof will be a better color match ?

Just looked at the old kit instructions. The "Judge" version had a great instruction sheet. Information that I can certainly use. Thank you ! You have to wonder about the thinking on the sheet in my kit. It's almost like they didn't care ?. The way this kit devolved is pretty sad.

I'm running into some things that always turn up downstream of the kind of mods I have made. Almost there though. I figured I would down-shift and play with something else to keep me having fun. Starting a new project is always "happy time" for me.? Thanks for hangin', Tom. I'll wrap this one up in a week or so.

How about a mock-up? the ride height has been lowered but not because it was AMT's idea. Earlier in this thread I asserted the ride height was adjustable. Nope. Not true. But it is easily done by drilling a few holes. I think it makes the tires look too big. White walls would help. Gotta look in my stash.

Nah, it's cool. But ain't it a laugh that they sell you a kit that was tooled in the fifties and tell you that you hold in your unworthy hands a piece of history! What an honor! There is incomplete casting of the engine mount cross member. And this one is from '03, I think. Is this kit still being sold new? I hope not. I will have my way with it though. ?

All right, then.....I got in to it today and put the engine together enough for paint. Then I used it to explore how it goes into the frame. The front portion of the frame is poorly molded and it appears I need to make improvements here. 8 that little ....nipple....didn't seem like it would do the job so I removed it and replaced it with something more positive. I also found the engine would not sit correctly in the frame due to the exhaust pipes on the frame. I removed them. Worry about that later. The front engine mount needed some attention too. I had to consult a photo of a frame in order to replace the less-than-useful mount cross member. I closed up the frame and replaced the engine mount cross member with one a tad better. .080 styrene rod bent cold. took a few tries. Faked in the lower A frame tie-ins. Good enough! I'm tempted to cut out the molded drive shaft and put in a real one but I didn't want to get too deep on this one. Just some minor upgrades. Yeah. QUESTION: How come every picture on the box shows the 'Bird wearing white walls but there is no trace of white walls in the box? I don't get it

I haven't found it yet. Still looking ?. There's a big trophy-looking thing. I'm saving all those stupid diorama goodies. It's a collectible by itself. I'll put them on ebay and make a fortune ?

The second photo. they said it...not me. Read it. It's funny how they made it sound like a good thing ?.....excuses, excuses......

Yup. I've seen a few of 'em. I will never build an engine that's all chrome. I remember from my early days that they just don't look good. Well, in those days the glue was all over the chrome. I was pretty carefree about such things ?. I have some bleach and the next time this comes up I shall try it. Thanks, David.

Found this on Ebay last week and whattayaknow? It's an old promo! In fact...well.... I'm going to give it a quick show-n-tell before I start this adorable replica... first thing I was befuddled about was the all chrome engine. I'm not too keen on having to strip the engine before I can start but later on I did. I think Easy-Off has a short shelf life. Anyway, the tires seem nice but the wheels are a bit odd. The stock inners are plated and are molded as steelies. You use the stock wheel covers or make them deep dish chromies...but the outers for the chrome reversed rims are not plated ( ? !). Instruction sheet is road-map style and not very helpful. Just rudimentary illustrations and the usual goofs; you know the routine. Luckily, it ain't complicated. I can probably figure it out ? There is an adjustable ride height feature and the interior tub is a simple two piece affair. The kit furnishes a hardtop (without porthole ?) and a custom fast-back roof. There is a nice optional Connie kit and the radiator support is not ruined by the screw bosses. They will be hidden completely. ? if you enjoy detail painting as much as I do, you will be a happy camper as this kit provides an abundance of possibilities. ⁿ For the windshield, it looks like the glass fits into a slot and then you add the plated frame to it. thats how I plan to play it anyway. Maybe it will become clearer when I get there. ? It looks like a nice easy build and, of course, there is opportunity for improvements. I will be building it pretty much OOB and I will start with the 312. Thanks for looking. If you have experience with this kit, your sharing will be appreciated and your comments and praise are always welcome.

This is my first Galaxie, Tom. I'm immortalizing my tribulations. And I figured I would give a heads-up to those brave souls who might dare to follow. Nothing I did with modifications was a problem while I was doing it. But something definitely went wrong during final assembly and I suspect it had to do with how I determined how to shorten the '60 chassis/pan I must have done it with no firewall in place...a sequence misstep. I've been over the whole thread and it's not there. I must have done the shortening too soon. I figure a heads up to the next guy. Edit: I just read the first few posts on page 1 again and my suspicion is validated. I shortened the chassis before the firewall was in place. that's a NO NO! The firewall determines where the floor goes and so on....

I'm at the point in final assembly where bad things happen. As much as I try, there's always some things that I forget (or discover that I already forgot.) And that will inevitably happen after I kick the CA. There's the usual windshield / dash issue, no different here but the kit bashing on this one provides some extra elements to deal with. The firewall placement is critical because it must meet the floor pan cleanly. I wish I had had a heads-up on that - it may be the root of my problems. It's interesting how everything looks great in a mock-up but after the glue is applied....SURPRISE! ?. SO IF ANYONE IS GOING TO DO THIS, MAKE CERTAIN YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FIREWALL AND THE FLOOR PAN AND HOW YOU SHORTEN THE PAN AND THE FRAME. I MAY HAVE GOOFED HERE AND IM SURE IM NOT THE FIRST ? The '60 firewall is not a nice, easy swap. It must be altered to fit the '63 and be in such position to consider engine room space. Very important. It's tight! Spend a lot of time playing with how you are going to make everything work. I am no engineer. I am a gaffer. The way I have done this was experimental at best. Just be aware of how all of these alterations must make the wheels end up centered in the wheel openings. Here's what you could encounter on final assembly (below) ? WHAT HAPPENED? I have a good idea what went wrong here but ( I cut it three times and it's still too short) I had to add some material back to the shortened '60 floor pan to compensate; I'm not willing to make a proper fix at this point so....hopefully, it won't be too obvious.....our little secret ?. I found there was an NHRA rule about seat belts for Stock classes so I made mine from, you guessed it....masking tape! I learned that trick on this very forum! ? Neither kit furnished me with a tachometer so a piece of appropriately sized plated sprue provided the raw material. The face came from an unknown source (it may not be a tach face but who can tell?) The shifter is a stand-in. I gotta hunt for a proper looking unit. In my research photos, it looks like the shifter is intended for a bench seat. It seems too long and has a weird bend. Got more to do here. I should get back to work ?.

Yup. You're welcome. ?

I just love his attitude, folks ?

That's a great idea, Ken, it could be a very lucrative enterprise. Let us know when you have the first run ready to ship ?. I figure about 40 bucks per kit.....right?