'70 Grande

I've been building that same Revell Hemi Cuda kit and made the following conclusions... that motor has some quirky design flaws that make the basic block about 15% longer from front to rear, (not including the trans), and about 10% too tall than it should be in 1:1. (Look at all the blank extra space on the long intake manifold). The oil pan depth scales-out to be pretty close to 1/24 scale, but the heads are also 10%+ taller than in the 1:1 world. I don't think the engine is simply 10% larger overall... it's just a messed-up design in multiple places.

Next, I glued the cut-down/reassembled heads and valve covers to the block. I modified the intake manifold by cutting it down in two places, (1st: taking-out a small-section between the radiator hose hole-opening and the front of the intakes and a 2nd: in the same location right in front of the distributor mounting hole). These 2 cuts kept the intakes into the heads pretty-much "as is" from the V8... probably not correct for the 1:1 world, but the air cleaner covers-up so much of that intake manifold anyway that I don't think it really matters. By weathering this engine, I think it'll hide some of the imperfections in this cut-down V8. The following pics will show you how it will look from the front view and also inside the kit's frame/body.

Vince, Hopeful these pics might help you some. I started the same 1990 BGN Pontiac project a few years ago and the following pics will show you just how far I got. I am using the 1/25 AMT/Ertl 1990 Pontiac Grand Pix Nascar kit for this build... here's a brief description of how I downsized that kit's Nascar V8 to a BGN V6. I started by gluing together the engine block halves, and then I cut the engine block at the centerline on the side. I did this same cut for the heads and valve covers, too. I wish I could remember how much I cut-out to equal one bank of cylinders, but I'm hopeful the ruler showing in these pics will guide you to where I ended-up at length-wise. I cut/shortened the oil pan just ahead of it's deeper section; if you look closely at the 2nd pic, you can see a small nick in the edge of the oil pan which is the cutline's location. I also planned my build to be an after-the-race, short-track race car, so I've weathered the engine to represent that.

Looking good thus far. Just curious; what's the reason/motive for lowering the chassis, (overall look of the finished build)? Does a lowered chassis represent a specific Diamond Reo?

Stunning conversion and finish-work on this build! Looks like something the Design Dept. at Lincoln/Mercury could have considered for the '71 model year! Now... I gotta ask; are we going to see a follow-up/vice-versa build transplanting that Mercury roof onto a '69 Ford Torino body??? (hint/hint... if not, send me that Mercury roof piece and maybe I'll give it a try)!

Agree... it's hard to tell that this is a scale model and not a 1:1! Fabulous work on this build!

This vintage AMT kit has been one of my favorites ever since I was a kid. Yeah, it's got a lot of flaws, but once built always seems to look pretty good to my eyes. I think your build also looks really good. Haven't seen one built using those "Snakebite" decals in a long, long time and they look really good and bring back some memories... nice job on your Shelby!

I don't remember this car from back then, but it is certainly a stunning paint scheme that you have executed perfectly! Your super-clean paintwork replicates the car extremely-well in pre-race condition... it probably would've looked a "bit worse" in post-race condition with Michael behind the wheel!

I'm anxiously waiting for this new kit, but my guess is that it is still in the early-development stage meaning there is nothing to show yet. Seems to me those pics of a 1:1 '71 Mustang, (Mach-1)?, that had reference points taped all over it for scanning and digital file preparation were from late-2020 or early-2021... I'd bet it'll be awhile before we hear or see anything about this new kit.

The first word that immediately popped-into my head regarding this build was, "Handsome!" Not sure I can add to that... truly an awesome build of a "handsome" Mack!

Agree with you there Tom, but there is a certain "nostalgia" factor that I get when working on one of these old Revell Tri-5's! ( I've currently got a '56 being converted into an old, beat-up late-1960's dirt track car).

Love this build! Imagine it in the 1:1 world... you'd be able to hear it coming from a 1/2-mile away!

I grew up in eastern Iowa in the 1960's/70's. Whenever Ramo visited our regional dirt track it was always a big deal and the grandstands would be full! I'm pretty certain he won every race I saw him in watching from those grandstands... an incredible driver.

Really like this build; it replicates the 1:1 very well! I've always liked these Monza race cars; have my own freelanced build of one in-the-works... your great-looking build might inspire mine to find its way back onto the workbench!

Excellent build! Curious what you can tell us about the paint colors you used on the body and interior, they look great!

Great looking build! How did you get the headlights to look so realistic?

Wow! That is really clean and crisp build! If a magic-gennie popped outta a bottle and told me I could have a 1:1 '67 GTX in any color combination that I wanted in my garage tonight, this would be the exact color scheme that I'd choose! Well done!

Another example of a kit from the long-ago past that captures the look of the 1:1 extremely well! Your build looks terrific... just like back-in-the-day! I've got one in-process, might just pull it outta the kit vault and take it to the finish line after seeing your great build.

Is it just me, or has this post "kinda gone-off-the-rails"!?!+!?

Any idea how many vendors will be selling kits at the swap meet?

Wow! Just looking at it, I can hear it's "rumble"!

Nice build... looks so "right" from every angle! We're the white decals pretty easy to get laid-down?

Wow! A spectacular build that qualifies as a work of art! Stunning... simply stunning!

Thanks for the info gentlemen... now I'll have to figure out what to do with it! Alan; would appreciate any pics of your built-up that you can add to this post

Found a bag of 1/25 car parts in the deepest, darkest corner of my parts box. Does anyone recognize the pieces shown in this pic? Any idea what kit they came from? Are they old? Trying to determine if I should attempt a salvage-build out of them... obviously I'd need to find a bunch of parts to sub-in if I go that route. Any thoughts regarding what kit these parts came from would be appreciated.