'70 Grande

espo: that's my exact plan... just gotta breakout my razor saw and start posting pics! One wacky thing about the kit spoiler piece is those molded trunk lines are raised, (not cut-in), so using those for making the needed cuts solves that problem.

I might have the 71 Cyclone's rear spoiler from a previously built body; let me do some digging and I'll get back to you... might not be until tomorrow tho.

Next, the rear spoiler piece. As with the many releases of these AMT and MPC mid-70s to early-80s Camaro kits, the rear spoiler piece can be a tricky fit. I attached a few 1:1 reference pics to show you how this spoiler piece should look. The 4th picture shows the underside of my kit's piece; it has several places where there is excess plastic that pushes the spoiler away from fitting flush on the trunk lid and down the sides of the rear fenders. The light areas in this pic show you places where I removed excess plastic. The last pic here shows you that the rear spoiler piece is actually too wide to properly fit the kit body... more to come on how I'll attempt to correct this.

If you spotted the #7 handwritten over the hood on my kit's box lid, then you know what I paid for this kit at a swap meet in Chicago back in the mid-1990s... $7.00! I want to start this process by posting about the kit's body. Overall I think the body is a really good representation of the 1:1. I'll start with the challenges that come when fitting all of the separate pieces to the body. First pic shows the passenger side with just the front end piece glued in place. The front end piece fits pretty well but getting a good, strong joint means that glue joint needs cleanup work. The 2nd pic shows the driver's side front and rear fender flare pieces glued in place. It is sorta unclear exactly how these flare pieces should be fitted, but following 1:1 reference pics, I positioned them as shown in the 3rd and 5th pics; hanging below the bottom edge of the front and rear fenders. This also allows these front flares to lineup properly with the flare piece that extends underneath the front end piece so these pieces are all flush across their bottom edge with each other. The 4th pic shows the attached flare; it has a rounded edge at its top but that is actually true for the 1:1 as well, (although it's a bit exaggerated in 1/25)! The 5th pic shows how I positioned the rear flare piece slightly below the bottom edge of the body, per 1:1 reference.

With Round-2's announcement of releasing the 1/25 1981 Camaro Z28 kit, I thought I'd go into my kit vault and pull out this MPC-version of what I believe is essentially a previous issue of the same kit. I thought I'd restart my build of this kit and pass along my thoughts as I go through the process, thinking some of the things that I point out here might be useful to others that purchase the upcoming Round-2 reissue. First, some reference pics.

Great looking build! Everything looks right for a Ryder fleet unit. I'm curious if you know what paint color you used for the Detroit Diesel... that color looks spot-on to me.

Also have this 1/16 or maybe 1/20(?) racing seat... I'm done posting stuff here now!

I'm just throwing them out there Alan in case someone sees anything they could use! I'm only looking for random small pieces and parts in-trade so thought I'd see if there's any interest!

More to trade: Q = unbuilt/incomplete AMT '66 Ford Mustang 289 V8 (I think it's just missing the air cleaner piece).

More up for trade: I = built/incomplete Turbo Inline-6 J = unbuilt/incomplete mid-60's Buick? V8 K = built/incomplete mid-60's Mercury Big-block V8 L = built/incomplete Ford Flathead V8 engine block M = built/incomplete Big-block V8 P = unbuilt/complete AMT '69 Buick Opel Inline-4 (with 2 cam covers for some reason?)

More up for trade: E = built/incomplete AMT 390 Ford Thunderbird V8 F = built/incomplete Roush Racing Ford V6 G = built/incomplete SBC V8 H = built/incomplete MPC '69 Dodge Charger 426 Hemi O = unbuilt/complete Revell '69 Dodge Charger 440 Big-block V8

I went to a swap meet recently and came home with a box of parts. After sorting thru them (and my own engine parts box), I came up with the following to see if anyone might be interested in trading me for any of these 1/25 engines. I am in Illinois and would prefer to ship to just the lower-48 states What parts I'm looking for, (in 1/25 scale), are: Pairs of Weber side-draft carburetors Flathead Ford V8 engine block Flathead Ford V8 performance parts AMT '65 Chevelle "Time Machine" Street Freak Funny car chrome front wheels Goodyear Eagle VR-50 performance street tires Sets of (4) Chrome trim rings for standard 60's-70's muscle car tires ...any interesting parts? The 1/25 engines I'm offering for trade are as follows: A = built/incomplete 327 from AMT '65 Chevelle station wagon B = built/incomplete SBC Corvette from mid-1960s (this one maybe 1/24) C = built/incomplete SBC from mid-1970s? D = built/incomplete Chevy marked with LT1 on the valve covers N = unbuilt/incomplete Revell '83 Hurst Olds 442 V8 (comes with an extra block and 1 extra head/valve cover piece)

Good looking build... you nailed the '50s look! I'm curious about the chrome bumpers on this build... they appear to have a slightly dull finish to them. Is that the kit's chrome straight from the chrome tree or did you finish it in some way to achieve the look?

Thanks all! I'm going to post this in the Trade section now to see if anyone might be interested in this engine.

Okay, thanks to Ace-Garageguy, Can-Con Stitchdup and 30Fordpickup solving my inline 4-cylinder Ford engine mystery, here's another from the same large parts box I recently received. Any idea what kit these V8 pieces came from? Looks to be a GM motor, most likely a Chevrolet Big-block in my mind, but I'm curious what it is, what kit it came from, and what appears to be missing? (exhaust manifolds and air cleaner are some missing parts). It was missing a cylinder head/valve cover piece, but I have a partial parts tree seen at right in my pic with 2 more head pieces plus another complete engine block, (1/2 of that block is cropped out of the pic). Thanks all!

Moved this post to the Model Questions section in the forum.

Okay, thanks to Ace-Garageguy, Can-Con Stitchdup and 30Fordpickup solving my inline 4-cylinder Ford engine mystery, here's another from the same large parts box I recently received. Any idea what kit these V8 pieces came from? Looks to be a GM motor, most likely a Chevrolet Big-block in my mind, but I'm curious what it is, what kit it came from, and what appears to be missing? (exhaust manifolds and air cleaner are some missing parts). It was missing a cylinder head/valve cover piece, but I have a partial parts tree seen at right in my pic with 2 more head pieces plus another complete engine block, (1/2 of that block is cropped out of the pic). Thanks all!

Thanks all for your responses, excellent info and pics! I really appreciate it! ...now, what kit do I have that's looking for a smokin'-little-4-banger!

So it's 1/25 then. I'll need to find the cam cover for the top of the engine and an exhaust manifold... anything else? Wondering if anyone in the 1:1 world ever installed Weber side-draft carbs and a header on one of these little 4-bangers to give it a performance boost... thoughts, anyone?

I recently got this 4-cylinder inline engine in a parts box and I'm trying to find out what kit it may have come from? It is either 1/24 or 1/25 scale, sort of "looks" like it's 1/24 to my eye. It was molded in White, the previous owner spray painted it Blue which makes me wonder if it might be a Ford engine? I'm also curious what parts might be missing, I think I'll need a valve cover at the least. Any idea where this engine came from?

Stunning... simply stunning! Sure would be sweet to have a 1:1 version of this build parked in my own garage!

Volzfan59: Thanks for that last sentence in your post above... beings that I've never driven a race car, I always thought a bigger race car would be harder to drive... big race car = more likely to be a loose-n-sloppy race car! Thanks for shedding some light on this for me!

This is the finest build of this kit that I have yet to see! Very well done! Is it just me, or were these mid-'70's Monte Carlos just plain gigantic race cars... it looks so long and wide!

Looks like you're off to an excellent start! I also have this kit in progress but wanted to do some more research before going much farther. Your printed pieces look outstanding! Wish I had the skills and equipment to produce additional parts like yours! Can you explain what Sand Rails are? I've never seen those before.

There's a lot to like about this build! I'd enjoy seeing some pics of the engine compartment and chassis, too! I have a couple of questions: Is this the 1/25 AMT/Round-2 kit with an opening trunk? (If so, it looks like you might have glued the trunk lid shut and really cleaned up the look of it)! How did you do the silver for the various emblems on the body? They're all very crisp and clean! Great work on this build!