'70 Grande

An excellent build of a challenging kit! It turned out great! Did you Dullcoat the chrome bumpers, or are they repainted, and if so, what color paint did you use on them?

Boy, ain't that the truth!

Great build; and the best part; a rock-solid connection and memory with your daughter! I raised 2 of them; now they're both grown up and have started their own lives, but I still have some memories like these! Good job, dad!

A nice, nice build! I wish I could find an affordable MPC Vega kit to build or a built-up to restore. My 1:1, 1973 Vega worked pretty well for me while I was in college. Until the cold, rainy, October, Saturday night when my buddies and I were out-on-the-town, and 4 of us piled into it to head to another party across town. Once inside the car, the windows started fogging-up, and the poor window defroster couldn't keep up with their excessive hot breaths... and I couldn't see where I was driving. I hit an oversize curb in the median of the road, and nearly tore the entire front suspension off of the car! My dad wasn't too happy about having to get outta bed at midnight on a cold and rainy October's night to come and get us!

It'd be fantastic if the newly-tooled Goodyears were inside this reissue, but every description that I have read regarding the reissue for this kit still mentions the Firestones as the tires included...

Has anyone got the reissue of the AMT/Round-2 1967 Shelby Mustang GT-350 on their workbench yet? (The retro box artwork looks fantastic)! I'm wondering if this kit is a straight-reissue of the AMT/Ertl 1967 Shelby Mustang GT-350 of a few years ago. I know it will be issued in both White and Black styrene, but am wondering if everything else, including the decal sheet, is exactly the same as the original release.

Both are excellent builds! I have heard that fitting either of the 2 different engines into the engine compartment of these Polar Light's Talladega kits can be a challenge, especially the 429. Did you face any issues when installing those engines?

Beautiful build! Excellent paint and decal work, plus the chassis-swap and detailing added to that 429 make this an incredible build!

That'd be a good one, but I'd rather see the 1/25 MPC 1970 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler factory-stock kit reissued, but I expect that day will never come!

Wow, if this is the short-track, kit-car chassis 1970(?) Dart with an opening trunk, I'll be doing cartwheels down my street when it gets reissued! I never thought we'd see this great little kit again. They go for top-dollar on the auction sites. I think this kit was originally-issued with the Ford Race-car Ramp truck in the early-1970's, then reissued once more as a kit by itself a couple of years after that. So, it hasn't been on a store shelf since the mid-1970's!

Bad Apple, Regarding Buddy Baker decals, see the Dave Van post on the previous page, (page 4), here.

Yep, Greg, you're right about that MPC clear-bodied GTO Nascar kit; forgot about that one. I'd bet it used the same clear-plastic chemical-formula as the 1/16 Petty kit used, back-in-the-day.

Good question Greg, (regarding all of those old, clear-plastic kits that you've listed), but I don't think any of those kits were from MPC, AMT, AMT/Ertl or any kit manufacturers directly-associated with MPC/AMT/Round-2. I think that I read somewhere that the "chemical-formula" for making the clear-plastic in the original 1/16 MPC Nascar Charger kits has been lost. (Understandable, considering how long ago it was developed, and how people and companies have changed over all of these years; MPC into AMT... AMT into AMT/Ertl... AMT/Ertl into Round-2...etc). Also consider how complex recreating this clear-plastic chemical-formula might be; too much of one ingredient, (or not enough of another ingredient), and the plastic becomes too soft, (or too hard, or too brittle, or too pliable, or unable to release itself from it's molds, or lacking clearness and too foggy... etc). I'm just glad to see this kit actually still being produced, whatever the color of styrene it comes in. I'm certain that this was a costly exercise for Round-2 to go through, (making the body pieces in opaque Petty Blue styrene). How many kit manufacturers might have just dropped the project when they started to encounter these production issues? We should consider ourselves lucky that this kit is still going to be produced and available for purchase!

When Round-2 uses the language, "...opaque Petty Blue body...", that to me means it is NOT see-through in any way, shape or form.

FYI: The soon-to-be-reissued 1/16 Nascar Petty Charger kits will be on their way to America soon, but a new announcement regarding this reissue has just been released; the following message is from the manufacturer: "The MPC-767 1/16 Petty Charger kit has been molded with an opaque "Petty Blue" body as opposed to a clear body. After several attempts using various types of plastics and injection tricks, we were not able to achieve the quality or durability we needed in order to do the kit with a clear body. The age of the tooling along with the recent backdating work we had to do were the reasons. We had to make the decision to mold the body in Petty blue instead, which is reflected in the updated packaging. The chassis/motor/interior parts are molded in grey, similar to the original kit." I personally think this will be an improvement for this reissue, but I also hope the Petty Blue plastic is in an accurate color.

I'd bet that, "back-in-the-day...", this was one beautiful T-bird! It's a shame it ended up a tree!

Here's my build, finished back in July.

I agree with all of the accolades already presented, but would add that this car would look fabulous as a 1:1 in my garage! That's my highest compliment!

I wonder what the story is behind that Baja/off-road version!

DaveM, Thanks for the quick-review! Many of us have been waiting for someone to get their hands on this kit, and it looks like you're one of the first! Where'd you get it from; a major retailer, you're local hobby shop, via mail order, or somewhere else?

I have to agree with Blunc here. You're paint-detailing skills are exceptional and very cleanly done, (love your firewall)! Use that same talent when painting your interior and i think the results will be much better than a coat of flocking! Nice save on this Cougar; its looking good!

270 horses for the 57's drag race competition to dislike!

Chuck, Very cool... my '70 Grande was my second car, (after a '68 VW Bug that I bought from my folks). My Grande was a T-5 Grande; no Mustang plaques or logos anywhere on the body of the car. I purchased it from a Army Lieutenant who bought it brand-new in Feb. of 1970 in Germany, when he was stationed there. He drove it throughout Germany for over 2 years, (had a few stories about driving it really fast on the Autobahn!), then, because he loved the car so much, had it shipped back to the states when his commission was completed in Germany. It had a 351 Windsor, console-shift automatic, deluxe Grande interior package, air conditioning, power steering & brakes and an unusual half-vinyl roof. I loved that car; wish I still had it because T-5's were unusual then, and are really unusual today!

Okay, how 'bout this interpretation of the "BENT EIGHT" decal: The graphic before the lettering is a "bomb", so it reads: A...bomb...bent..ate or "Abominate" Webster's definition: "Something greatly disliked or abhorred; aversion or loathing". Which seems appropriate for the name of a drag car!

The tires that you used look slightly-larger than the kit-supplied tires; do you know where or what kit those tires came from? Are they resin? This is a great looking build; it is exactly as they appear in my home-state of Iowa, the hog-producing capital of the world! I can almost smell the odor that rides along with these rigs wherever they go!