ModelcarJR

Thanks, Steve! I think I've got it - I have some black masking tape that is probably wide enough. I just need to cut it to the right shape a little bigger than what I need and then put a few crinkles in in as I stick the edges down! Might work!

Thanks, Carl and David! I appreciate your comments!

Thanks, Nigel and Steve! Sorry for the mistake. My memory has failed me in my old age! Nigel, one other thing about the front end - if you glue and putty it in, the grill and headlight piece will fit in from the bottom but you have to been it a bit around the inner fender liner on one side. If you don't want to do that you might want to paint the grill and glue the grill/headlight piece in before you glue the front fascia in and putty it up. Steve, thanks for letting me know about the convertible boot. I will take a look at one on the internet and see if I can change it. If you have any ideas let me know. Thanks! Today, I finished the foil on the body and found some wheels and tires that would work. The Keystone wheels in the kit looked like the chrome was fading and missing in places and someone had twisted them off the sprue. I found some Goodyear tires that would fit these Cragars, although they were not white letter tires. I sanded off the Goodyear logo on the tires and then added the decals from Fireball Modelworks. The wheelbacks from the kit also fit these tires. For the engine, I am going to use the Hemi from the Revell 68 Dodge Charger kit since I had some extra parts from some bagged kits that I bought. the Hemi engine is more detailed and will fill up the engine bay a little better. I test-fitted the block and transmission in the chassis and the engine mounted well in the engine mounts. The transmission is about 1/4" longer than the 440 in the kit so I will shorten the driveshaft. The hemi will be easier to add plug wires and I won't have to scratch a coil. Also the kit exhaust manifolds look like they will match up with the Hemi. The height of the engine looks close and if anything may be a little shorter which might affect the shaker hood fit. But I think I can remedy that, if necessary, just by adding some plastic under the bottom of the shaker. Here are the progress photos. Thanks for looking! I didn't rub through on the front fender. That's just a reflection.

Thanks, Carl and Nigel! I appreciate your comments! Nigel, I am not sure if your kit is the same as mine. The story I have heard, which I cannot vouch for, is that AMT took a Diecast mold for the convertible and converted it to a plastic kit. I don't know that that is true or whether they had a hardtop Diecast or modified the convertible. Judging from the script on you body on the side, which is very difficult to remove cleanly by the way, it could be a modification of the one I have. You might also check for mirrors in your kit. Judging from the box art on your kit it may not have either exterior or interior mirrors. My exterior mirrors were chrome but I dechromed and painted them. I also have an interior mirror. AMT often excluded both interior and exterior mirrors for some reason, a pet peeve of mine, since it is impossible to drive a car safely without mirrors and not a good representation of the 1:1 car. I can't remember if I have ever built the AMT hardtop, as I much prefer the Revell kits both the RT and T/A versions which I have built many times. But the modifications that I made would seem to apply your kit as well. the front fascia still need to be puttied in and the mirrors, if you have them, would be better pinned than just glued onto the paint. If you don't glue them on cleanly it will leave an ugly glue joint on final assembly. I always do the mirrors last so I don't knock them off while trying to complete some other part of the assembly, like fitting the body over the chassis. If you don't want to remove the Challenger script on the side, you could foil the lettering BEFORE painting and then once the paint has dried and before applying the clear you could remove the paint with thinner and a small Tamiya cotton swab on the chrome lettering. Good luck with your build!

Finished rubbing out the body and added a coat of Meguiars Gold Class wax. Ready for foil! Thanks for looking!

Jeremy, you have a good start! Here's a color chart from the Consumer Guide to tri-five Chevys. The adobe beige and Sierra Gold is my favorite. I did it with Krylon Satin Almond and and MCW Classic Copper. I have also substituted Tamiya Metallic Orange for Sierra Gold when I built a 57. But Krylon has discontinued the Satin Almond. Here are a couple of other photos. Hope the color chart helps!

Thanks, Curtis, Jeremy, Rusty and Jeff! I appreciate your comments! ?

Thanks, Carl! I appreciate your comment! I've been rubbing out the body today but i haven't exposed any edges yet so I guess I'm not done! ? Its a slow process but coming along. Thanks for looking!

This is an old kit and I have built it once before. At the last contest, one of the vendors had this box for sale with two kits in it for $10. Since I assumed that parts for both kits might be be missing, I offered him $5 and he took it. So the only parts missing so far are one set of tailpipes and the steering column for both models. But that's OK because I am only going to build one and I want to change the steering wheel anyway with one that has a column attached that looks better than the horn ring steering wheel included in the kit. The first thing to do was to improve the body a bit by eliminating the small too faint Challenger script on the front fender, puttying the front fascia in place since that panel line doesn't belong there, and pinning the mirrors so they will attach cleanly. Once that was accomplished, I painted the body Dupli-Color Ebony Black and the interior white and black. Here are the progress photos from the first few steps. Thanks for looking!

Thanks, David, I appreciate your comment! This one is done, not very well but it is done. In addition to my paint issues, there were some finnicky fitment issues. Maybe I'll get another and try again. Thanks for looking!

Thanks, Carl, Greg, and David! I appreciate your comments! Well, I touched up the right side and it came out OK but I ran completely out of paint so there are a couple of edges that will be lacking paint until I buy some and touch up with a brush. I thought I had a partial can and a full can of paint. However, I realized after I started that I had two partial cans of paint. So, boys and girls, always check your paint supply before you start painting to avoid rookie mistakes like this one! So I won a set of Fujimi wheels in a raffle at one of the contests, years ago, and I finally found a use for them. I used these chrome wheels with the kit tires and wheelbacks with some adjustments and I think they worked out better than the painted wagon wheels included in the kit. Chassis, interior and trim on the body is complete so now I just have to finish assembly. Here's a couple of mock-up photos. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, Ray and Jeremy! I appreciate your comments! I've completed the interior, chassis, and partially rubbed out the body. I had to touch up the right side of the body and am waiting to add some clear after partially rubbing out the right side but its been raining again so I'll have to wait. The interior was pretty straight forward. I added carpet using gummed felt and since the floor was flat for the most part it was pretty simple. The cabinetry is glued in but everything else is just mocked up for the photo. The chassis on the other hand, was a bit difficult. Since I glued the engine cover in the interior floor in place and covered it with carpet, I had to glue the engine to the engine housing, add the pieces to the engine that were suppose to attach from the top through the floor, and then glue the engine mounting in place. I thought the housing should go inside the border that was engraved in the bottom side of the floor but that left the transaxle and the two suspension pieces short of the floor where they should mount. So I had to unglue the engine housing and move it further inboard on the chassis to that everything glued in place. Same thing happened with the gas tank that is the mount for the rear axle and suspension. Its a little hard to understand where it should go and there really aren't any pins, just little indents with some pimples on the gas tank. But I figured it out eventually and got everything done. I'll add some blackwash to the aluminum parts and clean up the scuff on the floor. Here are some photos. Thanks for looking!

Looks good, Jeremy! Nice paint and color choices! ??

I've seen one of these built on this forum and I saw one at the contest last Saturday that I thought looked good so I bought one from a vendor at the show. Then it rained Sunday through Wednesday here and I couldn't make much progress. I painted the interior with primer and flat white so I could work on the interior. Since there is not much foil on this build I put my foil to work as trim on the cabinets. I saw one on the internet that was white and gray so I am going to build it the same way. I am also going to add black carpet throughout using gummed felt. It cleared up yesterday and today so I got it painted. Dupli-Color white and Tamiya Coral Blue. Paint came out pretty well. Now I'll rub it out and start putting this one together! Thanks for looking!

Thanks, Dan, Rusty, and Carl! I appreciate your comments! Carl, on the grill, I drill several large holes in the chrome grill and then whittled it out with my No, 11 Blade. There were a few marks on the chrome bumper but I used the chrome pen to cover them and it worked out pretty well.

Thanks, Jeremy and Carl! I appreciate your comments! I'm happy to report that this build came in 2nd in Houston IPMS, Customs and Low Riders. Unusual, since some of the Low Rider builders didn't show up. Sometimes its better to be lucky than good! Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, Steve! I appreciate your comment! This one is done! The rear fender inserts from the AMT Pro Shop kit are a bit smaller than this AMT body. So I used matte aluminum foil first as a background so there wouldn't be red along the border and then glued the insert in the middle so that the aluminum foil border is visible on both the top and bottom of the insert. I also had to shorten the insert about 1/16" with a scissors. Other than the mold lines in the poor bumper chrome, that I tried to remove and then use a chrome pen, it looks pretty good to me. Here are a few photos. Thanks for looking! ?

Well, it looks like I will get this one done in time for the contest this weekend. Its a mild custom so I can add one to that category. I didn't like the big wheels with rubber band tires in the previous post so I changed them out to regular size tires from the 33 Ford that look like the American Racing wheels with spinners that I have on my 1:1 57 Chevy. They look much better to me although they are not the same type wheels on the actual Chubster (which are regular size tires and wheels). I've also finished the front end. I only have to finish the rear and the fender inserts and this one will be done. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, All! I appreciate your comments! Busy getting ready for a contest on Saturday. I don't know if I'll get this one done this week. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, Mike, David and Carl! I appreciate your comments! David, the actual "Chubster" has a modified light bar with a Boyd Coddingtion signature plate in the middle. I won't be able to replicate that so I have a toothy grill with attached turn signals. I'll glue the turn signals to the grill and I think everything will fit. See below. The actual car doesn't have the bumperettes either but I don't have a bumper without them. I also finished the engine, chassis and interior so I could mock this up. I think everything will come out OK so this one should be done in the next day or two. The engine is the 409 block with the 283 manifold, fan belt and fan. I found a round plastic part which became an alternator. The carb and air cleaner are are from the parts box and I believe they came from a Plymouth Belvedere. The interior is the standard black and red Bel Air interior. I removed the shifter on the steering column and added a turn signal lever. The steering wheel and floor shifter are from the parts box. Here are some pics with a mock-up. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, Jim! I appreciate your comment! Finished the foil on this one and now I will see if the insert from the AMT Pro Shop kit will fit. It might be a little larger, maybe 1/24th scale, so it might be too big. But the Pro Shop body has engraved rear inserts so the PE pieces are not necessary for that kit and the PE pieces do not have the Bel Air scripts and Chevy badge so they would be perfect for this build. Thanks for looking!

I agree with everyone that lacquer should not be applied over enamel. For my part, I seldom use enamel, especially Testors enamel out of a rattle can. Enamel takes too long to dry and really doesn't need a clear if applied in enough coats, allowed to dry long enough (not sure what that is) and rubbed out and polished. If a clear is applied then it will yellow in about a year. So I don't like to use enamel on modeling subjects. If I do use it, I airbrush it. I don't use Testors Extreme Lacquer much either because the flake is too big, the paint is thicker because of the flake, and it tends to bubble up on the edges. Once it bubbles up, it either has to be sanded out and touched up or start over in the purple or oven cleaner pool. I only use Tamiya or Dupli-Color Perfect Match on bodies, both of which are lacquers with a good primer underneath and Krylon Clear Lacquer as my clear coat. I use Krylon Satins or Flats on interiors and other parts, which is also a lacquer. Occasionally, I'll use a Krylon gloss on interiors but will have to flat it out with some Dullcote. Tamiya is a good model paint but is hard to find. I either have to drive 30 miles into the belly of the beast which is downtown Houston to the only HS that carries it, or mail order it from Hobbylinc and pay the shipping. Dupli-Color is quite expensive now going from under $10 an 8 oz. can to now to $17 and change at an auto parts store. But both are worth it for bodies and it avoids all the tragedies like yours that I too have suffered through years ago. I hope that helps. Find a good lacquer and clear that works for you and stay away from enamel unless you airbrush it and rub it out good.

Thanks, Jim, Jeremy, Carl and Bob! I appreciate your comments! Finished rubbing out the body and started on the first pieces of foil! Thanks for looking! ?

I've had this old kit in the closet since ERTL got out of the business. Its was marked down to $8.99 from $12.99 as Michaels was closing them out. I looked up Boyd Coddington's Chubster and realized that it was nothing like this kit. I thought I might as well try to make all the changes to the body that I could. So I chopped out the grill, cut up the hood bar and hood bar extensions, glued them onto the body and puttied them in. The hood bar is a little short on the right side but I'll have to live with it! Next, I trimmed the rockets on the top side, turned them upside down, glued them in and puttied them up. Finally, I sanded off all the exterior trim on the body. Everything is red on the "Chubster" including the LS2 engine with air induction tunnels and the custom interior. I will not try to reproduce those areas. I found a low profile scoop and blower to mount on the 409 engine included in the kit. the interior will be a standard red and black Bel Air interior and I may use the decals in the Revell snap kit for the black inserts in the interior. Not sure yet. But in the meantime, everything is painted except the engine which is next. Everything is in Dupli-Color Bright Red and the paint is looking good today. We're suppose to get storms tomorrow and Friday so I am trying to get everything painted today. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, Steve, David and Jeff! I appreciate your comments! Outdoor photos are in the Under Glass section! Thanks for looking!