ModelcarJR

Thanks, Charlie, D, and Carl! I appreciate your comments! Charlie, those are all very good suggestions but unfortunately I don't have any of those colors at the moment and it will take two weeks before I could get them here. It's a great day to paint today so I went for it! So I had a partial can of Testors Flame Red so I used it on the body. I think Testors discontinued that color so that's the last of that. In bright light it looks pretty bright but in regular light it looks pretty dark. I painted the fender unit flat black for a color coat or an additional primer coat and then followed with Testors Semi-gloss black after taping off the running boards so they can stay flat black. Both the body and fender unit got a coat of clear and they both turned out well. Very little, if any, rubbing out. I painted the top, interior, spare tire covers and trunk Krylon Khaki with a coat of dullcote. I may need an additional coat of dullcote. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks Mark and Rusty! I appreciate the comments! Mark, thanks for the tips, I had figured out that the oil line per the instructions was really the spark plug wires conduit but hadn't figured out the fan location, so thanks for that tip. When I was searching for photos I saw the first one that you posted and thought, wait a minute everything is backwards! Then I realized I was looking at it from the right side not the left! ? You've got a nice idea with the truck. Hope to see it on here! I haven't gotten much done, assembled the engine block and painted it gunmetal after de-chroming the block. I assembled 4 wheels and tires and have primered a number of parts now that its not raining today. Hopefully more tomorrow! Here's a couple of pics of the difference in tire size in my kit and the 4 assembled wheels. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, All! I appreciate the comments! ?

Thanks for the comments and questions. Carl, I paint on the patio outside year-round. In the heat and humidity of the summertime, I'll paint a body and walk it back into the house while still wet and gassing out. I know it will still smell so I try to do it when Grumpma is gone shopping. Or I'll carry it into my model room, turn on a couple of air purifiers, and shut the door. That usually will be acceptable but not exactly approved by Grumpma. As for the six tires and wheels, only 5 of mine are the same size tires. One is definitely smaller than the others and the white wall ring won't fit. Its either purposely that way to force the modeler to use the plastic tires or tire cannisters ( I haven't figured them out yet) or its just poor quality control. Too late now!

Everything is looking good, Mike! Good luck with the rest of the build! ?

I've had this kit for about 30 years so I guess its time to give it a go. Unfortunately, its been raining for about 3 days off and on and tomorrow. So in the meantime, I am cleaning up the pieces and putting togehter some assemblies that I can paint later. The chrome in the kit is very good but some of the vanilla plastic pieces have some flash and injector thingys to deal with. I assemble the trunk and trunk rack for the back and will also work on the engine to get the block together for paint. I can also work on the wheel assemblies by just painting the brake hubs black. There are no color callouts in the directions so I guess I'll go with the box and use red, black and a little silver. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, All! I appreciate the comments! ?

Thanks, everyone for the comments!

I forgot to post a picture of the engine bay in the post above. Here it is.

I built this MPC kit as Grandma's grocery getter to remove it from my closet. The color is Tamiya Dark Yellow with a Krylon Italian Olive interior. Its powered by a 340 4-barrel from another MPC kit, a 1980 Plymouth Volare, that I added plug wires and heater hoses. I also added a parts box outside mirror and steel wheels and dog dish hubcaps from a 68 Dodge Charger. Thanks for looking! ?

Csaba, it looks great! My wife had one of these when we first met. It was a faded bronze that looked like brown. It was a very ugly car. Her dad traded it in for a 67 Mustang Fastback. She got the better end of that deal. Your Valiant looks good! Nice work! ?

Nice paint and foil, Gareth! The removal of the painted foil looks good too! Nice work and nice start! ?

Thanks, All! I appreciate your comments! D.W., I would have put a 318 decal on it but I haven't ever seen one! Grandpa insisted that Grandma put tie-downs on the hood to keep the powerful 340, 4 barrel under the hood! The hood doesn't fit well either but I am tired of playing with it. I used a standard Mopar mirror from the parts box because the sport mirrors included in both kits (and others) are ugly. I also still have to dot the door locks with some chrome. So now its done! Not a great kit but its out of my closet! Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, All I appreciate your comments! D. W., two of your three comments are not nit-pickin' at all. I agree that the coil is on the wrong side so I moved to the right. Next, I painted the original air cleaner in the 75 Dart kit to use it. But I had to stay up all night boring out the 318 to a 340 so that I could use the Dave's Speed Shop 340 decal for the air cleaner !? But he position of the spark plug boots - I agree that is nit-pickin"! But its now on wheels. Granny has a 4 barrel, 340 for getting her groceries! I had to add three pieces of plastic strip on each side of the fender liner in order to level up the doghouse to glue three sides to the body. That's about all that can be glued to hold the body on. Its not perfect but it will do. I am hoping that I can use the rear bumper to trap the frame in the back. Not there yet. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, Charlie, Carl, and Ed! I appreciate your comments! Built the engine and added a pre-wired distributor, coil, heater hoses and a radiator hose replacement. The engine is the automatic transmission small block (I'll call it a 318) from the 2980 Volare. I added a taller carburetor from the parts box to get the air cleaner a little higher to clear the valve covers. I had to bend the distributor back a bit but I don't think it is very noticeable. The master brake cylinder is from the Volare as well. I need to touch up in a few places and add some blackwash to the aluminum parts. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, Curtis! I appreciate your comment! Finished the interior. Painted the dash and console with Testors leather for wood added some foil and chrome pen and its done. I took some liberties with the chrome foil on the dash. I may add a little more dullcote to the seats and floor. Thought I had enough but maybe not. I'll just sprits some more on. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, All! Yes, I am going with the Volare engine. There are two engines in the Duster kit; a 426 and a generic engine the same as in the Volare. The only difference is the Volare is an auto transmission and it doesn't have a bunch of chrome parts that I would have to remove the chrome from like in the Dart. But its basically the same generic engine. I found a 318 on a engine stand and it looked just like this except for the transmission and fuel pump. The color is Tamiya Coral Blue. I also drilled a hole in the molded-in driveshaft and inserted a piece of brass rod to support the engine since there are no motor mounts in this kit. That way I don't have to glue down the front of the oil pan. Finally, I had the interior painted brown (root beer) but it seemed to clash with the dark yellow. So I repainted it Krylon Italian Olive. Looks like its a better color blend although you probably can't see it in these pictures. So now that all the painting is done I can start foil and the rest of the construction process. Thanks for looking! ?

Thanks, everyone for the comments! Seems to be a lot of interest in this one. I like the 71 Duster idea but the one I had I built! I was disappointed with the engine pieces in the kit. A lot of the parts for the non-racing engine were chromed and it looked at first glance to be a 440. Most of the parts were chrome, which I could remove but I thought that it was still a 440. So I went looking at other kits and most are either a 426 or a 440 too until I ran across this 1980 Plymouth Volare. Now how did that MPC kit get into my collection? Well, I know the story on that one. It was part of a much larger purchase of 50 kits that I got for a very reasonable price. Most are good kits but some are not. This kit on the side panel purports to have a small block V-6 engine. Great! I can just use this kit with the small block, auto transmission, and also use the suspension that has a single exhaust attached. Wait a minute - I need to see a picture of a Mopar V-6. Did they even produce such an engine in 1980? So I went looking for a photo of one and couldn't find one. I then looked for the history of the V-6 engine and found that other than foreign car manufacturers, like Lancia, that the earliest V-6s were developed by GM in 1958 and Buick in 1962. The earliest reference to a production V-6 for passenger cars seemed to be about 1985/1986. I know I had a V-6 1985 Camaro that was also fuel injection. I had to have the injectors replaced. So I am not sure what this is in the 1980 Plymouth Volare. I am going to build it as a standard 1 carb engine and call it an eight cylinder 318. I subsequently noticed that the non-descript block and transmission are smaller than the 426 included in the kit. So yeah - that's it! A small block for a grocery-getter! Oh, and I also have a set of steel wheels and dog dish hupcaps from the 68 Dodge Charger.

Thanks, Everyone! I appreciate your comments! ?

Thanks, All! I guess I spaced out on the hood and trunk darts and have added foil to both. I posted some final pics in "Under Glass". Thanks for looking!~ ?

I pulled this kit from my closet from the shelf marked "Why did I buy this kit". Its an MPC kit and the cheater slicks in it were very nice so I have used them already on a drag car. Otherwise it has few parts, metal axles, and a somewhat detailed interior bucket. The body was pretty clean so I thought it would be a good candidate for the Tamiya Dark Yellow that I am using up to get rid of it. I'm sure its a favorite color of the military modelers, but doesn't quite fit an automobile, although it does resemble some of the new colors I've seen on 2021 cars and trucks. Anyway, I'm just going to build the standard grocery-getter out of this one. So far I've just painted and rubbed out the body. Thanks for looking! ?

I just finished this Revell kit. A few issues with the rear panel and bumper but it turned out OK. I used the rear bumper from the AMT kit as the Revell bumper looked too wide for me and I was unable to shorten it cleanly. The paint is Tamiya Maroon with a Krylon Semi-gloss white combination in the interior. Everything is box stock except for the rear bumper. No susnshine today and you might even see a couple of drops of rain in the photos as it began to sprinkle this afternoon. Thanks for looking! ?

Looks great, Tony! My last build is of this model but I didn't do so well. I guess I'll have to try again. Yours looks very good! ? ?

Thanks, All! I appreciate your comments! This was a fun little build. I wish they all worked out this way! Thanks for looking! ?

I recently completed this 1966 Nova SS. Wired the engine and plumbed the heater hoses. Decals are from Keith Marks. Paint is Testors Italian Red lacquer with a Semi-black interior. The pad-printed Goodyear F60-15s are from another AMT kit. I chose not to add the rocker chrome pieces. Thanks for looking!