Muncie

Appreciate the pic, good to know - aaarrrrghhh - just what I was afraid of.... The too wide slicks that came later, after this car raced. Fortunately, Competiton Resin makes the "correct" narrower tire, Also available at Slixx Decals, part number CRT-510. Just a simple chop out of the back of the wheel for fit and then good to go.

There is a lot going on there... and the more I look, the more there is! Neat idea and well executed. Thank you for posting.

I've been thinking that very thing for the last couple of years. There was a brand new Oldsmobile dealer close to the grade school that I went to. They were good to some of the kids and gave them dealer stickers to patch holes in the seat of their Stingray bikes. That dealer only lasted a couple of years. The AMT Willys chassis is close to the right wheelbase. In a quick tryout, it looks like the interior tub only needs a couple of simple modifications to fit the Willys frame.

me too...

You have some good research on what is available. One of the reasons for different track widths in the hot rod world is to fit the different size tires and wheel offsets properly under the fenders. It's about the look and function.

I also remember reading a couple of the Henry Gregor Felson books during study hall in high school. Your tribute is well done and way cool!

I may go at this a little backward... it's kind of the crudest level of eyeball engineering. I try to leave a gap before paint that is bigger than I will need. Then fill with paint. Usually easier for me to add paint than to take it away. I probably start with a gap that is a about one thickness of manila file folder (depending on the paint) for each coat of paint plus a bit more than that for the final space between parts. One file folder for primer on the body, one for primer on the part, one for color on the body, one for color on the body - same for clear (I don't use 2K). Plus allow for the final gap between painted parts. Add a bit to the unpainted gap for any base coats, candy base, etc. I don't really measure it, it's just eyeball, I'm not leaving huge gaps because I try to get the job done with paint that doesn't need heavy coats and spray it thin - just thick enough to get good coverage so I don't bury crisp lines or obscure detail.

Long ago, I had a bad experience polishing Testors Model Master enamel with a very fine mild polish. The paint ended up on the polishing cloth. I fixed the damage to the paint and polished it with a cleaner wax. It was much less aggressive and polished the enamel with good results.

3 hoods! - makes it work for so many things

for really old food archives, check out a chest type freezer. Had to deal with a couple of those. Top layer was fairly recent, but the bottom layer was 25 to 30 years old... found some packages with my birth year on them. - or the jars of home canned fruit at the back of the shelf in the garage...

I'd say AMT got the mounts a little wrong. With the rear engine mount on the engine under the mount on the frame as you've got it, that appears to give the correct engine centerline angle. For this wheelbase, that's about 3 degrees and down at the rear.

not good... the problem may be in the decanting or spraying thru an airbrush. thinner? try spraying from the can and see if it does the same thing.

Nicely done Steve, well done and it adds a lot of realistic appearance. with a very sharp knife, I take very thin slices, baby steps. It's more of a shave than a cut - thin cuts to avoid putting too much force on the knife. Pushing too hard can cause the knifer to slip, gouging into the cowl vent or creating a big cut in my finger... so far, no blood.

just an observation, the local hobby shop moves much more Gundam than model cars. Basically, half of what used to be the model car kit area is now Gundam. The model car area stays pretty full with not much turnover. However, it's not unusual to see half the Gundam area sold out from one visit to the next. Yet I never see many people in that area. It is a different group, different buying habits, different hours and a younger group that isn't into model cars. I tease the owners about the Gundam, but I also now it helps keeps the doors open so I still have a local hobby shop to find model cars I like on the shelf.

Getting to the post office is part way there. The parcels still need to be sorted and set out for pickup at the post office or delivery to a street address. I believe "arrived at post office" and "available for delivery" are two different statuses on the tracking page. It depends on workload and how many available people are there to get things sorted and set out. Usually the same day/morning, but sometimes things happen. You did good by being respectful to the USPS workers. They can't control it either and they remember how well they are treated. Most of them are good humans like the rest of us.

Back in my hardware store days we sold paint, that was some time ago... Latex house paint with water clean-up was a fairly new thing. The rule was natural bristle for solvent base paints and nylon (synthetic) bristle if water would be used to clean the brush. Cleaning in water would damage a good natural bristle brush. Years later, all the brushes are much better so I wouldn't hesitate to use a good synthetic brush with oil base paint, but I still wouldn't clean a natural bristle brush with water.

The local hobby shop or model railroad store has Evergreen Plastic sheet with different siding and sidewalk patterns that can be cut to shape and painted

Awesome! There is just something oversized about a big block impala tuned for drag racing.

I've seen that done and the decals were much better on all colors - copy shops like Kinko's are also a possibility.

Thank you for posting more details and pictures. I'm still thinking out loud on that vinyl top on the Lincoln. The photographs show a dark stain at the bottom of the top between the rear door and back window. The more detailed pictures fail to show that area. It might be something else but I'm thinking rust. It's one of the places rust starts under a vinyl top. Rust starts and the vinyl has to be removed to replace the metal - big job, expensive... Replacement metal would probably have to come from a donor car and it's a big possibility that any potential donor car would have the same problem (Most Lincolns that I can remember had vinyl tops)

Reality will set in when you need repairs. The Lincoln is 36 years old, and the Nova is 55. They will need repairs, and there be challenges getting replacement parts. There were fewer of the Lincolns produced and probably not many still running - parts will be more difficult to find just because the demand is too low for anybody to make replacements. The downside is problems with hard-to-find parts always comes at the worst time. The Chevy will be much easier to repair because there are still a lot of them on the road being driven and most of the parts are the also used on other Chevrolet and GM products. Most parts to keep it running are easily available. it seems like any car from Florida will be a "beach car." The salty air can do a lot of rust damage on the underside and/or corrosion in the electrical parts. Some of it will be where it can't be seen or repaired easily. Salt will cause difficult to diagnose and repair problems. Just thinking out loud here, vinyl tops... if the vinyl has already failed or maybe if it hasn't... A vinyl top can lead to rust under the vinyl. The car companies didn't put much paint on the roof under a vinyl top, and the top rusts. Repairing the vinyl may require replacing the roof as in welding a new roof on it. It's fairly common on a lot of restorations of muscle cars that were built in the '60'swith vinyl tops. Generally, the owner or shop says "no more" and restores the car with a painted roof.

Like the blue one, Removing the trim looks soooo good. no, the brown one... no, I like the altered wheelbase.... Ah heck I like them all.

Very Cool!

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That is much cool! Looks good, beautiful craftsmanship. Ready to go. Aim that thing at Floating Mountain, push the pedal on the right side and go fast!