THarrison351

Oh, where do I start. Polar Lights had something that could have been so good. A subject that builders wanted, and it looked on the surface to be well detailed. Somewhere it was lost in execution. It’s not the kit is unbuildable, it just takes a lot of patience, knowledge of the subject, and good building practices. I was fortunate enough to find some information that still existed on the web to guide me through the problem areas. It took every bit of my fifty plus years of building to get through this. One, the Boss nine engine is too wide to fit. You must either relocate the under-hood roll cage or grind it down. Also, the upper A arms must be ground for clearance. Two the hood is incorrect. I do not know how this made it into production completely wrong, but there it is. Both the Cyclone II and the Talladega used the stock Montego/Cyclone and Fairlane/Torino hood with the corresponding leading chrome trim removed. The Fairlane/Torino hood has a relatively flat leading edge. The Montego hood has a raised center section, and it extends out forward and slopes off at the front. This center prow is about an inch and a half forward of the rest of the leading edge of the hood. I’ve attempted to duplicate this with plastic, filler, and a lot of patient sanding. Three, the front fender openings are huuge! Like dirt track huuge! More plastic, filler, and sanding. Four, the instructions where items are located are just vague or incorrect…Good thing I have some knowledge about stock cars. Five, there’s probably more that I missed, but there's lots of massaging of parts to make them fit. AMT, old Revell, and MPC kits are cake compared to this. Info on things I used. Paint is Tamiya TS26 pure white, the red is Tamiya TS21 gold, TS74 clear red, and TS65 pearl clear. I sprayed the top colors one after the other only long enough for them to flash dry. The simulated Zolatone is a cheap gray primer with white and black paints sprayed from a distance for affect. Decals are mostly Power Slide with a few from the stock Slixx in the kit. I should have used the Power Slides because the Slixx were as usual, brittle. But the Slixx were prearranged and I’m lazy. Hood pins are Pro Tech and excellent! The tires are stock, terrible, and wished I’d used PPP, but I’d already spent too much money on this thing. I doctored them with a blue gel pen and Power Slide decals. I’m glad it’s done, and I sold all the other one’s years ago on eBay. My son gave me the rereleased fictional Bobby Allison Coca-Cola Cyclone Spoiler II a few years ago…Well, at least I’ll know what I’m getting into. Thanks for looking! Over twenty years to finish, but it's done. I must have tossed it in the box out of frustration. I cut the back glass to fit flush in the opening Hosted on Fotki The Box Stock compared to some diecasts I have on hand. On the left is a GMP 1969 Spoiler II and on the right is a University of Racing Legends 1968 Bobby Allison Cyclone The Allison hood isn't quite right either Hosted on Fotki My inspiration Hosted on Fotki Way too wide Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Much better Everything is freshly painted and out of the incubator Not perfect, but better than box stock Comparing to the 1968 UoR diecast Ready for final assembly Stock compared to racing

I have the Hemi Hunter in it's last release and a great set of correct LA Dart decals I hope to build this kit one day.

The first model I remember completing was Monogram's Tom Daniel designed "Thunder Bug" in green. Then a few Hawk models like the Ferrari D50 and their oddball rubber band powered Bonneville cars. This is what a five to six year old could afford on a fifty cent weekly allowance. There were also some Aurora 1/32 cars mixed in as well. They all met some disaster and never made it out of Las Vegas before we moved to Virginia.

I gave up on the discontinued kits in my area. I once asked the stocker why I wasn't seeing the kits out on display after being marked down and was told that they get sold immediately. Meaning it's an inside job and probably being sold on eBay or Facebook marketplace. I worked in an auto parts store and when our floor items would get discontinued markdowns, often times employees would buy these, before the items were available to customers.

You never catch up...

Thanks!

Revell '49 Mercury Custom Coupe. Painted Testors Extreme Lacquer Purple-Licious. The interior is flat white and Testors gloss grape. My son gave me this many years ago to build soon after it's release in 2007. I'm not much on building the Kustoms and was never sure or inspired how to complete it. Now that I'm building again, I had an idea and followed through. Glad it's finished. Not a difficult model. Looks good on the shelf. The kit comes with three grills. Stock, eleven '53 Desoto "teeth", and complete '54 Pontiac center bar and parking lights. Typical customs used the Pontiac center and '54 Chevy parking lights. That's what the built cover art used. Something was lost there. Other body options are a smooth hood or louvered as I used and stock fender skirts or the custom ones. There's two taillight sets, tunneled with pointy tips or '49-'50 Lincoln tri-bar. Both are kind of weak and a disappointment. I replaced my pointy lenses with longer ones from an AMT '64 Marauder that I had in the parts box. It can be built with stock bumpers or the ribbed ones I used. It also comes with a set of dummy spotlights that I'm not a fan of. It comes with several decal options. The decals as old as they were still did well and responded to solvent. I Almost forgot. There's another set of wheels and tires. Chrome reverse "steelies" and black wall tires in a lower profile with disc brakes all around. The biggest issues I had were the chrome was weak and the interior could have had better detail. Well, maybe not. It's hard to see through the tiny windows of the chopped top. Speaking of which. It's not quite proportioned right in my eyes. Someone commented the "b" pillar is too tall. Anyways, here it is in it's imperfect glory. The color really pops in the light Until I started this build, I hadn't realized how many Mercury Eight models I owned. Of course these are diecast, but anyways.

Thanks! I still have them. I'm currently building all the models I started and haven't finished in the last thirty plus years and the ones my son gave me. I look forward to getting them one day.

Thanks! Thank you! Thanks! I appreciate you noticing. I've been watching others detailing these over the years one way or the other, and thought I'd try different techniques with tinted clear acrylic paint.

Thanks Thank you! I like all the first gen Toros, but the '66-67 are my favorites and this in GT trim comes next. Thanks! I like it too, It was not exactly the color I was expecting but to quote Bob Ross “We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” Thank you! Thanks! Thank you! I agree, there are a lot of them. Thanks! Thank you! They did have a lot of great colors to choose from back in the day. This wasn't exactly an OEM one, but it represents well. It's not a bad kit to build, the company just suffered from financial issues for years, so they never invested in the tooling other than the absolute minimum. Thanks! I feel there are a bunch of Jo-Han models in peoples stash just wishing to be built, but because the tooling is gone, they are only seen as investments. I'm building the ones I have. A started AMC SC/Rambler and a Chrysler Turbine. Thank you! Thanks! I agree with what you said. Moebius is the closest we have to this day. We can only hope they take interest in AMC or the odd subjects ignored by the others. Thank you! Thanks! Thank you! You know, turquoise is not on the Testors web site, but I purchased it new from Hobby Lobby. Maybe it's old stock. Thanks! Thank you! Thanks! Thank you. I did build other models during that time. This one just ended up packed away and forgotten or neglected. I've never been an industrious builder to be truthful. Maybe I've 10 in a year at the maximum. Thanks, I like them too! Thank you! I do too! Thanks! I've always liked Toros. There was a kid in our school that drove one and it was so cool to watch him roast the front tires at will. Jo-Han even with all their problems, when it came to the bodies of the kits they made, they were really sharp. I've built several and to this day they have some of the cleanest body details of models kitted from that era. That's pretty good looking build you have there. Like your color choice! Thank you! Thanks! I guess this makes me an Thank you!

Jo-Han 1970 Oldsmobile Toronado. Another one that I bought in the eighties, prepped to build, and life got in the way. Testors extreme lacquer turquoise is the color. An easy build, but it's promo origins and minimal updates really burden it's details Not a bad model which origins come from the 1966 release. Wheels are not offset correctly. If you look at the box art in the last photo, you can see how the wheels should look. Mirrors were from parts box. The area above the left rear fender beltline, top? Not sure what the correct terminology is, was nonexistent from the mold. I added Bondo spot putty and built it up to match the other side. I had to be careful of the window trim and the tiny emblem. I will add a license plate at some point. The lower valence is molded incorrectly. I never really noticed it until I added the chrome foil. Everything under the hood is from the 1966 release, so it's mostly incorrect. If you build the Eldorado versions, they're exactly the same. Including the Oldsmobile engine. Fairly detailed front suspension, the rest is molded promo. I used Tamiya Racing green for the interior. A little foil, and paint. It's ok for me. Ready for final assembly. I like to take a photo of all the sub-assemblies right before I put it all together. How it came out of the box after sitting dormant for over thirty years.

Thanks! Well, the body color wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it is different. Thank you sir! Thank you! It was a challenge. I appreciate that! Thanks! Thanks! Yeah, separate chrome bezels would be nice. Thank you! Thanks! Thank you! Thanks! It was frustrating at the end. On the shelf now! Thank you! Thanks! Thank you! Thanks! Thank you! Me too! Thanks! Lot of guessing there, poor design, should be a separate chrome piece.

Outstanding! One of the best I've seen!

Yeah, I'm in Wichita too...

Tire failure ruptured the fuel tank causing a massive fire.

AMT 1970 Camaro RS Z/28. I'll call it the nightmare. Yes, it's the first issue orange one from 2011. Some great intentions that were poorly executed by AMT. It came very close to being a single flight aircraft. The color is Root Beer with Orange clear. Looks great to me in bright light. That right headlight reflector is a molded mess. Mine didn't have flash, it has strings because the molds were still hot when it came out Not bad under, but I might add the front corner braces, and heater hoses I used this pre-built Masterpiece Motion Camaro to suss out problems. I missed the reason why the chassis/tub fits poorly. It's too long . I should have trimmed the tabs at the back. Painted and mostly assembled. Ready for heartache and disappointment A little too shiny, but I'm happy with the color. The Rays Kits decals I purchased had an instrument decal, but it was out of scale and unusable Needs a proper alternator bracket I'm not sure what kit I robbed these tires from. '65 El Camino maybe? So much better than the kit tires which are completely wrong Painted before details and decals Too. Much. Orange. If there's one thing I wish they'd do, it's never release another kit in color plastic. Oh yeah, those are the Rays Kits decals I used. Emblems and underhood stuff was good. White stripes were see through and you can see the instrument cluster decals which turned out to be too small.

Looks great! I'm in the process of painting mine now. The body was a pain due to a couple short shot areas, poor sprue cuts by the factory, and the mold does not release the left headlight bucket very well.

Great color!

CA glue and baking powder works great too

Wally Booth. Jim Gilbert and Dick Maskin

I built this along with the fifties variant years ago when it was released with a pre-painted body. Fun, easy kit to build. I liked detail painting all the gizmos in the interior.

Several years ago I purchased this diecast. I didn't pay close attention to the pictures and missed that the door handle was broken on the passenger side. When I cleaned it up I discovered the defect and looking at the sellers pictures it was clearly presented. My bad. So I figured I had something in my spares from building models or some unbuilt kits, nope. I kept looking for a wreck on eBay all this time and last week this one popped up on buy it now for next to nothing. It was missing the top, boot and a couple of other small parts, but the door handle was there. While I was waiting for it to ship, the seller was trying to contact me to disclose some problems he was unaware/didn't disclose. For some reason my email was sending all eBay messages to spam. I just happened to be on eBay looking at something else when I noticed a lot of messages and just in time too, because the seller was going to refund my payment. He was uncomfortable with the condition of the car's damage. The taillight/license plate was broken off and a previous attempt to repair it had left super glue smudges on some areas. I told if he hadn't refunded the money to go ahead and send it anyways. Once it arrived I realized it was actually in better condition than the one I had. So, I polished the paint, repaired the light, removed the wiper, and rumble seat step off my original car and glued them on the new one. Now I have a parts car that I only have shipping money invested in due to a refund from the seller(thanks). Here is the result. Obviously my original is in the foreground. Oh yeah, that door never stayed shut. Never could explain the yellow tint on the wheels. Would not polish out. I think the replacement is a later issue. The "leather" is different and the mirrors are thinner and more flexible All shined up ready to go back in the case!

This seems to be a popular build currently. Good luck. Mine is the issue from 2011 in orange. Seems the orange plastic had a hard time releasing from the dies on my kit and the sprue cuts were a bit harsh. I'll have a few repairs to make. Everything gets a coat of silver paint soon to seal the orange from bleeding.

I like the concept, but it would be nice if the molds were capable of returning it to a stock 1966 Imperial

Yours turned out well! I'm working on a stock build myself. I hope it turns out at least half as good as this.