THarrison351

Thanks!

I started this when it was released in 1988. I had also started another sprint car, the #11 Coors Light sprint car. I ran into problems building that one. It never was completed, due to a difficult landing after a short flight accross the room. I did keep the never installed wheels and tires and also the engine. I'm not sure if I never finished the Luna kit because the sprint cars were hard to build, or the disappointment of a Chevy small block were a Ford Cleveland should reside. Anyways, I have muddled, persevered, modified, and walked away many times this past month, but here it is. I was surprised the decals were OK, not great, but they stayed together. Paints are all Tamiya, including the wings I used piano wire to create the missing struts It sits completely flat despite the huge rear tire stagger. Those tank decals were just awful and barely responded to Walthers. All my other decal solvents were inert The Ford conversion is not perfect, but it's better than the obvious siamesed Chevy Not much room in there for a full sized adult. Steering wheels are only installed when driving and I need to add belts I did wire the magneto What was in the box save the NASCAR Ford Cleveland cylinder heads I'm mocking up Close up of the NASCAR Ford Cleveland cylinder heads that just fit. Yes the intake is wrong and the water pump, etc., but you can't see it when it's finished One of the pictures for inspiration. I can't believe they had a Coors Light car, but wouldn't put the Skoal and Copenhagen decals in the kits. They were a major sponsor for WoO at the time.

Nice Merc! I had one for a couple of years. Then I ran across a Merc woody wagon that needed love, so it went to eBay. Mine had a bit of rash too.

It says in the description BLACK General Lee. Pretty clear to me they will have a black border

Looks great! Always liked the "Sneaker" and his "Bluebird" cars!

Great job! Yep, I will agree a crappy kit and one that when I was building one almost became an aircraft multiple times.

Not sure how rare it is, but it's been in my possession the longest. I bought it in the late seventies from a toy store in Hickory, NC. I've never built it for some reason and never seen one built by anyone else. It was issued in 1971 and never rleased again

My store in Wichita has some of these kits, but they have yet to discount them. I did see a trike with torn celephane discounted to $13.?? It's like a three dollar discount.

I have a large collection of unbuilt kits I've been collecting since...well, the oldest was bought in the seventies. I thinned them a while ago by selling on eBay just before the fees went stupid. Over the years I've started many only to put them back on the shelf. Also, my son and now his wife have gifted me models. Now that I have dedicated hobby room, I'm building the gifted and started kits as quickly as I can. I just alternate gift or started ech time. Otherwise it's kind of eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Nice, clean, builds!

White was only available in '53 and the beginning of '54. They added, red, this blue, and black. In '55 copper and harvest gold were added and black was dropped. Thanks for the compliments! It was a frustrating build, but it turned out better than expected

Thanks for the compliments!

Originally released in 1977ish with a metal body, this kit was modified and rereleased in 1982 by Monogram as an all-plastic kit. This is the 2013 release with what looks like better decals than some of the others. Considered by many to be the superior of the two kits available to build a 1953 Corvette, I'd hate to build the AMT version. Maybe it's the end result. Anyways, I used Tamiya light metallic blue and light sand to represent the pennant blue exterior and beige interior. The metallic tan on the metal bits in the interior was difficult to match. I tried Tamiya's titanium gold, but it was too light and green. I ended up with a HL craft acrylic metallic bronzy color that seemed good enough. I also used Model Car Garage photo-etch parts. Be warned though, there's no guide for the pieces though most are obvious. The metal color is kind of gold even after polishing. The MCG photo-etch supplied interior and exterior mirror pieces leave a lot to be desired. The arms for the mirrors are flat and look terrible when finished. I passed on the mirrors and did not have an appropriate outside spare. Most of the fit when building the kit is pretty good even if the parting lines are a bit heavy and offset. The body was especially affected. The front headlight buckets required a lot of work and even after putty and sanding, the fit was still poor. The chrome was very shiny and complete, but at a cost. The clear they used before plating was sprayed too thick. All the sprue points on the bumpers, windshield, etc., required touchup with BMF. The end results look good to my eyes, but what a lot to get there. I also noted a couple of details in the kit were more appropriate to a modified version of a stock car. 12 volt battery and extended exhaust tips (ok for '54). The bottom of the body was raw gel coat. Sort of a dirty yellow-tan. Restoration pictures I found, showed the chassis, transmission, and exhaust to be all black. I passed on highlighting all the fasteneners. I was tired I added the missing upper radiator hoses The roadster top is a love it or hate it thing With my Danbury Mint 1953 Corvette Trying to make the headlight buckets better. No, the hood was not wavy. That's a reflection of the shrink wrap on the box

Looks, good! I finished the Cabriolet last month, so I know your pain of building one of these kits.

Looks sharp!

Thanks everyone! I have the Predicta too and plan to finish it in the metallic red paint that the model design represents. Not thhe original blue or later blue restoration.

Thanks for the compliments! It was fun build!

I'm placing this here because it's technically a truck, even though the chassis was a cars. I've had this kit since it was rereleased in 1990. I started it soon after and never finished. Kit is based on Darrill Starbird's Ultra Truck. Don't know why the name change. One of many bubble-top cars from Starbird. Body was a '62 Chevy P/U and chassis was shortened '55 Chevy passenger. The rear inner fenders had huge gaps that I filled and smoothed before painting. I opened up the hood scoop and airbrushed a white area in the center. All those thin strips of chrome were a bear to foil. Engine is an early Buick nail head with lots of chrome. I added a pre-wired distibutor. There's a tiny magnet in the carburetor and one in the scoop so I can take it off. The headlight covers were frosted, so I painted them white. I lost one of the taillight lenses. Found that a tape dispenser had the correct curvature, and cut it to fit. I used Tamiya clear red to color them. I think the real car was black underneath, but the instructions called out the chassis to be white. I added a little pearl clear. Oh yeah, it has working steering too! This is how it was found. Easy kit to build right out of the box. Chrome is pretty bad though. One side of the tree was shinier than the other. Freshly painted, Testors competition orange, flat white, silver, and black. I used Tamiya pearl on the orange

I have this release too. It's on my hit list of need to complete soon. So I'll be watching to see your ideas.

Not current, but you get the gist

Yes sir!

Danbury Mint 1962 Thunderbird Custom. eBay BIN $30+ shipping. Was only missing sport tonneau cover, but I like the hard top anyway.

This was a super easy build. It's a curbside designed for slotcar racing. I should have deepened all the panel lines. It's 1/24 scale, has probably 40 pieces in the kit including the parts for the slotcar conversion. It captures the look though. One big change I made was the wheels. the originals looked marginal. many years ago I built a Fujimi Porsche 356 and I kept the leftover wheels and brakes. Parts box tires look OK. Used a gold gel pen for the lettering. looks purple in the light. Four parts for the interior. I added some generic gauge decals. Not much here. This paint was unfortunately hotter than I hoped, it ate right through the Tamiya White primer. Not the first textured model I've finished. Mocked up in about an hour.

When they were racing, it was great. When they were overdriving and intentionally causing cars in front of them to spin or wreck it was poor sportsmanship. NASCAR should have reviewed the incident penalized the aggressor and sent them to rear and returned the ones spun to their position. If someone was only knocked out of line, that's racing.

Very nicely done!