tomsheehy

Roof "system": Testors makes a 2 part spray that yields a good looking vinyl roof. First a dull base coat goes on, then the second coat is a "texture" coat that you spray from at least 12" away, sort of forms a spatter effect. It comes in black and white. I have used it a few times and it does work pretty good. And yes, I forgot the seams on the sides. Just to show how fed up I was with this build, the roof got damaged after I painted it the solid color, polished and bare metaled everything. I had run out of the champagne metallic, so I needed to come up with another choice. So I masked the whole roof off, bare metal and all. Sprayed the roof and then removed the masking very carefully. No damage whatsoever, thank goodness I used the Tamiya tape. All the bare metal stayed put. Then I realized I forgot the seams...too late, screw it. Here's another one with the same roof treatment...

Revell low rider kit, built as a stock Monte with a wheel/tire swap. Revell really should have offered this kit as a full build, or at least with stock options in their snapper. I chose to paint it Chevy Victory red, as I had a friend back in the day whose father had one this color combo. I resisted the urge to use rally wheels, and opted for a set of aluminum wheels from the AMT 70 Impala kit that were very close to the aluminum wheel used on the 77s. Tires are American Staco whitewalls. This is still a great looking car today.

Box stock build of the reissued Revell kit. One of my all time favorite muscle cars that I'll never own! Paint is Tamiya racing blue metallic, just a tad darker than the Acapulco blue Ford offered this year. Interior is black painted with automotive vinyl spray giving a realistic look to the surfaces. Tires have lettering added with dry transfers from Shabo. Details added where appropriate. I left the top and the boot interchangeable.

Box stock build from the AMT kit. This one fought me all the way to the end. I recall when the AMT 66 Fairlane kits and this one were introduced, and recall some comments on the build issues, but nothing remarkable. However, I was not very impressed with the kit. For one, it was a sealed kit that was missing parts. Plus, AMT chose not to include any outside OR inside rear view mirrors for this kit. So one day I might add them if I come across any suitable donors in my parts stash. It was also missing the upper radiator hose that is mentioned on the instructions, but no where to be found in this kit. Anyway, its built...painted Tamiya Champagne metallic, sort of close to the Ford color "fawn" from that year. I added a simulated vinyl roof using the Testors spray system. Wheels were swapped out to a set of 1966 Ford dog dishes from Modelhaus. I elected not to add the body stripes to add to the semi-sleeper look.

Thanks for that post, Tom G. And just to add, YES, NJSP tested several Volvos back then.

Those who know me, know I could take up pages here. But I'll post a few oldies... LAPD 68 Belvedere, aka Adam-12. Built from the hideous R&R casting that now has more plastic panels than resin. Chassis is a Revell 69 Charger which fit very well. Lots of other details from the parts box...new photos are in the works for this one. NYPD 1961 Plymouth Savoy, built from the Promolite resin kit. Chassis and running gear from a Lindberg 64 Dodge 330 kit. Again, lots of little details throughout. 65 Pontiac Catalina, converted from the 2+2 kit, roof grafted on from a resin 65 Chevy. This was a consignment built for a friend. Clarkstown NY Police replica. Chicago PD, 67 Biscayne wagon. Modelhaus resin, AMT 67 Impala chassis, Perry's resin 6 cylinder engine kit. Indiana SP, 61 Chevy Biscayne, MCW resin body, Lindberg kit. South Carolina Highway Patrol, 60 Ford Fairlane, Promolite sedan body, AMT chassis

Looks great from this end, I really like those 63s. Planning a full detail with the promo square roof and the 60 kit. Let me know how that goes if you beat me to it, LOL.

Extremely nice, beautiful build. I've got this kit on my short list of to-do projects. I've been contemplating the Chrysler chassis swap and opening the hood like you did. How would you rate the effort to do the chassis conversion? Any fit issues or other issues to look out for? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Very clean, nice job.

Absolutely fantastic, so subtle, but so detailed. Great execution.

Thank you all for the nice comments. To answer a couple of the questions...the hub caps came from the AMT 66 Fairlane 427 kit, as did the wheels. And the wheels are correct so the photo kind of shows it off track a bit.

Here's a replica NYSP Thruway unit, built from a Modelhaus resin 4 door sedan kit, mated to the venerable AMT 65 Galaxie kit for the chassis. I swapped the engine to a detailed 390 from the AMT Fairlane kit, a correct engine for the NYSP. Interior was detailed with seat pattern decals from Scale Motorsports. Paint is correct Ford Wimbledon white and NYSP Fleet blue from a supply of real touch up paint. For those familiar with NYSP cars from the 60s, most were white and black Plymouths, however the cars that patrolled the NYS Thruway were white and dark blue and were mostly Fords. Decals are a mix of Pursuit Plastics and custom. Police parts are mostly resin from the parts box, roof light is an old vacuum formed light from the aftermarket.

El oh vee ee it . Very nice.

Strikingly beautiful. The color is perfect.

Very nice. Great job on a great kit.

03/04/15 Update... I was able to obtain a set of the Missing Link resin taillights...what a difference they make for making the rear end look more acceptable. I also added a Keith Marks rear panel decal, for the optional trunk trim piece that was available on the RRs. The only shortfall is I should have bare metal foiled the edge of the taillights instead of chrome paint. Before and after pics:

Now that is a super nice build. Great job.

Fabulous

Man, that's one way to skin a goat! Superb

Yes, Missing Link resin sells a replacement set that are much more accurate.

This is a rescue build...I grabbed this JoHan kit off eBay a couple of years back, it was missing many parts thus I picked it up at a good price. Missing were the hood, grilles & bumpers and all engine parts. But at least the body was not damaged and it was unpainted. Modelhaus supplied new 71 bumpers/grilles and a stock hood. I replaced the engine with an AMT 69 442 version. All else was built using the JoHan parts that came with the kit. This triple green replica is painted with Testors lacquer GM Fathom green metallic. I added a vinyl top using the Testors system, topped off with a color coat of a slightly different shade of flat dark green from Tamiya's military paints. The interior is also a flat shade of green, but a bit lighter. I did paint the front inner fenders red to simulate the W-30 plastic fenders, but I did not add the rest of the performance optional parts. Overall I'm glad to have this JoHan build done, but in the future, I'll probably mates JoHan bodies with the much better chassis from the AMT kits.

Still on my "amnesty" tour...finishing up projects that I started way back. Up for review here is a 68 Roadrunner, built box stock from the AMT kit. Painted with Tamiya gold, the roof was treated to the Testors vinyl top paint. Very pleased with the texture, but this was a tough kit to do this to due to the very thin drip rails and window moldings. Interior painted with vinyl interior paint (I believe Duplicolor). Its a shame the taillights are so poor on this kit, I had a replacement set from Missing Link but of course when the time came to use them I couldn't find them. So a replacement set will be obtained.

Very nice...I like the two tone painted roof, very appropriate for this era.

Superb job, love it.

Very nice, you're right, an icon for the collection.