smellyfatdude

Thank you for your interest, everyone. My little French putt putt is all done, now. I will try to get some outside shots tomorrow, and post 'em in the finished section.

Tried to post these earlier, but the site seemed to be down for awhile. Chilly, you just about nailed that. In fact, that's exactly how it felt, getting the top and bottom together. Once joined though, you can see just what a precise fit everything is.

My first non-American build! Paint is Duplicolor Quasar Blue metallic. Surprising amount of chrome trim on these cars, which is probably what appealed to me when I saw the kit. Foil is done, side windows are in. It'll be time to join body and chassis, one the rear view mirror is in. The chassis/interior are done. It's very nicely engraved, just too bad you don't get to really see any of it, once everything's together. Nice decals for the instruments, as well. Hopefully, I'll get this one done in a few days.

Thank you for posting this! The site of your Beetle gave me a serious flashback, and I felt like a kid again, remembering for a moment the days when you took the sight of these cars on the road for granted. I'm just going to have to get me one of these!

That's a beautiful Gremlin, mango! Did the red stripe decals come with the kit? The ' 76 Gremlin reissue doesn't have any red ones.

I finished this one last year, after having let it sit half done in the box for a good couple of years. I intended to replicate the real one I owned, but decided at some point to paint this one metallic black, instead of orange like my old 1:1. Everything else is as my real car was, from the b & w interior, to the 360 2V single exhaust under the hood, and the Cragar SS rims and fat tires. This has to be one of the worst fitting AMT kits I've ever built!

What a gorgeous resto, and that's my dream build you did! I'd love to make one look like the ad pictured. You've come the closest . . . . . I'll take it.

Aha, so it wasn't just me! I tried to do a ' 52 Hudson with satin Krylon Pistachio, and when I put the Rustoleum clear coat on, it cracked big time! Don't know why that color/clear reacted that way, and that was the only time that happened with Rustoleum over a Krylon satin paint. But I don't feel like so much of a clueless twit now, at any rate!

Great Mustang, Slusher. That has to be one of the best colors for these cars. The black grill looks sharp!

Sharp! That color totally suits it. If you're in the mood to experiment next time, try the satin variety of Krylon paint, if there is one in your chosen color. Then just add some clear coats. I've had good luck with that. Beautiful Merc!

I have this kit in my stash, and I have to admit it would never have occured to me to build it this way. But, I'm glad you did. That's gorgeous!

So, a little update on the Monte. The body is as good as done, adorned with foil and black wash along the bottom. Just needs the glass in, now. The interior is finished as well, and I decided to snitch the column and wheel from the Revell ' 69 Nova kit. I also bought yet another ' 69 Nova kit this morning, (I have four now, three Special Edition, one Yenko) for the rally rims, and have decided to use them on my orange beast. Hopefully, I'll have more progress to show soon.

Nothing plain about that at all, it's gorgeous!

Another box stock, except for the tires and side mirror.

Kind of ironic that you said that, Chris. I bought this car in the fall of '82, and sold it a year later for the same thousand bucks that I'd paid. Eight years later, while my then girlfriend and I were at the local Cruise Night downtown, gazing at all the cool cars at the show, lo and behold there it was. Completely restored, of course, and looking gorgeous. Only a couple years after that these cars were going for $25,000 - 30,000, in that kind of shape. But I still get my dream car, it's just smaller now.

Thanks BK, Dragfreak and Erik. So far, no paint mishaps which is always nice. I got the underhood area painted black, just have to take some of the sheen off of the cowl with some flat clear. I'm having trouble deciding what wheels to use. I'd like to save the rally rims in the kit for another project, so I'm open to suggestions.

Here's the body after the full monty micromesh, Micro-gloss, and with stripes added. I used decals from two different ' 69 Camaro kits.

Awesome colors, and I love all the detailing!

Hey, thanks for the feedback on the plain jane Bel Air. Here's a couple of outside shots, a few with it's One Fifty linemate.

The paint job was just sheer luck, if you ask me since it was all done outside. When I primered the thing, the breeze picked up and it was flying all over the back yard, everywhere except on to my model. I kept the side trim masked off after the first couple light coats of primer, all the way through to the clear coat. The body got the usual micromesh wet polish, followed by some Micro-gloss. The shine came out pretty good, but then when I had the body upside down putting in the interior tub, I managed to drop not one, but two big blobs of Testors cement on to the back driver's side quarter panel. A quick clean up, and some more micromesh polishing got rid of it.

Done to replicate my own car, purchased shortly after I turned eighteen. When I finally scored an annual kit a few years ago, I painted it Model Master burgundy, and did a black interior exactly as my 1:1 was. The engine is blue, because that's what color it was painted by the local high school shop class that rebuilt it. 390, 4 barrel, Hush Thrush mufflers with Thrush resonators. You knew it was me from about three blocks away.

If I understood it right, AMT altered the mold for the hardtop to do the ' 68 Galaxie fastback, back in the day. Whether or not the convertible molds survived, I guess only Round 2 knows. Even if all they have left is the mold for the ' 68 . . . . . ummm, yes please!

Thanks everyone, glad you like my Galaxie. Yes, the bumpers were done with Alclad. The chrome on the front bumper had worn off in a couple of spots, and the back bumper had swirl marks under the chrome. So I stripped both of them, then shot them with several coats of Duplicolor black primer. Over top that went a couple of mist coats, then a good wet coat of Tamiya TS-13 clear. After twenty or so minutes drying time, I laid on four mist coats, and two wetter coats of Alclad.

Thanks everyone, for the shouts regarding the Z28. The roof was done with two inch masking tape, overlapped just enough to make the seam on each side. After it was trimmed to the right dimensions and a strip of Evergreen laid around the bottom edge for the chrome molding, I painted it with Duplicolor black primer. When I unmasked it after the body color was on, it got sprayed with a couple light mist coats of Rustoleum clear lacquer, then scuffed up a little bit to take a bit of the sheen off.

Thanks! It was this kit, and the tape was still sealed on one side. I just sniffed some of that 1964 air in the box, and built the model accordingly.