Stef

Just curious, is it true the AMT/RC2 golden "checkerboard" model car boxes were created and sold exclusively through Wallyworld?

Agreed, Luc. But even though I've got 6-7 years worth of stuff to build, I will not hesitate to snatch up a lotta these up-and-comers, like the 60 Chevy wagon, 65 Backaruda, 72 Demon, and squillions of others. I recently spotted a STREAKER in the wild, and my time to pounce is NOW.

Agreed 128%. For awhile there, many Round2 kits were coming with extra coloured/tinted glass options, and I would love to see these options come back! Also of note, old kit prices on the secondary market (swap meets, model clubs, old kits at hobby shops, etc.), have suddenly skyrocketed in price, too. Just a few years ago, older kits would sell for about 25% of what new ones were going for. Say, $10 for an old issue, versus $40 for a new issue. Now, prices of those old kits have gone up 400% to $40, as new kits have jumped 150% to around $60. The secondary market is due for a correction. As sellers of old kits price themselves out of the market, and buyers stop buying, prices should come down again.

Me personally, I insert the glass, mark where I want to remove, mask off the area I'm keeping with masking tape, take an XActo-blade with the tip snapped-off, and gently drag it backwards, towards me, along the tape-edge, over and over. I'll often flip the glass around and again drag towards me repeatedly. As the grooves get deeper, I'll often use a razor saw and gently rock it back and forth a bit until it gently pops out on its own. If there are grooves or corners/creases in the glass, I may use those as a guide. Glass is super brittle, so I try to avoid getting impatient, by snapping, bending, twisting, or applying too much pressure. Hope this helps, thanks.

While the ST Blazer was super nice, this one will be even superer nicer.

If ANYONE could do something cool with this kit, it would be Chuck.

SICK. TWISTED. EVIL. I think I'm in love.

Oh me oh my, Les, I just did what I should have done initially; superimpose our two pics to see exactly where you made your changes. I missed your crucial improvement at the rear. Phenom design cue. You're right that the curve of the 58 and Nomad trunk are similar, though the Nomad is a bit more vertical. Will aim to position/reshape the Nomad roof/trunk interface as needed to align with the 58's rear bodywork so it all blends in nicely. Once I finish a couple projects, this one becomes priority #1, thanks!

Hello Les, that is a very subtle chop, and looks about dead-on to me; nice work. While it would be only proper to have a single bar down the side window, the double bars have kinda grown on me. Will see how things go. Will throw this sucker back on the bench ASAP, and report back with developments. Thanks again, all!

So much winning, I can't take it any more! Thanks, Tim, for your continued hunting down the latest and greatest car kits to come. Duster, Nomad, Backaruda, Hellcat, Z28 (Night Prowler not too far behind, hopefully!), Scirocco, and more. Wow. Gonna hafta cash in the life insurance, buy all these kits, and find a way to live through it to build 'em all, heh.

Beautiful work, Kari! Your paint looks miles deep, and your build is so clean, it would look right at home next to an IMEX 58 or Monogram 59! I bought one of these in the 90s, didn't appreciate it's vintage origins, and gave it away. Now that I see how good it can be, I want to get another, thanks!

Thank you, Gregory! I was inspired by some yellow fighter jet decals I had kicking around, and took a chance with some yellow accents! Thanks, David! It's certainly the wildest thing I've ever created; inspired mostly by the legendary Ken Block! Greatly appreciated, Larry, thank you so much! Thank you, Anton! Very fun, and also a bit challenging, making stuff up as I went, not knowing how it was going to look, ha ha! Thank you, Bob! For the past several years, I'd been doing everything in flat black. But I got better glasses and I was like I MUST DO THIS ONE IN COLOUR! Ooooh, thank you, EMRE! That's a great name for a future project! Preposterous amounts of testosterone: PREPOSTERONE! Noooice, and thank you, Bill! All the killy bits at the front help to chop and slice through the pack to win the race, ha ha! Thank you, Carl! I like that, Oliver! Monster is hungry, and it's FEEDING TIME! Ha ha, Bruce! Didn't realize that until just now! Will have to add some BF Goodrich, Hoosier, and Michelin decals to turn a simple oversight into an irony overload!

Hello Dave, you are so right! I never noticed that before, but now I can't unsee it! Good to know, moving forward! Oh me oh my wow wow wow I am (almost) speechless, Tim! I'm honoured, thank you! Will have to bring this one out of hibernation and put it back on the bench to properly honour you, Dave, and everyone else, thank you! And then I'll have to tackle the Atlantis 57 Nomad as a chaser, ha ha!

Hello Phil, thanks for your patience; I made a graphic for you, but I'm not able to upload images at this time. So here is a step-by-step that I hope helps: - First, I cut a horizontal slice from the rear bumper, which ended up being just over .040". - Next, found a diameter of styrene tube to fit the middle hub where the gas gun goes - Then, cut away the bottom of the tube to flatten it and fit inside the gas gun hole - cut lengths of .040" sheet to glue to the left and right sides of the tube - shoved it all into the bodywork and let the glue dry (luckily nothing stuck to the bodywork!) - super gently pulled it back out, smoothed it out, then shoved it back in to check for fit, strength, and to shave an angle into the outer leading edge to match the trunk - sprayed it with tamiya silver leaf, then brushed on a coat of tamiya clear red - during final assemblies, the taillight fit was way too tight! It wouldn't go in all the way, and started to bend and buckle, so I tried to make it even enough on the left and right sides and just left it as is! It is supposed to be FLUSH with the trunk, but oh well! Hope this helps, and I'm looking forward to more of your cool builds, thanks!

Amazing work, Hien; everything you do turns to gold. Imma just quit now and commission you to bring all my visions to life! A couple guys in my model club shoot nail polish on everything, and it always looks miles deep and super glossy. I will have to learn how to airbrush and give it a try myself, thanks!

Nooice; will have to get me a Corona, thanks! And your camber solution is awesome! I'm having a bit of a challenge right now with putting camber on a 90s Cresta, and I'll give your solution a try. And your brightwork is super clean on both; looks factory-plated!

Hello Les, thanks for your patience while I took these photos. So these are two Monogram 57 Nomad roofs, spliced in such a way that there are TWO extra roof segments, front-to-rear, versus one single roof alone. This work was done a couple years ago, the project stalled, and the roof is not yet glued in place. Aiming for a very subtle chop, with the roof parallel to the ground. It sags at the rear a bit in these quick mockups. You are correct, these 58 Cads are a bit wide. I don't mind that, though yes, there will be LOTS of extra work now for me to fill in the upper body to meet the roof, scratchbuild a rear interior compartment, and narrow the dash and seats so everything fits nicely. Having said all that, I suppose it would be easier to simply split the roof longitudinally, widen it out a bit, then maybe I can use the 58 windshield. Things that make you go hmmm. I've not investigated how feasible this all would be, just talking off the top of my head. Hope this helps, thanks!

Another phenom reimagining of a classic, Claude! Your super clean builds are inimitable and always instantly recognizable, even without the green valve stems, ha ha! You are a true designer at heart, and one of the few who focus on the full package! Fantastic work.

Ha ha, you're not wrong, Claude! I always thought there was no such thing as "too low", but now, I'm afraid this is a new high in lows for me, heh.

NOOOOICE, Luke. This is a masterclass in Aoshima Grand Champion potential. Taking a great starter kit, cleaning it up, and enhancing it to perfection! Simply stellar.

Hien, DUDE! Look at the sparkle of that blue, just wow! Everything you do slays me! Your trilogy of 64 Galaxies, your Datsun gasser pickup, and others I'm forgetting off the top of my head. So true, many of these kits, including my Gloria, do NOT have chrome bumpers, while on the box art, looks like they could be/should be chrome. I've been watching this guy on Youtube, T Garage (https://www.youtube.com/@t-garage/videos), and he's built squillions of these kits. In some kits, parts are plated, and in others, unplated. Seems kinda random, so I like to watch his videos to know what I can expect when I get mine, heh. You've got quite the squadron of gorgeous Skylines there; a very nice collection that has me peanut butter and jealous! Love your custom exhaust pipes, and your black/grey 2-door is giving me Big Dart Energy! Would love to see more pics of these, if that's OK with you! Beautiful work, Nigel! Your Gloria is soooooo clean, and that body/interior colour combo is sweet! Hope mine turns out half as good as yours! Love your red one, too! This is embarrassing; I forget the name of this one, sorry! Did you camber the front yourself? The stance is killer!

Thank you, Craig! Right you are, and yet I was super surprised, and impressed, how well the 72's nose and hood fit the 70. I had to shim the hood sides, smooth things out a bit, and carry the wraparound bumpers onto the fenders, but wow, it was surprisingly simple work overall! Thank you so much, Alan! I wasn't too sure of originally posting my work, but your encouragement really put me at ease, thank you! Ooooooh, yes, Mario, thank you! I was kinda going for some super aggressive fighter jet bodywork, like if this thing was gonna launch off an aircraft carrier, would it actually fly? Thank you sir; your builds and photography are top-notch! Thank you, Donato! I've never really done anything like this before! At first, I was just gonna build it straight outta the box, but then I was like hmmmm this thing needs dual carbs, and the project just kinda spiraled outta control from there! Thank you all again for your kind words; it really means the world to me, thanks!

Wow wow wow. Instead of working, Imma hafta spend the rest of the day on PlazaJapan. Shopping online is super easy, barely an inconvenience!

Wow, Les, I think I'm in love. I might have to consider YOU to be my new crack dealer, ha ha!

Hello everyone Last summer, I finally finished my 3+ year project of turning MPC's 70 GTO Super Stocker into a Hoonicorn/HotWheels drift machine, and in another thread, @stavanzer wanted to see some extra pics, so I thought it might be OK to just turn this into its own thread. This build was just playing around, trying new things, studying Ken Block's Hoonicorn and a dozen HotWheels cars, and incorporating as many modern design "tropes" as I reasonably could. While I do love the 70 GTO's nose, I've always preferred the 72, and in this case, I wanted headlights. The rear wing is from a radio-controlled toy, and the black hoodscoop is from the MPC 69 Daytona. Everything else is scratchbuilt. Pretty certain the wheels are from Revellogram's Christine pro stock, with trim rings added to the fronts to make 'em deeper for the Round 2 Drag 500s all-around. The "DZ NUTS" letters for the driver name came from the MPC 75 Datsun pickup, and the HOONIGOAT windshield letters came from assorted Revellogram decal sheets. And yes, I cheated on the front suspension track and geometry, heh. Comments/critiques/questions most welcome, thanks!