Speedfreak

I'm with Bob, I've never really liked first gen Firebirds all that much. But this build is beautiful Hakan, really nice Firebird!

Very nice job Randy! Wish I had the 1:1

x2! Beautiful Willy's Jim.

That looks great Jim. Really nice job.The blue is beautiful and so are the mods.

That looks good Rickard, not far from painting!

Thanks Jason, that's very kind of you! I really appreciate that!

Rich, when I was a kid (13-14 yrs old) I lived about 3-3.5 miles from Dick Harrell's shop in south Kansas City, (Hickman Mills), this would have been '67-69', or , so. And a good friend of mine was a short order cook in a little restaurant in a little strip mall that sat right next to his shop, so I was up there often. And sometimes they would pull whatever car they were working on out of the shop and fire it up to see how it was running, man that thing rumbled the whole area for miles, you could hear it from my house, and a couple of times I was at the restaurant when this occured. In fact I probably heard the original version of the car you are building, and maybe saw it. Beautiful build, hope you finish it.

Thanks Fellas! I've thought of the Army surplus angle before and that's what I'll go with for the belts, probably raw tan, as that would be period correct for sure, the original 'Puffer' was built in '59. The seat will either be black, or , I'm strongly leaning towards the shade of blue that's in the Mighty Mouse art work for the pleated portion of the seat with a black back/frame and funky tan (MM Fabric Tan) for the belts. So, Lt/Med blue/black/raw canvas (tan)! All that's left after that is the parachute that I got from Pro-Tech, it too will be raw canvas, or , in fact MM 'Fabric Tan' from the can.

Very nice with the rattle can Jason, I know how hard it is to get a paint job like that using rattle cans, and , if you paint outside it's even harder.

Thanks Michael, I think the seat will probably end up some kind of black, and , the oil thing sounds great! Only problem is that the seat belt(s) are molded into the seat.

Thanks Again Rass, and I'm with you on the AA/FA type cars of this period. (I also have a huge weak spot for the Super Stock class) I need some help with this build (everyone's opinion is more than welcome here). I can't decide what color(s) to paint the darn seat! It's the typical 'air plane/bomber' type seat used in dragsters of this period, the seat part is rolled and pleated with a solid frame around that. I had the roll/pleat side painted MM 'Leather' (med brown) and the outer frame a weird looking metal color I mixed up, and , then I painted the seat belts 'yellow! Yikes! It's in the purple pond now. So, if you want, look through this thread at the colors I've used and tell me what you think the seat should be. My natural/first inclination was to go with different shades of black(s) with white or flat aluminum seat belts, which are molded into the seat. But, because of all the black already on the frame I wanted it to stand out more to give more definition overall. I also would like it to be fairly period correct for this type of car, which I've tried to do with the rest of the build. HELP!

I think they all look pretty cool.

Bob, I bought this kit today at my LHS, Thanks! And thanks for the tips on building it. Gene

Rass, I agree with you totally. If the engine wasn't complete and waiting to be installed I'd highlight the valve covers, and red would be awesome. As it is I put sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much time into that engine I'm afraid to touch it now except to mount it to the frame! I mean I'm talking hourssssssssssssssssss just on the headers and the puffer box (which by the way is how the car got it's name, Walt's Puffer). What year New Yorker did your Dad have? Michael, thanks for the compliments. As I explained to Rass above, if I was 'in' the build process I'd do it, but , at this point, no way! Next time. I think my next build 'might' be the Miss Deal '53 Studebaker and I think(?) it has the same kind of valve covers.

Very nice Bob! Best one I've seen so far. That blue you put on the body and your use of colors/finishes overall is superb.

Very Cool Rodger! I too Love the old Super Stock cars.

Thanks Gordon! Thanks Rass! Those valve covers are awesome! I was thinking that the other day while looking at these pics. They're the best part of the kit engine, they didn't really need much clean-up and they are pretty accurate to 1:1. The rest of the engine required a lot of work to get it to look anything like 1:1. But that's why we're here right? I learnt a lot working on this engine, Bill and Jeff S. helped me get the wiring right.

The top car 'is' Moulin Rouge/black/white. More commonly known as 'Panther Pink' which is what Dodge called it. There's not a spec of Blue, or , orange/red on that top cars paint job, those colors appear on his jacket though. Maybe it's the 'mystery' Don Grotheer color scheme that only appeared on the car for a very brief period.

Ray, Carl and BSB both make good points. I don't see too many Salt Flats cars on here, that would be cool with a '36 Ford.

Take them out of their containers/boxes, whatever, and , put them in a 'new larger' container ( a plastic one with lid that can be tightly closed might be best) together so that they have space between them and put in some of those 'self-contained' Arm & Hammer Baking Soda things that you can get for your fridge, like 2-3 of them and close container and let them set for several days, or , even a week. That might do it.

Looks good Stan, like the green, dark green windows?

Thanks Carl! Really. Now lets get that Bee up here!

Looks pretty cool Lucas, keep it going! That soldering looks good.

It's about time for a real update: At night in the shop: Full Blown 392 Hemi: Ain't that magneto purdy A little of the 'ol in/out (sideways that is): Look at those headers! (Drill baby Drill): And last but not least (or is it?): Anyways, It's all kit stuff except for the wiring/boot material/looms, those are from Detail Master. More updates sooner to come. Thanks!