RancheroSteve

GTO was the IMSA class designation. Regardless, it's good to see one of these built!

Well done! The driver really adds to it. Those aren't easy to find for any kind of reasonable price over here - I finally got one that looks almost identical to your "before" photo just recently. I hope to do something similar to what you've done eventually, but it looks cool just sitting on my shelf.

Check out the front wheel openings on the race versions vs. the stock body!

I noticed the pictures weren't showing up all of a sudden and then I realized why - I had moved them to another album. It's too late for me to edit my post, so here they are.

That came out very nice! Reminds of the days when I watched the WRC on SpeedTV, or whatever they called it then. I've got that kit in my stash - one of these days, I hope.

It's finished:

Done! From the Heller-Humbrol 1/24 scale kit. WiP thread here: Thanks for looking.

Great job on a very tough to build kit. Gluing the engine cover shut is definitely the way to go with this.

Wow, this is excellent. I've got the kit in my pile - not sure if this is inspiring or intimidating!

Agreed. I built one a few years back. Detail is pretty soft, fit is problematic. Probably better to glue the engine cover shut and build it curbside. Cool subject, though - too bad Tamiya didn't do it.

I've been trying to duplicate a small but significant detail: the custom bullnose molding on the front of the hood. Here's what I've got so far - maybe a slightly over-size, but the right idea..

Lookin' good! I've got one 1/2 finished that I need to get back to one of these days.

Excellent - I heartily approve!

Turning my attention to the fender skirts. I had hoped to use the skirts that Rich Costello kindly sent me, but after a closer look, I realized I'd have to scratchbuild them after all. Since I had a good profile shot from Rodders Journal, I was able to print the skirts out to scale and use that as a template. AMT skirts on top, my fabricated skirts on the bottom. And installed:

From the lemans.org site: "Which car is leading in each class? This is a question that trackside spectators often ask. The answer is easy: each car has three diodes on each side, known as the Leader Light System. If a single light is lit, it means the car is class leader. Two diodes lit indicate the second-placed car and three the third. If no diodes are lit, the car is further down the standings. The system comes into its own at night." lemans.org

Thanks for that, David. As you probably know, the tops on these things are notoriously hard to match up well. Still some tuning to do here as I get further into it, but I think some of what you might be seeing is where the primer has been sanded away as I tried to get the top to match the body. I'll see what it looks like once I've shot a little more primer on it. Edit: On third look, you're absolutely right, David. I went back and added a little plastic and putty on the right side and a little putty (only) on the left.

Bear with me as I try to turn this kit: Into a replica of the Pierson Brothers 1936 Ford Coupe: I'll be using the R&M chopped top: Here's where I'm at so far, after about ten hours of body work. The top is on and the insert from the kit grafted in, body fitted to the fenders, new hood sides made (they'll get louvers later), trim removed from hood ( a new trim piece will be made). Deck lid fitted: And hinged: And a bunch of other little things to numerous to mention. Wow, nothing fits very well at all on this kit without a lot of massaging, but I'm having fun so far.

After looking at images of the real car, it appears that the rear of the opening for the injector stacks in the engine cover is too rounded, for one?

I think the red thing on the tank might be a pressure safety "pop off" valve?

Great review as usual, Adam. I built the racing version some years back; it's a curbside:

Wow, incredible so far! Watching with great interest.

Nice job, Steve! I've actually got a set of these decals - ALPS printed - that I bought from 3 Amigos close to 20 years ago, but have never gotten around to building the car. I take it these are conventionally printed decals?

A few years ago, the Los Angeles County Museum put on a small show featuring a lot of original artwork from CarToons. I didn't take a whole lot of photos - the rest of what I have are at the link: CarToons Show

Diecast Rally Championship 3 just announced today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKCfUCD9XDU

From what I've read, the tooling was changed over the years, making a straight re-issue unlikely unless they decide to reverse engineer it (even more unlikely).