Snake45

Much as I've come to dislike Doc's whining, it was hard to see what happened to him last night. I hope he's okay. Ironically, I was just thinking yesterday that, as a general rule, the guys who seem to have the most fun with the racing seem to do the best; the ones who take it too seriously, not so much. Not that the fun-havers don't take it seriously, too, they do, they just still have fun. JJ's a good example of the fun-havers, as are many of the Memphis crew, and (IMHO) Daddy Dave, and Big Chief. Doc's an example of the kind of guy who takes it too seriously. Some of the Texas and NOLA guys seem to fit this mold, too. (Last night after her loss, I heard Lizzy Musi's dad Pat say to her something like, "I think this kind of racing is not for us.") At Mega Cash Days, the 405 only has one man standing in the Top 24, Memphis still has four, five if you count Axman. Trisha came back on a mission last night, that was a hella pass! It was a lot of fun to watch the 405 crews pick up on Memphis's "dry hop" trick and adopt it for their own. And JJ seemed pleased and proud for them to do so, and happy for it to work so well for them! I love this show!

Have you compared it with the Weber BBC setup in the AMT '63 Corvette? That might work better for you. It also might fit under the Revell kit's L88 hood. I believe I built my AMT '69 Vette annual with that Weber setup (the one you're asking about) and it required the hood with the hole in it. When the '63 Weber setup is used in the AMT '63 kit, it also requires a special hood, but your Revell Vette has the L88 hood which might be enough clearance.

All I can tell you is, keep checking eBay and it's likely you can get lucky sooner or later. Don't forget rebuilders and even promos. I've been looking for one of those DD Mavericks for a while now too. It doesn't have to be the DD version as I have the Slixx decals. But even the later generic pro stock versions are salty now too. Last fall I got a good deal on a complete Maverick promo that's only missing one A-pillar, which I can easily fix. KHills just sent me a cut-off Maverick pro stock hood scoop, so I'm good to go--I'm gonna cut the hood out of the promo body and I can scrounge up everything else I need from here and there. Improvise, adapt, overcome! Sometimes that's the best you can do.

That's not a modeler's reflex, that a male reflex for some reason. Mark Twain even wrote a story in which this fact was the centerpiece. And it could have been worse. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've read a similar story on HyperScale involving not a model body but an Xacto knife.

I'm no Lincoln expert so I don't know what year the car is. I do know something about '69 Ford colors, though. I'm pretty sure Anti-Establish Mint was an exclusive Maverick color. You left off your '69 list Silver Jade, which is what this looks like to me. I saw MANY '69 Mustangs that color. Just checked and the Lincoln/Mercury name for '69 Ford Silver Jade was Medium Green poly (metallic).

Everybody has that problem with this model. Looking good! Drive on!

I've seen sillier ideas get deals on Shark Tank.

I like it!

I'm getting irked about History Channel's insistence on 3-Ding EVERY still photo they show. Not bad enough to colorize old B&Ws, now they have to 3D all pictures too. They even do it with paintings! What's the point? Is our collective attention span now so low we can't look at a static image for 3 or 4 whole seconds without it having to "move"? Annoying!

That's a nice "box art model." What paints did you use?

Thanks for the info! Dunno how I missed this post until now. I'll keep an eye out for that mag. Meanwhile, I got the resin body. I ordered it from eBasy and it came direct from Reliable Resin, so evidently they're still in business. The body's not super-great but it's not horrible. It's obviously based on the AMT '66 Nova kit. It's a little bit thick, somewhat like a Jimmy Flintstone, and might be a slush-mold. All emblems and the windshield wipers have been removed. The taillights, bumpers, hood and grille are molded solid with the body. A center bar has been added to the grille like a '67 but the headlight buckets haven't been altered to the correct '67 style, they're still '66. The rear wheel openings are in stock location and the fronts have been moved forward. Wheelbase seems to be about 114.5". It'll be interesting to see how well the JoHan '70 Cutlass frame I have fits (nominal wheelbase, 112'); if that doesn't work, I'll have to look at a Polar Lights kit. Surface finish of the body is slightly rough/pebbly but should sand smooth without much trouble. All in all, the body looks like a very workable project.

Some of the very worst snowstorms we've ever had around here have been in March. And even one I can remember in April! One year we had a horrific March snow. The city had to pile up snow everywhere they could, including parks and playgrounds. I lived across the street from a park where they had the snow piled up higher than my 2-story (plus attic) house! When we moved out in June there was STILL six inches of snow on the ground across the street!

That's probably about as well as that wretched backbirth of a kit can be built, so, Well done and model on!

I didn't notice that with the Wildcat, but it's probably not uncommon with models of this vintage. Here's another thing about those '60s seats that can be improved quickly and easily. Often the front edge is molded slanting down forward, like some kind of modern lounge chair or something. This can easily be cut and filed back to a more realistic profile that looks a lot better. Here's the seats from a '66 Skylark before and after the mod:

Jantrix, your Revell Corvette is a '68. And yes it's a real race car.

Looks good! Model on!

I honestly don't know how many built model cars I have. One slow day at work around 2015, I tried to list from memory all I'd ever built up to that time, and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 100. I think I'd lost somewhere between one and two dozen of them along the way, but still had the rest, and still do. This was before I got into "rescues" and restorations of models built by others, and I didn't count any of my (then few) diecasts. Since then, I've been keeping detailed records. In 2016, I listed 17 completed "projects," and another 17 in 2017. In 2018 I completed 42, 40 in 2019, and 40 more in 2020. By "completed projects," I count new builds (and ones finished that were started years before), restorations and "rescues," and Snake-Fu'ed diecasts. I've rescued or restored 10 of my old builds, and 50 of other builders' (toy show or eBay purchases). Last time I counted my diecasts I have around 130, most of which have been Snake-Fu'ed and therefore "complete"--call it about 100. Nearly all my models are boxed up as I don't have room to display them all (or so says The Lovely Mrs. Snake). So I'd guess if for some reason I HAD to lay all my "finished" model cars out--new builds, rescues, and diecasts--it would be somewhere between 200 and 300. So far this year I've only finished two, both rescues, and I hope to have another one done this week.

The ads here are largely keyed to what you've been looking at online lately. Just sayin'.....

Thanks! I'd advise thinking carefully before re-doing any of your old work. I have at least two of my old original builds that I stripped the paint off of, and now wish I hadn't. There area few more that I was going to strip, and now I'm VERY glad I didn't. On the other hand, I don't mind tearing my old stuff down and making little improvements such as touching up paint or trim, replacing broken or damaged parts, and so forth. I've done several of these and have several more to re-do when the mood strikes me. Generally, if a kit is still in production/available, or I can get a reasonably priced replacement from eBay, I'd rather build up a new one and leave my old one alone and display them as "then and now," as you say, to show the improvement of my skills. I don't have such qualms about stripping down someone else's work, but even then, very often I'll try to preserve as much of the original builder's work and "vision" as possible or I can stand, and respect the model for what it is, a time capsule of another age. Every model is sort of a law unto itself, and I enjoy it all. Have fun and model on!

Thanks all for the kind words. I really appreciate them! Model on, everyone!

And you know what? He got it done in less time than some of my model car projects have taken!

Haven't done that in a while, but the other day I opened up the "ham" of my left thumb pretty good trying to cut the glued-in hood out of a '67 Falcon with an Xacto #5 knife with a chisel-tip blade. Ouch!

Maybe someday someone will built a 1/10 scale model of the Titanic that sleeps 20, or something. Until then, this guy holds the title of The Ultimate Model AFAIC:

I'd never seen this car before and thought your model was a phantom. Googled it and found out you built a replica, and a rather nice one, too! Well done and model on!

That's pretty cool, and a pretty clean build of it, too! Well done and model on!