Snake45

Naw, this baby is DONE unless I run across a red I think is closer. I have already moved on with my life.

Thinking of using a Hemi from the Double Dragster, maybe with injectors (with tubes from the reissued MPC '75 Vette roadster) sitting under a Thunderbolt teardrop bubble.

Thanks! I ask because I've been planning a similar project for some time, and have even done a small amount of work on it. Haven't decided on an engine yet, though...possibly an early Hemi. I remember a '56 Ford gasser based on the AMT '55 Nomad frame in the old Car Model magazine of the '60s. It's stayed with me all these years.

Ya done good, old friend! Reminds me of the '32 Vicky I reassembled from a box of random parts and then restored a couple years ago.

I was wondering when you'd weigh in. You are exactly right about repainting it. Losing the tampoed emblems (4 of them, and they might be the nicest thing about this backbirth) would make it look even more toylike. I'd rather live with the slight color mismatch until I can find something closer. Thanks for the kind words.

Yes it is, as addressed in the text.

That's the way it read, but since they're VERY rare, I wasn't sure if you were seriously asking about that one.

We are sympatico, mi amigo.

Very nice! Can you give--or better yet, show--us any details on this one?

Looks dark green to me.

This padded room has cable TV and a high-speed net connection, right? Assuming so, put me down for Plan B. (Also, I prefer Doritos.)

And now we know why.

It's a first cousin of the original AMT '69 Chevelle, with all that entails, good and bad (mostly more toward the bad). OTOH, if you're asking about the much more recent AMT '68 El Camino, that's a VERY nice kit in just about every way. Haven't built one, but I "rescued" a workable builtup a while back, and I could tell it was a decent kit to start with. Someday I'll build my own from a new box.

Snake-Fu'ed a 2002 Z06 diecast Corvette (easy one!). Started trying to take the tampo advertising off a diecast '64 GTP (NASTY job!). Wrote up and posted pics here of some of my recent projects.

Stumbled across this one on the net, having never seen one. I’m not a big fan of Jada, but the pictures didn’t look too bad and I thought I’d take a chance on the size (nominally 1/24). It’s available in “Showroom” (stock-ish) version in black and metallic blue, and in a couple colors as a lowrider with goofy wheels. Ordered it from diecastmodelswholesale. Sale price, including shipping (split with two other diecasts), was well under $20. I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw in the box. It looked like a ’67 Impala, and not oversized, either! It turned out to be almost exactly the same in width as an original AMT promo on my workbench (1/25), and just a bit shorter in both length and wheelbase. The body might be a bit taller than the promo, too. In other words, it has a bit of the typical Jada “caricature” look, although much, much less than most of their stuff. It looks pretty good standing alone (i.e., not comparing it to an accurate model or pictures), and even having seen the distortion, it doesn’t bother me TOO much, although I wouldn’t argue with anyone who called it unacceptably inaccurate. Overall, I like it. Paint is a reasonable match for ’67 Chevy Marina Blue and is smooth and shiny. Oddly, there are no panel lines for the trunk. Tires are of a nice diameter but a very skinny width. Oh well. It took me less than two hours of 1st degree Snake-Fu to get it shelfworthy—black wash for the grille and taillight surrounds, wheel detailing with black and Model Master Steel. Only needed my Silver Sharpie to touch up one tiny spot in the tampo silver on the right side drip rail, and for the wheel opening moldings. As I said, I like this one a lot and consider its modest price to be money well spent. And here it is compared directly with the aforementioned original AMT '67 promo (now finished). Not perfect, but not horrible at all. Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome!

Got this one in a recent deal with Randy. It looked pretty good right out of the box, but checking Net reference photos, I could see a few improvements—all 1st Degree Snake-Fu stuff—that would take it to the next level. Sanded the tire treads. Painted the wheel wire spokes with Testor Steel, and the naked black plastic wheel hubs with DecoColor Premium Silver Leaf marker (a bit “chromier” than my beloved Silver Sharpie). Painted the various small lights with white, amber, and orange as required. Did the side window sills with Silver Sharpie (due to its finer point). I had to paint the headlight cover edge trim with the DecoColor. Removing these to detail them was the only reason I had to take this one apart. This was the most ingeniously engineered diecast model I've ever seen. Everything fits perfectly into place like a Chinese puzzle, requiring only two screws to hold it all together—the windows aren't even riveted in! The only trick is to open the doors—it won't come apart easily or go back together at all if the doors are closed. Open them and you could almost put all the parts in a box, shake it, and have them reassemble themselves. The only VERY slight glitch in the whole process was that the right headlight cover wasn't sitting quite right in its area to start with. When I went to put it back together, I couldn't get it to fit any better than it had started, if at all. I eventually isolated a small area of interference between the clear plastic and the body, and filed the cover very carefully, a few strokes at a time, until it fit back in the way it should have to start with. Done deal—Perfect! (As Tony Beets of TV's Gold Rush would say.) The only thing left to do was hit the tiny door handles with the DecoColor marker. (I now see that I missed the one on the trunk lid—will take care of that now.) IMHO, this ended up as one of my better looking diecasts, despite its humble, modestly priced Burago beginnings. I like it a lot! Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome!

Bought this built Monogram '65 Corvette at the toy show last month for $3 (actually, $3 for both the Vettes in the pic). It seems to be a first-issue (no emblems, molded in black) from the '80s. Dirty and in need of repair, it looked like a good candidate for some simple Snake-Fu. A baggie stuffed into the interior turned out to contain the missing rear bumpers and rocker panels. Kewl! Cracked it down, washed the body in soapy water, and gave the unknown red paint a light polish with Wright's Silver Cream on a damp cloth. This went pretty smoothly and brought out a decent though not spectacular shine. The rest was all 1st Degree Snake-Fu: black wash on the grille and alloy wheels, Silver Sharpie on the window trim, sand the tire treads. Also cleaned some flash from the edges of the wheel rims. Cleaned the interior up with soapy water. Nailed it all back together. Total time spent, maybe somewhere in the 3-4 hour range. Certainly not my finest Covette model, but it now displays very well on my 1/24 diecast shelf with other Corvettes (it's more at home there than with other 1/25 kits). WELL worth the $3 and few hours in fun alone! Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome.

From the "Hold my beer" files....

Did some googling, found out it was apparently a '29 Packard coupe. Couldn't find any pictures of it, but did come across this one, which is in the same vein--and shows that your model isn't outside the range of reality: https://barnfinds.com/from-limousine-to-wrecker-1929-packard-645/

Didn't realize that, though I knew that the "new" AMT '68 Elky is wider than the old AMT '69 Chevelle.

Different and therefore interesting! Did I see something along these lines on American Pickers a while ago?

Or, a kitbash between the AMT '68 Elky and the new Revell '69 might be possible, which isn't using the AMT '69. But rest assured, one of the two of them will be bringing out a '69 Elky. I know this for a fact because I recently spent eBay buck$ to buy, and several hours of careful tedious work to restore/rescue, an original AMT '69 Elky. You're welcome.

Would have to be a whole new kit. All you could use from the Chevelle would be the grille/front bumper, hood, engine & underhood detail, dashboard, windshield, maybe seats. Everything else would have to be new.

I built the MPC Harrell Camaro back in the day, and it was definitely the most detailed and nicest chassis I've ever built. The body didn't turn out so well, unfortunately. You are inspiring me to work up a new body for that chassis. Thanks for the inspiration!

COPO wouldn't be hard to convert at all. You can have yours on the shelf LONG before Revell does one. Back in the '70s, I started building a "Countdown" AMT '69 Chevelle reissue as a detailed 300 2DS SS396 conversion. Time to revive that idea as soon as I get my hands on this new one!