Snake45

Different and therefore interesting! Drive on!

Revell reissued their nice Parts Pack 427 wedge engine a decade or more ago, but they're still available at reasonable prices on eBay and such. I don't know of any "separately available" SOHC 427s.

You beat me to it. Would be real helpful to know how you want to use these engines--stock, hot rodded, full race? What cars are you using them in? What years? Exact application will greatly affect the answer of what's "best."

Did the research. The Blue Lady looks very much like the JL '67 Shelby. Just remove all the tampo black stripes and install white ones on the rocker panels. Weekend job!

That's not half bad looking for your first such effort. I've seen MUCH stupider looking stuff being sold in boxes with very famous "designer" and "customizer" names on them. Millions of such kits were sold. Good to see you branching out from your long-time area of specialty/obsession. I TOLD you there was a lot of fun to be had in this hobby that didn't involve the products of The Late Great Mr. Shelby. Model on!

He wasn't a Captain, he was a Colonel. And he wasn't the one with the famous "Very interesting" catchphrase. That was Arte Johnson on Laugh-In. (Both were on TV about the same time, though.)

Ah, thanks. I've never heard of that car!

The old AMT Double Dragster kit has a frame set up for side-by-side SBCs. If you ask nicely, someone here might donate one to you, as I don't think many modelers actually build that kit that way.

Build whatever you want. That's what plastic is FOR.

I did hit the lug recesses with black paint, but I was in a hurry to get it down to the office by the first of the month and didn't have time to do my usual wheel job. I plan to paint the recessed areas with a dark flat gray and the spoke faces with flat aluminum, same as I did on that green one years ago, but at this point it's not a high-priority item. Come to think of it, easiest way to GITTER DONE would be to just swap chassis with the green one, since I doubt I'll ever display that one again.

Yah, every one I've ever seen built is sitting at least a bit nose-up. I've got one of those making its way to the workbench, and I'm planning to mount the front axle on top of the springs instead of underneath them to get a slight nose-down stance.

Now you've lost me. You still talking about Hirohata Merc? I don't think I've ever mentioned that car here, much less started a thread on it. Or are you talking about something else now? #Baffled

Maybe someone at Revell decided to see if ANYone, ANYwhere, EVER read any of that text. (I'm pretty sure I never have.)

There will be 1/24 diecasts available soon, if not already, in yellow and blue. I'm keeping my eyes open for a blue one. Yah, I know, that's not what you asked about, but sometimes you have to work with what you can get. And many of us have discovered that at least some diecasts are actually pretty cool!

Was just going to ask you if your tongue was in your cheek, then saw the "lol." So, evidently.

Wright's Silver Cream--available at Walmart, Target, CVS, anywhere household cleaning stuff is sold--is my go-to polish. I use it on enamel, lacquer, diecast paint, colored plastic, and clear plastic. About the only thing you can't polish with it is kit chrome--it'll just take that off. Good stuff!

Revell evidently did a nice ’67 Shelby diecast but I think it came and went before I got into diecasts. This one is a Johnny Lightning. I already had a JL ’67 Shelby painted a strange but attractive candy green unlike any Ford factory color for 1967, or any other year for that matter. Couple years ago I bought this blue one at the local toy show, which looks much more authentic than the green one. The toy show vendor let me know this one was from his “personal collection” (as if that mattered to me) and though it was in its original box, I could see visible dust on it, so it had sat out at some time. I mentioned this to him but I don’t remember if it brought down the $20 asking price or not. Whatever the price, it was paid quite a while ago. I stashed it in the Snakepit and pressed on with other projects. When I saw that the January 2020 Mustang Calendar car was a blue ’67 Shelby, I knew the time had come to dig it out. The dust was even worse than it first appeared. The thing must have sat open for over a year, at least. Additionally, the finish on the driver’s door was screwed up in some way. I thought I could see a fingerprint in it, and thought it might be some kind of spill or slop. But nothing would wipe the ick off—not water, not Windex, not rubbing alcohol. Fortunately, I was able to polish it out with Wright’s Silver Cream, with no apparent damage to the paint underneath. From there on it was simple Snake-Fu: White-spot the headlight and turn signal stems and touch up the window trim with Silver Sharpie, and add a coat of Model Master Acryl Clear Red to the thin red coloring on the Thunderbird taillights. Much as I’ve enjoyed my old green one, I like this one even more!

The MMobile(s) originally had a Dean Jeffries Custom crest on the front fenders, which was replicated by MPC on the original issues of the kit. These disappeared from the reissues as some point. When I restored my original a couple years ago, I tried to make some foil copies of those emblems, but wasn't particularly successful.

At one time they had a Store Locator feature on their website, but I just went there and couldn't find it now, but you might have better luck. You might have to resort to ordering it by internet. Yah, I know, a big PITA to buy paint this way, but sometimes ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Getting so I hate to see any famous person's name on the "front page" of this section, because I know what's coming....

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I have a couple of their kits and the quality is very nice, the price was good, and delivery was also very good. Don't know how well they hold up. I imagine you saw that thread where someone had a resin body warp out over the years and are all worried about that. IMHO that is a VERY rare problem. Resin bodies have been around more than 30 years and I've heard few if any complaints about them long-term. You'd think if that were a problem, we'd have seen and heard a LOT of stories like that over the years, but we just haven't.

The whole grille area and front pan just doesn't look right. It's not too bad if you plan to use the front bumper, but if you want to leave it off gasser- or street freak-style, it's pretty ugly. I've spent a good deal of time trying to fix one and it's hard, delicate work and I'm still just not ever gonna get it looking right. I'm thinking of trying to graft on a Revell front end, too. The Nomad kit is also bad in this area, but the Sedan is even worse for some reason. It won't bother a lot of people, but it's just unacceptable to me.

Only thing I've ever painted Testor Jade Green Metalflake was an AMT Meyers Manx back in late 1968, but it was lost in our basement fire in December that year. Over the years, I have used the little bottle stuff to do many, MANY model airplane right wingtip lights. I don't know why Testor calls it Jade Green. It's a lot darker than most real jade. I'd say it's more of an "emerald green." Back in the day, AMT had a beautiful bright green metalflake lacquer. I wish that were still available. Testor One Coat Mystic Emerald is kind of in that ballpark, but not a close match. It's not too far from '69 Chevy (and Dodge) Rally Green although of course it's much "flakier" than any factory paint. I did a '69 Camaro in it and it looks great, but that wasn't a factory stock build. Krylon has a nice green metalflake in their Shimmer line that's closer to what I'd call a "jade green." In color it's very similar to 1972 Chevy/Pontiac Spring/Julep Green, but MUCH too flaky for a factory paint. I'm looking forward to using it on a Manx in the near future.

Thanks for reminding me of the yellow Welly. It's just enough different from my orange MM that if I run across one for $10, I'll probably get it, but not different enough to go out of my way looking for one (or to pay full metal retail). I'm getting quite a collection/accumulation of diecast Corvettes. I have at least one C1, several C2s, both early and late C3s, and a handful of C5, C6, and C7s. But I don't think I have a diecast C4. (I have one built kit and a couple of Snake-Fu'ed promos, but no diecast.) Did a real quick net search the other day and I couldn't find any diecast C4s--at least, not any cheap ones. Did Welly, Motor Max, Maisto, or any of the popular-priced makers ever do one?