Snake45

Looks like he did both. I just noticed it already looks a lot better just with the wheels black-washed. Gonna try to find a soft up-top for it. When I get it finished, I'll post pics of it with my other C2 Vettes for comparison.

I didn't assume he knew there was a difference. Okay, drive on then. BTW, there are a few simple things you can do to those AMT Camaros to make them look a lot more accurate, but no sense wasting your time on them if accuracy doesn't interest you. Model on!

I started the Snake-Fu of the ex-Randy '63 roadster today. It's marked Revell 1988 on the underside. I black-washed the hood grilles, wheels, and rocker panels. The whole front bumper/grille area is a joke, I'm gonna just lose all that probably. Gonna try to add the missing vent windows from one of the '67 Revell kits I scored CHEAP at the toy show recently for parts. They might fit, might not. BTW, both doors have been repainted for some reason, and the red on the doors doesn't quite match the red on the rest of the thing. Oh well, I'm still having $5 worth of fun with it.

Looks like good clean work! You've got '67 Rally Wheels on a '68. There's a difference between the center caps of the two, if that matters to you.

It's very smooth, with a pretty good gloss. I'm going to try polishing it with Wright's to see if that brings out any more shine, but if it doesn't, in this case, I'm going to use it as-is, I'm not going to bother clear-coating it. At least not at this time. I sort of dusted on one coat, and then immediately went back and laid on one medium-heavy coat, just enough till I was sure I had 100% coverage. One step, one-shot process, the whole job was done in about 60 seconds. And then I let it dry undisturbed for 4-5 days. Today I did the black-washing of the grille and I was amazed at how well the stuff held up. It wasn't nearly as "soft" as other silver paints I've tried. I don't think I picked up any smears or dings in the handling. Oh, and I didn't use any primer, either, just shot it right over the promo's bare plastic.

Great result from a backbirth kit! All you need to do is detail the Rally II Wheels and it'll be perfect! Model on!

Looking good, SMcM! Paint on the EMPI Imp. Next big hurdle will be piecing together an engine. I have all the original engine except the exhaust. Maybe the exhaust from a Manx/TeeVee will fit the Revell engine. If not, I'll have to use an AMT Parts Pack Corvair.

I like that a lot! Reminds me a bit of an AMT kit I built a couple years ago, and also the one Tim Boyd did.

Yesterday I got my "new" '65 Chevelle disassembled and cleaned up, and the existing paint on the body polished out.

I'm now pretty sure it's a promo. Another clue was that someone glued some scrap plastic on the inside of the chassis so they could re-drill the axle holes for common wire axles instead of the thicker promo-type axles. I saw that plastic in there and it took me a while to figger out why they'd done that. Did AMT even do an annual '65 Chevelle kit, except of course the Craftsman? I've never seen one, never seen a box. Odd that they would do full kits of the wagon and Elky but not the HT. Last night I did a light polish on the body and it turned out even better than I'd hoped. The paint stood up better than I expected, thin as it looks. I could have probably gone even a little more aggressive and got a little more shine, but there are so many sharp lines on this body I didn't want to risk rubbing through. Too easy to do, only takes a second, and then the whole paint job is ruined and you have to strip it and start over. With a little luck, I could get the thing Snake-Fu'ed today. Wish me luck!

Nice, clean work and that's a great color. Well done and model on!

I can tell the Johnny Lightning Mustang from an M2 blindfolded. Literally. Just pick them both up.

The "white" is definitely paint. The chassis and outside of the interior (and inside of the body) show the beige color. Not right now. I'm gonna see what a light polish does for it. Down the road I might strip it and paint it. The beige isn't that great a color, nor is it an original factory color.

Got this very clean AMT '65 Chevelle from ePay. Not sure if it's a promo or a Craftsman. All the Craftmans I've seen are molded in a bright yellow, but I don't know if there were other colors. This one is molded in a sort of light beige (has been painted white or off-white). I've already disassembled it and cleaned all parts with dish soap and water; soon as it's dry it goes right to the front of the Snake-Fu line. Can't wait to get it on the shelf!

As promised, here are some pics. '67 Impala promo chrome with Krylon Foil paint, right out of the can. Notice in some pictures you can actually see a bit of a reflection of the front bumper in the Foil paint on the paper envelope that I had the parts taped to for painting. No, it's not as good as most kit chrome, but I've actually seen some kit chrome that doesn't look this good. And here's the EMPI Imp body with the Krylon Shimmer, right out of the paint shop. No clearcoat or polishing, though I might try polishing it later to see what happens. Comments welcome.

Very interesting and informative. And fun, too! I'd be proud to have any of these on my shelf. Thanks for taking the time to post this!

I wouldn't mind participating if the build were here, but I don't do facebook. Anyone want to do one here?

Very nice! The '63 is my least favorite C2 but I seem to have accumulated a bunch of them. I have the Welly, and three copies of something less (Maisto? I forget) in red, black, and green, and a real cheap one with some sort of auto parts connection (NAPA? Again, I forget) and the no-name one Randy just sold me. I've also got a bunch of built plastic kits. One AMT roadster, three AMT coupes (two of them original annuals), and two each Revell snapper coupes and roadsters.

Bought a built model off eBay that I've been trying to find a decent example of for years and years. It came yesterday and it's in even better shape than it looked in the photos, and the price wasn't bad at all. It's so nice I might just lay some minor Snake-Fu on it and put it on the shelf and put off stripping and repainting it until I get a bunch of other stuff done.

Mine's a TMR (Time Machine Resin) I bought off eBay. Someone else makes one, too, but from the photos it doesn't look nearly as good, though it might be possible to alter the side windows to a more accurate shape. Only snag with mine is it comes without the backlite, which is a very weird compound curve and not easily fabricated.

I buy the stuff at Hobby Lobby. They seem to have changed some of the colors. I bought one--no longer shown on their website--called Pumpkin or something that looked like a nice metalflake orange/tangerine from the can cap but is actually more of a copper/bronze color that I haven't found anything I want to use it on yet. I'm planning to do a Manx in the Shimmer Green and a TeeVee in the Shimmer Red. The green looks like an excellent match for 1972 Chevrolet/Pontiac Spring/Julep Green, except of course for being way too sparkly. I discovered that covering it with Dullcote tones the flake down to a factory metallic appearance (polishing or glosscoating it again brings all the flake back), so I'm thinking seriously of doing a '72 GTO in it, flattened, as a late-'70s/early-'80s beater or High School Hot Rod. Each can looks like it could paint at least four or five models, or more.

Thanks for the heads-up. Lately I've been using an acrylic crafts paint for washes, thinned with water. I think it will work okay on this Foil paint. I'm also thinking of Q-tipping a thin layer of Future on the bumpers. Like most silver paints, it's a bit soft/scratch-vulnerable, and that might help it stand up better to handling, if it doesn't dull the shine too much.

Actually, I'm thinking of doing two. #1 on a fastback body, and either #2 or #3 on a resin hardtop body I have laying around. I think it might look like a mini-Road Runner. I'm seeing it in light yellow for some reason.

When I was a kid, "lead sled" referred to any big, heavy, and (especially) SLOW car, modified or not. But I admit we might not have been using it correctly. "Hey, you're driving your Mom's Impala. Sweet! Doesn't that have a 327 in it?" "Yeah, but it's still basically a lead sled."

If the quarter trim bothers you, build another body, and then turn this VERY nice one into a "Day 2" street cruiser. Also, just askin' a question here: Were the R-code engines red?