Snake45

I guess you can only get so dead.

I first spotted this Franklin Mint ’70 Chevelle at the local toy show about six months ago. It was priced right ($20) but as I was reaching for my wallet, I noticed a fatal flaw: It was missing the left front fender cap/headlight bucket. Soon as I saw that, I put it right back on the vendor’s table. After I got home, I had a great idea: Could the fender cap be cut from a common Monogram ’70 Chevelle body and used? For the next two or three shows, I took the Monogram body and a dial caliper to the monthly show with me, but the vendor wasn’t there. Then the show took a month off. This month (September) I gave up on the idea and didn’t take the kit body or calipers, and of course I spotted the thing on another vendor’s table, still priced at $20. It followed me home. Here’s the donor Monogram body. The cut-off fender cap turned out to be a less-than perfect fit. I had to add a piece of Evergreen styrene to get the inner end thick enough (front-to-back) to not leave an objectionably large gap with the hood, then airbrushed the whole cap Testor Arctic Blue, which didn't match as well as I thought it would. I first thought that the FM and Monogram headlights were identically spaced and I’d be able to use the cap piece over the FM headlights, but they were off just enough to make this not possible. So I had to use the Monogram headlights and bezels. Now the new ones on the left side don’t match the originals on the right, but oh well, you’ll just have this kind of thing sometimes with lash-up jobs like this. The Chevelle turned out to have other problems as well (looks like it had either been played with and/or dropped at least once). I assumed the white SS stripes were tampo-printed, but there was a large bubble in the stripe on the left side of the hood, so apparently the stripes are some sort of stick-on vinyl. Pressing it down didn’t help at all. I slit the bubble with a new Xacto blade to let the air out and pressed again; that worked. Now you’d have to really look for it to see the fix. The model also turned out to be missing the driver’s door handle and the right-side hood pin. I ignored these for the time being but hope to fix them eventually. I did paint the chrome Magnum 500 wheel spokes flat aluminum to look like Chevy SS wheels, and black out the grille. So it’s not perfect, but it’s on the shelf for about the same cost as a Walmart diecast, and it goes in the DONE column for the year. I’ve done worse. Thanks for looking and as always, comments welcome.

Don't forget to check out dollhouse stuff. 1/24 is a common dollhouse scale (though not as common as 1/12) and it's sometimes surprising what's available. Hobby Lobby even carries an impressive variety of the stuff.

I have NEVER seen 2mm K&S tubing in any retail establishment in 50 years, but a check of their website shows they do in fact offer it. I'll need to check into finding an online source, and then order a bunch of it. Thanks!

Two wrongs don't make a right. They just make two wrongs.

Yah, this one might have been played with. Or dropped at least once. Biggest problem was it's missing the left front fender cap/headlight bucket. I made one from a Monogram '70 Chevelle body--not a perfect match, but close enough. It's also missing the driver's door handle and the hood pin on the right side, neither of which I bothered with at this point (but that's why I'm displaying the passenger side, of course). It also had a bunch of very tiny chips and scratches in the paint. Oh well, the price was right.

The problem with scale injector tubes is getting the right diameter. As I understand it, the real tubes were 2” in diameter. This reduces to .080” in 1/25, an odd size. 1/8” tubing is way too big as it scales to 3.125; 3/32” scales to 2.343” (the closest) and 1/16 scales to 1.562 (too small). The shoe eyelet chart shows .07 and .09 diameters—sadly, no .08. The .07 scales to 1.75”, while the .09 scales to 2.25” (although 2.16” in 1/24, which might look okay on some 1/24 engines). Evergreen makes lovely .080” styrene rod, but of course you have to hollow it out yourself, which is no fun.

Mid-Month Substitution: Last weeked at the local toy show, I scored a damaged Franklin Mint ’70 Chevelle in dark blue that seemed to be a closer match to the calendar than the bright red Elky. This weekend I was able to effect the most necessary repairs so I could bring it in and display it for the bottom half of the month. (I’ll be posting details on the FM Chevelle and how I repaired it shortly, I hope.)

No surprise at all. You should get used to it if you take that thing out in public.

I believe Acme Conversions sells a complete trans-kit.

I have one of those FM Jag SS100s. Bought it at the toy show a couple years ago for $20. It need some minor headlight repair, but otherwise seems to be darn close to perfect. I just broke out that Majorette Bugatti 55 I bought for $5 at last month's toy show and set it next to the Jag. The Bugatti might be a scale point or two undersize, but I think they'll display nicely together. ETA: Just did the research and found out that the Bug 55 wheelbase is 108" (same as early Mustangs and Camaros), which is exactly 4.5" in 1/24. The Majorette Bug measures right on the money, so it must be true 1/24. Now I like it even more.

Apparently. Personally, I don't even drink the stuff if there's absolutely ANYTHING else available.

Don't a Sea Fury just look SO much more badass with a big 4-blade American prop on it?

That's one way to do it (and leave the masking on while you polish the second color). The other is to clear-coat both colors, and polish the clearcoat.

Now I'm getting that for the first set, too, but I can still see the second set. I could see them all yesterday.

Somehow I knew I was gonna see this even before I clicked.... To me, that thing's kinda like trying to set up an AR-15 to run on black powder and percussion caps. (Now that I've typed that, I'd be willing to bet that SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE has done exactly that--and might even be selling conversion parts for it.)

It's pretty cool that anyone else here knows what Strega is! Thanks for sharing!

I see 'em all fine, old and new, and I see 'em in the General section too.

Wonder if someone else had that other Ticket to Paradise with him?

There's some nice work here! Welcome to Under Glass! Don't be a stranger!

Very cool! I like it! I think that's the first time we've seen a finished model from you. At least it's the first time I've seen one. Let's see more in the future!

Email 'em to me and I"ll post 'em for you. SnakeACP45 at AOL dot com.

Really?

I don't get it.

We'd love to see it! Do you have it Under Glass? (I looked and didn't see it, but maybe I missed it.)