Snake45

Thanks for the encouragement. Maybe I'll drag it out for Round 5 of the BOYD Completion Build, if we have one. All I have to do is trim the left rear fender to match the corrected right one, and then "pull out" the overly under-tucked lower rear fenders behind the rear wheels, a job I haven't been looking forward to. (And then matching up the rear lower pan to that.) What's kept me from finishing it was realizing that even if I got the body mods done, neither set of kit stripe decals would fit my new contours. But the decals in the NEW kit might work fine. It'll be great if they come in both black and white, so I can build both kits, both the new one and my old one. Not long ago I bought a glue bomb JoHan '71 S&M Cuda, which I"m planning to use the new '70 grille in and build a nice S&M '70 racer, kitbashing the best parts of both kits. BTW, if you decide to follow my lead on the 2nd gen AAR kit, if I were doing it again, I'd move the roof back just a hair MORE--maybe about .040 more. I was definitely on the right trail with my mod, but didn't go QUOTE far enough. It never occurred to me at the time to take measurements or comparisons with the JoHan '71 body, I just did it by guess and eyeball.

About a decade ago, I started trying to fix that one. I moved the rear edge of the roof back about 1/8", then shaved down the tops of the rear quarters to a more accurate shape. I ought to dig that thing out and finish it--it might be better looking than the new one.

Sweet! Looks like it could have been built in the 1962-64 timeframe.

I've never seen or heard of such a chart for car colors, not a comprehensive one, anyway. Tim Boyd used to give information of this type in his various articles on the wild musclecar colors of the '60s-'70s in the "other magazine," but IIRC he listed very few Testor/Model Master matches; most of the paints he recommended were from Model Car World. Nowadays, the first place to check would be in the Model Master line, as they have several desirable factory colors (such as the Hemi Orange you mentioned), but if you can't find what you need there, a specialty paint shop such as MCW or Scale Finishes is probably your best or only bet.

White seems to be a particular beast as regards panel lines. You can read of my own problems and experiments with them on a '53 Vette here:

Wow, what a clean build, inside and out! Well done and model on!

Good point. But lye is the active ingredient in both, so I doubt that such a mix would explode, combust, or give off deadly fumes, but your point is well taken anyway.

I believe that was our own Mr. Obsessive with an AMT '68 Road Runner. His changes made a HUGE difference, and I could certainly see it. When he got finished, it looked a lot more like the JoHan '69 RR body, which is MUCH more correct. WAY better. I see the problems with the AMT RR body, but in that particular case they don't bother me enough to go to the lengths that Mr. O did. But I HAVE done similar work on other models.

I'm not wild about the vinyl top myself, but will probably keep it just for tradition and heritage. Should look good with Classic Copper, which is what I plan to paint it.

Preach It, Brother CapSat! Can I get a AY-men from the choir?

Great post, Tim.

This is probably the oldest model in my collection, dating to maybe around 1962? I didn't build it then, somebody else did. I just cleaned it up and restored it last year. This one isn't the oldest model of mine in my collection, but it's the oldest that's currently assembled and fit to show, and I'm pretty sure it's my oldest intact original paint job (Pactra Lemon Yellow). Built by me in late 1966, cleaned up and restored in the last year or two.

Will take that under advisement. The body on this '64 is already damaged, though, both the front end and the left rear wheel opening. I'm not really trying to build a complete collection of 1G Corvairs (I have no interest in either the 4D or the convertible), but I'll put off modding it for a while and see what happens. Thanks for the input.

Modelhaus used to make it, but of course now they're gone. Maybe someone else will pick up the slack. I was able to determine that the 1970 AMT piece CAN be made to work on the current issue kit, with a little fiddling and fitting and adapting.

You mean the front bumper? It's pretty much the whole reason I bought the thing.

Rob and Chris, thanks for the insight on the holes. Now that you mention it, they ARE very clean, as if they were put there to start with. Here's my other big Bay score of the week: Original annual AMT '70 Camaro, which is desirable because it has the non-RS front end--very rare these days. All the stock parts seem to be here, either on the model or in the box, and the original instructions and most of the original box are nice extras. Glass wasn't glued in, either, another bonus. Looking forward to bringing this one back from the dead.

Got this '64 Corvair off the Bay. The plan is to use the high-zoot custom parts from the '62 I got from SamIAm, and restore that one as stock(-ish) since its body is in better shape. Notice the six holes drilled in the upper surfaces of the front and rear fenders. I can't even imagine what those are for. Did someone have this thing hanging from a hobby shop ceiling, like a model airplane?

What did it take to get the top off? Was it a separate plastic unit? It looks pretty good, BTW. Glad to hear that it's true 1/24 or close. I saw their '59 Caddy this morning at Walmart. It looked pretty good too, and also probably the right size, but it had giant modern zooty wheels/tires, which anyone wanting a nice '59 Caddy model would have to replace.

The larger rear spoiler was desperately needed by Jim Hall for the Trans Am program. Only reason it was available as a factory part was it had to be "homologated" as a regular production option so the TA guys could use it.

I saw that, too. What was that on, the Skunk Works show? That was pretty good, except in one scene where they're talking about something a U-2 or SR-71 was involved with in Vietnam, they show film of a burning airbase with a bunch of VNAF A-1 Skyraiders sitting there, which would have had NOTHING to do with anything being talked about.

I see it too.

At Walmart this morning, I saw a Rustoleum rattlecan called Marigold that also seems to be in this ballpark. Might want to check it out.

I have a tube of it I bought in the '70s, still unopened. That's how long it's been since I've used "tube glue." Since then I've been using liquids, CAs, white glues, and epoxies. I don't miss the tube stuff AT ALL.

Yeah, it was sitting there at $35 Buy It Now. I watch-listed it and sat on it all day, then noticed that there were 14 other people "watching" it, so decided to go ahead and pull the trigger. No telling when I'll find another at that price.

They weren't harsh ENOUGH, Tim. I'm allowed to speak about this kit, as I've built five of them over the years, starting in 1969. One of these days I'm gonna get all five together and write a post called "Half a Century with the MPC '69 Camaro."