Snake45

Heard it many times. But I've also heard this many times: "The cops said if I/he/she hadn't been thrown from the car, I/he/she'd have been killed." Personally, I think the odds are with wearing the belt, so I do.

I think you'd be better off starting with a glue bomb (or distressed promo) AMT '73-'77 as a starting point. Second best would be an MPC, because I think the AMT and Revell bodies are closer in shape and would match up better. I know this because some time back I came into a very restorable AMT '73 coupe body with glass and interior, but no hood or front end. No one repros these parts (not even Modelhaus back in the day), and the MPC '75 parts don't come CLOSE to working with the AMT body. I ended up buying a mostly complete (water-damaged box) AMT '75 roadster on eBay just for the hood and front end (the bumper's not identical for a '73, but I can make it work, I think). Of course its chassis, engine, etc will be used on the '73. I just swapped off a very restorable glue bomb MPC '77 coupe. I'd have kept it, but I'm already working on that nice '75 promo which is virtually identical. I think trying to graft common MPC '75 roadster fender flares, fender vents, hood, front end, etc onto a Revell '69 body will prove to be a MAJOR PITA. If you try it, I wish you a LOT of luck. I think it's going to be a semi-major job just to graft a Revell '68 flat rear end onto an MPC '75 body to make a '73 roadster.

The "brownish residue" you speak of is just the clear-coating on the parts that the vacuum "chrome" coating sticks to. I usually don't worry about it, but if you want to take it off, Easy Off oven cleaner does it (and I suspect Super Clean will as well).

When they say "1/24-1/27 scale," it means that some models in that series could be as large as 1/24 and others are as small as 1/27 (and I have examples of both). All parts on one model are the same scale, more or less, but I have noticed that I have at least three Wellys that are okay in length and height but a bit narrow in width. My Welly 1/24 '67 Firebird is about identical in size to my M2 1/24 '69 Camaros, so I'm pretty safe saying it's 1/24. Their '68 4-4-2 is a bit smaller than AMT's 1/25 '69, though not so much that you'd notice it unless you have the two literally side by side. Same thing with their '65 GTO. But I did notice, just since I had them on the bench at the same time, that their '67 Firebird and '68 4-4-2 were almost identical in both length and width! The Otaki Capri is visibly undersized, even without comparing it to anything. It's not as small as 1/32 but it's definitely not as big as 1/24-25. Haven't seen mine for a while but I'd say it's maybe a little smaller than the AMT Sunbeam Tiger, and you know that's not true of the real cars. I've never seen a stock version of this kit, only the racer. I don't think it can be built stock. I didn't buy the Welly Capri I saw so never got to measure it or compare it with anything else, but it seemed to fit in with the other 1/24 cars on the shelf. If it had had the US round headlights, I'd have bought it. Maybe still will, someday, if the mood strikes me.

Yup, that's pretty much what I've had in mind for MONTHS now, but the part I'm dreading is figuring out how to drill the axle holes to get them EXACTLY where I need them.

Mr. Procrastination here only got around to ordering his copy last week. It arrived today. Wonderful stuff! I swore to myself to read it cover-to-cover but only got to about page 40 before I started jumping around looking for my favorites. But I WILL read it ALL, I assure you! Was kind of baffled on page 17, though, by this definition of "Tool:" "A large, liquid-cooled metal mold that produces vacuum-formed [sic] styrene model car kits." Vacuum-formed? Only thing I can figure is that someone, somewhere in the publication process had what's medically referred to as a brainphart. I expect that's the worst glitch I'll find in the book, though. BTW, it's fun to turn the pages and point to the pics and say, "Had it. Had it. Always wanted it, never got it. Had it and still have it. Wish I had it. Have it, still have it, but don't have the box. Have one new in the box. Finally scored one on eBay a couple years ago...." and so forth. There are a LOT of familiar faces in these boxes.

Absolutely outstanding diecast modeling!

My first thought was Duck Tape. Then I thought, maybe go to a fabric store and wander around. Maybe some kind of thin, tightly woven nylon that you could soak in thinned white glue and mold into shape?

I guess this could qualify as a stalled project. I took this pic in 2015, and was expecting to start on a restoration then--and several times since--but have actually gotten little if anything done on it. It's a genuine survivor of mine, or what's left of it--first-issue MPC Mako Shark from 1966 or '67, painted in AMT Candy Oriental Blue. The paint is in horrible shape, but I'm not going to strip and repaint it, I'm keeping it as a relic of my teenage years. (I have a couple unpainted restorable glue bombs to do up good). The hangup has been the chassis--the original chassis was harvested 50 years ago for some other project. I was originally gonna slide it on a common AMT '63 Corvette reissue chassis, but that won't work. Second choice was to scratchbuild a simple slam/curbside-type chassis for it, which I keep putting off doing as too big a PITA. I just realized I might be able to get it on one of the glue bomb chassis (at least temporarily) without too much work, and have been putting forth effort in an attempt at such. We'll see how it goes.

Pretty clean! Well done and model on!

Did you start it over a year ago, and it's stalled? If so, you're in!

I think I'm gonna order me a few cases of cheap Walmart white primer, have some labels printed up for something like "Special Hobby Super-Opaque White Primer," slap 'em on, and sell 'em on the internet for 10 or 15 or 20 times what I paid for 'em.

Monogram did that. The airplanes were F11 Tigers. It was a bit smaller than 1/72, I don't think as small as 1/144, though. Maybe around 1/100. I had it and built it when I was about 6.

This depends on just how much of the tip is broken. It's not uncommon for me to lose just very tippiest-tip at the end, rendering it useless for things like BMF but still very usable otherwise. I generally backside-scribe down until the width of the molded-in (but too shallow) groove just matches the width of the blade. That usually looks just about right. A real annoying problem is where the kitmaker made the panel line grooves much, MUCH too WIDE. A good example is that AMT snapper Mako Shark I kit you just bought. I also had this problem with their snapper '53 Corvette, which was tooled about the same time. All you can do with these is either live with them as-is, or grind them out completely, refill them, and start rescribing from scratch, which of course is a HUGE PITA.

LOTTA work changing a '68-'72 over to a '74+. There's way more to it than just the front and back ends.

Great! Which one are you going to try to finish by the end of the year?

These movies are pretty much HOW Ron Howard became a director. He agreed to star in one for Roger Corman in exchange for the job directing the other.

The Americans on FX, set in the '80s, had a pretty decent mix of '80s, '70s, and '60s cars in the scenery--not too different from what you'd actually see on the street in the mid-'80s.

I can beat that. In the Andy Sidaris movie Enemy Gold, there are a couple flashback scenes where some high-ranking Nazi types in WWII are seen riding around in '80s or '90s Mercedes limos. Not that the typical Andy Sidaris movie fan would be likely to notice...or care....

I do believe you're on to something. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlereagh_International_Dragway

What color are you planning to paint it? Unless you want white, or a pale yellow or pale blue, you shouldn't have any problem. But if you have doubts, a coat of cheap Walmart black primer followed by your Tamiya white primer (or even Walmart white primer, if you can get it) should work fine.

Not sure where you're getting mid-mounted engine. If it is, what's the hood lump for? Also, my interpretation was that's a passenger, not a centrally positioned driver. I THINK I can just make out the suggestion of a driver through the tinted side glass. And, this is not NHRA legal Modified Production. If everything else were kosher, you'd still have to bolt the front pan and front bumper back on to make NHRA MP. Back bumper too, I see. I'm not familiar with AHRA MP rules.

As far as I know, Robin Olds is the only person in history to have shot down an enemy aircraft in a glider.

Nice diecast!

Molded in purple flake? Huh. Looks pretty sharp, though.