Snake45

NONE. I've played with various waxes over the years, including Lemon Pledge and some kind of "bowling alley wax." The BEST stuff I ever used was called The Treatment. It gave great results but I found it has some downsides that outweigh its upsides. These days I just concentrate on getting a good polish on the paint that doesn't need any improvement.

My favorite is the Marlin. Always liked those for some perverse reason. And you did a nice job with it!

I like Monza. Heartbreaking to see his crash last year, especially right after he'd described what the car meant to him and his son. I kinda like most of the cars on the show, but have decided that I'm definitely Team Daddy Dave. I like his whole attitude/vibe (he doesn't seem to take the whole thing too seriously), and I really dig his primered early Nova--definitely my favorite car on the show. Fun show, but the drama! Sometimes I feel like I'm watching Real Housewives of Oklahoma Street Racing. Are they racing a full quarter mile, or just an eighth?

I didn't build this--it was in "Snake's $42 Big Box of Glue Bombs" I got last month--but it's definitely a survivor of the "thread wires and corduroy upholstery" modeling eral, even though it doesn't have either. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it, but something about it really speaks to me. I'm undecided between taking off the headlights, adding slicks, etc., and going full-race early '60s Altered, or cleaning it up a bit and doing it as a modern street tribute to the early '60s hot rod--not high buck or nice, but not a "rat rod," either. But I feel the need to do SOMETHING cool with it that honors its heritage. Ideas/suggestions solicited.

Why not give Walmart primer a try? Goes on smooth, and so cheap you don't need to worry about "wasting" it like with the ultra-$$$ Tamiya stuff.

Local toy show day, Happy Happy Joy Joy! MUCH better than last month's Styrene Famine. I dropped nearly $90 on a number of "rescue-worthy" glue bombs and a buttload of cool decals, but the highlights of my haul were: * Slightly distressed '65 Mustang HT promo in red. I already have one in red, but the body is a bit scratched and it's missing one bucket seat. This body has some patches of paint on it but might be in better overall shape. But it has both (red) bucket seats. It's missing the grille (which my old one has), but at least I can get one clean '65 HT promo in red on red out of the two I have, and still have enough left over to build a street cruiser. Heck, the '65 wheels on the new one alone are worth more than I paid for the whole thing--$5! *AMT '75 (?) Vega Van funny car, built but unpainted and apparently complete, very restorable/rebuildable. Original box but no instructions or decals (some of the decals have evidently been applied). Wasn't looking for one of these, but when else am I gonna find one for $25? MAN that is a short wheelbase for a 1975-era funny car--I wonder if this is what became of the '69 AMX funny car frame rail molds. I might build it with an injected engine as an Altered, where it might be more at home. *AMT '75-ish Chevelle NASCAR. Started but unpainted and seems to be complete, in original box with instructions but no decals. I'm thinking of building it as a late '70s street bomber--either a NASCAR someone put on the street, or a way-modified stocker someone is making look NASCAR-y. I'm sure I'll have AT LEAST my $20 worth of fun with it, one way or another. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Very VERY nice! I have one of these on the To-Do list, and I think you might have just kicked it up a few notches!

Welcome to the wonderful world of Glue Bomb Rescues! They are a GREAT slump buster and diversion from the world of full-detail, "A-List" builds.

That's AMAZINGLY modern looking for being built in 1962! You were clearly ahead of your time!

Agreed. And there's a lot of good stuff available in inexpensive diecast that can't be had in readily available (or affordable) kits, too.

I painted my interior and bumpers a darker gray (the bumpers are Walmart flat black primer, the interior is Duplicolor primer gray). They come molded in the light gray shown in Joe's photos.

I wouldn't change the smile on the Mona Lisa, I'd just paint Sophia Vergara instead.

Sewing thread plug wires? My '56 Chevy Ultimate Street Freak had em. So did my AMT '25 T, from the "Sand T" kit. I restored it a couple years ago, and gave it headlights and a windshield, but left the original sewing thread plug wires. You'll have to take my word that there's thread under the hood of this MPC GTO I built in 1968. And this seems to be what you're looking for. Have never showed it here (yet). I didn't build it, but somebody did back in 1963, and glued in some kind of fabric for the carpets. I restored it a couple years ago, preserving the high-zoot interior (dig those crazy headrests and "handlbar" steering wheel!) and the original green paint, though I did replace the original melted wheels/tires with Winfield Terra-Thrusts from an AMT 25 T and some new tires.

Yup, lotta that kind of thing running around back in the day. Well done and model on!

Curbside doesn't bother me at all. I just don't care enough for that car to buy one.

Yup. In doing my research, I couldn't find a single picture of the dashboard that looked like the kit's. The body-colored area was always much smaller. And I specifically google-imaged pictures for the concept car.

Very nice! It's always great to bring one back from the dead. Well done and model on!

That might be the lower-line Special version.

Looks great! You're making me want to find one of these (my highest compliment). Well done and model on!

I believe you'll find this kind of work very satisfying. Keep in mind that the goal is not perfection, but improvement. If I can take some unloved POS and make it look as good as something I might have built myself in 1968, I'm happy. If I can make it look as good as something I built in 1969 or 1970, I"m absolutely delighted!

A couple of Revell NASCARS at mine today, nothing else new. But I'm checking back every week. They still have a tall stack of the AMT Piranhas. Image what those would have been worth on eBay 10 or 20 years ago! (I already have 3, which should last me a lifetime.)

Sounds like a plan!

No, nothing like that backbirth. It looked closer to Project X than it does to that thing. You can google-image Jeff Lutz '57 Chevy and find lots of pics of it.

Wow, that came out great, especially for a "rescue!" I'd be proud to have that one on my own shelf (if I liked Edsels at all, that is). Well done and model on!

Over in Model Airplane World, I've heard stories of guys who used CA and baking soda as a filler back in the '80s and '90s, and things were fine for years and years--and then after some long period of time, something goes wrong with it, and it starts bubbling up, or cracking, or falling out, or something. I forget exactly what the problem is, but when it happens, it's severe and pretty much unfixable without major rework.