Snake45

Don't think I've ever seen or heard of such. Real JoHans--both unbuilt and restorable glue bombs--are still fairly plentiful and not really much if any more than you'd have in a resin body and a donor kit. Just last year I scored a nicely restorable one--and an original annual, no less, not a reissue--for $15. So they're not exactly made of Unobtainium.

Okay, I think I got it now. I've been calling a certain project a PT, but now I think it's more Restomod. (Actually, as a curbside/semi-slammer, I guess it doesn't really make all that much difference.)

You're going to cry, but about 10 years ago, I bought a mint, unbuilt, new in box AMT '68 Cougar from an airplane modeler for $75--and he thought I was being generous giving him that much for it. And, liking the Cougar and wanting one on my shelf, but being emotionally unattached to this particular kit (unlike some others I have), I plan to actually BUILD the thing. I figure I'm finally just about good enough. If/when I do, I'll do it here in the Workbench, soliciting and taking suggestions/advice on things such as chassis colors and so forth. I plan to build it OOB, but make whatever changes are necessaru for factory-stock accuracy, if need be. And NO, it's not for sale or trade, so don't blow up my PM box. BTW, here's that pic I mentioned, for anyone who wants to try converting the funny car body:

Nicely done! The whole thing just "works." Model on!

...a "Pro Touring" and a "Restomod"? I gather that both involve updates to engine, wheels/tires, brakes, suspension, and interior. Is it that the Pro Touring is more extensively modified, with a lot more one-off fabrication involved, whereas a Restomod involves basically bolt-on (more or less) modifications?

Very imaginative, and different, and therefore interesting!

How about either flocking, or embossing powder?

I had one of those! It was molded in a mustard yellow and I think I put some red metalflake on it. Come to think of it, I might still have the thing.

Thanks for the advice. You're making me want to build the thing!

The mini-Lindys were "box scale"--whatever size would fit in the little box is what scale they are. I just remembered, I think I have an MG-TD from them and it's about the same size as the Ford truck! Someone else had some little model cars at that time, too. Eldon? They were done in metallic chrome. I know they had a '68 Dart because I put one on an Aurora HO chassis and painted it like Landy's. I think I might still have a '68 Camaro in a metallic chrome blue to this day--somewhere.

May I ask, did you use any kind of dark wash in the panel lines? Looks like you might have but I can't tell. Reason I ask is, the panel lines on this kit are why I haven't built mine already. I hate them. I usually rescribe them all deeper, but the ones on this body are so WIDE that that won't work. Was thinking of putting a black wash in them--might be able to get away with that on this one because the body color is so dark already. Yours looks pretty good in the pics. So did you do anything special with the lines?

I think you'll find that '68 and '69 Cougars are, sheetmetal wise, completely different cars (as were '68 and '69 Mustangs). IOW, I don't think it's practical/possible to convert a '69 to a '68. The '68 Cougar funny cars have very stock-ish bodies, with the exception of the rear wheel openings, which would have to be reduced. I have a nice photo of an original AMT annual '68 body rear wheel opening, with a nice ruler in the picture, if you care to try the conversion. (i.e., you can print the pic out at life-size per the ruler and use it as a pattern/template for the opening size and contours.) You can use the common '69 chassis, engine, etc. for such a conversion. The '69 interior won't be correct, of course, but if I were going to do this and I couldn't come up with a proper '68 interior, I'd just plug in the '69 guts, paint 'em black, and drive on.

I'm inclined to agree with you, although the new guy is pretty good too.

When in doubt, I thin. I HATE having to detail-strip my airbrush and pick dried-up/too-thick paint out of it. I try to avoid that nasty chore at all costs, and lacquer thinner (which works fine with enamels) is cheap.

Wow, that headlight/grille combo looks great on this! Drive on!

Looks great! I have one of these rising to the top of my To-Do pile, so thanks for the preview!

Foil-copying an emblem is easy. I did it here (last post in thread):

Very, very nice! I'm hoping to build something very much like this someday, except I'm gonna use a tube front axle and jack the whole mess to heaven. Thanks for the preview! Well done and model on!

I'm finding that in resto/refurb work, I'm often trying to honor the OB's vision, at least insofar as it doesn't completely disagree with my own. Drive on!

Agree completely!

I had several of them back in the day, some of which I tried to turn into HO slotcars. I seem to remember a '68 Corvette, and maybe some kind of van? I think a Ford pickup truck too? Anyone have a list of them all?

Very, very nice! I particularly like your clean work on the red wheel trim. Nicely done!

Had both the time and the mood, so finally got around to cropping and tweaking the finished pics and re-loading them to Photobucket and replacing the ones in my original post. Hope you can see them better now.

Very nice! That's probably very close to what a '69 COPO Nova would have looked like, if Chevy had ever built such a thing.

This is going to be a cool project! Do keep us posted!