Snake45

Ah, this thing's not worth that much effort on anyone else's part, and also the exercise is kinda to just make do with what I have on hand.

My box must be full again. Hafta clean that out here soon.

Here's the model in question, BTW. No, I didn't build it. Was originally planning to just clean it up, maybe hand-brush a coat of future on it, but under the dirt, the paint wasn't even good enough for that. So I stripped it, and now I'm polishing out the black plastic, just to show off. Probably going to go a slightly different way with the wheels & tires.

And if you're a Gasser fan, it's a must-have--THREE of them: A restored '62 Studebaker, a new-build '56 Nomad, and probably best of all, a survivor (near-barn find condition) '32 Vicky! Looking forward to reading all three stories. I got my copy at Walmart.

I'm leaning that way...especially since this will be sort of a '70s "Day Two" car anyway, not necessarily factory correct. What I think I'm gonna do is, see if I can fix the back bumper with Rub N Buff (the problem on both bumpers is that the chrome is just about gone from the top half due to exposure and time--something I've seen on several of my own models) but is pretty much intact on the lower half. I've had occasional good luck with Rub N Buff on things like this before, but not always. If I get an even halfway acceptable look on the back bumper, I'll go with it, and then try to repeat it on the front. If the front doesn't turn out to suit me, I'll just strip it and go black on that end. Fallback position is black on both ends, and "It's not supposed to be factory stock anyway."

Great source! But after reading it, I'm more uncertain than ever. Some seem to think black was available, others don't. Oh well!

I'm restoring a Monogram '71 Cuda in black. The chrome on the bumpers is in bad shape, a problem I'll have to solve. Replating is out. Alclad is out. Molotov pen is out. (Not putting any more money into this project, and I can't get any of that stuff locally.) So it's either airbrush 'em Testor Chrome, try to touch up the bad parts with something like Rub N Buff, or strip 'em and go black to match the rest of the car. Problem is, I can't find refs that black bumpers would be "correct" for a '71. One ref says front bumper was available in black for '70 (but not rear) and makes no mention of elastomeric bumpers at all for '71. Did some web-searching and found one source that said the rubber bumpers WERE available in '71, but only in limited colors and black wasn't one of them. I'm thinking of going black-bumper anyway, "correct" or not. The car will have an Argent (flat dark silver) grille area, and I'm doing the rear (taillight) panel in flat black, both of which should add some nice contrast to the all-black (and hopefully very glossy) body. Think black bumpers front and rear would look okay on this hot mess?

Very clean build!

Very very nice indeed! Probably the best model wire wheels I've ever seen!

Very nice indeed!

Lemme see, the promos I've "resti-fied" include a '69 Maverick, '70 GTO, '66 Barracuda, and '68 Javelin. On tap for "the treatment" are a '65 Mustang hardtop, '68 Barracuda, another '68 Javelin, '67 Riviera, '66 Thunderbird, and '75, '78 (anniversary), and '79 Corvettes. Also have a few '80s and '90s Camaros and Corvettes to do. These are fun projects. I like polishing the original colored plastic when I can get away with it.

I have very little car aftermarket, other than some Modelhaus repro parts. I still have a large stash of Squadron vac-form airplane canopies and True Details cockpits and wheels from my airplane phase, which could return at any time.

I might be wrong, but I THINK I have a set of those decals in my random decal notebook. Always wondered what they were for. I'll try to look for them tonight if you need a kit number.

Very nice, very clean, very straight build! Kinda makes you wish Chevy had actually built COPO 427 Novas!

Very nice!

I've built the 911 and the 308, and have the 924 to do. I'll probably get one of these RX-7s just to display with them.

I scribe door and trunk lines out about 2/3 of the way through the plastic. BEFORE primer, I run a black wash in there, and then I prime and paint normally, doing nothing more with the lines except cleaning them out with a toothbrush under warm running water after final paint or clearcoat polishing. It works well for me.

Amazing concept and craftsmanship!

I could swear I've seen wheels like that in some kit I own. AMT '68 Road Runner or '69 GTX? '66 Nova? '55 Bel Air sedan? Some of the '90s reissues of various older kits?

Sweet! You did an especially nice job flaring the rear wheel openings. I gotta figger out how to do that when I do mine.

Very clean build! Model on!

What he said, every word of it!

Very, VERY nice indeed!

It makes up for the tiny steering wheel.

Re red interiors: Just checked my Mopar Redbook reference. Red interiors were available on all '67 GTX and Coronet RT HT and conv not differentiated, and same for '68. In '69 they cut many of the colors out of the options for the convertibles for both models (but not the hardtops). Red was discontinued for both models, HT and conv alike, for '70. SOMEBODY needs to repop the JoHan '69 GTX grille so we can pop it in the AMT bodies and at least clean up that end of the car. (I can fix the rear side windows myself, and can more or less live with the inaccurate quarters.)