Snake45

Yeah, that's it! I've also seen a photo of it on a street that the original Monogram box art that was obviously based on. The green looks different in the above two photos. I'm going for the shade in the upper photo. I gotta figure out a way to mix that shade up.

I have a Bose radio at home with two modern country music stations, one "contemporary" station, and two classic rock stations loaded up on preset. I keep the remote handy and I hardly ever have to hear a commercial--or, for that matter, a song I don't like.

Was this ever a real car (designed by Carl Casper), or just a model? I just google-imaged it and didn't see a pic of a real car, just kit boxes and built models. It's not a "favorite" of mine but I picked up a bunch of parts of one--enough to restore, it looks like--and am trying to figger out something to do with the ugly thing. Is this anyone's "holy grail" kit?

These days either FM radio, or tunes from my computer (I think I have about 1700 songs loaded up), or CDs I make from my computer. I still have quite a few cassettes and sometimes use them in a Walkman while mowing the lawn, or in my old car. I got a USB turntable for Christmas a couple years ago, and used it to put a lot of my old albums on the computer. That's a great thing for some obscure old albums that aren't available in any other format.

Enamels go over lacquers fine. An so far, I've had no problem spraying the Testor lacquers over airbrushed and/or THOROUGHLY DRY enamels. I suspect your problem is a clogged nozzle. I've gotten in the habit of, at the end of a spray-bomb session, holding the can upside down and spraying about a one second burst to clear the nozzle and have had pretty good luck so far. Try switching nozzles on your "bad" cans and see if they now behave.

Very interesting! I had no idea the UNCLE car wasn't a "stock" Piranha!

It was way before my time but it's my understanding that the Green Hornet was based on a real car (I've seen photos of it) that was kind of a triple threat street/show/drag altered car. I bought a couple of these reissues and I'm planning to build one pretty much OOB but as a dedicated early '60s drag altered. It'll be part of my planned "History of the T-Rod and Kits of It" series.

Are those all really "bad" old kits? I was under the impression that most of them were pretty nice. We're mainly talking here about substandard old junk that we can't resist building anyway, despite its flaws, and the fact that a much better kit of the subject is available.

I knew you'd get a kick out of that, Tim. Hey, I posted the '69 Nova improvement pics you asked for up in that thread. Did you see them?

I can see that. While not quite as accurate or detailed as the AMT Sting Rays (and they never had the variety of custom/optional parts), that kit had an amazing chassis for its day. That chassis was also used on the Mako Shark and I think on all the MPC Corvette annuals up through 1982. I never had an original one, but I've picked up several of the reissued '67s over the years and actually got one far enough along to set it together and photograph it. (Below.) Couple years ago, in my AMT Corvette buying frenzy on eBay, I ended up with a couple of MPC '65 or '66 builtups in Corvette "junkyards" and multiple-model deals. I think I've got enough original MPC stuff to get one good '65 or '66 stocker together, and then one as a racer or custom of some sort. And then I've got the several '67 reissues for parts.

Okay, lemme try to detail my own guilty pleasures list: MPC '69 Camaro: Four built (five, if you count the Harrell's funny car), with one in the paint shop even as we speak. AMT '66 Mustangs: Three built, one on the bench, one in "sometime" construction, about to start restoration of a '65 promo (same basic model), NUMEROUS copies of the reissued '66 hardtop and '66 FB funny car in the Snakepile. AMT '69 Chevelle: Three built, plus one '69 El Camino. One painted ready for assembly (if I can ever find it), planning to do at least one more, several other copies of the kit in the Snakepit. AMT '25 T: One built as a kid, now being actively restored/rebuilt, new Fruit Wagon in the warm-up circle, at least two unbuilt complete kits, plus two flea market glue bombs for parts--might yield enough good parts to build one complete car, or close to it. Monogram 1/24 '69 Camaro: Three built, one half-built but currently missing in action, at least two more unbuilt complete kits. AMT Double Dragster: Only one of the Fiat altereds actually finished (with a Revell Parts Pack Bantam body), but I've owned at least six copies of the kit and still have at least four complete kits--planning to build at least one altered soon. Come to think of it, as a kid I did in fact build both halves of the DD kit, but they were so awful that I disassembled them and still have most of the pieces. AMT '63-'67 Corvettes: Three actually built lifetime, of which I still have two. Couple years ago I went on an eBay shopping spree and bought at least one coupe and one roadster of each year 63 through 67, either unbuilt kits or restorable glue bombs. I have all the original boxes and instruction sheets, too, except the '65 roadster. Probably close to a dozen repop '63s to use for parts for restoring the rare year glue bombs. In airplanes: HAWK/Testor F8F-1 Bearcat: Six built, two under construction, planning to build at least two more on top of that, and would still have unbuilt ones on the shelf. Monogram P-47D: Three built, one under construction, planning to do several more and have at least three unbuilt kits. Monogram F4U-4 Corsair: Three built lifetime, two of which were completely rebuilt and currently together and the third is currently being rebuilt. And I'm gonna build at least one more of these backbirths when that one's finished, too. HAWK/Testor P-51D: Only one actually finished but three currently under construction (more or less) with at least three more planned on top of that. There are many other kits I have and have even built multiples of but they don't qualify as "guilty pleasures" as I defined the term because they're either good kits (Revell '69 Camaro) or even though they're old and obsolete, nothing else better is or ever has been available (AMT '66 Skylark). I'm Snake, and I'm powerless over styrene.

Just since you asked so nicely. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=94431

I didn't photograph making the “boot” but that's simple enough. I cut a baseplate out of .020” styrene and cemented that right to the kit floor. Then I cut two or three pieces of .040” styrene, each a little smaller than the last, rounded the corners a lick, and cemented them to the baseplate pyramid-style. Only at this point did I decide how long I wanted the shift lever. This was just a matter of cutting pieces off the lower end until I got it where I wanted it (holding it in place with tweezers as I went). Then I cemented the lever in place on the boot with liquid cement at the joint—strong, fast, and permanent. The T-handle is shown on in these pics, but I didn't attach that to the shift lever until after the lever was glued to the boot. We'll make the handle in just a second. If you want a shifter ball, I've found you can build up a nice one with blobs of white glue such as Elmer's. Start small, put a round blob on there, let it dry, cover that with another round blob, let that dry, and so forth till you get the size you want. (This can take several days, of course.) Or you might get lucky and find a map pin or something with a ball the right size. Whatever, dude. I wanted the classic Hurst T-handle so I made one out of Evergreen rod. I think this was .080” but I don't remember and it's not critical, and you can do just as well using a piece of kit sprue. The idea is to work out a tapered cone of a shape. You can carve this, or use a file, or scrape it out of the plastic, whatever works for you. Again, don't worry too much about length at this stage, as long as you've got it at least 4 scale inches or a bit longer. You can try to duplicate the exact Hurst handle shape if you want but I didn't get that anal about it, I just went for the general look. Then cut it off and glue it onto your shift lever at whatever angle you want. A little Black Chrome Trim on the “rubber boot,” and a little Testor Chrome silver on the shift lever and handle, and it's done. I could've/should've added a little blob of white glue up at the top end of the lever for a Line-Lock button, or a map pin for a reverse lockout, but didn't think of it till later. I could've painted the Hurst H on the handle. Maybe next time. Total time from raw materials to installed and painted, completely finished shifter—under two hours and that includes taking the pictures along the way. If you're not in such a hurry I'm sure you can make one MUCH better looking than mine.

(By request.) I did this whole thing in one shot in under 2 hours one morning. You can probably do a better one than mine. Heck, I'm sure my next one will be better but I just wanted to get this particular project done and move on. This is easier than trying to cut or shape a shifter lever out of flat styrene, and as a bonus, you'll be making three or four of them at the same time. I started with some Evergreen strip styrene like this. I bought a package of the stuff, which looks to be about 2 x 3 scale inches, to make hot rod frames. (Yeah, that'll happen someday.) If you don't have this on hand, I'll tell you in a minute how you can get by with thinner styene. Most Evergreen plastic can be bent cold, with the fingers, but this stuff is so thick that when I tried it, it either broke in two, or cracked horribly at the bend. Tried bending it under hot tap water, which only helped a little, still got cracks. So I stuck an inch or so of the strip into boiling water for six or eight seconds, and then bent it, using pliers. I would have liked just a little more bend and could have probably gotten it either by keeping it in the boiling water a few seconds longer, or even by re-heating this piece and bending it a second time, but for this particular project, this was “good enough” and I drove on. Don't worry about the length of either side of the bend at this time. You can cut it to whatever length you want later. You're mainly interested in the bend on the backside/inside of the curve. We'll take care of the front side in a minute. If you don't have this thick styrene on hand, here's another way to do this and you can probably avoid the heating issue. Just laminate up your “billet” from several sheets of .020, .030, 040, whatever you have on hand. Bend the first layer, which will become the inside of the curve, then bend another layer and glue that to the first, then another layer and glue that on top, and so forth. When you have it as thick as the bottom half of the shift lever you want, you're done. Just let the cement dry (I recommend a liquid solvent cement for a solid, permanent bond) and come back to it when it is. Now just file or sand the front edge of the top half of the shift lever to an eye-pleasing tapered shape. I didn't do anything with the back edge at all. You can also cut the top half to your desired length at this point. Mine was pretty much the length I wanted it to be at this stage, so I didn't have to cut it. Or maybe I did cut it--I don't remember. Now you're going to slice one shifter lever out of the billet/blank you just created with a razor saw. . I recommend laying tape on the plastic for a cutting guide. Don't forget to account for the kerf (thickness of the material the saw blade will remove) when you lay the tape. The cut will go smoothest if you start sawing at the bend, rather than at the end, and then proceed “up” and “down” (or outward) from there. Much easier to avoid your cut going off at an angle that way. After making the “long” cut, go in from the side and cut one shift lever from your blank, still not worrying about the length of the bottom half at this time. NOTICE that I can still cut at least two, maybe three more shift levers from my prepared “billet.” How cool is that! Your cut piece might be a little thick (better too thick than too thin) and/or uneven. It's easily reduced to the desired and uniform or tapered thickness by placing it flat on a file or sanding block and moving it back and forth. TIP: Lick your fingertip so the part sticks to it.

Thanks for the color. I'll keep that name in mind. Might be able to find that at an auto parts store. It looks GREAT!

Probably not, but another option in SOME cases like this is to cut the part completely and re-glue it in a better position. Sometimes you can't do that and get it quite perfect, but you can get it to where a little putty and so forth will get you where you want to be. Just a thought....

Me too. I have the dragster in the Snakepit already, and a couple of the Blueprinter Service Trailers. I just might take this opportunity to recreate that drag set combo for myself.

I've found that virtually anything/everything reissued in the last 10 years--and for the most part, in the last 20 or even more--is usually readily available on eBay, and most often at prices no higher (or not much) than MSRP for a current kit (i.e., the Hobby Lobby retail price). Often it's less. Of course you have to pay shipping, but life is full of little tradeoffs and annoyances. For example, right this minute there are at least 12 repop Piranhas on there. Lowest price is $18.95 (plus shipping). One is $30, buy-it-now, with "free" shipping. Those aren't bad prices at all for a limited production, OOP kit. If it were at Hobby Lobby right now it would be priced at $25.99 (at least). Stuff is Out There, but you have to do a little work and look for it. You can't just sit in your basement and whine about it.

Dittos!

GREAT information, thanks all! Any idea if the '56 Ford, '57 Ford, '53 Stude, '57 Chevy, and/or '59 El Camino were in on this, too? Or was it limited to kits with flathead Ford engines? How about the Double Dragster Fiat chassis? BTW, I'm looking for an easy swap for the '25 T, and would like to make Tim Boyd smile by NOT using a smallblock Chevy.

I've had some luck with hot tap water. Put the place you need to bend under hot running tap water for 30 seconds or more and then try to bend it. You might need to do this several times. Bend it MORE than you need, because as it cools, it will want to "relax" back to its previous configuration. If your tap doesn't get hot enough, you'll need to heat up some water hotter. NOT boiling! Boiling is hot enough to warp and shrink the plastic. I think you're looking for a temperature somewhere in the 180* range if you have a thermometer.

FABULOUS color. What is it? It puts me somewhat in mind of '68 Chevy Corvette Bronze. MAN that is pretty paint! Great interior, too!

I think I read or heard somewhere that several of the AMT kits of the early '60s had engines designed to be swapped directly between kits with no modification needed--direct drop-in. I believe the optional engines in the '40 and '49 Fords (Olds and Buick engines, were they? I forget.) fell into this program. Is this true? What if any other kits were involved in this? (Yeah, I know, I know, a real modeler can put ANY engine in ANY kit. I'm talking about kits where the engine mounts, transmission length, and so forth were the same.)

That looks really nice--a real nostalgia trip. I've never built this kit but I hope to someday sooner or later.

Not on the real car, you wouldn't. The '67-'69 header panels are interchangeable. Now on models, there's quite a variation. The "sharpest" nose is the original AMT '67 annual, and the new Revell '67 is pretty close to it. But the MPC '68 and the later AMT '67 and '68 are flatter. Stranger, there's quite a bit of variation in width among all the First Gen Camaro kits. The MPC '68 and '69 are the narrowest (and so are their Firebirds), and the Revell '69 is the widest. The AMT original '67 annual, the later AMT '67 and '68, the Revell '68 Firebird, and the new Revell '67 Camaro are all more or less the same width, in the middle. Oh, and the Revell '69 RS grille isn't right, either. It sits too deep, and the headlight covers are MUCH too deep. I'm trying to come up with a fix for this and will post a tutorial on it here if/when I ever get it figgered out.