Snake45

Godfather.

You do realize that's a SHORT bus, don't you?

That interior looks fantastic! Personally I don't have the patience to do foil on interiors, but I admire those who do. Don't forget that Camaros with white interiors actually had black headliners. But you prolly already know that.

I learned the same thing with a Monogram T-28 in the back window of a '59 Chevy on a hot August day in North Carolina. But the interior of a car (especially one with a lot of glass, like a '59 Chevy) can and will get a LOT hotter than the trunk of that same car (or a windowless steel shed). As I said, not that long ago I had a half-dozen kits in the trunk of my car for two or three years, including many hot summer days, and when I finally took them out they were all fine, no damage at all.

Ever toil away at a model for days or weeks or even months, and then one day, without really planning to, you glue on one last part or do one last little bit of paint touchup or something and then realize, “That's it. It's finished!” Yeah. It's like that. Wrapped this little pig up yesterday, finally. For those who came in late, here's what I started with, a sandwich baggie full of random parts from an AMT dune buggy I started and never finished maybe 45 years ago. Full “workbench” in-progress build story is here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=93374 My self-imposed “rules” for this project were as follows: 1. Git Er Done. 2. Use all original kit parts that could be found. 3. If original parts couldn't be found, pirate parts from a reissued Manx kit, as long as it could be done without compromising buildability of the Manx. 4. If #2 and #3 not applicable, scratchbuild, or seek parts from parts box or other kits. I ended up with the following: *Original 1969 AMT kit: Chassis pan and “spine,” basic front suspension and brakes, rear suspension and shocks, engine (except intakes and carbs) and exhaust, rear roll bar and braces, front roll bar, seats, shifter, steering wheel, all four wheels and tires. *Reissued Manx: Steering box, steering tie rod, long steering column, gas tank. *Revell '29 Model A Truck: Carburetors and air cleaners. *Scratchbuilt: Front shocks (aluminum tubing), pedals (styrene rod and sheet), hand brake (styrene rod and sheet), front roll bar brace (styrene rod), intake manifolds (styrene rod), seat belts (black vinyl tape.) I don't like the seating arrangement, but it was dictated by the final position of the kit steering wheel. Looks like the shifter is too far forward, and you'd need long legs to reach those pedals. At some point in the future, I might be struck by a fit of industry and shorten that steering column about four scale inches, and then move the seats up to match, which would proportion things much better. But at this point I just wanted to “Get Er Done” and didn't want to risk damaging anything by trying to “fix” that right now. If I'd broken anything loose at this point, the whole model would have ended up flying against the wall, I just knowit (to quote Rick Springfield). Truth to tell, if not for Rule #2, I wouldn't have used either the kit's seats or the small steering wheel on this, I'd have found something more appropriate. I didn't count but I think I spent somewhere between 30 and 40 hours altogether on this restoration/rebuild, including searching for and cleaning original parts (such as the wheels and tires). I honestly believe that if I had built this all from a new kit, I could have done it in half to one third the time. As alwasys, thanks for looking.

Animal House.

She kinda used to. She's a little bit older (though younger than me) but still looks pretty darn good. But I'm quite used to living my life by a Latin accent.

Very, very nice! I see I'm not the only one to have this idea. It's good to see someone actually DO it. (I have LOTS of ideas that will never get done.)

Anyone here watch Modern Family? The Lovely Mrs. Snake and I basically are Jay and Gloria. We have a gay son and a bossy, hyper, blonde daughter, too, and a couple other family similarities. The parallels between that show and my real life are amazing. I think it's the funniest show on TV and very likely the best sitcom ever.

Finished! Off to the Under Glass section with it. More photos there soon.

Me too--same exact story. You are also correct in your comments about vinyl tires eating into styrene and decals over time. Some kind of chemical leeches out it with age.

Okay, I just looked at the AMT and Revell grilles together, with optivisor and caliper. My brilliant idea won't work. The AMT grille isn't a whole lot better shaped at the ends than the Revell, though of the two, it's better. (It's also too short to fit into the Revell body opening without modification. Having taken a GOOD look, I now think it MIGHT be possible to modify the Revell grille ends to something approaching the correct shape. Will take some skillful styrene surgery and model-fu. If I can do it, I'll start a thread and post photos. I apologize for the detour down this dark side street....

True. But the ends--where the Revell kit is so horribly wrong--should be the same between the two years. Will have to check. I have the AMT '67 in stock so can use that if there's a difference. The main factor will be, are the Revell and AMT grilles the same height?

BOC, Don't Fear the Reaper. Guess what? I've got a fever! And the only prescription is...

You are correct of course. I bow to your correct answer.

I'm going to see if I can sili-clone the ends of an AMT '67 or '68 grilled, then file the offensive ends off the Revell grille and replace them. Might be a cheap and not-too-difficult fix for this kit's most troublesome problem....

4 is Rock Steady, I think by Bad Company (or maybe Free?). 5 is Blind Faith but I can't think of the song title. Can't Find My Way Home, maybe?

Well, I had to look it up. (Won't give it away here.) The TV show that used to have that at the end was House.

Ever notice that most of the songs that have the word "blues" in the title...aren't really blues? (I'm a 12-bar blues purist, and the finest practitioners of the art IMHO were ZZ Top on their first two albums.)

The Lovely Mrs. Snake asked me once if some pants made her butt look fat. I suggested that she possibly didn't fully understand the cause and effect relationship.

The Revell snapper 70 Chevelle is quite nice in shape, and it's 1/25. I think it's better than the AMT kit. In fact, I think it's the best '70 Chevelle kit I've seen.

I know that plastic will warp at a bit less than boiling temperature. I also know you can bend plastic at hot tap water temperature--what's that, 160 degrees?--but it takes quite a bit of effort. So the critical temp is somewhere in between there. Do you think temps in the steel shed got over 160*? I've left kits in the trunk of my car for several years, with summer days well over 100*. No damage whatsoever.

Love the color! I gotta get me some! But I'm not sure a '49 Merc is the right vehicle (no pun intended) for it.