Snake45

The Fiat back! Most very hella way cool! But August 13, 2021 is next Friday. WTF?

Early '70s IIRC.

Your Testor Nassau Blue looks much lighter than mine. Mine's lighter than Marina Blue for sure, but yours looks a LOT lighter. I wonder why.

Update: I returned the thing Tuesday. They emailed me the label, which I forwarded to the local field office, which handled the whole thing no sweat--I couldn't have been in there more than three whole minutes, front to back. It arrived back at the vendor Wednesday morning. This morning (Saturday) I received the replacement item on my doorstep. Can't complain about service like that! It remains to be seen whether the new one works or not--might be a couple days before I get to test it. We'll see what happens.

That's a '66. Doesn't seem to be a factory color. Looks kinda like John Deere green.

Baddest from a factory? Almost certainly. Baddest ever? Badder than this one? I doubt it.

Interesting idea! I'd start with the '66 Wildcat and '65 Bonneville and Grand Prix parts. Maybe the '69 Riviera, too. Hey, it's not like anything you could do to it would make it any worse.

My WM has been that way for two or three months now, maybe more.

Hmmmmm. I've got a couple of AMT/JoHan Toros with missing drivetrain parts. I wonder if the chassis from this would slide right under those. https://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/mpc-instructions/show-rods/mpc-the-californian-/calif-inst-2.html#media

When I was a kid--about junior high--we used to take foil chewing gum wrappers (Wrigley's, I think?), peel the foil off the paper backing, and burnish it down on the (formica) desktop just for something to do in class. You'd rub it down with a fingernail, and then keep burnishing it down with your finger or a piece of paper (and of course not get caught), and if you did it right, at the end of the class you had a random-shaped blotch of "chrome" on the desk. I wonder if they still use that stuff in chewing gum, and if it would work on model cars?

That Duplicolor looks a bit light. The Model Master Nassau Blue Metallic was in the ballpark--closest I've seen, anyway, if a bit light. You might be able to still find a can somewhere if you're lucky. Otherwise, you'll have to go to Model Car World or one of the other specialty paint vendors.

Was gonna ask if you meant the new one or the original, but I guess the mention of the microwave answered that. I saw the original when I was in high school. Gave me nightmares.

Cool! I'll keep my eye open for one. This morning at Walmart I saw a Jada diecast RX-7 (I think it might have been a later version). But it looked huge--at least 1/22 scale, if not 1/20--so I left it on the shelf.

The '62 Chev is of interest to me. I'm starting to put together a collection of Don Nicholson models.

I feel ya, my brotha! I love all the bubbletops from the XVI right up to the Seafire 47. The Matchbox kit was, like their P-51D, one of their very first and not very good. Still, it has a certain appeal for some of us, as you well know. Here's the first one I built, back in the '70s or '80s, converted to a PR XI of the 7th Photo Group, 8AF. Years later I decided I needed a bubbletop, too, and procured a second kit. I also found the leftover bubbletop parts from my XI and decided to use them to convert a highback Frog XIV. I got this far with the pair. I need to dig these out and finish them sometime. Heller released a nice little bubbletop XVI back in the '70s, and I built this one OOB. Only problem I had with it was one of the wing roundel decals wrinkled horribly. Another cool little bubbletop Spit model is the old Hawk Mark 22, which originally sold for IIRC 39 cents. I think I've read that this line (no landing gear) was originally engineered to be a cereal box toy; dunno if that ever happened or not. I built this one in high school. The plastic is SubLime Green! I dug it out and cleaned it up and did some minor touchup a few years ago. I had such fun with it that I got another one and finished it in overall NMF (Floquil Platinum Mist IIRC) just to show off the 22's sleek lines. I have another one somewhere and I think I'm gonna try to scrounge up some landing gear and maybe even a rudimentary cockpit for that one. I think this one was molded in gray; I have another one molded in burgundy and one in bright day-glo orange!

My credit card is safe for yet another month.

If it makes you feel any better, I did something similar a few months ago. Was looking for AMT '65 Corvettes, as I sometimes do, and saw one for a reasonable price, but when I clicked on it and took a good look, it turned out to be a common Monogram 1/24 instead of a rare AMT 1/25. Did I mention it was a built glue bomb? I clicked away and put it out of my mind. A few hours later I got an email from eBay saying that the seller of a "rare AMT '65 Corvette model" was offering it to me for just $20, shipping included! I almost sprained my click finger accepting the offer. Then I sent a bragging email to a few of my buddies here. One of them answered, "Uh, isn't that the Monogram kit?" Oh S! Of course it was! DOH! When it arrived it was complete, but not something I'd have paid $10 for at the local toy show, though I MIGHT have given $5 for it. Anyway, I finally came up with a viable plan for the thing when I ran across a set of wheels that I thought would be perfect for it. With a little luck, I should have it finished tomorrow, or Friday at the latest. Ah shucks oh well.

Old school cool! Well done and model on!

Wherever cheap diecasts are sold. Or google Welly '71 Chevelle. I've seen them in silver and red.

This is true. Headlights are different sizes 70 to 71. There's a fairly nice cheap '71 convertible available, if that's of interest to you. It MIGHT be possible to adapt its front and rear end parts to a 1/25 '70 Chevelle.

I've had some luck with Scotch tape. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it takes off the paint too. I've found something that works a LOT better than soaking overnight: Scrape off with a fingernail under HOT running water, hot as you can stand.

I did a little test-polishing last night and it looks like it will take a shine. Just disassembled the thing and it came apart easily, even the glass. Biggest problem so far is that the (probably Testor) silver trim overpaint smears don't want to polish off; I had to take the larger ones off with #1500 WetOrDry. I'm PRETTY sure this paint is Rustoleum Cobalt Blue Metallic, and if it's not, it's close enough that the Cobalt should provide a good touchup where necessary. Looks like it'll be a fun project. It won't look as good as something I built "from scratch" but darnit, for some reason I just can't resist throwing a little love at a model like this and bringing it up to the next level.

That was last week's show. The other guy also messed up a drag-raced '66 Impala wagon that was said to be in his family for decades and valued at $65,000. And then he whined about destroying his car for nothing! About the only entertaining thing about this show is to see arrogant, tough-talking know-it-alls (in the beginning) get totally humbled and pwned. It's kinda like watching Doc on Street Outlaws brag about how much money he has in his car, and how powerful it is, and how it's so much faster than the guy he's about to race, and then go out there and blow the engine up or drive over the curb and tear the whole car up. And then blame everything on someone else, or bad luck, or a voodoo curse, or everyone hates him and conspires against him, or something.

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone! One of these days I hope to get around to building a new version of this model. I even have an original glue bomb '69 RR with the correct interior to use. Yes, the paint is AMT Surf Green, which as you say is a good match for Pontiac Verdoro Green. Seemed to be a reasonable match for Mopar F5 green, I believe it was called. I also painted my MPC '68 Firebird with that paint and I still have that one, too. My plan, someday, is to build a '69 Barracuda, another '69 Road Runner, and a '69 GTX all painted with MCW F5 paint. That should make a nice lineup!

IMHO, it's like that dodgeball show they had last year--it's interesting ONCE. After that, it's pretty much just more of the same. I can't believe that people are willing to risk the complete destruction of their cars for a top prize of $7,000, and most of them don't win anything close to that.