restoman

I really like the new wheels. They give the car a bit of a sophisticated vintage Euro look.

The stripes are not much fun...

Thanks for the comments folks. I'm happy with how this turned out, considering the only paint work done this time around was on the engine and transmission, and a few small parts. The grill/filler/ bumper fit frustrates me a bit, but short of modifying and painting, it's as good as it's going to get. It looks great in its' display cabinet!

It was a decent race. I felt so bad for Jimmie Johnson - he was fast. It was a bit eery with no fans, no pit reporters, etc, but I think Fox did a great job with what they had to work with. It will be interesting to see if getting out ahead of the other sports will be beneficial to Nascar. It's no secret that they've been in a decline for the last decade or so. ...And Harvick won and Kyle didn't, so that was good.

It's not bad. I've seen better but I've also seen much worse. The body has a slight twist to it, some of the engine compartment detail is chunky and the hood has a bit of a downward bow, but none of that will prevent this from being a decent version of a '79 300. I'll not let those things keep me from looking at Airtrax again.

Picked these up from a friend today...

Oops... could a moderator move this to Under Glass? T'anks!

Back at it. Hoping to wrap it up this weekend. I'm losing interest...

I first built this around 1995-ish. It looked ok in the cabinet, but there were a lot of things about it that bugged me, so... Done in Viper Red, if I recall. Single layer urethane. I think it's a little brighter than what is supposed to be on the LREs, but it worked at the time so I saw no reason to change it. The big block, four speed and floor shifter were something else. Little Reds came with the E58 360, four barrel engine and all were column shift automatics So away went the big block and in went a resin copy of the '71 Duster small block and a resin automatic. Added a column shift, and indicator, covering the floor with some red embossing powder. The proper pedals were added, too. Some underhood detail finishes it off to make things a little more believable. I lowered the truck to get a little more of street stance. The kit always sat so high... White letter tires give it a period look. Clear headlight and turn signal lenses in the grill, a shot of Dull coat for the anodized aluminum look, and some filler strips to set the grill out where it should be. The grill, front filler panel, and front bumper just never seem to fit right on these Dodges but short of surgery and repainting, it looks ok. I guess... Mirrors are in the works, just need to get some casting material whenever the world gets itself back together. A friend's Dad had one of these when we were in high school. I thought it was the coolest. Whenever Collin was lucky enough to borrow it, we had a blast! For a 6000lb truck, it was pretty quick and would light up the rear tires with little effort. No brake pressure was required to get a satisfactory pair of black marks. ) Comments always welcome!

Close to wrapping this up. Yay me! I wanted the fresh air intake tubes for the small block 360, and was going to use Steven's trick to try and replicate them. Problem is, I didn't have any round tubing in the right size, and ordering some would put me two weeks out on finishing up... so, I used solder wrapped with some thin wire and CA glued in place. Not perfect, but good enough for this build. A coat of flat black completes the illusion. Just the front bumper and some tail gate chains, and it's good to go in it's display case. Comments always welcome.

Small block nestled between the frame rails... Onto the fresh air intake system. Comments always welcome.

The rear, I shaved down the spring-to-chassis mount points, and the blocks between the springs and rear end. Nothing fancy. The front was fast n' nasty: I just altered the wheel backs and used a plastic axle instead of steel, so the axle doesn't go under the engine block anymore. This will likely never be out of it's display box, so none of the hackery will be visible...

Leaf spring geometry works that way. It's more noticeable on trucks, especially if they sit a little higher. Narrow wheels - or wheels tucked farther into wheel houses exacerbate the illusion. Angles of photography or short depths of field between the camera and subject affect it, too. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I built this sometime around 1995. While it looked good in the cabinet, the 4x4 ride height and the big block four speed bugged me. While dusting it off a few years ago, some pieces fell off. Into the box it went, for that "someday" when it'd get fixed. "Someday" has arrived... I lowered it, and added some period-looking white letter tires. Turfed the big block four speed powertrain and used a resin-cast small block auto, with a column shift. The engine is ready to go in, just as soon as the motor mounts are finished up. Going to add the fresh air intake system, as well. Working on some clear headlights and turn signals, and some better underhood detailing. Happy with how it's sitting now.:) Comments always welcome.

Welcome to here. I'm from Cape Breton Island, have a brother, brother-in-law, and a nephew in Halifax. If you see them, say hi!

Retired for 3 years, on disability, so for me, things haven't really changed. No stimulus cheques, no Emergency Benefit cheque... what I got is what I got. Luckily, it's enough. I still walk the dogs daily, but the only real differences are very little traffic, and very few people wanting to pet the dogs. I'm a people person, so that took a bit of getting used to. We've always stocked up when buying groceries and supplies. Years of living paycheque to paycheque taught us how to stretch the funds and minimize the trips. We both know how to cook and bake, so we've got that going for us, which is nice. Lots of booze in stock... The scariest part for me is that my wife is a RN in a long term care home, and with her being immuno-suppressed to a degree and me being compromised in various ways, if she gets the bug, we're in trouble. So... we do all we can to stay safe, which is the best anyone can do.

SHE takes great offense! Just kidding... Lola loves to ride in the Bug, but knows enough to not jump on the paint. Thankfully.

Dragged this out into the sunlight on the weekend... The 24 year old paint is needing some attention, and has a few rust bubbles popping out around the rear window, so it's due for some attention this year. I daily drove this bug through the months betwixt snow seasons for 6 or 7 years. Most fun car I've ever owned. Slowest, too. Don't think we've put more than a couple hundred miles on it in the last 10 years.

Very nice work!!!!

Excellent! I've had quite a few of those hammers over the years. Sold most of them off since retiring. My one criteria for buyers was whether or not they professed to wanting to actually use them, as opposed to collectors and re-sellers. The folks who said they would use them got first dibs. Still have quite a few assorted body dollies, some bought, some home-made. Very few people nowadays seem to know what to do with them... everyone seems to think they can make beautiful shapes with an English wheel and everything else is too hard to master. All my shot bags and wooden mallets and slappers were made by me. They're the true work horses of sheet metal forming, something I wish I would have had more time to learn more about.

I like the planning stages best, determining what will go with what else and how it all should look. A close second to that is body prep and painting. Least favourite... probably when doing an old kit and fighting with decals from start to finish. That takes all the pleasure out of it, for me. ...Till it's done, then we're good. I'm not wild about applying BMF, but seeing it done gives a great sense of satisfaction.

I watched 10 minutes or so of a Nascar irace... not for me.

Nice, clean build!

Nice job!

Thanks for the comments! This was a bit of slump-buster for me: nothing fancy, a relatively simple kit with plenty of build options, and a very satisfying result. Thanks.