restoman

Not much in the way of updates. Scrubbed all the parts, then scrubbed them again... I started on the donor chassis and found a 9.25 Chrysler Corporate rear end instead of the Charger's 8.75 rear and am working on casting my own small block Mopar engine to make it a '79 300 instead of a Cordoba. I'm not sure if Air-Trax has a website but you can email Tapani at raurata@yahoo.com and he'll answer all your questions. Really easy guy yo deal with. I'm thoroughly impressed with this casting as well as the '69 300 I bought!

Very nice. How was the resin body?

Pretty cool. I like it! I owned a '74 X, with a 304, speed on the floor. Peppy little bugger that surprised a lot of people.

Thanks for the comments and compliments. This is the second paint job on this car - wasn't happy with the first so it got bathed in Easy-Off for a couple weeks. Akzo-Nobel U-Tech automotive single layer urethane is TOUGH stuff to get rid of...

My ultimate goal is to finish the build, but most of my enjoyment comes in the rough work: planning, fitting, shaping, painting, etc. Putting it all together is a kind of justification of sorts for me that all my effort wasn't in vain, but it's not the part of the hobby that I like the most. After it's finished, I take a few pics and it gets placed in the cabinet with the others, and it's kind of a let-down... It becomes just something to look at. no more hands-on activity.

Finally done. This is a Lindberg kit that I started over a year ago. Ran into some paint and fit issues so it got put to the back of the bench till just recently. I swapped in a 440 from a Super Bee, converted it all to a four speed and added a Dana rear end. Kind of what I would like to own if it was real...

Yup, thought of that as I was putting it together. Problem is, I had all ready glued them on... Next time!

i told the cashier it was for my dog...

Done and appearing daily in Under Glass!

Finally done! I finished this in Cocoa-A-Go-Go nail polish to give it a root beer brown look. Happy with the colour. Swapped in some Magnum rims, bigger tires, altered the lower front valence to look more factory-like and re-routed the A/C line to the condenser so the hood would fit down tight... I wanted the R/T side stripes but after going through two sets and not having any luck, I opted for a bit of a stripe-delete look. Not real keen on how far forward the front tires sit, but... it is what it is.

!!!!!!!!! Nice!

Last time I got some, I told the cashier it was for my dog...

Coming together nicely... Had a few problems getting the chassis to align with the body but it's all squared away now. Not really happy with how far forward the front wheels are but it is what it is and what it is is glued together with CA glue, so it stays the way it is.

Back at it, for good this time.

That is soooooooo nice!

I think they're my only options for a decent small block... but I'm in budget mode now and all ready have the '71 Charger which is a big block, so unless I can swap for one of those, this will be a 400 big block Cordoba.

This is the other resin trans kit I got from Airtrax. Every bit as nice as the '69 300. I'll use the '71 Charger R/T kit as the donor. Too bad it doesn't come with a small block - then I could build it as the '79 300.

Few more pics... Thanks for the great compliments! I did have fun building this truck.

Yes, the cab tilts to show the Hemi Orange engine, with HP exhaust manifolds... I'll get a pick or two tomorrow and post them up. The paint is Duplicolor Perfect Match... a GM colour if I recall. Cleared both car and hauler with automotive clear, thinned out quite a bit.

Wasn't turquoise used on A/C equipped big block engines?

All scratch-built, including the taillight panel, taillights, the headache rack, winch and cabinet handles. I initially was going to open up the cabinet doors - there are full boxes behind them - but couldn't come up with small enough working hinges that looked like they belonged there. I built a hitch for the thing too, but haven't put it in the receiver yet...

raurata@yahoo.com Tapani will send you their catalog. They make some neat stuff and are excellent to deal with.

Thanks for the comments. It was fun to do, though it took longer than I thought it would. I was aiming to have it look like a rig from the early to mid-seventies and I think I hit the mark for the most part. Pretty happy with it.

A lot... but I'm not complaining. It's exactly what I was looking for, so I'm happy.

Just got this resin trans kit from Airtrax and it's sooooo nice! Well proportioned, great details and even comes with a set of recall wheels! It will be a 1/25 replica of one I owned back in the late eighties. Lots of custom touches: shaved trim, lowered ride height, full fender skirts, etc. Thinking of a deep violet paint...?