Can-Con

A true Canadian Icon. For those not familiar with Mr Downey, imagine a cross between Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and you might just touch the surface of how he was thought of in Canada.

Thanks for the input guys. I do like the idea of a modern powerplant. Gotta keep it under the hood though. I'd like to keep it black but not sure about a blue interior. Maybe a darker blue ? I don't want to mess with the overall look too much and I'm afraid changing the color combo would change the feel of the car. I also have an unbuilt '80 that was reissued a few years ago that I plan to do in red and burgundy 2 tone so it'll have a dark red interior and I don't want to have 2 MCs with the interior colors so close to each other. Anyway, I've got lots of time to think about it.

Love 'em all Jim.

You could have done what I did and files the hood of the '72 hood back. Not many people know it but there's enough plastic in the front part of those hoods to easily backdate them to '67/'68 spec with just a file and some sandpaper. I think when AMT and MPC changed the hood from '68 to '69 they may have just added material to the front and built it out, not changing the inside part of the mold.

Very nice ! The faux wood bed floor looks perfect.

Love that car Ken. What's that gold again? reminds me of the gold "spectraflame" Hotwheels used.

Thanks Jeremy. Those wheels are actually a set of regular snowflakes in a set of sleeves I cast from Pegasus wheels. If I did it again I'd just cut the spokes from a set of Pegasus "t's" and use the rims directly instead of casting them.

The Revell Foose '67 Dodge Coronet R/T has a big set of Magnum 500s in it ,, too big maybe. They seem to scale out to 24 or 26 inches, too big for me. I bought the kit just for the wheels then traded them off when I found how big they are. The old AMT "Black Force" snap kit has a big set of steelies with baby moon caps if you can find one that hasn't been pirated of the wheels.

Nice save John.

Nice, gold always goes well with green.

Another kit with them is the AMT '72 Chevy pickup. There's 2 sets in that kit, plain and chrome. But the detail is a bit softer than the MPC ones. Those are actually the ones I'm using on my '68 Chevy pickup build.

MPC /AMT '84 GMC pickup , '80 Monte Carlo, any of the MPC/AMT late '70s-'80s Elcaminos

Looks like most of his stuff IS the old R+R stuff and IF i'm right, he may actually have the R+R '65 but just not offered it yet.

Hey, I hear ya. But I'd be more concerned with the hood missing the large crease right up the center and the vents not being positioned evenly. The kit actually started off as the '82 annual and came out in '81. Then updated every year the 3rd gen was made. The Knight Rider kit was done along side the annual for most of the kit's life. That's why only the first '82 annual kits had the solid top. The T top was added for the KR kit in mid '82 and both kits had them ever since. They made some shortcuts. The hood was the original smooth hood that was in the '82 to '84 kit then given the vents [poorly] for the '85. The wheels are not actually the lace spoke GTA wheels, those wheels were in all the previous 3rd gen Firebird annuals, the '79 and '80 Monte Carlo annuals and a few of the Elcamino annuals around that time as the optional wheels. So, yea, the kit has lots of "issues" but from spending lots of time under my 1/1 '85, I can tell you the rear suspension , aside from the missing parts I mentioned above is pretty accurate to the real cars. BTW, here's mine right after the new paint a couple weeks ago.

Hum,, aside from the lack of the torque arm attached to the transmission and a panhard rod, looks pretty close to me.

Late '70s/early '80s MPC annuals had some of the best small block Chevy engines. Look in thier Chevy pickups, Elcaminos and Monte Carlos. Lost of seprate parts like the fuel pumps, water pumps and timing chain covers. Usually they even are 2bbl carb engines with auto trannys for you base model builders.

They're the '79 kit now. Those annual kits were updated every year so the previous years could no longer be issued. [BTW, the '77 Blackbird is a separate mold ]

Does anyone at these companys do any research anymore?

Pretty sure R+R resin used to have a '65. But the owner dies a few years ago so no more are being produced. They say only about 5% of resin kits bought actually get built so one may come along.

It's the "Wheeler Dealer" '79 Monte Carlo. Picked it up a few years ago at a show. It's built and painted almost exactly how the one I had when they came out in '79 was done. Only difference is I used the common Testors bottle blue paint on the interior of mine which is a bit darker than what was used on this one. So it was just sitting on my table while I worked on my truck. Got board and took a break from the truck and sat the MC on the big Cragars. It just looks so "right" sitting on the table like that. I have a couple other projects on the go right now so it'll wait until I get one or two finished before starting on this. I'm thinking keeping it black and using the Cragars and tires on it now and going mild touring look.

First thing is, those tires are not rubber, they're vinyl, as most kit tires are. I have a set of tires on a Corvette I used white testors paint on that I built in the early '80s that are still sticky. Lacquer and acrylics will dry just fine on those tires. You could try spraying the tires with a couple coats of lacquer or acrylic dullcoat first, then the jell pen should work fine,, but I'd try it first because different brands may work differently. Or just use an acrylic. I did these white walls with acrylic and they worked just fine.

Mostly just out of the box with a strait pin shift lever and wire signal light lever. Brake and gas pedal made from scrap sheet plastic and some flocking for carpet.

Ok, good to know. I'll still be using the '88 up pickups as chassis donors for the older trucks if I can get them though. Such nice suspension and engines, makes nice street trucks.

Sweet Charger. The owner must be extremely happy with it, I would be.