Can-Con

It's starting to take shape now that I have paint on it I can live with. Still need to drill out the headlights and make new tail lights and back-up lights. ,,, and lots of other things but this is about how it'll sit and basically look .

That's exactly how I did the flares on this one James. I cut around the lip. leaving it attached at the bottom. Pulled it out at the top,filled in the gap with sheet plastic and finished up with a bit of filler. Never finished the car because the strip bled out onto the white when I clearcoated it. It's now in bare plastic again.

Looks like a good start there Jeremy. Black with the red/orange is a classic look for those cars. My cousin Phil had an electric blue one with blue strips and interior. Beautiful looking thing but his brother's 455 equipped '76 Grand Prix would walk all over it all day long ,, but that's another story.

It's a good idea to put scotch tape on the back side of the sheet of P.E. before trying to cut any of the parts off. That way, they stick to the tape and don't go flying off into the twilight zone never to be seen again.

That kit can't be rereleased again as a '78 because it was an annual so it was updated yearly. The current kit that's out now as "The Deserter" is the last version of the kit. They could swap out the smooth side box for the stepside , they should still have the mold for that but it would take a new body with the older style fenders, new hood and new grille and new bumpers to bring it back to the '78 from the '84 that it is now.

Here's how I did my '68. The '67 may be a bit different though. I may also have taken some libertys with it.

I've only named one. The "Crimson Arrow" after the Riviera "Silver Arrow" show cars. But mine is candy red so the "crimson" instead of "Silver".

Hey Steve, we could do "dueling Bonnevilles". Looks like we're both at the same point with both cars. Mine is also now stripped and the chrome is replated and I've started bodywork and have bought the paint. [turquoise in and out]

you can also check ,, http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10250984/70/1 Or this one if it's one of the curbside kits. http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10382022/70/1

Actually, the big rear window started in '75.

,,, and the rear window ,, and the seats and door panels.

If the turbine wheels from the Anniversary Edition car were still in the kit, you could build something close to an '80 too. IIRC, those wheels were a regular option in '80 and '81 and quite a few T/As had them.

Holy carp Paul, that looks exactly like the '72 I had. Same color, white vinyl 3/4 roof and black+white bucket seat interior. Yours looks to be in a lot better shape though

Sorry Richard, I won't be buying any plastic forks from them. I already have one. Now if that was a plastic spoon I'd buy a case of them.

Maybe not but there's still a good portion of us older "seasoned" builders who didn't have a Datsun pickup or '76 Dart in our stash who are VERY glad to get a second chance at buying one for less than the $100+ a sealed original could command. [Flameout showrod that was a grail of mine for many years but I could never afford] If someone already has an original one, they may not want to buy another, no, but I also doubt they'd be willing so sell me theirs for the price of a new kit. I look it it like Doug does, another chance to get something I don't already have at a reasonable price.

It's blue, i won't buy it, I don't like blue.

Started on mine a couple days ago, was wondering how was the roof on yours? After spraying a coat of black on mine I noticed how bad the roof was, high and low spots. I had to block it out smooth before I continued with more coats of black. Right over the passenger door window was particularly bad. LOL, I use testors rust for woodgrain too. BTW, I've found that a few of these cars supposedly came with light grey interior instead of the dark red. Here's a link to one. Says it's an '83 and it's got the right colors and decals but it looks like an '84 grille in it. ['84s were silver with black bottom]. Not sure what's really going on with it. [repainted '84? clone??] http://www.cars-on-line.com/gen3-cars/col1/posting/78455

I like the color on that Jim. Kinda reminds me of the cars they gave the Apollo astronauts.

Thought I had started a thread on this project already but I can't find it so,,, I've actually been working on this one for over 5 years now. Started with an old '68 cab and cut down the box and chassis plate from a newer issue '72. I also added new trim from styrene strip to match the cab trim. Cut out the original, inaccurate inner fenders and made a new pair from an old gluebomb MPC 3rd gen Firebird chassis plate. Made the front wheels poseable. Smoothed out the firewall and built up the small block from the original '72 kit. I also tubbed the rear wheel wells and made up a new, more accurate tail gate. So, here it is in primer. I did some more work on the rear fenders after these pics to help it all fit together better. I tried painting it a couple times but both times didn't work out. So, here's the third try for paint,, think it's OK now.

great build. Nice to see one of these old [rare] kits actually built, and so well built too.

Looks great. I like your colour better than "offical" A.M. green too.

Sorry, I thought the OP was just asking about the lines in the etching. [broke my first rule about posting here ]

It's just where the plastic came together when it flowed into the mould. If you use too hot of paint it will show up. Prime it good and it should be OK.

After seeing the pics of the parts layout, it could be one of two things,, IF you block off the sprue to the hood on that one tree, the added truck parts could be used on the Jeep as easily as the Chevy pickup. [roll bars, lights and push bar bumper] Or, [and I'm more inclined to think this] it could be just a mistake by Hobby Lobby, or whoever originally made the list. I don't think we'll know for sure until R-M releases their filer and makes the official announcement.