Can-Con

Sprayed all 3 sets of glass earlier today and will clearcoat them in a day or two before installing on the first one. Nice thing about '79 T/As is the trim was usually black instead of chrome so no foiling to be done. Also have the second one ready for some primer. This will be the green one with T-tops and tan interior. I cut out the openings and added a piece of sheet plastic underneath to form a lip. I trimmed down an old set of hatches from the Monogram 1/24 kit to fit the openings. They'll get a dark tint using Tamiya "smoke".

My understanding is the extra wheel was for when they did the promos at the factory. In case one was dropped, the assembler had an extra handy instead of having to go get one elsewhere and holding up production. The "Motor City" kits were unassembled promos, that's why no engine or extra parts.

A challenge is always more fun than just painting some parts and gluing them together. This one was done on a bet. Before,, After,,,

I did mine with a resin interior from Missing Link but Kevin may not have any more. FYI,, the interior from the Monogram 1/24 '69 GTO will fit with a bit of work. Trimming and sectioning a bit from the floor. It's the right size to go in after the ridges on the outside of the top of the door panel area are trimmed off but it's still too deep for a chassis plate to sit in properly. The Monogram dash is actually slightly smaller [despite being a larger scale] than the MPC dash. I used a modified AMT '69 Chevelle chassis plate under mine modded to have poseable front wheels Here's a link to my build album of the car. http://public.fotki.com/SteveMilberry/projects/69-gto/

Personally, I wouldn't use skirts on a car with a lip [flair?] on the rear wheel opening. To me, it looks like an afterthought. I think the only cars that look good with skirts are the ones that were designed with the skirt integral to the 1/4 panel, like a '60s Caddy where they came off to access the wheel and it obvious something is missing if they aren't on.

It was also issued in stock form

I do that all the time Jon.

Got the first one painted, decalled and clearcoated.

The first one's now in BIN primer. After glueing all the body parts together, I shot a light coat of Duplicolor grey primer and wet sanded it out to find the areas in need of attention. After puttying up the low spots, it was again wet sanded . Then shot with a couple coats of Zinzer BIN. The sharp-eyed may notice there's a dip in the top of the taillight opening. This seems to be in all the kits. After these pics were taken I used an old #11 blade to scrape the area until it was the correct shape. After it's dried a couple days I'll wet sand it smooth with 3500 grit and shoot some silver on it to detect any other places that need to be fixed before the color is applied.

I think this is the first time I've seen one of these finished. ,, and an excellent job of it too. I have one I started when the kit was new. Painted it with a Honda DelSol color that was a pretty good match for the green on the real car but that's as far as I went with it.

Looks great. Nice to see one of those built, it's been years since last time I seen one.

Pretty close. Maybe a set of larger wheels and tires on one or two.

Been wanting to do a few '79s in different colors than the silver 10th anniversary car for quite a while. The recent re-release with the 3 different color decals has made that possible. One will be dark red or burgundy with the red decals, red interior One will be dark blue with the blue decals, blue interior And the last will be dark green with the gold decals and beige interior. Probably going to be curbside builds concentrating on looks over detail.

Hey, I was just working on one of those a couple minuts ago, 3 of them actually. I wouldn't be too upset about those pad printed tires not being included. By '79 radials were standard equipment on just about everything built in North America. That said, I wish they had better tires to put in it. A nice set of BFG Radial T/As or something similar would have been nice.

Humm,, Wow, never knew you could do that so easily. !! Thanks Bill !

No problem. Here's a pic showing the wiper motor in the kit. It's on the chrome tree between the rear shocks and the bottom 1/2 of the air cleaner. IIRC that section is the same on all those kits, including the '70 SuperBee. http://images29.fotki.com/v1006/photos/2/242765/882791/stevespics342-vi.jpg

Great color choice. A suggestion, if I may, , You might think about doing something with those open slots at the top, back of the inner fenders. That's where the kit hinges glue in [if you use them] and are not there on the ream cars. I see a lot of builds with them left open, I'm guilty of it myself. And BTW, the thing that the instruction sheet calls a "wiper motor" on the instruction sheet is actually the "Beep Beep" horn for the '68 Road Runner version of the kit. The actual wiper motor is on the chrome tree of the older kits but seems to be missing completely from the newer reissues. That mistake has been on the instruction sheets of all the kits that use that chassis for the last 30 years almost. Don't know why it was never corrected.

Adam, not sure you are aware of this but that's actually the annual kit for '82, not a custom version, as was the red "Snakebite" kit ['81] They were all a progression of the same '79 mold. MPC didn't put the year on the annual boxes prominently in the late '70s and early '80s as they did before and after. Pretty nice kits really, probably because they weren't based on a promo with a one piece chassis plate.. We had a Leisure World store here in Fredericton in the '70s and '80s. I think it was a pretty large chain for a hobby store. IIRC, there was one in Moncton and Halifax too.

More likely the "Iron Horse" and "Autolite Special" customs. That's where the chrome tree was sourced from in that kit beginning with the "Countdown" series issue from the late '70s.

Nice work. The front and rear grilles are slightly different between the '62 and '63.

Sweet 3rd gen Kenny.

Looks great. Ya know, for all the comments that this car needs a new kit, this old kit sure looks good with a little work. I like your taillight decals.

That kit does have AC. That part on the top of the fan belts on the driver's side is the compressor and that thing that's shaped like a pop can that goes on the passenger side of the firewall is the accumulator. You just need to find some pics on the net of an '82 T/A with air to see where the hoses are routed. I had a 1/1 '82 Firebird S/E years ago with air but I didn't take any pics. The '85 T/A I own now doesn't have air or I'd take a couple pics for you.

IIRC, it was referred to several times on the show as a turbine engine, also sounded like one. But no, I don't think it was ever actually shown either.

Good job on a tough kit. I have that set too. Kind of inherited it from a friend who passed away a few years ago. BTW, Indycals has decals and correct resin tires for all the kits in that set as well as many other Indy car kits.