Can-Con

Steve, I'm glad to see you're keeping the factory dash. One thing I could never get strait with myself with other people building a custom car is them swapping out the dash for something else., especially on older cars. I know if I built a custom, I'd keep the original dash because It's part of the personality of the car. Back in the '80s, it was a popular to swap in a Monte Carlo, S-10 or other modern [at the time] dash. The way I figured it, if I wanted to look out over a Monte or S-10 dash when I'm driving, I would drive a Monte or S-10. Sorry about rambling on. ?

She would have been 55 in a little over 2 weeks, Feb,1, same birthday as mine. But, yea, I thought she was a year older then that.

Bad. But you should be able to wash it back off with warm water. IIRC, it's meant to be used over glossy paint.

It's just been reissued. Dave's pic above is the decals in the current issue.

Did you put it on flat paint?

Oh, I wasn't referring to anything about the trim, David. What I was talking about was him saying they always had black under the hood,, wrong, all 3rd gens were body color under the hood. He painted what he must think is a separate front subframe black, wrong, again, all welded up with the rest of the unibody, still body color and what he thought was the gas tank is actually the trunk floor, again, body color. Can't really blame him for most of those mistakes though. Probably does too many builds in the run of a month to do any research on them. And I wouldn't know about that stuff either if I didn't own an '85 F-body myself.

Het Steve, if people keep digging these old Eldorado kits out maybe we should have a good old Caddy build off. ??

Or you could ask if anyone has a set of blue decals left over from the MPC/AMT '77 T/A. The last reissue came with three colors on the decal sheet so someone might have a set they'd part with. The '77 lettering is the correct style.

true. He does get some stuff wrong but he shows you exactly what's in the kit including what the decals look like so that's very helpful.

Probably a regional thing. Check with Keith Marks. He's not too expensive. IIRC, his e-mail is ,, mofobow@hotmail.com This is what his sheet for the '73-'78 T/A looks like. Should be enough scripts to do a couple cars without the bird. Fun fact ,, most people think the hood bird was standard equipment on Trans Ams, it wasn't. It was an option that cost quite a bit [around $300 for my '85] and not all T/As had it. But it's hard to picture a 2nd gen without it, pretty well mandatory for the mid to late '70s cars.

Yes, sorry, That was an hpiguy video so it was the US kit.

I checked a video on youtube that shows the decal sheet ,,, no "Trans Am" lettering on the current reissue.

AMT 'early '90s full size Ford pickup kits.

Even though this kit is marked as a '59, it's actually the '60 annual kit, one of the very first AMT annual kits with an actual engine instead of being a curbside kit. It's almost old enough to qualify for old age pension. ? I have this same reissue, which is from the '70s. It is a bit clunky compared to modern kits but the body is accurate and still build up to a good looking model with some work.

Same here. No listings from his supplier.

The other thing that differed between the regular 305 and the HO is the carb wasn't a regular Quadrajet, it was an electronic QJ. BTW, don't follow his painting instructions if you want to build a factory stock 3rd gen E-body, he's wrong on a lot of things and wrong on what some other things actually are.

They were the same wheels as on the second issue of the Horn Toad. Pretty sure they're Rader dragster wheels with the spokes painted,,

I'd much rather they backdate it back to the original "Horn Toad" kit with the super wide tires.

Yes, fantastic build of a bear of a kit. Definitely "THE" poster car of the '80s. The 17 year old me had this poster in my room ??,,,

Using silver as a barrier coat is a pretty common thing. A lot of silver and aluminum paints are made up of just the flake and carrier. That's what they're usually quite dull. When you spray them on the flakes lay down overlapping like the shingles on a roof. Makes a pretty good barrier. Shellac works the exact same way. Helps keep the dye from anything underneath from leaching up through the closely overlapping flakes or solvents from going under it. A lot of gold paint will work the same way. Not perfect but it does help a lot and the more coats the better it works. Most other paints are usually made up of carrier and pigment. The pigment is usually made up of more uneven shaped or rounded particles so when it lays down it's more like a layer of crushed rock or even a ball pit. Great drainage but doesn't keep the dye from underneath from leaching up through or solvents from anything put on top of it from going down through it no matter how many coats you use. I like to use a silver or gold layer to check my bodywork before painting, shows every little imperfection so you can fix them before your finish coats. Hope this wasn't too confusing. ?

I actually did up a set of correct valve covers for the engine years ago for Ken Kitchen of Kitchen Table Resins and made some suggestions to him on some mods to make on a Ford 429 to make a passible Caddy engine. He did send me back a couple sets of valve covers and one of the engine kits he sold but aside from my valve covers, it was just a copy of the MPC Ford engine. I don't think he's selling them any more though, that was over 10 years ago. Here's a shot of the resin valve cover,,

But then you have to pick the arm hairs off of it. ??

Actual Caddy 472 for reference. https://public.fotki.com/SteveMilberry/refrence_pics/cadillac-472500/

Olds Toronado 425 with "CADILLAC" script added to the valve covers.

Nigel, when you build that Caprice, please foil the whole A-pillar. The pic on the boxes is incorrect, the pillars on all full size GM cars in the mid '80s had a stainless steel trim peice that completely covered them. I'm kinda anal about those as the '76 I owned was one of my favorite cars that I owned. Looked almost identical to the one in the pic below except with different wheels and colour matched velour interior. Best "drive in" car ever ?