Dave Darby

Beautiful job. Completely first rate. What brand and color is that nail polish? Did you just spray it over primer, or did you have a silver/gold/other color undercoat?

Those are aluminum wheels on the real car. The only real chrome would be on the center caps and lug nuts. I would sand the outer rims smooth to get rid of the ejector pin marks, then mask off the centers and hot them with Alclad. Brush some gunmetal or similar dark gray on the spokes, and you are golden.

Well, I think it's time to weigh in.. From the front fenders forward, it IS the same car. Same basic engine as well, and other than shorter wheelbase, the frame and running gear is the same as well. But lets get back to the body, Over-all it looks pretty good. But, as some people say, it does have a heavy look ahead of the front wheels.Not only that, but there is actually a very non-subjective inaccuracy to the front end. It's the front fenders and splash pan. The bottom of front fenders should end evenly with the bottom of the grille ends, and the splash panel should wrap around to meet with the wheel openings. The AMT kit has this detail correct. The Revell kit does not. It isn't that huge of a deal, unless you are building a bumperless gasser, then it sticks out like a sore thumb. Our lesson for the day, don't shoot the messenger. I still want one tho...

It's the AMT kit. This is the old Revell kit with the multi piece body. And it's no stinker...

I wonder if the tools still exist.

The Pontiac engine was in there all the way through the black "Early Iron" issue.

I was going to say, if you are building a period hot rod with no fenders, this kit has the best dropped I beam front axle/39-up juice brake set-up ever put to styrene. With just a bit of fiddling, the steelies and tires from the Revell 40-48 Ford kits go right on. I have a huge stack of these kits just for that reason. And it's easy to do a little parts swapping with other Monogram kits to build a cool period rod, too...

Dunno, but I want to see that Charger and that Superbird done.

Coolness! Where did you source the resin tires from?

Soooooo... Has anybody tried that Olds roof on the Chevy yet? I know Ken Kitchen has done vice-versa... Nice builds, BTW.

Looking good, Kerry!

The pickup bed goes all the way back to day one. It was in the original issue as an option.

Great build Steve! I like that you built the early Roth version. I still one day plan on building the original Bob Johnston version, with the early Ford steelies, and the Flathead. Again though, LOVE your build.

Danno, did you ever finish this build? I'm liking where it's going. And I learned quite a bit, such as what happened between the 1967 annual issue of the Corvette, and the Streaker Vette reissue in 1976, which, ironically, has no molded in exhaust system. Oddly, the chassis in all the subsequent reissues has now pivoting lower control arms, returning to the original 1964 style chassis. Two chassis inserts? Sounds to me like Round2 could still have the body bits and more to the Cosma Ray floating around. I may have to hook up with Mr Wann in the meantime...

Sweet paint! Is that the Honduras Maroon? I can't wait to see this one finished.

Well I got back on the horse and made some progress! All the hood supports were broken off, so I made new ones from sheet styrene... Primer! One color for the first time in over 20 years! Still some bodywork to do, here... Annnnnnnd at long last... The same paint I originally painted it with 35 years ago.... (In 1977) Almost done!

More pics, D-Rock! Looks like you are off to a great start!

I like it! Nicely weathered, and not overdone.

Keep up the good work, Dan! What color blue is that? I like it.

It does at that! Not happening with this one, but it would make an interesting project. although someone's already done it with a 1/18th scale diecast.

Nah, after 35 years together, she ain't going anywhere. Today I sealed the edges of the old putty up, and filled the deep stuff with Zap A Gap, then gave her a couple of skim coats of Spot Putty. Nowadays I normally use Evercoat for this sort of thing, (I almost never use lacquer based spot putty) but this is a real restoration, doing it just the way I did it when I was 16. Hard to believe it was 35 years ago I first built this. It felt strangely familiar sanding on it. It brought back memories. I was working on it in my best friend Bob's basement, and I had it already to paint. I came back the next day to find his little brother had ripped the wheel flares off of it, and I had to do them all over again. I had to smile to myself when I thought of that...

I built this one back in 1977, when I was 16 years old. I painted it a couple more times over the ensuing years, then got tired of how it looked, and stripped it down to bare plastic (which of course ruined the filler) in 1989. After that, it sat in pieces, as you see it here, but scattered to the wind, until just this year, when I sorted through all my parts, and got all of the original pieces I could find back in one place... The wheel flares and front spoiler were made from the plastic flats they divided record albums with at the stores... That green piece is a leftover bit from a '69 Cougar that was painted with the same can of paint... Originally painted Plastikote Metalflake Green, I recoated it a few years later with Testors Candy Transparent Green, which made it a good deal darker. I ran the stock hood, but in 1989 I decided to do this 'update' using the scoop from the 69 Chevelle kit. That was also when I reshaped the door windows, painted it red, and then, unhappy with the faint panel lines, stripped the body in 409. That rear spoiler is the front spoiler from the Revell "Jungle Jim" Vega funny car. Got a little rambunctious with the sanding there, didn't I? Sorry, louvers! Considering that it went through the stripper, that automotive spot putty has held up pretty well. (except for this flare...) Here's the motor and the rolling stock (minus the back halves of the tires (had yet to dig these up, still.) Not shown are the side pipes, which I ended up painting black. They'll be replaced with chrome ones. Keep in mind that was 16 year old me that put those plug wires on... The header flanges will hide the ends. I think the wheels were cribbed from the "Iron Horse" Mustang kit, but the Countdown Series 66 Mustang had 'em too. Anybody got 4 good ones like these? A little drilling, filing, and pinning got her back up on 4 wheels, with engine in place. Dig those old school sewing thread plug wires.... Here she is mocked up... First time on all four wheels in 23 years. And after searching diligently, I've found me some Plastikote Metal Flake Green in an old school can! Just like I painted it with back in 1977.... What do you think? Worth saving? You can see more photos of the rebuild process here...http://public.fotki....vette/?show=all

I built the box art car for the '53 (same tool) in the 3 car set back in the 1990's, and I can vouch for the ride height issue. However, I will say that the SAE article Larry Greenberg speaks of is incorrect. I believe Bill Coulter wrote it, and he felt that side trim was running uphill. Bill suggested taking a pie-cut out of the body to 'correct' this. The fact is, on the 1 : 1 car, the rockers run downhill, so if the body was sitting on the ground, it would give an uphill appearance. So I would leave the body be, and concentrate on the ride height. I believe I corrected this on the box art car by flipping the spindles over in front, and trimming the springs in back. And yes, the divider between the seats came off sometime between delivery and photography.

Thanks for all the great comments, guys. This is the first all new model I've done in quite a few years. It was a labor of love, and Cristi and I had fun exploring all the options as we were 'designing' it. Cristi wanted it pearl white, with a red interior, and she wanted a custom grille. In many ways, this build actually brought us closer together, and she got to see firsthand what it takes for us guys to do something like this.

Hey Kenn. Back to work! We wanna see this through!