Mercelo

Nice work all around. The color is very believable and suits it well. The engine is outstanding, is it from the kit, or resin?

Here is the completed Re-build... I hope you have enjoyed the story and thanks for following along.

We're nearing the end....I had to affix my custom tail pipes to the rear valence, due to the fact that the exhaust is molded in the floor on this particular model, then I just brush painted them with some MM chrome silver. Here are a couple shots of the front end. now you can see the head lamps look a bit better(closer together), and also the photo etch grille. I still do not like the turn signals on this kit....If I ever build another, I'm going to make something different.. Below is a pic of the same model with no mods to the front. Next pics....She's all done!

Masking for the vinyl roof, black, and argent colors... Got the imitation vinyl roof painted, along with the radiator, battery, and washer bottle. Here is the photo etch kit I used...I'm sure you've all seen them before...Certainly adds excellent detail. It's getting there.....

Ok, here we go again...Got the chassis painted up, engine installed, wheels stripped and re painted, and the lettering on the tires completed. The interior is pretty basic, I just fussed with the wood grain a bit, and the rest is Tamiya Semi gloss black. I sprayed the body with a Model Master enamel as close to Plymouth's Vitamin C as possible, and finished it off with a couple coats of acrylic urethane clear coat.

Excellent work...l like the F-40 as well, and your's is superb. Great engine detail and colors. Well done!

Wow, nice work. I love the color, it brings this model to life for sure. The interior colors are the best as well. Excellent job making such a beautiful model out of this little snap kit.

Wow, thats looks awesome Mike, are you saying that you used the L shaped styrene? That certainly makes sense, l had never thought of using that. I'm getting a little smarter everyday, thanks to people like you...Thanks Mike!

Hi guys....Making head lights out of little rhinestones available at any crafts outlet. They come with chrome backing which works out well. I temporarily glue the stones to a length of styrene rod, so I have something to hang onto, and begin sanding them to a nice dome shape, gradually increasing the sanding grits until I'm polishing them...then a coat of future, and their done! The one on the right is done, but hasn't had the future treatment yet. This is my starting grit... Here, I've removed the molded in heater hoses from the rear right side of the engine bay, also the battery wires...That's a lot of fooling around! You can also see the upper rad hose collar I made, that will be BMF in time.... I'm going to have a vinyl roof, so I made a necessary molding out of this 0.5mm styrene rod. I find that although there are many shapes of rod to choose from, the round is easiest to conform to any given shape...and it usually look really good in the end. I also like it to make my own wheel opening moldings, just tape them into place here and there, then with a fine tipped brush, gently apply some styrene welder to the inside of the molding....A word of Caution: do not let the liquid welder get near the tape or you will have a giant mess! Just to little spots at a time between the taped areas until you have enough to hold it in place...its very easy to do, and when done correctly, the moldings are easy to BMF, and you all know how much fun that is...uugh!!! There...all my additional moldings are complete!

Thank you so much to everyone. Your comments are much appreciated and inspiring. I'm glad you all like the ole' RR, I wanted to create something kind of odd or different color scheme wise...I was going to go with a black vinyl originally, and last minute I changed my mind to white, just to make it look a little more "out there".

Thanks for the info Chad, I thought the Pitch Fork was on the '70 Coronets and Bee's, but perhaps I'm mistaken. Now that I think of it.... Isn't it called a Power Bulge hood??? Dave the silver is just left over chrome on the valve covers...You see I sanded the chrome off, I never dipped them in chrome stripper...I do now!

Thank you James. Moving right along... Here you can see I've made an upper rad hose collar as I'm going to use braided rad and heater hoses. The distributor is located where I wanted it, I know you should be able to see some shaft, but I wanted it low enough to make sure no spark plug wires would be sticking out too high. I also am making an alternator bracket and swivel bolt, as I'm going to make individual pulleys out of the fan belt assembly you see here. I've cut off the belt portion, and machined the pulleys best I can with a dremel tool. This is the best shade I could find on hand for the 440.....Not too bad. Here we go with some BMF, Alclad, fuel lines,and some wiring. Also made an ignition coil, and the fan belt is made from a piece of fine line tape, painted flat black... Pretty simple way to improve your model, without purchasing billet aluminum pulleys etc.

I started filing down the lips around the exhaust ports, and also creating more of a rectangular shape... Scratch building some exhaust tips from sheet styrene. The long portion is for me to hang onto while a shape them properly. Comparison... I got the 440 from the Super Bird to sit in place very nicely. To accomplish this I had to raise the oil filter a tad, as it was rubbing on the K-frame. I know it's kind of a butcher fix, but I did not want to re-invent the wheel...sort of speak! Mock up...I forgot to mention I had decided to use this resin hood instead of the shaker. I forget the proper name of this style of hood, I'm sure one of you Gents can refresh my memory. There....I like that aggressive rake...

Thanks for the nice comments Olaf, you're absolutely right, they sit too high. Moving the spindles will make it look like a heavy big block in there.

Thanks Jeff, I'm glad you like my story, I thought maybe it was too long winded....Ok to continue onwards, remember this model was restored in 2008, that's how I'm able to post so many progress pics....I don't work that fast. Here's the fender after filing and sanding...A bit of filler, and primer surfacer, and you'll never know. I want a clean front bumper for this resto (no fog lamps). That's better... The black car is just for comparison purposes, now you can see that the orange fender is more accurate for the cuda. Also, I sanded the lip down around the wheel well, leaving only the top portion with a bit of an extrusion, again according to my reference pics, this is closer in design. Here's a pic of the chassis, before I got it cleaned up...Note the location of the spindles... Here it is again cleaned up somewhat, with the spindles re located higher to provide me with a much lower ride height.

Thanks guys.....it gets better shortly! Now you can see the difference of the finished grille and valence. I temporarily attached the grill-valence to the fenders, so I could mark the proper location of the fender joint, and make the cuts. Cuts completed... Now I re attach the bottom of the fenders with styrene welder...Fits like a glove.

Here you can see the reduced width of the light buckets by about 1.5mm. I then traced the openings onto a piece of tape, and then onto the styrene. Now you can see what I was trying to modify. I will attach a picture of another un-modified grille for comparison in the next series.

In these pics you can see I've opened up the grille, and cut away the head light backs, as I made new ones, fabricated out of .75 sheet styrene, which will allow me to fit the head lights closer together, as they seem to be too far apart on the model. Also made the first cut...right between the eyes...Lol

Since this re-build was completed back in late 2008, I am going to post only a few pictures at a time, so you can follow along and it will give every body a chance to ask any questions or comment on any given stage if they would like. I decided to transform the cuda from a hemi into a 440+6 for something different. So I bought some Keith Marks 440 Bill Board decals, an MCG photo etch set, and swiped the 440 from the 1/24 Super Bird that you saw in the pics. Now the fun begins... After a swim in the Super Clean...This was a nice re-build, as the body was never painted originally.

Hi guys, I thought I would share with you, the story of my re-build of a 71 hemi cuda. You all know the nice, but rather simplified kit. Anyway, I originally built it back in 1987 and re-built in 2008. Bare with me as I digress back in time a bit, so I can paint a clearer picture for you. At the time I was living in a basement suite with my older brother, and had got into modeling cars and jets, and I had completed a dozen or so kits that I was proud of. Finally, when the time came that we had to move out and go our separate ways, as my older brother was getting married and moving to an acreage. Anyway, to make a long story, a little less long, my models had gotten damaged over time, and I was going to throw them out, as I had other more important things on my plate. Twenty years later, I was visiting my Brother one day on his acreage, when he surprised me with a box of 5 model cars that I built back in '87....one of which was the cuda. He always liked them, and took them when he moved, as he thought they were destined for the garbage, but I didn't know this... He had them stored in an open box, stashed up on a top shelf in his garage enduring temperature swings from -30 to +35 Celsius for the past twenty years. I thanked him for saving them, and eagerly brought them home, photographed them, then gave them a bath.

Cool looking Vette for sure. Did you do an airbrush fade on the sides, it's hard to see in the pics? Nice job.

Very nice, the color with the white is top notch. Very clean and nicely done under the hood. Beautiful build.

Thats a mean looking Chevelle. With those rims and the epoxy colored green, it looks like a car not to be challenged on the street. Well done.

Very nice, the paint job came out great, and the color works well on this classy hot rod. Nice job making the rear wheel covers. She's a beauty!

Most excellent, man that thing is low....Sweet. Beautiful work on the chop modifications and the paint job. I love the overall clean look of it.