Hemifan

Compliment sincerely meant, Bill! I appreciate the energy and talent you put forth in trying to make the most accurate bodies possible. For me, going to that effort is a way to try and make a car kit just a little bit better than what comes out of the box, as a challenge to myself -- it's satisfying (never a grind to me) and for others, that may not be their approach to modeling at all. To each their own! I know how you feel about the AMT '58 Plymouth, and I've spent some time noodling around with that one too. Taking note of your thread where you detail some of the things that would need to be done to it. One thing that disappointed me most about that particular kit, was the engine kind of being a mish-mosh of parts, sort of a "neither fish nor fowl" correct replica of the given Mopar engine. So I guess that'd need some work, too! But I still do think it offers a lot of potential for someone willing to undertake the corrections -- as I think the front and rear bumpers present pretty nicely? When you mentioned the transplant fix of swapping in the front part of the AMT '57 300 roof, I was pleased to hear it, as I love that kit and bought quite a few copies when it came out. Take care Bill, and happy modeling!

I'm not sure Tim, would like to know -- I recall very well reading through Model Car Journal at the time the "2+2" kit first came out, and the very strongly disapproving review Dennis Doty gave it, for pretending to be something it was not!

I have the exact same notion, Ron, one of my RR Johan bodies was brittle in nature, and missing both its vent windows. It might try to become a 68 RR or GTX, so long as I have to work on the body anyway. I wish mine would just turn out as nice as your models do!

Thanks for all your thoughts and unselfish sharing of your skills, Bill! I'm definitely appreciative of your pointing out the better roof on Revell's '60 Impala vs. their '59 -- until I read your posts I had never noticed! It's for that reason that Mr.Obsessive posts are always a must read for me. I do think the Monogram '69 SuperBee could benefit from a similar modification, though I've done so only in a Photoshop hack job. Not exactly guaranteed results when it comes to digging into the actual plastic, but similar to the AMT Roadrunner fix, it's not a big financial pinch to hack away at a currently available '69 Super Bee. Just too bad it's 1/24 (I would prefer 1/25) but oh well. Finally, I like your idea for the approach to the '67 coronet fix -- and I'm not sure if it would be all that much easier, but a nifty '67 Coronet ragtop could be made with a combo of '67 Coronet and '67 Charger kits as well! It would at least avoid the reshaping of the roof that would be needed, as you correctly point out. Good luck with your next WIP -- I look forward to seeing what it will be!

Now on this one, they do look a lot closer! Thanks Harry! There still seems, comparing the car photo to the model and then back again, as if the model could benefit from just a thin section (perhaps sliced from another AMT RR body) just behind the rear wheelwells, and extend the tail end of the model out just a bit. But then, that could very well also be due in part to distortions in the original car's photos. Either way, Bill's modifications do get you 98% of the way there, to fixing the AMT body. Ideal situation I'd suppose, would be to have a 1:1 in your driveway, or similar access to one, where measurements could be taken, divided by 25 and then see what you have in plastic.

Very close to 100% accomplished, depending on how far you want to noodle it... Bill's work is great, and a 90% improvement of the AMT out of the box body version. Still, as can be seen in Harry's image above, compared to an actual car, the rear wheel well shape needs finessing (there's a gentle slope downward to the rear of the wheelwell shape in the 1:1) and, rear of the doors, the lower character line that extends through the rear wheelwell is more of a gentle slope, very close to horizontal, than exists on the plastic version. Fortunately it looks like some gentle filing with a large, flat file could resolve that shape nicely. Beyond that (hard to tell as the plastic body is unpainted) the front and rear fender eyebrows could be sharpened/adjusted with the addition of plastic, putty and filing. The only downside to taking on such work is, with the availability of the excellent JoHan body (expensive though it is) -- if you're lucky enough to score a built, non-gluebomb JoHan example with an intact body, incarnations of the '68 and '69 RR/GTXs can be built from it, using the excellent interiors and chassis components from the AMT kits. Many other modern Mopar kits suffer from the same rear section droop, for whatever reason, despite general excellence in other areas. Similar to Bill's work above on the Roadrunner, the venerable early 80's 1969 Monogram '69 SuperBee SixPak benefits from a similar, entire rear section lift. As would Revell's otherwise excellent '67 GTX and '67 Coronet kits. Actually, the best fix for the '67 Coronet is to combine the much better (from a side profile perspective) Revell '67 Charger -- just the wheelwell needs a style adjustment. Unfortunately, the '67 GTX, though not having as bad a droop, still bugs me. Still working on that one -- the trick is, from some angles, photos of a 1:1 '67 GTX makes the model appear not too bad -- and yet with a straight on profile for comparison, the scale model seems to come up short. Excellent work on taking the AMT Roadrunner's sag out, Bill!

Though in my opinion the kit is not up to the level of the newer tool '58 and '59 R-M Vettes (not just from the cove aspect, but the overall side profile) the wealth of building options and nostalgia factor make it a winner for me. As usual, Tim makes it look sharp -- and the copper and white-coved beauty by Jesse above, is a gem -- to me, that type of build is the ultimate that could be achieved from this particular kit.

George -- this is downright wacky. I only just decided to sign up for the forum here, and here I see you with your reintroduction -- timely! I think it's safe to say no one who's been in the hobby awhile needs an introduction to your work and writing. I've always enjoyed it, and still am appreciative of the photocopies you made and sent to me regarding your red 1/24 Chevelle build from the old Plastic Fanatic. Thanks for signing up, and looking forward to some serious building coming from your quarter. Congrats on your retirement, and I hope you enjoy every minute! You, and Tim Boyd, Dennis Doty, Gregg and company -- everyone associated with the model car industry and writing about it, has certainly brought a lot of enjoyment my way over the years. Keeps getting better, too.

Thanks, Jim!

So cool to be able to build one to spec for Wangers, himself! Good to talk to you here Rick, I've always enjoyed your writing since first happening upon it as of 1992 or so. Hope to see your progress on the Pontiac and chat more!

Welcome Don! You're no newer than I am!

Hey all, wanted to introduce myself. Been modeling since I was a kid (no more seriously than most kids do it -- I wasn't a Dennis Doty, Tom Carter or Tim Boyd) and interested in it more as a hobby ever since '92 or so. Picked up an issue of Car Modeler at a newsstand back then, and there you go! Mostly I have an interest in 1/25 scale, though larger scales and modeling old Aurora figure kits also catch my attention. Much of what interests me is what some would term rivet-counting -- though hopefully I approach it with a positive attitude (which is everything) -- to me it's not what's wrong with a kit that's the main thing, it's can I possibly fix it, and how would I go about doing so? Along the lines of what Bill Geary recently demonstrated (the too-flat appearance of the leading roof edge of Revell's '59 Impala HT, and how to fix it using their '60 Impala's roof) is a perfect example of the type of observation I love -- not to mention, before I read Bill's writeup here on the board as a lurker, I wasn't aware of it. I hope to find other neat modeling solutions to getting the body appearance of a given automotive subject "just right" -- and be a positive contributor to the board. Lots of great builders here with techniques I admire. I rarely get a chance to paint given a too-compact living area, but I sure do love noodling around the various angles of a kit and seeing if there are ways it might be improved. Glad to be here!