Oldcarfan27

I bent sheet plastic and attached with super glue. There are no aftermarket parts on it. I didn't like the AMT body or chassis, to me the MPC is more accurate. I wish the stock version was still available, but since it became the Pro Stock race car, I'm trying to convert it back to a street car. Other than the wheel openings and the hood, the body is almost stock. I'm also trying to improve the details as I go, too.

I wanted a Cobra soooo bad, but it had to be from the MPC kit. So.... I tried to see if I could convert the Pro Street kit into a stock version and use it to fulfill my "jones" for a Cobra II. What do you think so far? Wheels are are just set in place and wobbly, that's why they're not perfectly straight. Yellow parts are from the MPC Pro Street kit. Dark blue parts are the AMT kit. White areas are sheet plastic and red areas are putty. I tried to smooth out the hood scoop, while trying to save the hood peak. I filled and blended the oversized wheel openings first, then added the wheel flares and smoothed it in with putty. I'm not sure if you can see the plastic I used to fill the gaps between the fenders and the bumper ends. I scratchbuilt the rear spoiler, because I didn't like the shape of the kit part. I dechromed the bumper trim and inserted it in the bumper, then I filled the gaps with super glue and carefully drew the knife blade around it to keep the edge defined but kept the gaps at a minimum. Then I sanded the trim down so it didn't stick out so far from the bumper. I used sheet plastic to build back the wheel openings, and used parts from both differentials to fix the narrowed rear end. The AMT interior bucket has great details, but is too shallow. Plus, if you see the assembled car at the beginning, I try to make contact points on my conversions match so as to have locking assemblies later on. The car holds together like a snap kit - without any glue holding the major subassemblies. So with that being said.... I mated the floor of the MPC kit (which matches the floor pan) to the upper part of the AMT bucket so as to deepen it and keep the best details of their interior. Notice how I cut the AMT door panels at the bottom of the door line to save all the engraved detail. The completed bucket fits the MPC body like it belongs there. I also cut and moved the headrests up to the tops of the seats so they don't look like they'd give the occupants whiplash just trying to lean back against them! Plus, separating them from the seats makes them look more realistic. I also combined the perch from the AMT mirrors with the head from the MPC mirrors, which had a better shape. Any comments welcome.

I know you're right, but I was hoping that wasn't true. The MPC kit was so much better than the AMT kit. And the fact that it WAS offered as a Cobra II makes that pill even harder to swallow.

Beautiful black paint job, worthy of the show car! Amazing! But you shouldn't have built the Revell kit, they're selling for millions of dollars right now! LOL.

Using that formula, the price comes to about $81.00 That's more reasonable, and closer to list price.

What about the hard CLEAR plastic ones? They glue together like styrene.

Uh, that Trans Am doesn't have any chrome on it. Maybe you mean "monochromatic" grilles. Actually, I think Ponch wimped out when he finally just bought a new car. Part of the fun of that show was knowing he had to keep rebuilding that old "bucket" between episodes. He was an amazing body man - he kept fixing that totalled wreck every couple of weeks! BTW - I just noticed, he has the same license plate on the new car as the old car. How'd he do that? He must've known somebody at the DMV. As far as I know, in California back then, you couldn't transfer regular plates from one car to the next one, unless they were personalized plates. I know, I tried. Sorry, back to the models.....

I never really considered building the last generation 'Bird before, but after seeing yours I think I want to build one now. Yours looks great!

I don't know if the rear tires look "truckish", but they do look almost bald. Looks like somebody has quite a lead foot! With that 427 engine, that's easy to understand. Nice looking car, sir. ?

If you look, it's shipping from Japan. Is it possible they meant to post the price in yen? Anybody know what the exchange rate of yen to dollars would put that price at? Either that or it's going the LOOONG way around from Canada.

I just think they stopped because they couldn't compete with Wally and Amazon.

Probably true. The Mustang II came out in 74 - just as the first gas crisis hit. So as people were clamoring for small, fuel efficient cars, the "new" Mustang was in the right place at the right time. Most muscle cars had died at the end of this year, so because the Mustang evolved - it survived. Made Ford a lot of money those first couple years too!

Does anybody else but me remember when TRU was more like a warehouse than the boutique it is now? I remember as a kid and even as a young adult, going in the "Entrance only" doors which directed you almost to the middle of the store where the straight rows of floor to ceiling racks would display just about every toy (and model kit) imaginable. As a child, it was a treat to be taken there to get a toy or to make that list for Santa. I still remember the amazement I had when I'd open Santa's presents on Christmas day and find a ToysRUs sticker on the box. I thought - "That store is sooo big that even Santa shops there!" I guess it was easier than having his elves run the plastic machinery to make the toys himself. Alas, it's all gone now. Actually, I've been expecting it for decades. They haven't had that much selection since they got rid of Geoffrey the giraffe. ?

When I get my allowance here, it's called POCKET MONEY over there. Cheeky Buggers!

What's funny to me is that car enthusiasts HATE the real car - it's not a true Mustang to them. But modelers are clamoring to buy kits of these! Go figure. I would want to buy multiples of these if they were brought back. In fact, I wrote a message to Round 2 asking them to consider reissuing the MPC Mustang II kit as the stock version with enough parts to make both the Cobra II and King Cobra options. They didn't say "no way" but I have a feeling the tooling was modified to make the pro stock version we've seen reissued multiple times since 1978. So here's where letting them know your interest might persuade them to bring it back. They did it with the Datsun pickup, they can do it with this one too, if they think it would sell enough to recoup the investment. Let them know - Nicely!

Actually, they were wrong. It's not out in July - it's a JUNE bug! ???

I copied and pasted his pics here, but the credit goes to am73grand for the great build.

True on the scoops. On his build up, he was making them out of sheet plastic, but for some reason they never ended up on the hood. I always thought the color of the car was more of a copper or orange/bronze, but I didn't build it. I just thought the cars were a cool pair anyway. As far as the chicken, Ponch's car did (sometimes) have one, there are lots of online pics that show it. Come to think of it, if I can get ahold of that gold bird, I do have a junker 70 T/A to use as a base. And I can copy his idea for the Formula/TA hood. Might be fun! Now which version do i want to make - burned, wrecked or rolled. Decisions, decisions....

A guy named Retro Joe posted his build of the CHiPs Firebird and the pickup on the other scaleautomag forum. You might check it out.

Is it 'cause they weren't Cobras??

Another great trade with Renegade, cool cars and tons of great parts. He's the best! Golf clap to you, Terry!

Show us when you have it back together! Hope the cab has all its pieces.

That GTO does look cool. I'd kinda want to leave it as is, glue on the front bumper and display it as a barn find old "street hero" - at least until the dust really bugged me.

Oh, Retro-Moderne. You mean like this? ????

Maybe his buyers don't have the connections we have with each other. We should feel sorry that they HAVE to pay so much for stuff from him! Hobbyists know the real value of the models they are looking for, and simply won't be duped, especially when there's a brother willing to share. That's what I like about this and other forums like this, we share, trade and help, but we don't gouge a fellow builder.