spencer1984

Yeah, that was a goof on my part. But since there's a few other factory-inaccurate details like the bright chrome valve covers and aforementioned aftermarket wiring, I can claim it's had some work done under the hood. I'm just trying to keep it to something that could have existed between September '65 and April '66.

I appreciate your checking me on it - more than once I got a thought in my head and ran too far the wrong way before someone called me on it. Thanks for that!

February '66 Hot Rod says it's OK ...though I was also thinking about going over them once the glue's dry, and aiming for something more like this:

Thanks, guys! I did add a strip of .0.0" x .080" to the outer frame rails, and a dry test fit looked like everything still fits with no problem. Since that all looked good, I painted the chassis and installed the front shocks and rear axle. These are the spoked wheels from AMT's '65 Riviera with parts box tires (maybe from Revell's '67 Mustang?). I also started in on the engine: Ford blue, silver for the bell housing and intake manifold, steel for the transmission. I decided to wire up the engine, so I drilled out the kit-supplied distributor and added the plug wires. Once everything has set overnight, I'll drill out the heads and plug the wires into their appropriate sockets.

Thanks, guys! Also, thanks for the tip JC - I thought those outer beams seemed a little thin.

I've just started work on my next TV/movie car, the Shelby Cobra 289 driven by Anne Francis in Honey West. The bulk of my work so far has been cleaning up flash, which is substantial on this old AMT tooling. There's also not much to go on as far as positive locators, which combined with the multi-part suspension makes for fiddly assembly. So far so good, though.

Nicely done!

Excellent job on this, Smokey's cars were always great looking.

Awesome job on this, it totally looks the part!

More progress on the Hot Rods to Hell body: the front end is now clipped, and the rear wheel openings have been radiused. Unfortunately, the latter caused two problems: first, the inner fenders weren't designed for bigger openings, and the edges of them are now visible - I'm going to have to cut them off and make bigger fender liners. Second, all of my tires are either the right style but wrong size, or right size but too new. Looks like I'm going to have to get creative here...

Outstanding work as always!

Nice clean work on this, it looks like it could have been a concept floating around Detroit at the time.

Nice looking Chargers!

Agreed, nicely done! Mike, those details on the Riviera look great - my folks bought a '65 new and still have it in the garage, so that car has always been a personal favorite.

Nice work so far, looks like it'll be spot-on to the show's car! I'm guessing you'll be going with the rectangular quad headlights?

Some great progress here, nice job all around guys! I've made a little more progress on the Corvette. The chassis is now stripped of all the old paint and glue, and I have added the 4" lift up front to give it the classic "gasser" stance:

Nicely done, that looks great!

You're not wrong! It's one of the dangers of rebuilding something like this...the heads were glued on solidly enough that there was no way to reposition them without risking shattered parts, so the intake manifold fit had to be "close enough." I figure once the fuel log and carb linkage is in place, most of the gaps will be hidden.

Nice progress so far! Cale, funny to see another Terminator truck...I have one of those on the bench as well, though mine's based on the Revell Street Pickup from the mid-1990s. Looking forward to seeing how yours comes together! I've made some more progress on the Hot Rods to Hell Corvette: the engine cleaned up pretty nicely, and with a 2x4bbl setup it should have plenty of go. There were no air cleaners in my parts box that worked, so I tried something new for the intake. The bells are craft eylets, and the domes are some #150 mesh by Wave, cut as circles and formed over the head of a ball pin (the same type I usually use for 8-ball shifters). The result is a bit fancier than I had planned to go on this particular build, but I like the results and will keep it in mind for the future. In other good news, Purple Power has done a great job returning the body to a workable condition! Brake fluid didn't even touch the paint on the frame, so I washed it off and transferred it to the purple pond now that the body is done. I'll spend some time cleaning up these few remaining flecks (either where parts were glued, or the paint was extra thick) and removing the side badges and mold lines while the hood, trunk, interior, and frame soak.

That's a great looking Nova, nice work!

Nice clean work on this!

Sarge's truck is looking great, nice work so far! I spent a while disassembling the gluebomb that will be the Hot Rods to Hell Corvette...whoo. It's been a while since I had to clean up one of these. At first glance it doesn't seem too bad. Then you move in closer... I'm pretty sure the previous owner painted this with a roller. Glue's not a whole lot better, but I could take apart most of what I needed. The only parts that seem to be missing are a door handle and a tail light bezel. I had previously robbed the intake manifold/FI for another project, knowing that this was getting 2x 4bbl carbs. One rear spring is busted, and the headlights are badly fogged, but I still think the biggest obstacle is going to be cleaning up the paint.

Thanks, guys! It started life as a Star Wars Slave-1 toy, with the rear skirt cut off and the rest of the body built from styrene sheet. I got her from HobbyLink Japan, she's sold as "Shotgun & Boxer" by Atelier iT. The only change I made was adding her glasses, otherwise she made a pretty good post-apocalyptic Velma straight out of the box.

My completed builds of 2019, kind of an odd group ranging from box stock to custom to 3D printed to totally scratch built.

Excellent idea and nice clean work, this turned out great!