Plowboy

Thanx! I thought about that. But, I'm not sure how the GTO taillights would work with the tailgate. I still have the tail panel. So, it could be an option. I have the body in what I think will be the final coat of putty. Turns out, the wagon chassis fits pretty well to the GTO. All I had to do was cut away the inner wheel well loops and narrow the section at the rear to get it to drop in. Just looking at it, it looks like the interior may be a bit tricky to work out. The bottom of the rear seat is molded into the floorpan. I'm thinking I can use the entire GTO interior, cut away the package tray and graft the rear section of the wagon to it. Here's where I'm at now with it. First mockup! Pretty good progress to have started on it yesterday. I'm kinda thinking about ditching the 389 and sticking an LS engine in it. I've never done a model with an LS. I think it's time. I'm going to paint the spokes gray and see what they look like on it. Color wise, I'm thinking about a light green metallic with a matching interior. I'm going to play around with that GTO tail panel and see what it looks like.

I've had this idea for a long time. But, never got around to it. With the boring stuff left on my Nova build, I thought it was time to do this one. Right now, I just want to get the body work done and allow it to cure out well while I'm finishing the Nova. For this model, I'll be using the Revell '66 GTO and '66 Malibu wagon. I started by marking my planned cuts. Then I cut off the front clip on the wagon. That may come in handy some day. Next step was to cut the roof off with a Dremel. Cut and filed to the line. Then the line is sanded away. Time to hack on the Goat! I cut the roof and trunk away back to the tail panel. I was hoping that I could leave the tail panel attached to hold the body together. But, that plan didn’t work out. I placed the roof section onto the body and marked the lines. Cleaned up and ready for the roof. All together now! I won't lie. It was a tough one to get together with the absence of the tail panel! I had to start by gluing the cowl to the the fenders first and then work my way to the rear. Besides being a pain to get together, it went together well. If I had it to do over, I think I would have left the cowl from the GTO. It would have made the body more stable. But, at the same time, it may have been a pain to get the bottom of the windshield area and the cowl together. Doesn't matter now anyway. I had to extend the bottom of the quarters behind the wheel opening. I also filled the recess in the tail gate. Lots of putty work and sanding ahead! I'm unsure which chassis I'll use. I would think the wagon's would be best. But, I don't know how well the 389 and GTO interior would fit it. I also don't know how the rear area of the wagon interior will fit the GTO chassis. Lot's of stuff to consider. I'll admit that I haven't looked at either one yet. I got plenty of time to mull it over. It's going to take a minute to get the body work done.

Really nice looking GTO Tom! That Toreador Red suits it perfect! My wife had a '98 Taurus that color.

Yep, mine was mangled too. It's how they're packaging them right against the tree with the hood, bulkhead and tailgate on it. My steering column was tangled up in it. They used to cut them from the tree and stick them in a baggie by themselves. Guess they're not doing that anymore.

From what I've seen of it, you can build the Badman or the street machine version. Like Lee, I want one to build the boxart version.

I have one. But, I haven't checked the steering wheel. I'll check it and let you know. I recently repaired one that I had dropped on the floor unknowingly and then stepped on it. You'd be surprised at what can be fixed with a little patience and glue.

I just ground it down until it was almost as thin as a razor saw. Then I finished with a metal file. I have it so that it's the same thickness from the point to the first eighth inch or so. What I like about it best is that it will cut both directions. I can push or pull. I have a photo of it somewhere. I'll try to find it or take a new one.

Twenty plus years ago, when I first started scribing panel lines, I used the backside of the number eleven blade. The issues I had using it was, A. it was prone to slip. B. it was prone to making the panel lines wide/wider. I later switched to using my razor saw. It worked much better. But, really tight rounded corners were a problem. Luckily, those were rare. I still use it to make new panel lines as it's easier for me to control. I now use a dental pick that I modified with a Dremel and files. It works excellent! No wandering, no slips, no wider lines and tight corners are no problem. It will follow even the faintest line. I can scribe so many more things with it than I could with any of the previous tools. I don't think I could have scribed the gas door on this Mercury with anything else.

That's a sharp looking El Camino Tony! Really like the color combo! Are those wheels from a modern Camaro?

Definitely test fit the trunk! There is a bit of a fitment issue on this kit. It could be from how many times it's been issued and dependant on how old or new the kit is. Nothing major that can't be fixed easily though.

Something I'm wondering is if this is going to be the 1/25 Revell Bronco or is it going to be the 1/24 Monogram Bronco? Revell now has both and they produced their 1/25th version with the Yamaha speed boat. I never did have the Revell Bronco. I wonder how the underhood detail is? Anyone have the Revell 1/25 Bronco?

Sharp as a tack! Nice work Craig!

Thanx Steve! So, the Sportside came before the SS 454 and the same year as the USA-1.

This is the only one I've got photos of.

Take the interior and chassis back apart and glue the interior to the body. Then slide the rear of the chassis into the body first and work your way forward. You'll have to spread the body quite a bit up front. But, it will go in.

How is that possible when the SS 454 was issued in '91 and the monster truck was issued in '90? I have the second issue of the longbed that's dated '89, the original version of the USA-1 dated '90 and the SS 454 that's dated '91. Anyone have the Sportside kit to check the date on it? I was thinking it came after the SS 454. I had one. But, traded it away.

Thanx Tom! I stuck the door panels to the side of the floorpan and traced it with a marker. Then just cut to the marks.

It is a disappointment in so many areas. The way they did the B pillars is moronic! They're flush on the inside at the top while they bump out at the bottom. So, when you put the quarter glass in, if it rests on the B pillar, you're going to have a gap at the bottom! If you put the glass to the side of the B pillar, it will be almost flush with it at the bottom and recessed at the top! I wish that I would have paid closer attention to that detail. I would have cut the B pillars loose at the bottom and moved them out where they should be. Then the quarter glass would fit right and I would be able to also add the door glass.

That would have been the long bed chassis. The short bed chassis should have remained untouched. It was used under the SS 454 and the stepside.

I'll never understand why Revell chose to stick that body on a pro street chassis.

I know nothing about 2K Dusty. But, I don't see why it wouldn't because all you're doing is spot spraying paint and leveling it out with clear. The only issue I can think of is if spraying paint over the 2K could somehow cause a reaction. I've had that issue with other paints before. But, IIRC, I was mixing brands. It's never happened with Tamiya paints.

I'm right at that stage with mine. I figure I'll just make my own. Especially since I added the frames back in that Moebius wiped out trying to hide the chopped roof. I doubt anything you got from them would fit any better than what you now have.

I now have the interior completed. Turned out decent enough. The floorpan is from the '66. The door panels, dash and roll bar are from the '65. The seats are from a Revell Mustang Mach III. The console is from an Alternomad and the shifter is from the AMT '66 Fairlane.

Thanx! Yeah, it works on burn throughs. That's actually why I developed this method. I was tired of starting over because of small mishaps. This was the first model I tried it on. It had a couple of burn throughs that I had to fix. Burn throughs are also why I quit using the micro mesh pads and switched to Tamiya polishing compounds.

I think everyone that's built a model has, at one time, ruined a paint job. Whether it's a drop of glue, burn through or other. My latest goof was smearing what I thought was Tamiya Finish Compound, but was actually Tamiya White Putty, on the roof of my latest model. In my defense, both have white lids. But, I obviously didn't read the tube! I didn't get a photo as I was too busy trying to get it off. But, this is what it looked like after sanding it with 1000 grit. I've saved quite a few paint jobs with this method. But, this one was the ultimate test! I first take a piece of paper and roughly draw the size of the area I need to fix. In this instance, my drawing looked a little too large. So, I cut inside the lines. I then placed the body on my stand to free both hands. I take the paper, hold it a half an inch or so above the body. Then I do a quick shot of paint through the hole in the paper. In this instance, I had to shoot a little extra as there were a couple of small pits in the damaged area that needed to be filled. As you can see, the paint is a little thick around the edges. You won't get that with a quick shot of paint. This is an extreme example. Sand with 1000 grit. You can still see a hint of the edges. But, we're going to take care of that with clear. Next step is cut the hole in the paper larger. Shoot a coat of clear through it. Sand with 2000 grit. You can see that the edge of the paint is fading away. Shoot another coat of clear through the paper. This time, I moved the paper over towards the center slightly. Sand with 2000. Then 4000. Polish with Tamiya Course and Fine compounds. And I'm back to where I was! Ready for Tamiya Fine compound. Like it never happened! After Tamiya Fine Compound, there's no hint of the previous damage. I even took it out in the sun and couldn't see where I did the repair. So, next time you have a goof, give this a try before stripping and starting over. I've used this method on metallic and solid colors with great success. It sure has saved me a lot of time, materials and grief.