Plowboy

Why not just buy an MPC '78? You can get a decent deal on them on ebay. You'd have everything you need and still be able to build two pickups.

Apparently it was. Both bodies measure the same from the bottom of the body to the character line.

It's not just the character line. It's thicker from the top of the wheel opening to the top of the fender. The passenger side is better. There's 1.77 scale inch difference between the driver and passenger sides. I'm going to fudge each side (take some off the driver's, add to the passenger's) to get them closer. If I had it to do over, I would have used the the tops of the Camaro fenders all the way out to the nose piece.

First shot of primer. I typically don't like to shoot primer before the body is ready. But, I had to in this case. The two different colors was messing with my sight. It's a good thing I did too. The front fenders have a wonky look to them that's going to require more putty. Also, I think I'm going to shave off the tops of them and the quarters. To me, it looks a little thick in that area. I think it does have some promise though. I still haven't figured out why I had to shorten the hood 3mms. The roof from the Camaro is actually about a mm shorter. The cowl is almost the same length front to rear. The panel lines all matched up. Strange.

If you want to backdate it to a '78, you'll need a '78 cab and grille. The front fenders are different from '81 up. The '81 up fenders have a noticeable downward slope where the '73-'80s are almost level (more squared). You can't just stick a '78 grille and bumper onto an '84 to turn it into a '78.

Thanx Karl! Thanx! Yeah, there was quite a bit of difference width wise. The Camaro quarters and fenders were quite a bit wider. The outside of the Firebird body was inside the Camaro's. I had to spread it as much as possible and glue it with crazy glue. That's a first for me. Even with spreading the body, they still didn't line up well. That's why there's putty in those areas. What was odd was the hood width on the Camaro was a little smaller. Thanx Carl! This was just something to give me a break on final assembly on my other two projects. Thanx David! It didn't take as much as I would've thought. The passenger side is actually better. I had to shim the driver's side .020. It's made me think that the top half may need to be sectioned to be accurate. I used a piece of C channel as a template on both bodies and placed in the same spot on both (just above the crease). You can see on the front fender where my mark is. Luckily, I cut well above the mark with my Dremel. Even more lucky, was that I cut it fairly straight.

Yes! That's it! Thanx so much! PM coming.

Thanx Sam! This one is on hold until I can get a rack and pinion from the Phantom Vickie. One of the pitfalls of building out of a parts box. No, I used gray primer Carl. I don't like to use white primer under anything but white. Seem like the paint wants to pull away from the panel lines over white. Unless a color is kinda transparent, I don't think the color of the primer makes a difference unless you just spray one coat and I never do that with any color besides white.

Thanx Lee! Thanx Dave! The '36 is Tamiya Light Sand with a coat of pearl and clear. The '48 is Tamiya Gray Green with a coat of pearl and clear.

You definitely need to finish this Tom!

IIRC, that's 3/4 of an inch. So, it would be .030 in scale.

There's a big difference kit wise. The Firebird roof is all kinds of wonky looking. I found out that the Camaro roof is around 3mms longer than the Firebird roof as I had to take that much out of the hood to get it to fit. I always thought it looked kinda short. Plus, the top of the doors sloped downward too much towards the rear which made the kick up at the quarters too steep and made the side opening look weird.

After seeing bogger44's '69 Firebird, I knew this was the time to give this thing a go. As most everyone knows, out of the box, the body from this kit leaves a lot to be desired. I have actually planned this for some time. But, every time I would look at it and see what needed to be done, I'd toss it back in the box. With new inspiration and an old Revell '69 Camaro build in hand, I figured I didn't have anything to lose. If I messed it up, no loss. No real plan right now. I figure it'll come to me as I get the body closer to primer. The photos are pretty self explanatory. But, if you have any, just ask. I think it's definitely a vast improvement over the original.

For me, patience is the key to ebay and getting a good deal. For three or four years, I was after a unibody F-100. I didn't care what year as long as it was a unibody. But, they always went right at or over $100. Too much for me! Then, a few years ago, I found three in a search. So, I thought I would bid on all three and maybe score one of them. I put my max bid on all three. One ended in a couple of days. The other two ended three weeks later within four days of each other. I ended up winning all three for less than $50 each shipped! I couldn't believe it! I went for years without one and in less than a month, I had three. One was a '61. The other two were '62s. With ebay, rare kits are like subways. If you miss one, just wait and another will come along.

The Wild Hoss is usually crazy expensive. You can get the Model King reissue with a trailer and Cougar F/C cheaper. Plus have some trading fodder to offset the cost. Plus, it has a lot nicer wheels and tires with it.

Contact them, strip them once again and send them back. Is it possible that you didn't get the clear coat underneath the chrome off completely?

Thanx Bill! I now have the Mercury back in Pearl White and I'm really happy with it! I took a lot of pains with the paint job this time around. But, the extra effort really paid off! Everything is matched perfect. This is just one coat of paint. I'm undecided on an additional coat. I may just go ahead and shoot a coat of Semi Gloss on it. I can't wait to set this thing on the chassis and interior to see what it's going to look like! I do dread having to paint all of the window trim. The lines I scribed around the side window trim were a bit too shallow and are now almost gone. Not gonna be fun at all! I may try to mask those.

I now have the paint polished on the body. I really like this color and I'm not a big fan of red! I have everything but the exhaust in paint. I'll have to do it once I have the engine mounted. I also have to do the driveshaft. I just discovered that I don't have the rack and pinion from the Phantom Vickie. If anyone has one to spare, please send me a PM. I need one worse than a blind man needs eyeballs!

You're welcome Claude! The pearl really gives the color a nice effect. Thanx Tim! I wish I had done a little more to the '36 as far as details. I need to go back and at least detail the engine sometime.

Despite the proportion issues, this is a nice looking Firebird Tony! It has the '80s all over it! It's really cool that both you and your father worked on it! There's very few (if any) builds like that around! So, that helps fade the issues IMO. Well done!

Nice looking Camaro!

Nice looking '63 Ron! Those wheels covers give it a different look.

I think these tail lights would have worked a little better than the Camaro tail lights.

Thanx Claude! It's Tamiya AS-29 Gray Green with a coat of TS-65 Clear Pearl covered with TS-13. It looks different in different light. Inside lighting it looks gray. Outside lighting it looks green. I have a '60 F-100 painted the same color.

Something I've noticed on that body is the beltline crease drops too much on the quarter panels. It's especially noticeable in relation to the top of the bumper. My method for scribing new lines is much like yours. Except I use .020 styrene and temp glue it to the body. I use the same method to cut straight lines when I cut a body apart.