Bills72sj

I have the opposite issue. My wife requires the cat be locked in my model room at night because it won't behave roaming free in the rest of the house. Parts disappear, cotton balls, q-tips find their way elsewhere and for some reason. Items on high shelves are not safe either. Closed drawers and doors are the only thing that keeps her at bay.

I am sorry for your loss. That is why I like wall plaques for trophies. The do not take up valuable shelf space and fill in gaps in the walls.

The other day, I hacked the fake engine insert out of the '66 Bonne chassis. I am going to use one of my Parts Pack Pontiac 421s in its place after dechroming. I now have all 4 basic engines assembled. I am debating filling in the axle access holes as I never use metal axles in the front, like, ever. I scrounged enough parts to make all 4 of the engines 421 Tri-Powers. Some will get more chrome bits than others. I will do ignition wires but not much else. I am trying to resist the urge to overly detail the engines due to the time required. I figure I can cross that bridge on each of them depending how well the paint jobs go. Speaking of paint, after a little internet research, the '65 engines should be a light turquoise leaning towards blue. I mixed some up by tinting a bottle of Testors turquoise with 20 or so drops of Testors dark blue. It looks pretty close. The '66s changed color to the very silvery Pontiac engine blue which also have. Whether I brush paint them or air brush them will depend how my schedule goes. My paint booth takes about 20-30 minutes to set up.

I have one of those too. On rare occasions she says something about how I have too many models. I jokingly tell her I could take up gun collecting and drinking if it will make her feel better.

I feel your pain. I had probably 10-15 cars built and around 8 full sized semi rigs. When I joined the Navy I left them at home as you travel REALLY light when you go to boot camp. While I was gone. My Dad and Step mom's Brady Bunch family got a divorce and moved out of the house I spent high school in. All those builds went in the trash. Big bummer. Slowly started over years later.

Is the supplied interior wrong? I am not a stickler for absolute accuracy of my builds but, I do try with what I have when I can. Both the Grand Prix and the 65 B'ville have boat loads of extra parts.

One can always have hope.

True, like lacquers.

The one that sticks out in my mind is more of an unfortunate incident than a blunder. I built a beautiful 69 Camaro RS ZL-1 with fuel injection. Nice gloss black, gold Pro-Touring wheels and tires topped of with a custom set of metallic gold SS stripes from Keith Marks. Got it all done then sprayed some Testors glosscoat clear. Crinkled my cool looking decals. Never took it to any models shows because of it.

Thanks. This is the kind of info I need.?

Previous experience?

Made some progress last evening and today: All four bodies deflashed and sharp edges rounded a bit. Deeply scribed all the doors and trunk lids. Increased the definition of all the window trim. Removed the tiny molding seams at the base of the C-pillars. My new Tamiya Plastic Scriber II tool made an off line gouge on the 3rd stroke. I set it aside and went back to my #11 blade with just a smidgeon of the tip missing. Cut out the hood from the Hasewaga 66 Bonneville. It came out flawless. Both Bonnevilles will get fender skirts. The 2+2 will not. I am on the fence about the Grand Prix. Any thoughts?

I have never had paint let go like that, ever. I am surprised that a lacquer paint with its solvent base, would have difficulty bonding over another lacquer. Regarding foiling, I free hand cut my trim with fairly good results for years. I have added Steve's suggested edging with tape for long lines with ill defined edges. Makes for laser straight lines. Since I mostly paint with enamels, any residue comes off with dry Q-tips on isopropyl dipped ones. While Steve has success with WD-40, I would be hesitant due to the non-evaporative nature of the oil/lubricant components in the mixture. My fear is that is would fisheye any clear coat applied over the finished foil or decals.

I was kind of partial to the 6 cyl. But hey, it is your build. I like the light pearl blue suggested above over the champagne gold.

Wow! My philosophy is eerily similar. Though, I keep active builds at 3-7 kits to include one big rig of some sort. Priorities change based on my mood which is directly tied to how successfully the particular project is going. Multiple builds gives me enough distraction to let paint or glue dry completely on one sub-assembly while still making forward progress on something else. I do not have the privilege of being retired. But, I am an emptynester so my evenings and weekends are generally free. I have run out of things to do to my 1:1 toy so I will end up building more.

That is REALLY awesome! It would be nice to see a pic all the creative items out of the truck.

I agree. How did you do the seats?

It is good to "pay it forward" sometimes. I have used the same philosophy with model parts quite a few times in the past.

Thank you so much for that! I just got the Bonne kit yesterday and have not even looked at the decal sheet yet. That gives me a running head start. I did peruse MCG photoetch sets. There are a few bits and pieces scattered amongst all the GTO frets available. While I was on the website, I sent them an email suggesting they could make one set for the 3 AMT kits. We shall see if they reply.

Thanks, I noticed it was separate in the instructions.

I originally was going to go the route you have suggested. The wheelbase would be correct and if all the photoetch emblems were available that would help. I am not so sure roof/trunk grafting is in my skillset. I would hate to screw up two kits to create a Frankinstein mess. I will look for the GTO photoetch.

Thanks Gerry. I have no issue making custom decals. The problem is I cannot print silver.

I agree. I recently read an article on it. That is what motivated me to pull these out of the stash.

Those look pretty cool but the rears look a little too concave. I like the lettering on the center caps.

There is a custom tail panel in the AMT Grand Prix kit that has no tail light lenses similar to the Grand Prix. Below is a pic of the stock bumper (top) and the custom insert (below). There is some potential there to shorten the tail lamps. Then there is still the issue on the "Pontiac" letters MIA.