dsummone

Thanks very much.

Thanks for your help on this!

Starting another car from my previously owned project. The Dart was actually the 4th car I owned. My dad was friends with a guy who owned “White Elephant Equipment” back in the 70s, 80s. They sold used heavy equipment and had this GTS that had hit a telephone pole. This was 1984 ish. I bought the car for $500.00 (man I wish I could find one for that price now) I went to the wrecking yard and bought a new hood (non GTS) grill, bumper, radiator and support. I painted the hood black and about the only other thing I did was a new exhaust system and wheels and tires, Crager SS look alikes. I will be trying to paint it faded yellow as shown in the picture (not my car just an internet pic) with black interior. The 383 will be the 440 from the kit. Got started with some paint and primer yesterday. Comments always welcome. Dave

Man, that engine is fantastic. Love the blueing on the headers.

Well there she is, the second car I ever owned. A 73 Plymouth Duster made from a 76 Dodge Dart. All in all, not a bad representation of my car except for the dodge lettering on the grill and the green being off a bit. I got this car when I was 17, it had a wore out 340 but the paint was fresh and the interior was clean. My older brother, I miss him every day, helped me pull the engine and rebuild it surprising me with the triple deuce manifold and carbs, plus the wheels and tires… that’s why I had to have the Centerlines Mike. I bought the hood scoop from Mr. Parts and cut the hole myself and mounted it, without ever painting the white plastic. Much to my dad’s horror, I lost my license within 9 months of it being completed. It’s been a fun project and for my second build back… I’m hooked. Off to the 68 Dart next, thanks for looking. Dave.

Watching this one fondly. I am trying to build all the cars I’ve owned and the ElCamino is one of them. Glad to hear the body from JFs is good. Dave.

Got the paint and clear on today. I think the modification to turn the Dart rear end into a Duster came out pretty good. The green isn’t quite the mist green of Plymouth but isn’t that far off, Rust-oleum satin green apple with clear over the top. The white headliner came out pretty good too. Spent the last half hour looking for the hood though, only to realize I forgot to paint it,*##%. Oh well I will get it done tomorrow. Dave.

Thanks guys. I’ve got yard work tomorrow… yuck, but am planning to sneak some paint on the body when my wife’s not looking?

Been waiting on good weather to get the body painted and hoping for tomorrow. Got the chassis ready though.

Well I tried soaking the body in rubbing alcohol to remove the first coat of impatient primer and that didn’t work, so I got some purple stuff and that did the trick. Reprimed everything and started the finish work on the rear. I think I have the crease line pretty straight and it’s now down to sanding priming, sanding priming, to get rid of the glue lines and scratches. Dave

Man, your flying on this. The chassis is beautiful.

If you have mailed the new issue why is it not available digitally yet?

Can I add a clear coat over a satin to make it a gloss?

Thanks, I think so too.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try my local NAPA

It looks like I’m going to have to mold the entire rear panel int the body to make it look right, wouldn’t be a big deal but I’ve got to either have the red lenses in first and try to mask them off, or get them in afterwards somehow… Suggestions? Also wanted to show off the new wheels Bisc sent me? this should be the finished ride height and a pic of the front disks. Dave.

The rear body section of the dart model does not come close to the Dusters (nor the Darts for that matter) I started with trying to block in the inner light areas and decided that that wasn’t going to work, so I cut some plastic from a “for sale” sign and glued that in Some rough sanding and I’m starting to get the shape. Trying to keep the peak discernible is going to be a challenge. Also I got impatient and primed the body and chassis components and it was to cold still. I ended up with some crazing in the primer and have now made more for myself…. BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH.

It’s cold and rainy out today and I have everything ready for primer… bummer. So I got looking at my next builds. Even though my actual first car was the 66 bug, I think I’ll go with my third car, the dart. The bug I owned was a pristine stock example and the Tamiya kit looks great, but it also looks pretty complex so that and the fact that I will need to add bmf (my first try ever) to the body moldings and also that I’m only on my second build here with the duster, I think I’ll build the dart next. Dave.

Thanks, I’ll check that out.

Yeah, I’m on a quest to build all the cars I’ve owned and the Dart is as close as I can get to my Duster.

The 340 is built and ready.

Starting to wire engine, I think these tires will be better, I’m going to have to enclose the faux rear end and run the axle through it to get the rear up where I want it though. The tabs that are meant for the axle aren’t high enough… oh well, that means I can shave those ugly things off. Dave.

I think the white one, and as on my original car, it will stay unpainted white.

Got my goodie bag today… thanks Mike. The scoop is perfect and the wheels are going to be great. Thanks again, Dave.

Buckets. My interior was white, it was a pain to keep clean but I’m trying to build this as close to the one I owned as I can. The biggest problem I’m running into is paint, without an airbrush I’m going to experiment with silver under different greens or gold under green.