hemilover

Thank you all....many points well-taken. I love the sprue-stretching story! I decided to go box-only and left the stock exhaust in place. Looks dorky but it is what it is, besides being quite a project to remove and replace detail on the floor pan. I'll post pics as soon as I'm done. Thanks again everyone.... Steve

Wow, so sad to hear. Bruce was the guy to beat at the MPC contests in the seventies. Those days are precious memories for me because of the friendships and competition In the seventies. I met Bruce at several of the Michigan contests along with Chuck Helpie and Tim Boyd....frequently versus the Ohio guys like Gary Dale, Jim Bunch, brother Mike Bunch, and myself. Those were days when it frequently came down to Ohio vs Michigan builders and it was a rivalry, but a fun one. Bruce was THE guy. His cars were almost always at the National Championship Finals for several years in a row. I admired his scratchbuidling prowess and innovative paint schemes. Guys like Bruce deserve to have their work in the National Model Car Builder Museum. His work was top notch for many years and he deserves to be honored for it.

The Project: After a long hiatus from building I am interested in competing in a few contests this coming season. I'd like to build a couple of Box Stock entries to hone my painting and building skills. Here is my question. I'd like to build a classic drag car and this kit has that version.... but, the chassis has the standard molded-in single exhaust. The drag version obviously has open headers exiting under the chassis. In MOST BOX Stock contests is it legal to remove the stock exhaust? I would assume not... but the inaccuracy is obvious. Also, is paint open to the creativity of the builder? No limits? I want to do a full custom paint job using the box art as a starting place. I also assume no added details, such as wiring and photoetched parts, hence the "Box Stock" designation.....(Captain Obvious, lol) I realize that the rules in Box Stock probably vary a small bit from contest to contest. I'm looking for some advice based your experiences in contest formats. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you all....