Ron Hamilton

No one makes a 4 door '69 Chevy. However, MCW Resins makes a '69 Biscayne 2 door post sedan, which can be used as a basis for the 4 door sedan. It will take a little work, but it can be done. Here is my model from the resin kit. A 4-Door woild be very interesting. If it were me, I would use this kit as the base, along with the currently available AMT '70 Impala, which is the kit that should be used to do this. MCW also does the '69 Impala SS, so he could supply the three lamp rear bumper used on the Impala also. In doing my model, I did not care for the way that the roof line was done, so I slanted the rear window forward, and re-did the side window profile, adding new drip rails in the process. To do the 4-door, I would completely remove the center pillar, and shorten the sail panels, along with the other modifications I performed on the sedan. I would use the the '70 Impala interior, even though the upholstery pattern is different, it is the closest thing available in scale, and it has a front bench seat. On the one to one, the roof panel is the same between the two and four door sedans. Add some body side mouldings made out of plastic rod, some photoetch Impala scripts, and there you go.

I like this thread. I have an original Revell '56 Ford Pickup, which I plan to build. All of the door openings and hood line up fantastically, eve though things may change when I put in a set of door jambs, and reshape the windshield openings. I tried my hand at one of the re-issues back in the 90's, but the doors would not line up to save their lives, so I glued them shut, and put it back in the box. Where the kit is to this day I cannot tell you. It is in my basement somewhere. I got the original unbuilt kit from a friend for a good price. It had a tire burn in the hood, but that is easily fixed. I built one back in the early '70's, and thouroughly enjoyed it. I plan to do a Y-Block build for this one.

Wow! That one brings back memories, My Boy Scout master had one of those almost like it. His was green with the woodgrain treatment. I may do one of those myself, as I have a few of the Dodge Monaco sedan kits. I am so glad that you have the ability to create models that do not exist otherwise.

I can't wait to see you do your magic on one of the Ranch Wagons. Revell and AMT should hire you to do their box art builds for the 1957 Fords. By the way, I hope that AMT sees fit to reissue the '57 Fairlane 500 hardtop.

I ordered one of the front ends, and I have an e-mail stating that is is on the way. I'll give my impressions of it when it gets here. If it is anything like the photos, it should be great. The "droop along" front end is the one thing that kept me from building this kit.], and I really like '69 Mustangs. I am going to re-do the side window profile too.

I have some comments concerning this thread. Have we ever heard of the term "Attention to Detail"? In terms of the latest model kits, it is lacking, and not at all of the companies, or one in particular. I don't mind someone with what I call "The Critical Eye", making a comment concerning certain aspects of a model kit, promo, or diecast, as long as they can truly back up what they are saying in knowldge of the subject, and their ability to do a good build. Unfortunately, the final person signing off on some of these kits either have no clue as to what they are looking at, never saw one in person, or in a series of photographs. These people have no business making the final decision on any product that is supposed to be an exact replica of an estblished product. I can honestly say, until it has been brought to my attention by certain "Critical Eyes" about some design aspects of a few kits. Either I did not notice them, or the flaw was not so glaring as to stop me from buying and building a particular kit. Part of my modeling enjoyment is to fix some flaws as I see them in the tool to my satisfaction. Unfortunately, some of the kits I bought in the past are not going to get built, due to my not having the want or desire to fix some of these "problem children" to my satisfaction. At this point I am not going to name them, as I am quite sure that the kits and the manufacturers of them have been hammered into oblivion by some of the members of this board, and else where, and even though some of the critiques and opinions are gospel to me, some I take with a grain of salt, or ignore the source. I take my hat off to Mobieus for re-working their kits to a more acceptable level when it comes to proportions to mine and other "trusted" critical eyes on trim on the final product before it is in the store. Are they perfect? I don't know, but the one I have in my collection are very satisfactory to me. Trumpeter did not sweat the details on some of their kits, and now seems to be an "also ran" in today's market, even though I hope they can get their act togther. Isn't it funny that back in the '60's the kits were right on the money in most cases when it came to the bodies and interior trim. I will put an AMT '65 Ford Galaxie 500 XL up against many of the newer kits short of some of the Tamiya, or Fujimi "Enthusiast Series" offerings in terms of overall detail and propotions. JoHan kits from the '60's look great except that some of the Cadillacs and Chryslers were 1/4" short in length (They hid it pretty well). The second coming of Revell's '69 Dodge Charger R/T is another nice kit, even though I have seen fitment problems with the hood-to-fender-to-grille on a lot of builds on the various model boards and in person, and the side door trim is not true to the 1-to-1, but pretty close. The first edition of the kit was a charature of the real car at best, but at least Revell made good on replacing the "Ill proportioned" parts to any modeler who wanted them. My "Critical Eye" has noticed a few "Foibles" on some of the offerings out there, and I have made the decision either to "fix them" to the best of my ability, or leave it alone, if I positively have to buy and build a particular kit, or leave it in the store for someone else. I've heard and read the reasoning behind why a particular tool was off kilter from certain manufacturers, as well as rumors of no knowledge of, or complete denial of the product proprtion problems by some manufacturer's reps. Recently, I have been working over old '60's previous builds and derelict promos I have been picking up here and there over the years. Not only for the subject matter, but because the kits look great to me, and I truly enjoy building a model that I will not see on the table at a show, or on the board built by someone else. Yes I plan on getting my hands on a Revell '57 Del Rio Ranch Wagon, as well as the new Mobieus, AMT, and Revell offerings that "float my boat", and layng some glue, paint, foil and modeling skill to them while I can still see, have some sort of manual dexterity, and have the desire and ability to build them.

Jim, I love your projects and attention to detail. Bandit Resins also did an excellent '66-7 Chevy II 2-door post sedan. I have it, and I am very happy. One day I will build it. I have not gotten my hands on a wagon, as I may try my hand at scratchbuilding one, using the bones from the AMT Boss Nova Funny Car, if I do not turn it into a gasser. RH

Very nice!!!! I have a plastic one to restoe, one day.

Very nice work!!! Your first model, HUH?

I ordered mine last night. Thanks for the post.

Very Nice!!!!!

Nice Promos, Tom.

No, while they look the same on the outside, the inside diameter is different. I took a look at the tires and wheels on the new Spy Car kit so that I could see if a set of steelies from an original '65 Corvair Corsa I had would fit. No, they were too small. We then took a look at the Ohio George '60 Ranchero for the steelies in it, and while the would fit the tire, the flange on the edge would cover that beautiful Tampo Printed Good Year blue streak lettering. I would love a set of those tires for a '65 Barracuda I am restoring. I hope that AMT ses fit to do a parts pack with a set of Blue Streaks, Pin Whites, and Red lines, as they will come in handy for several of my restorations with that type of tire.

Very nice!!!! A friend of mine had the twin to that car.

You have my attention!!!!

Andy, The orignal Revell Ranchero was a offshoot of the original Country Squire Multi Piece Body, but Revell did not adjust the doors for a two door body. I had a stock height built up of the original version of the kit, which I was going to re-do. I wanted it to look decent to my eye, so I was going to lengthen the doors and roof using parts from a chopped Ranchero I had, and some plastic surgery. I work by "eyeball engineering", where if it does not look right to me, I will not bother.You are justified to have your feelings about the '57 Sedan and the '49 Merc from Revell, and while I agree with you, I let my wallet do the talking. I cannot tell you what any dimension is between the Ranchero, Hardtop, and Custom, except the the height of the Fairlanes were lower, and the wheelbases were longer, resulting in a sleeker looking car, which I feel AMT nailed. As a matter of fact, my favorite uncle had a '57 Fairlane 500 4-Door Sedan in Black, that I may do a model up, since the AMT 2 Door Hardtop used the same roof skin. Looking at the photo of the new '57 Del Rio in this thread, it looks as if the fender well sculpture you mentioned has been taken care of. Over the years, I have seen a lot of cars, and I have an extensive reference library.

Clean Build!!!!

Nice!!!!

Yesss!!!!!

I've been following this thread since day one, and this thing is completely off of the rails. None of us have the actual kit in our hands yet, even though some have seen and/or handled the test shot when it made the rounds. I have not seen it in person, but I plan to buy one, once it is available, as I liked what I saw in the photographs. I am in the camp that like the Revell '57 even though it is not perfect. When I opened mine to build it, I knew that I was going to cut it up into a Ranchero,. I had an original Revell Ranchero, and this kit was light years ahead of that one, when it came to body proprtioning. Yes, to be fair, AMT did a bettter job with the fender sculptures, and well as a couple of angles here and there, and the front splash pan under the grille, but I can say, the Revell '57 kit goes together much easier than the AMT '57 kit, and I built a few of them too over the 50 plus years I have been in this hobby. I love both of those kits, and if it was not fro the fact that Revell did the original Ranchero kit, I would not have been able to do the conversion. I have yet to build one straight from the box, and I have a couple of Resin Wagon conversions on the shelf to do. One a Jimmy Flintstone Country Sedan, which I am going to use the balance of the original Revell Ranchero to finish it, and one of the Rare All American Country Squires, which I am going to mate with some AMT parts I have. Who knows, I may convert the new Ranch Wagon Del Rio into a Courier with some surf boards to go with the Ranchero, and one of the sedans I have into a 4-door sedan, trimmed out in blue and white like my Aunt's can when I was a kid. I'll reserve my judgement when I have an actual kit in my hands.

This build is excellent. I love where you are going with this one. Looking at it made me take a look at an MPC '72 Vega hatchback in my stash. I bought it from a club member at one of our meeting a few years ago. It looked to be unbuilt, but it was actually started. The previous owner was going to put a V8 in it from the kit, and cut the chassis pan per the instructions to accept it. However, due to the design of the kit, the car would have been ludacris at best, with a blown rat motor, with standard exhaust manifolds, no exhaust system, and everything else from the moulded in chassis, including the rear axle and single exhaust. Fortunately, the piece that was cut from the chassis was there, as well as the rest of the kit. I grafted the piece back into the chassis, as if I were going to do it with a 4 Cyl. engine. Years ago I did what I considered a pretty nice '75 Monza Street Machine (I may photograph it). This build may be a quickie, built as a stocker, or day two car. There was not a lot of speed parts for them back in the day, but a few were converted to a small block V8 car. I am very tempted to do it as a Replica Stock Car, using kit parts. I have a brochure with a lot of good information. In looking at this one, it is going to take quite a bit of work to get an acceptable fit of the hood and hatchback. This one has quite a bit of flash on it. The last time I built a Vega was in the early '70's, using the "Grumpy's Toy" race car kit, which I built as a street machine in Burgundy with a black interior. What was I thinking?

It even looks good butt naked!!!!

Personally, I would polish it out with pads and Novus #2 if I were not going to paint it. A clearcoat on the bare plastic would make it look a little muddy.

Work it Ron!!!!!!

That car is quite handsome, especially with the up-top. Speaking of '67 Galaxies, I know what you mean. I have one in my stash to build, with an up top from a '66 Galaxie. I just have to decide on a color combo.