randyc

Ok,, I didn't know that tidbit of history. And I haven't built or bought either of them. I shall return to my corner and READ ONLY.. LOL. Thanks for sharing that.

Welcome to the ever maddening worled of BUILDING the kits now that you have a stash to be built. If you've been in the hobby as long as a lot of us, you can tell the kits aprat easily. As you have found, though, it can be crazy to figure out which kits are good and which are dogs. I think on My General Lee build, I used only the wheels and push bar from the GL kit. Maybe the decals and roll bar? The rest was the newer tool Revell 69 Charger. The MPC/AMT/Round2 kit is awful imo. With that said, if you just want and basic shelf model that reflects a hodge podge of 69 Charger options, the AMT kit will work. Not sure if they ever fixed the rear window, but it was at one time the flush window area from the NASCAR Charger 500. The chassis is crude compared to the Revell. If you are going to throw some paint detailing on it and be done, it will support the four wheels. However, if you are after the pleasure of recreating a more accurate underside, the REvell is the only way to go with kit based. As others have said, throw it out as a question here before handing over money. THe thread will inevitably go off track, but you should get a pretty quick reply with good information. Or do a Google search and look for modelcarsmag.com posts there. In my experience, this is as good a forum as any out there for finding information. I try to post threads myself with that in mind so if someone googles a particular kit, they may find it. The Buick kit is great and I think that is the original issue, maybe? These two show the differences in where kit development has evolved to over the years. Keep at it and come back often and post up your builds.

I have a set of Zonas and I broke a few. I'm heavy handed. SO I bought a cheap no name set that Looked LIke Zonas. They aren't. Under magnification, some don't even have point; they are very random grinds. So once I fugured that out, I check them before I use them. I can grind at least a crude point to them. I got what I paid for. Will check the new Harbor Freight in town and see what they have sometime. I'm trying to avoid going in the first time, because it can be addictive to buy new crappy tools for some reason. lol

I've avoided much of this argument, BUT.... okay so they use some fancy scanning (LIDAR?). SOMEONE that understands basic design reproduction and maybe cars should be LOOKING at scans and such to make sure the scans (and later the tooling) is going to look like the object they are trying to replicate. I bet there are people on here that could do a job like that. Not knowing how the scans look, I'm not sure I could. Or maybe they are and somehow they just can't do any better? IDK. If I like it, I buy it. I usually wait for reviews at this point though, to see what it looks like and what's in the box. I'm starting a 69 Cougar now. Let's talk about things missed... I'm not sure the rear of the roof line is correct - C pillars look thick to me. No reprodcution of cowl panel lines or the little seams in the tulip panel. Panle lines are all thin, grille and front valance fit horribly. Not everything from "back in the day" is anywhere near as good as today's stuff. Who will notice these things? Some of us. I'm building the Cougar for my wife. She'll never pay attention to those details. I could leave the parting lines on there, the panel lines would be soft after paint and she'd know it's a Cougar. I bet the Mustang will be close. Probably not perfect as some will find. BUT there is no excuse for it to not be waaaaay above the MPC/AMT versions that we are given now. This should render that kit obsolete, I would think.

Eh life happens, eh?

That's great!

I gotta quit lookikng at trucks. I was watching an auction for a First Gear International Scout over the weekend. Came with an Auto Zone/Jada 79 Camaro and an Oreillys M2 57 210, which i do NOT need. Had to talk myself out of it. We are just about completely OUT of storage/display space. I do like the top delivery though. The pickup is interesting as well. I have a Speedway truck too. Thanks for the photos - good to see more fun stuff.

So I bought a couple of these busted in hopes of making one good one. I had to to reconstruct the lower spindle mount and tie rod connection. Both cars had busted front wheels. So I took one of the extra wheel backs and cut a section off of it. [First a note I learned about "welding" plastic - you can use a soldering iron/gun to weld plastic together. Not the cleanest method, but joins it more solidly than adhesives, especially when the plastic in question doesn't take adhesives predictably.] I sanded the broken areas sorta flat, held in vise, and sorta melted all the parts together. I had a big blob of pretty solid plastic. I filed down the high spots and got it to fit. Then I filled the voids with CA and baking soda just to hopefully give it more mass. See photo for semi finished backing plate. I didn't have a hole in the bottom, so I studied the unbroken one and guesstimated the positioning of the new hole. I got close. It doesn't have any worse camber than most diecasts. This seems to be storng enough, so I painted it black and installed it. The tie rod screws into the attachement, so I didn't drill it till after I installed the wheel and could get the toe in close. The tie rod screws to the attachment, so drilling and screwing that in was a bit nerve wracking, but I got it working. THe steering still doesn't work from the steering wheel - the steering arm on both cars was broken the same way - the whole design was too light and rife with poor design. Steering arm should have beem cast brass like the worm and pinion gears in the box. Or at least diecast. I have poseable steering. I had the body off the car to get to the rear wheels because the sidewalls of both cars werr yellowed. I was going to swap in the best four tires, buth the sidewalls are glossy, so I popped them out and sprayer them all flat white. The upholstery of one car was coming unglued - car must have sat in window? SO I used best of each car to reassemble and here it is. It weighs a lot - shipping weight of car, stand, and original box and packaging was 10.7 lbs. And it is a beutiful and impressive piece. HOWEVER, it is no better detailed than the Franklin Mint 1/24 version. I couldn't get it down easily for comparison. But I did include the 1/24 56 F100 and a 1/64 55 Caddy for comparison.

Kinda interesting to me and when I saw it after getting the NAPA 56 F 100, had to have this one as well. Nothing like a good work truck. The load in this one is fixed, like the 56 F100. I was hoping to have more parts for the diorama. I may pop the head lights and try to do silver or white on the back to make them stand out a bit more. But that will be about it.

I have the green/white version in my office; bought at a yard sale for like $5. Yes the bed trim is missing completely and just represented by a silver pad marking. Not a fan of the stock wheels, but not enough interest to do more. Looks good on shelf and represents the generation okay enough. I do like yours with the wheel swap much better than mine. Might see what is laying around the workbench.

I saw some of these on Ebay on Friday? I have the Wix Challenger, so I'm covered on a Challenger. I have 2 63 Vettes. 2 Wix Cobras. Don't need a 40 Ford Truck - sold the last one I had. And I just posted my NAPA 56 F-100 from First gear a few days ago on here. I wondered if they would be reissues of the Welly models as referenced. The 56 is pretty nice piece. I have a busted knuckle sign in my work building, so I was kinda interested in the idea. Rear of Challenger looks a bit heavy and trunk doesn't open - not sure if that confirms the Welly connection or not. The 40 Ford pickup is "marked down" to $47.45 at this moment. Seriously? Front axle looks kinda clunky in the one photo where you can see it peeking out. The others are marked at $28.45, down from $29.95 from Wholesale diecast models. None of these are nicer than what I already have so I'll be passing on them, as much as I like First Gear stuff.

Nice. And an inspiration - I have several of these for some reason. I care nothing about it really but wife loves them. Wants it built in a dark red with black interior. She could care less about accuracy. SO I may start mine next after seeing this one.

LOL. I had that issue this year too. Put 3 kits away last fall to resume this past spring. I did find mine. They were in box where I thought something else was. Now I can't find the something else kit. I like the Nova kit and Doors' idea for the vinyl top. I have seen center seamed roofs (rooves?), but can't remember on what. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities for that era. The Road wheels are probably less likely, but they will look great. Build on! I loved this kit when it was the current annual.

Thanks for the input. I see what you are saying on the headlights. I'll study on that - probably the small ones for this build. And yes, it would be a nightmare to drive, but like you, I enjoy looking at them. I did put a coat of Pledge gloss on it to give it a little more shine. But I'm not going too glossy. I love cars that look home built. I have a track nose that I considered using, but not with the blower setup. I may try to scratch up another 29 A with parts left over and see if I can incorporate it into that one. And maybe the original engine I was going to use in the sedan.

THat is a celebration to me! Throwing the box out means that all the extras are stored somewhere and the project is DONE! Unless it's a really cool box or I need a box to replace one that may be falling apart. Otherwise boxes overtake my life. Same with shipping boxes. I am bad to save every box mailed to me so I can mail something out in it. Never mind I have USPS provided boxes and some bought boxes.

When these were current, I was doing graphics on local race cars. The chassis in these closely resmebles what hte dirt super lates were running at the time. I'm sure there are guys that can poiint out all the differences, but they were close. I saved a bunch of the Goodyear dirt track style tires, but never managed to actually build one that way. The wide fives were great - more stuff to build local cars... I think I bou ght the Senneker car, but wanted so many parts out of it for other things that I eventually put a tarp over it in my garage diorama. It lived there for years and I actually sold it that way in the last couple years. This would be a great kit to reissue I would think - lots of possibilities.

Looks great! Glad you finally finished it.

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

Great "message" in that Tom. I know how a project can creep from the original idea you have. And I really like the end results you come up with. Love how you smoothed out the Falcon bed then went back and rusted the seams. Just outstanding project to look at and see all that's going on with it. And finally, just proof that you should save everything, even if it seems like you can't use it again. You can make something, just might have to think "out of the box" so to speak.

I"ll just go ahead and sign up for this class too. ?

Looks darn good to me.

Nice.

Looking good.

Ok got to work on it some this morning. Some changes in what I'm going for. Not going to cut the roof out. Painted floor black, seats and sides tan. Top tan. Going to build it nicer than a rat. But not show car shiny either. It sits higher than I wanted, but I'm not ready to Z it. But I like the body rake and the tall blower you couldn't see around. It could be built this way, even if terribly impractical. Still got the scoop to go on top...lol

Lol. Making something out of it instead of just giving, ya know? And no one else has one like it.