Hawk312

Nice cars in this thread. Really like the Nova and the old Ford with a flathead. Here is mine. It is a 2001 Firehawk, 1 of 39 made in White. The engine was rebuilt recently with ported heads, LS-6 cam and springs, and shaved heads to bring the compression up to 11.5:1. All this required a custom dyno tune as well. It is over 425hp at the engine now, and still gets 28 mpg AVERAGE on trips....not much worse than my 4 cylinder Cobalt daily driver. I would love to have one in scale. I tried doing the hood and adding it to the `98 Trans Am kit, but gave up after a short amount of time.

I too have hundreds of models by now, but it took me more than a decade to acquire all them too. For some reason, I still convince myself that I am going to be able to build them all. But something else needs to be addressed in this thread: :o :o Highway, where is the in progress thread for that one?!

I was fortunate enough to be able to acquire a TDR kit or two, and they are great quality! I would like to see the following conversion kits: * 1/8 73-78 Trans am conversion for the 79 and 81 trans am kits * 1/8 Grand Sport conversion for the 85 corvette kit * 1/8 68-73 conversion kit for the 78 and 82 Corvette kits * 1/8 Firebird GTA conversion for the IROC kit (I know, alot of work here) * 1/8 34 conversion for the 32 ford kit * 1/12 RS conversion for the 69 Camaro kit * 1/12 67-68 RS conversion for the 69 Camaro kit I would like to see the following engines for some nice street customs/rods: * LT1 * LS1 I would dream of: * A Firehawk in any scale * Any large scale HEMI, doesn`t matter what it`s in * A correctly proportioned large scale Cobra (AMT`s 1/16 kit sucks, IMO) * A `69 Mustang in any scale with correct proportions

Thanks for all the tips. I am wondering if striping tape is the way to go? Seems like it will be more forgiving then painting. Where do I get that stuff?

I was lucky enough to score the 1/8 scale `78 Corvette kit. My desire was to build the pace car version that they have shown on the box. For those of you who haven`t seen on these cars yet, here is what they look like: To my dismay, only the letters and not the strips are included in the decal sheet. I was planning to try to tape off the line between the silver and the black, and the red pinstripe on the silver. But just looking at the area around the fender, it looks like it is going to be tricky to mask off and get it *PERFECT*. I think this will be even more difficult than the `67 vette stinger. I know the basics (flexible masking tape, clear coat before color to prevent bleeding, etc.), but does anyone have any tips on getting those lines absolutely perfect? I just get the feeling it will be really noticeable if I am just the slightest bit off. Thanks.

Here was my first build: I got this back when it was an annual kit, when it just came out. It was an `83 Trans Am, but I seem to remember getting it in `82. I put it together, probably in about 2-3 hours without painting anything, and then tried to paint things with a q-tip after it was built. I was in second grade at the time, and I haven`t stopped building since. I probably built this and the other Monogram Firebirds of the time (the `82 and the GTA) about 20 times altogether. I have an `82 kit sitting around that I want to build some day here soon.

Nice work! Where did you get the wheels and tires??

Lol, lordairgtar. This is probably the question I get asked most about this build. At the very, very beginning of this project, I was still prepping this to be a decked out tri-power car, which is how the kit comes. It was an oversight, and while this pictures were taken, the antenna was left on. It was later removed though.

I was just at the local Pep Boys, and the color selection now is huge! At least it seems like there are alot more. However, again it is mostly low impact red, blue, and green metallics with a bunch of silver and golds. I wish they would give us some different colors, like some nice metallic oranges, or purple, or any shade of yellow!

+1

Spoke to my LHS, and they have copies in now. Did MCM ever make it into the mainstream bookstores? The only place I see it now is in the hobby shops.

I would be lying if I said I could fully understand what you are going through. I`ve only been married a short time compared to you, and I know I would be struggling a lot if I was in your situation. I am praying for both you and your wife.

Hey bigmike, What are you trying to seal? The reason I am asking is because in my experience with covering "hot" plastic colors, no primer or sealer will keep the color from bleeding through *if* you are going to use clear coat. I have tried using high build primer followed by several coats of sealer followed by more primer only to have white paint turn pink once the clear coat is applied. I`ve found that several coats of silver after primer/sealer usually works best for color stability.

I just got a reply from my LHS. They said their shipment of it is on the way and they should have it in a few days. :) I can`t wait. Has anyone gotten theirs yet?

Wow. All my old threads are coming back up! Yeah, I originally started this as an L-89. Prepping the body is the first thing I do since I put so much clear coat and drying times are usually in terms of weeks. It was an oversight. BTW, this one will be in the May/June issue of MCM, if it ever comes out. Can I say that?

I`m interested in this as well. I called the LHS, and they don`t have it yet.

Thanks Grandpa Where are you seeing the 1/8 scale kits? I`m not seeing any on their site. Do they have the Big Duece there as well?

Ok guys.... sorry again for the long wait on this. I am going to go back to the engine, instead of starting on the Mustang. I`ll be adding an intake, ignition, and wiring and then adding some little details like labels and bolts. I`ve been tossing around the idea of a Weber carb setup, but I think I am going to rob my `85 Corvette of it`s Tune Port setup for this. I `ll probably end up chroming the entire intake to make it look custom, like what you might see on a nice street rod, instead of dropping it back in the Corvette with a stock appearance. The details are so nice on this engine that I would hate to drop it into an engine bay where you can barely see it. That means that it wont be going in the Camaro either. I`ll probably try to hold out and get one of the `32 Ford kit`s or maybe a T-bucket. Thoughts? Oh well.... I gotta get back to building. I`ll have pics up soon.

Here are some pics of the kit engine in the Camaro. I bought this one assembled, which explains the goofy glue job. Notice that cylinder head detail is just about non-existent, there is no texture on the block, and the bolts on the oil pan are actually ovals that are molded into the side of the oil pan.

I think at this point, I am going to wait. I was thinking about putting this in the camaro and using it`s intake, but I`m not sure I want to put that crossfire injection setup (ewwwwww) on this engine. I was looking at some of the intakes on the TDR site, and was thinking about going with one of them, maybe even a blower. Then again, maybe the TDR guys have plans for me to review one of their intakes, so maybe I will ask them for direction. Once I have an idea of what I`m going to do, I`ll probably add alot more little details, like wires and labels, etc. I am open to any suggestions.

Ok, so the brackets and alternator are in place. I went with a generic bracket up top, and then went for something a little custom down below. Creating the brackets wasn`t nearly as difficult as I thought, but lining everything up was a pain! But it was worth it. So, except for the additional alternator brackets, fan belt, oil drain plug, and dipstick, this is a complete stock buildup of the TDR SBC engine. I can think of a million details I can add to this thing, but I wanted to give everyone an idea of how it builds up "out of the box." Everything fit really nice, and was fun to put together. This was a learning experience for me for sure. I am sure as I get the hang of working with this material and fabricating parts I`m not use to fabricating, the end results will be better. One thing I am going to be sure to do on the Mustang body and any future builds will be to use high-build primer on the smooth parts. As you can see from the pictures, it requires a little more than some light sanding and basic primer to get the texture leveled out. I am not sure where I am going to go with it now. It may go in my `82 Camaro kit I have lying around, but I hate to "waste" it on that. We`ll see. I was thinking about getting the `32 Ford kit to build around this engine. We will see.

Thanks for the tip. After seeing what they have there, it makes me want to tear apart everything I have done now and start over. Some nice stuff there!

Guys, sorry for the delay, again. I was building the alternator bracket, sanding and filing etc., when it snapped in two in my hands. I`ll post some pictures once I get it back together. I may just end up going with a real simple set-up. Thanks again for all the help.

Thanks guys for clearing that up. And those pics will be great reference AJ. Thanks everyone!!

Any thoughts anyone? I`m not liking the thought of cutting into either the alternator or the valve cover, and bringing out the balancer pulley just isn`t going to look right, IMO. I am tempted to just mount it far off to the side to clear the valve cover.