berr13

Whoa, you guys had some great ideas. What old AMT kits I own are buried pretty deep (in a hades hot garage) so I didn't get to that level in my search, and I never even thought of Johan or the Polar Lights kits. I did consider the Lindberg '61 Chevy tires, but they seemed a little small when placed inside the rear wheel wells. Thanks to all of you for your good thinking and assistance. What I wound up doing, though, was what I should have done from the beginning--I modeled my way out of the problem. I created a slightly higher stance in the rear with sheet plastic, and trimmed out the inside of the wheel wells, and was rewarded with a tight but perfect scale fit. After trimming I didn't have to go up too high, so the car now has a nice street cred rake. The model's almost finished, and when complete what I'll have is a Testors Bug Yellow '69 Nova, with white interior (modeled on the '69 Camaro option), two Carter four barrels, headers and abbreviated exhaust, Cragar mags and 9" slicks. Lord, I wish I could have gotten one of these in 1969 instead of a draft notice! Again, thanks to all of you for the help! Jim

Very nice! How'd you decide to lower it?

Doesn't look like you lost your touch! Very sharp.

incredible! That's some model, my friend, looks museum quality!

I'm not modeling any specific drag class or car, rather, more a circa 1969 kid's street racer. I used the two fours and headers, but mated them up to the almost-stock exhaust. I plan to use the Cragar mags from the AMT '66 Nova, and they seem to be closer to a scale 15" wheel. What I think would work best would be just a hair under 5/16" wide, and an inner diameter (best I can tell) of 5/8" across. What I have is about an inch and 3/8" tall, which works, but alas it's a pie crust tire.

Hey guys, I need to pick your brains for some tires for a project. I'd like to find a 1/25 scale slick similar to the ones provided in the old AMT '62 Bel Air stockers (Hayden Proffitt, Dave Strickler, etc), only narrower. Those have the sidewall design I'm looking for, but they represent a 9" width tire, and I want an 8 inch width. I can find the width I need in pie crust tires but that's not the sidewall I need. Any suggestion is welcome, and I'm open to literally any idea or source, or a kit source suggestion. PS, the project is a Revell '69 Nova, so wheel well space is a problem, and I can't use the kit tires because I want to use other wheels, and I'm thinking pie crust recap slicks were pretty much over by 1969. Anybody has any thoughts of ideas, I'm all ears...

I agree with Garageguy on the chop. It's subtle, yet very pleasing to the eye. All in all, a great looking deuce!!

I like it! Great color, what is it? If it's not a stock Pontiac color for that year, then it should have been! Fantastic work...

Very slick--I particularly like the color and the white interior. Looks like it sits just right, and you got the wheels to mount straight, too--tough to do with those lousy metal axles. Great job!

Mighty fine! Decals look and work fine, too!

I was wandering through a swap meet in southern California one Sunday years ago, and found an MPC annual '68 GTO for sale. It was unpainted, somewhat built, and included all sorts of extra parts from other kits (lots of IMC Ford GT stuff, for one), and incomplete, but in the box. Guy wanted .75 for it, and I chiseled him down to .25. Later sold it for $45 on eBay. I also got in on the Pocher models at K Mart--I bought two different Alfas, and later sold them for ten times what I paid for them.

Really nice. If you ever get a chance to take a photo in the sun, I'd like to see it. I'll bet that paint really glows! Great looking model!

Really nice, especially considering your connection to the car years ago. It's gratifying to be able to build a model of a car you've owned, and you should be proud of your work!

Excellent build! I like those old stockers, and you hit it out of the park with this one. I'd like to see more photos, too, and details on how you created the model details(headers?). Again, congrats on a spectacular model.

Wouldn't one of the Johan AMX kits give you a 401? Great start, looking forward to seeing your progress.

Bravo! That's some excellent work! It's got a perfect in-scale look, and the color looks great on a Camaro. Congrats!

In southern California in the '60s you used to see a lot of black wheels with blackwalls, with or without hub caps. Lots of recapped pie crust cheater slicks, too, whether you needed them or not. Mag wheels were mostly for the bucks up guys, but chrome reverse wheels were more affordable. Those who could afford it took their cars to Tijuana for cheap black interiors, including headliners. One quirk that I remember was for those of us with '55 or '56 Chevys to remove the Chevrolet emblem from the hood and deck lid, punch out the red, white and blue emblem part and then reinstall the surrounding chrome...don't ask me why. Tractionmaster traction bars were popular, as were muffler shop installed cut outs in the exhaust system, so you could uncork at the drags. Speaking of which, we all left the shoe polish entry number and class designation on the windows until rain washed it off. Finally, remember this is the perspective of a high school kid with no money--I worked part time in a gas station for $1.25 an hour in those days.

follow you home, eh?

I can live with it, whatever it is. Mostly I'm just overjoyed to see this, and really impressed with AMT for their recent kits--they're really hittin' the note!!

hope the "potent 8 cylinder motor" isn't the thing that's been the recent reissues! Looking forward to this anyway...

Really like the colors, and the resin wheels look great, too--keep the hub caps from sticking out too far. Nice job!

When I get in a pinch, I always check "cars-on-line.com". It's an online sales site that can sometimes come with many photos, and all makes are represented as well as years. I find it particularly handy for stock interiors.

I've got a bunch of the various Revell '67 Corvette kits, and I really like them. My only suggestion would be to trim the inner front wheel wells or you'll have a hard time getting the assembled chassis inside the body, but other than that, have fun.

I'm partial to a color I found in a variety store in Colorado a few years ago. It's Krylon Short Cuts "Antique Bronze" enamel, in a one ounce bottle. It's maybe a 3:1 mix of brass and silver, and to me it looks perfect on a Holley carb. Sad to say, though, it could be hard to find these days.

I've got a vintage Camaro model that I'm trying to restore--one that's never been reissued. I've got everything apart except for the clear windshield/rear window piece, which has runners connecting the front and back windows. There's a huge glop of glue on one runner, just behind the windshield, that has resisted my best efforts, and I don't want to force it any more than I already have, and I don't want to break it. My best guess is that the model has been together for thirty or more years, and most likely assembled with old-style styrene cement. Anybody got any recommendations on how to get that windshield unit out? I've researched the problem on the forum and seen a few suggested solutions, but I'd like to get everybody's latest ideas. Thanks everybody.