Chuck Most

The other thing I'm toying with (since this first one will be a curbside) is to sling that spare '64 Comet chassis I know I have laying around somewhere under this body. The new wheelbacks are pretty well detailed- they sort of look like the ones in the '60 Starliner or '62 T-Bird kit- that same type of design. The MRC Muscle Car Hop Up wheel and tire sets came with a couple sprues of adapters, for fitting the wheels to whichever kit you wanted to use the wheels. They had various adaptors for fitting to wire or plastic stub type axles. Among these parts were some for the old AMT wire axles- I trimmed a couple of extra ones to bridge the gap.

Half cab all the way, Mike- and I'm planning to keep the bed area open, just so I can cram some 'stuff' back there. This'll be a workin' Jeep for sure.

I see pics of the new parts have already been posted, so here are a few quick snapshots of the wheel issue... Here you can see the metal axles hanging out for all to see... Yep... MRC wheel adaptor sleeves to the rescue for this one.

One I'm working on- it's the Revell Wrangler Rubicon, stretched into an Unlimited and fitted with the plow from the '77 GMC kit.

I'll see what I can cook up. I'll try to have something up tonight if I can.

Picked up the kit, and I have to say I'm a bit lukewarm. And yes, I was expecting a 50-year old kit with a couple of new parts, but... The new wheels have extremely short mounting bosses for the metal axles- fully seated, there's a HUGE gap between the inner wheel and the chassis- you can slide the axle side-to-side quite a bit. I'm building one as a quick curbside, so I used some leftover sleeves from an MRC wheel set to cure that. The new grille looks okay, other than it's a bit flat-surfaced (check out the kit grille and compare it to the 1:1 on the box top and you'll see it), and the headlights seem to be a little bit Rodney Dangerfield (ie- they bulge out a little). I was messing around with the kit a little yesterday- seems like if you cut off those small D-shaped tabs in the fenders (which the back of the grille rests against), and trim the front lower portions of the fenders a bit, the grille will sit a little further back in the fenders- that seems to mitigate the issues to a degree. The other thing is the molding quality of the other parts. Yes, again, I was expecting a 50-year-old kit, but I'd hoped they'd have cleaned up the molds just a little bit for the remaining '61 carryover parts. I'm over the fact that they did not tool up a proper six- Round2's engines have been a bit on the underwhelming side (PL Batmobile), and I have no reason to expect a new engine for this kit would be much of an improvement. Like I said- just lukewarm with the overall kit, but I still do plan on buying at least one more. There's still more than enough provided here to make a pretty decent model if you're willing to work for it.

I've got a '67 Comet kit with a toasted body (I'd rather not get into that part...), so I think I just might give that a try, since it has the same chassis as the '66 Fairlane.

I was the same way when I worked for Advance. As of today, I am no longer "Janitor". I share a job title with these two...

If I recall correctly, the kit still does include the Bullitt's Torq-Thrust wheels, in addition to the wheels shown on the box art. I don't know about the other Bullit-specific parts.

And it went out in the sexiest looking of all the Chargers... the '71 model. (I'm saying that because it's true, and not necessarily because I used to own a (non-Hemi) '71 myself.)

Here it is... Moebius Hornet #10. I was a bit shocked that balloons and junk didn't come tumbling out of the ceiling of my work area when I finished it. And the tenth one is a lot like the first one- orange (Hemi Orange this time) with a V8 swap ('70 Dodge 426 Hemi this time). WIP is here- http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82454&page=1 And here's the finished car, playing in the snow...

To quote Stevie Wonder- "Isn't she lovely"... Nicely done, and it looks like you addressed the problem with the hood fit.

There's good crazy, and then there's bad crazy. You, sir, are absolutely, positively, overflowing with good crazy! This isn't even finished and it's already cooler than anything I've finished. Keep it up!

Love this! I'll never call the Stingray concept kit 'worthless' again, you proved something could be done with it, even if it involved a few 'transfusions' from other kits!

The '66 coupe and '68 Shelby kits do, but... Same goes for the '67 GT, though Steve's correct that you'd still need a proper straight six. Gluing the hood shut would work well too, though. Bottom line is the '67 Stang kits would be great chassis/underhood donors for this kit... but the '66 and '68 kits are about equal with what's already in the Ranchero kit.

I seem to remember you reviewing this one in an old issue of the other mag- you planned to build this and a '55 Plymouth in CHP livery. Love how this one came out!

It's got a promo style underhood area, with rounded inner wheel liners molded to the chassis- completely incorrect for the Falcon and Ranchero. You'd need to find a suitable first-gen Mustang donor kit and raid the engine compartment from that if you wanted it to be really accurate under the hood.

Well, no, of course not! Oh- I think you might mean "Is the Chevy engine in this kit usable or at least presentable."? In that regard it's decent, but there are many better alternatives out there if you want a Big Block Chevy.

Nice job on this! Nice to see one of these given a little care and attention.

Hoping I'll have this one wrapped up sometime tomorrow. Guess we'll see...

Have at it, Rick. I'll be the last guy to try and stop you!

Here's the underside so far... Had to snake the driver's side exhaust around the brake cylinder but still keep it away from the shift linkage- not pretty but it'll work. The Super Bee coughed up its mufflers- I'll have downspouts for the exits eventually. You can also see the slapper bars from the Baldwin Motion Camaro in place on the rear springs, and the Super Bee's fuel pump/filter casting out back, positioned so it intentionally peeks out from beneath the rear bumper. Still a little more work to do, but pretty much dialed in down here. In a nod to the other car with a stinging-insect-inspired name, the one which donated the 426 HEMI (that would be the '70 Super Bee for those of you a little on the 'dense' side), I used the Super Bee graphic in place of the stock Hudson crest on the grille. Here's the interior- Here you can see the Baldwin Motion Camaro's seats and steering wheel and the '58 Impala custom console- the shifter is from a Monogram '57 Nomad (I think). The gauges under the dash are Detail Master, and the stock speedo and clock openings are blocked of with 'aluminum' discs (actually sort of an accurate description, since BMF is aluminum...). I think it still needs a column-mount tach. I used a Detail Master photoetched stereo face, and I'm still messing around with the idea of adding a CB radio in here somewhere.

I have this same kit, and my hat's off to you for basing a project on it! Mine's been in Project Purgatory for a couple of years now, and I think that's where it'll stay. The jagged door gaps were the deal breaker for me, but yours looks to be cast quite a bit better than mine was.

How about green and silver? (See folks? That's called compromise! ) I know the green is a Chrysler color, but it looks so close to Ford's legendary Dark Highland Green I've just got to give it the nod.

Well, this IS a reboxed Revell AG kit. But yeah, releasing it in the California Wheels series is a bit puzzling in this context.