Chuck Most

But seriously, even though I'd very much prefer the '82-up design, I'd love to see this one come back.

Spoiled child, not sausage.

Lots of nice stuff, everybody! A few of mine- 1971 Ford F-250 'Bagged Beater by Chuck Most, on Flickr 1980 Dodge "Slamcharger" by Chuck Most, on Flickr "Army Brat" Show Rod by Chuck Most, on Flickr 1977 Ford Courier by Chuck Most, on Flickr 1980 Jeep J10 by Chuck Most, on Flickr

I love it! The rack, the makeshift dually fenders, the dull-but-even paint job... I think we all remember a pickup or two like this floating around our hometowns somewhere, sometime. Was this shown in a magazine's show coverage? I SWEAR I've seen it before.

This very way of thinking is what always baffled me about the relative lack of modern 'Vette kits. The average 'Vette owner is in his late 50's/early 60's (and I say "his" because it's mostly guys buying "Vettes)... and it seems like a lot of modelers fit into that age bracket. But when it comes to the C7, all I seem to hear from guys in that age bracket are things like "The taillights are ugly" (probably because they aren't round), and "It looks foreign" (whatever the hell that means), never mind the fact that it's those same similarly-aged guys I see driving real C7's. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. It seems like the majority of modelers are "in it" more for the sake of recreating the past than replicating the present. In a hobby where nostalgia seems to be the driving factor, maybe this C7, with it's "pulled-straight-from-a-Forza-rendering" creases and bulges, sacrilegious non-round tail lamps, and heretofore nonexistent quarter windows, is just too alien to them. With a model it's really all about the looks, you don't need to deal with any of the 1:1 car's shortcomings. It just has to look pretty on a shelf. Would a big chunk of the market really want a Corvette that would look so out of place among their muscle cars and '60's drag machines, never mind that even a base C7 would be a better performer than any of them in real life? Combine that with the fact that just about any kit of a "modern" domestic vehicle usually ends up in the clearance bins within a few months of first release and... yeah. C7 Z06? Sure, it would find some buyers as a full detail kit. But I'd think that given the mindset of most modelers, a good full-detail kit of a 1963 Z06 would be a better business decision.

The car's current mix of gold paint and grey primer reminds me of how I remember most of these early '70's B-Bodies looked by the time I was old enough to retain memory. In fact, replace the gold with dark metallic green and this one would almost be a dead-ringer for the one I used to see around my school in '87-'88.

Nice! It's amazing such utilitarian vehicles can be the most stunning hot rod subjects.

Yeah- but going through the posts got me thinking about that particular approach

You know- if somebody did a GL conversion kit for the Revell kit (decals, wheels, brush guard... and any other thing I might be forgetting), I think that conversion kit would be a decent seller.

Yeah- I remember the cagey box art during that time. Remember the green Daytona that had the K-H wheels from the Barracuda and an obvious '68 Road Runner chassis and engine bay that weren't included in the kit?

That reissue came out after the F&F Charger, didn't it? I'd say that the body with the flush rear window still exists. I hope so because I'd like to see the 500 make a comeback at some point.

Maisto is the same way- the scale on the box seems to be more of an average than an actual number.

Cool! Looks like it could have been a factory variant.

This. On the other hand... maybe I'll buy one or two just to encourage them. Come on, you KNOW some decal printer will have graphics for the 43 Petty car within a few weeks of this kit's release.

They changed the front end to the '78 style, but if I remember they didn't re-do the taillights. Maybe they did at some point but yours appears to have the '78 style grille but lacks the wraparound tail lights that the later 1:1 cars had. So if it comes back as a reissue it'll basically be the kit you have.

Very nice. It's amazing what a simple wheel/tire swap will do for this kit!

Forgot about that! Sometimes those guide pins will shear, but sometimes they'll put some serious dings in the tool.

I love it- and I also love the fact you kept it all Johan. I think this is the first one in years I've seen that didn't have an AMT '68 chassis under it. As nice as the full detail jobs can be it's also cool to see a nice example of how they started.

Yep- I work in the injection molding industry (not model kits, though ) and 50,000 units from one mold is actually pretty tame. Yes, molds do wear out from use, and not just from friction- when that press closes those mold halves are under anywhere from five to three hundred tons of clamping pressure, depending on size of the mold, size of the molded part, viscosity of the compound being used, etc. . I'm guessing that a part just molding plastic would be less susceptible to damage than a rubber part which requires a metal insert, like what I deal with at work. If one of those inserts is misaligned it can damage the mold. You'd never know from looking at it, but a .030" thick pressed-steel insert can dent a solid steel mold when you're dealing with those kinds of clamping pressures. A good die setter can fix that, but still not something you want to happen to a quarter-million-dollar chunk of steel! I've learned that the injection molding process is almost equal parts science and art. Sometimes the machine/mold/compound combination just doesn't want to cooperate, and it takes a little skill with making adjustments to get everything humming along in harmony.

Last time I was at Dean's he had the crew cab 4x4 in stock- the one with the factory wheels and tires.

Thanks guys. Now if only there were a kit of the '99-'02 style.

I toyed with the idea of doing an external cage with spare tire carriers and a roof rack but ended up scrapping the idea. It looked rather clunky, and I wanted those pointy Cadillac quarter panels to remain fully visible.

Thanks for the idea Those seem to be a "readily available but rarely-seen-built" kind of kit. This one's still front-drive. Always expect the unexpected. I also like THAT idea. While this potential caster was at it, some of the kit's many shortcomings could be taken care of.

I'll get some pics of a 4BT when I get a decent looking one built. This one is essentially a Chevy Stovebolt with some stuff stuck to the top and sides to make it look like a 4BT. I more or less used another model as a pattern... http://www.modeltruckbuilder.com/index.php?/gallery/album/11-cummins-powered-50-chevy/ Mine's not quite as thorough a conversion as his.

Not too shabby for a first attempt. Well... I guess shabby is the point when you're weathering. You know what I mean.