am73grand

I'm looking forward to seeing this one come along!! Looks good so far!

Love it!!! Nice Job!!!!!

Here is some more progress. Got the interior done and all the Bare Metal foil applied. The interior is now fully installed in the body. Probably 8-10 hours of work left. I will keep updating.......

Thanks guys! I'm glad you all like it. I wanted to build a custom 74/75 bird but didn't want to chop up an original. Because both the '75 Formula and '77 "Blackbird" are actually different versions of the same body the fenders lined right up with doors. It really was that easy. There are strips of plastic inside the fenders/doors acting as braces holding the nose on. The scoops on the lower fenders are from a '69 T/A.The hood I actually used on this is a '76 Formula hood. One of my buddies swapped me for the '75 hood. As for the "Wet Look Clear" I love it. It dries in days and rubbing it down with some #2 Novus then hitting it with some wax really brings out the shine.

Finished this one earlier this week. Everything came from the parts box except the wheels. Here is what I started with I grafted the '75 parts onto a '77 Blackbird body. Here's what I ended up with. This is a curbside as I had to really chop up the chassis to get it to sit this low with these wheels. Seats, steering column steering wheel are custom parts from the '57 Ford. Ground effects came from a '74 formula and a modern Camaro. Brakes...I have no idea they were in the parts box. Wheels are from Aoshima. Paint is Testors black lacquer with "Wet Look Clear" Thanks for looking!!!

This is finally back on my bench. The resin caster that originally was going to cast it backed out because he felt the bodywork was not perfect. I was asked to build another with corrections. I tried twice to duplicate my own work but just couldn't come close to the original so.............It's in paint! The chassis and interior are also painted. The motor is coming along. I will post another update over the weekend.

The resin '79 four door is a nice kit but the body lines are all wrong to do an '89. I have the resin four door and was going to use it as a base for my conversion but after looking at A LOT of pictures on the web it was clear I needed to start with the Revell coupe. And Ron, thanks for the compliments! It really was a fairly easy conversion......of course I've yet to finish it.....lol

The conversion is not that hard. Start with the lowrider kit. It has the correct wheelbase. Just the roof and number of doors are wrong. First step cut the rear section of the roof off. Then add some filler material and glue the back window frame back on standing more upright like this. After some primer/bodywork this is what you get......a much more formal and longer roof Cut out the existing opera window and fill the existing door handle holes. Add the new door frames and re-scribe the doors and here it is! And before anyone asks.....I have NO intention of having this cast. I have maybe 5 hours of work into this and around an hour to go to get the body perfect. If I can do it then you can do it. It really wasn't that hard. If you have any questions just ask!

Dr. Olds. That would be a huge help! Please send me whatever you have. Especially the chassis where the spare tire well and gas tank are. If it's not too much work I may alter the chassis to match. I also need a shot of the passenger side cargo area storage. Thanks!!!

Charlie! Thanks for the brochure sheet! That should be a huge help. Thank you everyone else for the positive comments. For those worried about accuracy, this is being built by scaling photos of the real car. I'm a draftsman by trade so it was pretty easy to extrapolate the correct dims. The Vista is coming along and I have the raised roof started. The cargo area is around 85% done and then I will concentrate on the door panels. I am also leaving off the trim that would outline the wood. I hate wood on wagons. This one will not have it. Here it is after starting on the raised roof section: Looks like I'll have to resize the pics next time I add some. Thanks again for looking.

Hi everyone. I've shown this on another board and someone mentioned I should show it off here. This is a 1/25 scale 1972 Vista Cruiser wagon. I am making it using the new Revell 72 Olds. I have used panels and parts from quite a few different kits so far. I am thinking of asking one of the better resin casters if he would be interested in pulling some molds off it. Here is where I am at so far. I've got the interior roughed in and I'm starting on the glass sections for the roof. If you would like to follow the whole build you can follow this link: http://public.fotki.com/am73grand/oldsmobiles/1972-vista-cruiser/ Thanks!!!

Dave, Thanks for the kind welcome! I've been busy finalizing the bodywork on the 69/'05 hybrid. I've got it about 85% smoothed out. Once I've got the whole thing primed I'll post some pics of it. As I was working on it I was looking at a junk '78 Vette that I have in my Vette stash. I also have a couple of the Z06 kits........It got me thinking. How would the Z06 look done up with a 78 nose and tail? The Z06 rear glass really mimicks the rear window on the '78. I busted both kits open and started mocking them up. The problem was that even the 1/24 Vette nose and tail were way too narrow for the the Z06. I would have to widen them. This would be ALOT more work than I wanted to get involved with and I would need to get another '78 kit for the spare back bumper so I could just splice two together to make it wide enough. As I was putting everything back on the shelves I spied an old MINT 1/20 scale 1982 Corvette. This thing was still sealed. I couldn't remember what I paid for it so I ripped it open and grabbed the bumpers. The rear fit almost perfect. Very little cutting on the Z. The front took some fiddling but it's on. Let me tell you this looks AWESOME. Thanks for the inspiration! I've got two finished C6 vettes on the shelf now and they are both yellow. I think I will paint my 69/'05 the same yellow. The 82/Z06 will be painted black and silver like the '78 pace cars. I have to make sure my body work on this one is perfect because the black will show every little screw up. Again thanks for the inspiration. I'll get pics posted this week! Ron

Dave, I hope you don't mind but after seeing your build I had to do my own. I've changed enough so that they won't be identical but I wanted to thank you for the inspiration to do this. I have the nose finished. I made mine a little more pointy than yours and stretched it out a bit. I also retained the stock marker lights. In the rear I filled in where the rear window goes and made it a flat deck. I added the rear "sail panels" from the '69 instead of your split window. I also restyled the rear VERy similar to yours but will be retaining the stock side marker lights and I'll be incorporating the slight spoiler molded into the 69. I also relocated the CHMSL to the rear of the Targa bar. I'll post some pics once all the bodywork is done. Thanks for the inspiration. I haven't gotten as detailed as you have but I think I've had as much fun!!! Ron

Dave, I hope you don't mind but after seeing your build I had to do my own. I've changed enough so that they won't be identical but I wanted to thank you for the inspiration to do this. I have the nose finished. I made mine a little more pointy than yours and stretched it out a bit. I also retained the stock marker lights. In the rear I filled in where the rear window goes and made it a flat deck. I added the rear "sail panels" from the '69 instead of your split window. I also restyled the rear VERy similar to yours but will be retaining the stock side marker lights and I'll be incorporating the slight spoiler molded into the 69. I also relocated the CHMSL to the rear of the Targa bar. I'll post some pics once all the bodywork is done. Thanks for the inspiration. I haven't gotten as detailed as you have but I think I've had as much fun!!! Ron