mrmike

I got my '69 Road Runner grille in the mail today and it's a really nice and clean casting, too! I had to modify the grille area on the body for the grille to fit. More to come...

There have been some changes in the past month. A Classic Plastic Model Club member gave me a sprue of parts from the Revell '41 Willy's after we had been discussing the Studebaker. I got a sprue with the chassis, front and rear suspensions, and steering components. Then as I was sizing the chassis, I noticed the two floor humps that would interfere with the chassis. My Dremel was more than happy to remove them.I'm going to have to extend the chassis to fit the the wheelbase and the body. I decided where to cut the chassis so it can be extended and I will have to build a floor and trunk. More to come...

Thanks guys! I've done some rudimentary sanding on the body and I still need to do some more. I should be painting with Tamiya Metallic Green soon!

Thank you everyone! I have heard and read of others having a bear of a time getting the chassis/interior into the body. I looked it over real good before inserting the chassis/interior into the body and found that if the interior is not properly installed, the body will not fit over the interior side panels. Careful assembly and a couple of business cards and everything went into each other like it should. Foiling wasn't that bad either. I spent just over an hour foiling the body and I was done! The lowered suspension is a must for this kit and it was easy to accomplish by inverting the front spindles and re-arching the rear springs.

About twenty years ago, I built a '68 383 Road Runner and the other day I was looking at it sitting on the shelf and I said to myself, "That looks like it should be re-built." The following day, I was rummaging through a carton of stuff and found a '69 GTX body and I wondered, "I wonder if I can make this into a Road Runner?" Out came my sanding stick and files and I removed the side moldings and the GTX scripts. My original intent was to re-build the 383 I had cobbled together from my parts box, but decided to find a better engine. This one came from a long parted out AMT '71 Charger R/T. A couple of days staring at the "new" engine and I started to hate them both. So, back into the parts box again and I found an un-built 440 CI engine from a '70 Hemi Super Bee. I built it last night and painted it this morning with Mopar Street Hemi Orange engine paint. In my mind, I could envision a Rallye Green Road Runner and an online search found me an image of a Rallye Green '69 Road Runner with a Coyote Duster air induction hood and the Performance Hood Treatment. I ordered a '69 Road Runner grille from Hart's Resin Parts and i hope to have that in a few weeks.

Thank you Randy! This is definitely a good kit to build! I had this kit sitting in the stash for almost ten years before I decided to build it.

I have finished my '62 T-Bird Roadster and it is posted in Under Glass. I would like to thank all those who took the time to view and to comment on my WIP.

This is my '62 T-Bird Roadster painted with Testors White Lightning One Coat Lacquer with a Model Master Insignia Red interior. I lowered the suspension and trimmed the whitewalls on the tires. The engine is wired.

I must say that I have never had the opportunity to order from him. Many years ago, I had looked at his site and saw several items that had interested me at the time. Then, I start to see all the stories about Reliable Resin not following through like they should on the many forums I had belonged to. One member of my Club had ordered a set of wheels from him and got them in a fairly reasonable amount of time, but the entire Club concluded that his getting his parts was a fluke. Do not do business with this person!!!

Since the paintbootth was up and running yesterday, I primered the body and various bits and pieces of the Charger and hit the interior bottom and chassis with grey primer.

Well David, just git-r-dun! lol Foiling was one of my most hated jobs until I had done it enough that I was comfortable with it. Almost done! More to come...

Thanks Tony! I'll watch for that if I do clearcoat the T-Bird. I got the rear seat cover and the hood out of the stripper yesterday and I started sanding this morning. This afternoon, I gave them both a good coating of primer and tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll sand any imperfections and paint them with Testors One Coat Lacquer White Lightning. Meanwhile, I've been doing some assembly of the T-Bird. It should be ready for the Classic Plastic Model Club Exhibition on Sunday! More to come...

Great job, Jim! I even like how the windshield washer fluid is sloshing around in the tank!

I dove into my parts box this morning in search for parts to make a buddy seat for my '68 Charger R/T. I found a bench seat from the AMT '71 Charger R/T and started to wonder if I could use the center section for this. I pulled out my razor saw and cut away the seats and removed the fold-down armrest and center cushion. A little sanding and trimming and I have a buddy seat. The buddy seat looks pretty good in a mockup. I need some more sanding and filling in the gaps in the seat cushion and the armrest and it should be good to go! More Mopar to come...

I got the body polished and foiled and now to clearcoat it. The hood and the rear seat cover are back in the stripper since my new can of paint ran like crazy with just using mist coats. I'm going to re-prime and repaint these pieces.

I love it Randy! As usual, your attention to detail and the clean building is very apparent! Excellent job!

Thanks Ron! The White Lighning paint is a really nice shimmery color, but I have to be careful when using it. I need to make sure of the coverage is even on all surfaces. It's great to have a tribute of a relative's car for the collection! I have one of my father's '71 Merc Cougar that I made from the AMT '73 Cougar. It's close to what he had-351 2-bbl., single exhaust, auto trans., whitewalls, and black vinyl top with a maroon body. I should do one of his last car, a '79 Caddy Coupe deVille. Black over black with red leather. I wanted to insert the taillights and looked at the instructions which says to add the rear bumper first then insert the taillights, but something didn't seem right. The taillights stood out a country mile and needed a lot of chrome trim around the lenses! I mounted the taillights inside the bumper and they fit nice and flush. This seems the better way to go! More to come...

That is a great looking tribute to your Dad! Love the color, too! Several years ago, I took the Revell Uptown Caddy STS-V and de-blinged it and built it as a stock STS-V, so it is possible to build these low rider types of models as stock.

Thanks Kevin and JC! JC, I was fortunate to be able to get the can of Chrysler Engine Turquiose paint from Summit Racing! And, I still have plenty left for future projects. I also have a can of Mopar Street Hemi Orange that I got from Summit and that can has been used quite a bit over the years. I am noticing a lot more parts stores (Pep Boys, Auto Zone, etc) are selling engine paint and this color is showing up more often. I'm not sure if it is an exact match for the Mopar color though.

Progress on the Charger has been very slow. I got the MAD distributor assembled, painted, and installed in the 440 CID V-8. Now to run the wires and finish the engine. More Mopar to come...

OK Martin, let's see somemore!

I was rummaging around the parts box and came across this photoetch set that was left over from another project. I am using a distributor from MAD and maybe the chrome air cleaner on the 440 CI engine. The 426 Hemi is complete except the distributor fell off somewhere and disappeared on me. Good thing there is a second distributor in the kit!

My kit didn't come with the five spoke wheels you had mentioned, but my friend who gave me the kit said that they are in that particular kit. Bill, thank you for the explanation and the pictures on the leaf sprung rear end and traction bars. This gives me a little more food for thought as I plan out this build.

With the speedster style windsreen now out of the question, I went and opened a gap between the dash panel and the cowl. The kit windshield and frame now fits in there perfectly and the body and interior now fits together tightly. I am tempted to pry the dash out and shorten it a little on each side, but I think I'll let that slide for now as I do like the tight fit. More to come...

I pulled out the windshield and the frame just to see how much grinding with a Dremel tool is going to be needed on the dash. As it turns out, a lot!!! I had a brain fart last night. I have three of the chopped windows from the '53 Studebaker and I wondered if I could make one fit the T-Bird. Like i said, it was a brain fart! More to come...