mrmike

The inaccuracy lies in the chassis. It is just on big hunk of plastic with the entire front and rear suspensions molded into it. All you would add to the chassis is the axle blocks and the engine. I have the AMT ProShop version of this kit and I will steal the chrome and the glass from it and put the old parts in the box and I found the visors in the ProShop kit. Those will be going on to this T-Bird!. I took a red Sharpie and traced around the edge of the wheel cover to create the red wheels underneath. The metal axle was exposed and while there are no holes in the engine block, I didn't want the axle showing, so I added some short pieces of styrene rod and glued them into the wheelbacks and the chassis. No more front metal axle! Now to find details about this engine (292 CID or 312 CID). More Vega$ to come...

Thanks Tim, Urs and David! AFAIK, there are no visors for this model. I will have to check and maybe make a set from some sheet styrene. I have been sanding the enamel clearcoat from the Vega$ T-Bird. If it was lacquer, I would have been sanding a lot harder to remove just as much. I'm using a 280 grit sandpaper to remove the clearcoat and I will follow it up with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper. This may take a bit of sanding, but at least it is enamel and not lacquer and I had applied it with a brush back then. I'm being extra careful on the scripts which are molded on the body and I have no decals to replace them with. I replaced the hand painted whitewall tires with a set of pad printed whitewalls from the AMT '60 Chevy Fleetside pickup. More Vega$ to come...

My friend Dirk started a build of the Vega$ '57 T-Bird the other day and I pulled mine off the shelf and it was filthy dirty and in need of a rebuild. I first built this model back in 1979 or 1980 when the show Vega$ starring Robert Urich was on the air and I had to build the model. Back then, I didn't care about accuracy too much and I just built the model as per the kit instructions. It wasn't very accurate looking and I need to correct some things on it. What surprised me was how quickly it came apart and now it will be off to the kitchen sink for a bath with Dawn dish soap and an old toothbrush. More Vega$ to come...

I have been working on the 'Cuda today. I got the engine painted with Mopar Street Hemi Orange Engine Enamel and I need to drill out the heads for plug wires. The engine will be headed to the dehumidifier shortly for the next 8 hours. I've been told that I am a brave man for drilling into painted plastic. Thank you! Everything else got a coat of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer. I found more mold lines along the tops of the rear fenders. I'll take care of those shortly. More 'Cuda to come...

Thanks David, Guido and John! I plan on using a set of Keith Marks 440 Hockey Stick stripes that seem to have gone missing. They've got to be somewhere around here in my hobby room! If I can't find them, I'll use a set of the custom hockey stick stripes from the kit.

I'm bored and I'm angry and I feel like I should start a new project before I go totally bonkers with the way the world has been turning! This 'Cuda kit had two shaker hoods and scoops and two sets of leaf springs so a call went out to Revell for replacement parts since they screwed up the kit. I got everything I needed from Revell except for the incorrect hood. They sent me another shaker hood and scoop. Then everything went bad for Revell as they were sold to a German investment group and I had no recourse, but to build this 'Cuda with a hood I didn't want. Then, my friend Paul stepped forward and said he had the same kit. He used the Hemi engine for another project and he offered me the dual scoop hood since this was basically a parts kit now. I robbed his kit of the hood and said thank you very much and he felt a little disappointed that I didn't take anymore from it. Sorry Paul, all I wanted was the dual scoop hood! Again, thank you very much for the hood! I'm starting this '70 Plymouth 'Cuda with a 440+6 cobbled together from a left over 440 CID from the Revell '69 Dart 340 I made with a 6 barrel carb and intake manifold from the AMT '70 Super Bee from years ago. My paint will be Testors Hemi Orange aka Tor-red with a black interior. Magnum 500 wheels from the Revell '70 Charger R/T kit with AMT White Lettered pad printed tires. More 'Cuda to come...

I have decided to have embossing powder carpet. I coat the floor with watered down white glue one side at a time and sprinkle black embossing powder until it is covered. I masked off the front dash and the rear panel for black paint and the front wasn't burnished enough and the black paint ran under the tape. I added the nacelles for the headlights.

Thanks Kenneth! Just some more polishing, a bath, another coat or two of clear and then decals and final assembly.

I ran out of Scratch X 2.0 and went down to the auto parts store to get another bottle and they had changed the name to just Scratch X now with wax. I ended up with Nu Finish Scratch Doctor since it doesn't have any wax in it. Scratch Doctor doesn't seem to be as aggressive a polish as Scratch X 2.0, so I'll be using it a bit more. I have polished most of the body with Nu Finish Scratch Doctor. I need to go over a few areas again.

So far, so good Ken! I drilled out a distributor from my parts box and added two wires folded in half to make my four leads and added one coil wire. I used the smaller hole on the engine block not realizing that the base of the oil filler has two nubs for the holes. I ended up moving the distributor to the center of the engine block after drilling a new hole for the distributor shaft. If you are interested in perusing my WIP thread... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/144493-land-rover/

Wow! Shiny! Good job Jim!

Thanks Don! This is not a bad kit for building. Some items are missing like the headlight nacelles, but those can be easily built using styrene tubing. So far, it's not a bad kit.

Thanks Brad! I'm glad you are enjoying my McNally story. Just a little something extra to encourage me to build a kit.

Thanks Curtis! You'd be surpeised by just how many Jags were painted red. That's how I remember them...red!

Excellent job!

Thanks Carl and Noel!

Thanks David!

The Story Lt. Det. Adam Troy is sitting in his office doing paperwork when he hears a knock on his door. He sees attorney Charlotte Rothmann standing outside the door and he waves her into his office. She asks if there is a need for her to intervene since McNally was harrassed at a crime scene by Det. Steven Darvell. This is news to Lt. Troy and he says that it is a situation that will be handled "in-house" by him. The detective will be spoken to and offered an ultimatum if he wants to keep his job. Charlie replies that if Det. Darvell stops his harrassment, she will not intervene. Otherwise, she will bring up charges against Det. Darvell with the Internal Affairs Bureau. She also says that enough is enough! The Build I have been adding more bits and pieces to the chassis of the Jag XK-E including the front suspension. I also did a mockup with the engine to check the fit. I added the headlight reflectors to the hood. More Jaguar to come...

Thank you Ben and Curtis! So far, I'm loving this kit!

I got the Mustang GT4 into four coats (two mist and two heavy) of Tamiya TS-4 German Grey and two mist coats of Tamiya TS-13 Gloss Clear. More Gloss Clearcoats are coming shortly. More Mustang to come...

The Story McNally drives out to Concord, MA to talk to Ritchie and he sees red and blue flashing lights at Ritchie's house. He parks his car out of the way of the ambulance and patrol cars in front of the house and he goes up to the cop standing outside and he shows his ID and asks what happened. Ritchie apparently suffered a heart attack when his aide, Charles Dennett found him lying on the floor. Set up with an IV and O2 mask, the ambulance attendants load Ritchie into the ambulance and drive him to Emerson Hospital. McNally walks up to Dennett and he asks what had happened and Dennett waves him off and runs out of the house, most likely heading to the Hospital to be with Ritchie. The Build I got the body pieces into a couple of coats of Tamiya TS-86 Pure Red, the headlight tunnels into a coat of Tamiya TS-30 Silver Leaf and the rear deck into a coat of Tamiya TS-29 Semi-Gloss Black. McNally will return...

I finally got the Mustang GT4 into primer. I'll let this dry for a bit and inspect the body and then on to Tamiya TS-4 German Grey and Tamiya TS-13 Gloss Clear. More Mustang to come...

I'm liking this build! Keep it going!

Looking good, Geoff! I think I would have paint the hubs and lugnuts with semi gloss black instead of flat black. But then, maybe they were flat black after a while in the elements...

Nice Jeep! Nicely detailed, too! I have the earlier release of that kit with the custom wheels and tires and I may build it sooner than later inspired by yours.