W-409

As a Stock Eliminator racer myself, I have to appreciate the work you've done to build an accurate race car. The amount of modifications required when building one of these is pretty big but you pulled it off very nicely. Great work!

After driving a 1st gen Chevy S10 as a daily driver for four years, I wanted something older. The S10 was good, but the amount of electricity caused some issues in the engine bay when something was wrong and the engine didn't run right. So the search for something more simple started... '74 Chevy Malibu Classic STW (350 SBC + TH350) was for sale with a reasonable price. As the seller lowered the price significantly when I went to check out the car, I had to have it. It had only a couple of smaller things to do before I went to the tech inspection to make it legal to drive (new exhaust pipes, couple of small rust fixes, windshield washer and turn signal wirings and of course a proper set of wheels and tires). The Malibu was sold as new in Finland in 1974. The importer painted it black and the car was used as a Hearse until 2014. US made Wagons were commonly used as Hearses in here back in the day. Because of that, this car had low mileage and it was in pretty good shape. Now I've driven around 4700 Miles on it (since late July) and have had zero problems. And yet I hear some people saying that "You can't use an older car as a daily driver..." It's far from perfect, but it's going to get some improvements like better bumpers and doors in the near future...

Couple of years ago I tried to find a formula for the Chevy Engine Orange as I had to paint the engine of our Stock Eliminator car. I couldn't find it anywhere, so I just went ahead to the paint shop with a picture and had one mixed for me. It turned out pretty close, and I've used the same paint for a couple of models as well to paint the engines. Not sure if that was the correct color ('74 Malibu Classic), but it looked the best in my opinion. My daily driver, '74 Malibu Classic STW with a 350 under the hood has a red engine block.

I have dozens of models that I've started working on and for one reason or another, they got stalled at some point. Almost all of them are going to be finished some day. Some of the kits might wait for the inspiration for a year, two, five or ten, but eventually they will be finished sooner or later. There are a couple of exceptions where I have sold a couple of kits that I had started, and at the moment I have a couple I believe I'll never continue. The ones I have now, are not suitable for parts kits either as they are too modern (Chevy SSR and AMT Wagon Rod).

I wonder what is wrong with this thread. Anywhere else I'm able to post normally, but when I try to post here, it just says "Failed to Reply"... Yet a really short post like this works just fine. If this keeps happening, I'll post my builds somewhere else then. My apologies to all who are/were interested in them...

Both of those are very nicely done. Especially the Fox Mustang. Great detailing on both and overall look is exactly something I could imagine seeing at the Drag Strip nowadays. I can see a lot of work went into both of the Mustangs so I have to appreciate the hard work. However, I have to agree with a couple of members. The paint job and decals on the orange Mustang are definitely not on the same level as the rest of the model. Pretty significant orange peel on the paint and some of the decals are 'silvering'. The Hoosier decals on tires are even more rough. Overall, very nice models (Fox Mustang is definitely better one), and I think everyone here appreciates the hard work the builder has done on both. But with a bit more effort on the orange Mustang, it would have been even better.

Hey, this worked! ...Continued: I also have Jo-Han Drag On Lady SS AMX and also the AMC Javelin Super Stock kits. I did big modifications to the AMX chassis and interior to get rid of the molded in drivetrain and front seats. Front suspension will be sourced from AMT '67 Mustang and that's what I'm going to use as chassis donor on the Javelin too. Not 100% accurate, but a lot better than molded in everything.

Thanks everyone for the comments! I had been trying to find one of these Marlins for some time before I got this one. So it was a very nice surprise to see one of these in the box the friend gave me. And because I have a nearly complete version of this rare kit, I thought I want to build it factory stock. Don't know what is wrong with this, but can't seem to post this reply here. Let's try if I post it in pieces...More to come.

Very nicely done! It's not often we see this kit being built. Yours is looking really good. Excellent job with the paint and decals, they look flawless to me. Clean work with BMF on the chrome trim as well. Really nice. I have a couple of these kits as well, one was already restored from a glue bomb and other glue bomb is still waiting for the same operation... Too bad both of mine were a bit rough and missing parts, so they're not good for Sox & Martin replicas.

Why doesn't this forum let me reply in here...? ...This seemed to work. Strange. Well let's try some other time then...

I have one 1:1 scale '92 S10 (had it as a daily driver for four years, but now haven't driven it since July when I bought a '74 Malibu STW as my daily driver). Really good and reliable car and fun to drive too. I also have two of these model kits, both are unstarted original issues that I found for around $20 each. The other one will be built as a replica of my car. The other one will be something else... That being said, I'd be very happy to see this kit being reissued. I'd buy at least one for sure, possibly more as time goes on and I'm able to actually build the two I already have. I think these would sell pretty well, the real cars seem to be pretty popular nowadays.

That turned out really nice! Haven't seen this kit built very often. Like Bernard said, probably most of these kits end up being used for parts. Your build shows that with some patience and skill it turns out into a very nice model. Excellent work! Seeing this made me really want to build one. Maybe some day...

Wow! Fantastic model of a beautiful Dragster! Everything seems to be just right. I really like how the whole front suspension and the front wing look. Everything looks very realistic and is "in scale", which is often not the case with the plastic kit parts. Truly amazing work on this Dragster, definitely one of the best Top Fuelers I've seen built. We were in California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield this year. Remember drooling over the real version of this car as well.

Good to see the Model A kits coming back. Whenever the Coupe kit comes out again, I'll need to buy one or two as I missed it the first time And that Moebius AWB Plymouth is one of those kits that I'm going to need multiple copies. The Chevy II and Nova kits will probably be out some time as well. When there was a huge amount of speculation about those kits having somekind of licensing issues, I sent an E-Mail to Moebius asking if it is true and will the kits be seen in the hobby shops in the future. I can't remember the answer exactly, but the message was that the kits will be out.

Some time ago a friend of mine who is an AMC enthusiast gave me bunch of his old model cars and glue bombs for free. There were some really good starting points, lots of parts etc. The most interesting one was this Jo-Han '66 AMC Marlin. First I found only the body, chassis, interior, bumpers and grill, so my original plan was to build somekind of Altered / Match Racer from it. But the more I went through the boxes, I found nearly all parts for this Marlin. Most of them still on parts trees. I have only a couple of smaller items missing, but I might be able to source them from some other kit as well. So after having nearly complete kit, I had to change my mind and I decided to build this factory stock. Looks like he was going to turn this into a four door. Luckily no modifications have been done, there are only the drawings on the body. My plan is to add some basic details and do some improvements to make the kit a bit more accurate. But I'm not going to go crazy with the modifications as I want to finish this one some day, too...Let's see if I can keep up with that plan or not... First up is the AMC 327 Cid engine. The engine in the kit is pretty good, but that huge metal axle hole on the engine block is not going to stay. So a bit of sheet styrene came to rescue and after rough sanding I smoothed those areas with a light coat of putty. Looks like I need to do a bit more filling and sanding before primer, but it's not too bad.

This turned out fantastic. It has to be the best build of this kit that I've ever seen. This is pretty much what I like to do with my builds - take an old kit that is a bit simplified and improve it by using newer kits as parts donors, creating something that not everyone has on their shelf. This Fury is just perfect. Especially the engine bay looks like you could fire it up any moment.

Really nice job on that Challenger! I'm happy to see one of these done with the Slant Six engine, especially when the whole model is built as nicely as this one. It's hard to say anything that hasn't been said already. So, I'll just say "Amazing Work!".

Wow, this is some really nice fabrication as usual coming from your workbench! This is one of those kits that I also would like to build, but unfortunately the prices are so high that I'll probably never end up having one of these on my bench... Anyway, it's really nice to see one that's being built. And I'm sure it's going to turn out fantastic as always.

Wow! That turned out fantastic! Haven't been here in a while so didn't know you were already finished with this. Just went through the last few pages and the end result is incredible. Only very few modelers can get to this level of build quality. It's hard to say anything that hasn't been said already, so I'll just add: Fantastic work! Now I need to read through the rest of the pages that I haven't seen yet...

Very nicely done '64 Dodge! Glad to see one fictionary S/S race car being built as we've seen bunch of these already with the kit supplied decals. Your build is one of the nicest ones I've seen in a while. Everything looks just "right"... Nicely done.

When I saw the first pictures of this kit, I was very happy to see it being released. I've wanted to build one of these '70s Dodge Long Bed Pickups in Showroom Stock condition for a long time. Now it looks like it's going to be possible. The kit even comes with steelies and dog dish hubcaps, which is great news so I don't have to find them anywhere else. And of course, thanks Tim for a good review!

Very nicely done '74 Satellite! It's always fun to see these a bit different body styles built. As always, the end result is just incredible. Everything seems to be just right. It's hard to say anything that hasn't been said already, so I'll just add - Great work!

That turned out great! Really cool to see it being finished, I always enjoy these rare subjects. You nailed the body shapes and the overall look of that Falcon perfectly, which is probably the biggest challenge for a project like this. Fantastic work!

Very nicely done model of a rarely seen car! As always, the paint work and BMF is nearly flawless. Overall a very nicely done Chrysler.

Very nice Ford, but coming from your workbench that's not a surprise. All of the added extra detailing really paid off, the overall look is just right. One of the best '67 Fords I've ever seen in scale, can't wait to see your next project...