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In my opinion the best place to get good deals is a Model Car Show. There you'll find lots of fellow modelers selling part of their collections and sometimes the kits can be bought really cheap...But of course not always. For example I bought a Burnout Bird Pontiac Firebird FC kitted by AirFix for about $20. Some parts were missing, but not much and otherwise it was unstarted. I have never seen another with AirFix box and the MPC versions seen on eBay are more expensive as well. As I'm here in Finland, buying from eBay is not always a good idea. Some sellers think it costs something like $40-50 to ship a model to Finland ! As far as the Hobby Shops go, I had good experiences with Model Express, but unfortunately it's closed. I made an account to Model RoundUp, but I haven't ordered anything yet. Usually I drive to the nearest Hobby Shop here in Finland and buy my new kits from there. For aftermarket parts that can't be found here in Finland, I use Ted's Modeling Marketplace.

That's a good looking Galaxie, as your builds always are. Big points for making those decals, I have to say that after trying to study some of the computer programs that folks use to produce those decals (Without any success) I really can understand how much work is put onto them. Really great job overall.

Great job building one of these Dirt Racers! These do not quite fit into my interests, so I'm not an expert on these. It might be a stupid question, but I don't know the answer, so why is that one front tire different from the others? Great work building this one, good looking paint job and I like the paint colors on the engine. Especially those injector stacks look realistic. Good work.

As I said earlier, this is probably the best of all in this year's Cannonball! The other builds were fantastic as well, but somehow this just stands out. Even if I'm not crazy about that modern engine, I think this looks really good.

Wow, thanks fellows! I'm really surprised to see this much comments on this thread, as the original one got a good number of comments, too. So Thank You ! It was a fun build overall and as always I had great time in the Cannonball Run. I can't wait for the next year, I know I have a killer idea and I will build a true sleeper...Stay Tuned.

This update seems to be disappeared because of the forum's crash, so here are a couple of older pics first... I painted the engine with Humbrol Orange using a brush. Intake was painted with Revell's silver as well as the clutch cover. Frame is Humbrol Gloss Black painted with a brush as well. I didn't want to make it as smooth as spray painted frame would be, because probably the young Hot Rodders who built this one in the early '60s on their backyard did that as well. New valve covers arrived as well, they are resin cast by a friend of mine and they're very good quality as usual with his products. I ordered two sets of them, and the other one will be used on another build later. I also got a set of hubcaps as a bonus. So a Big Thank You, Marko! I ran into a problem with the intake though. It is meant to work with a SBC and it's way too narrow for the Hemi. I don't undestand why I didn't test fit it earlier, but now when I did, I thought it's not a good idea to start making major modifications on that one. So I went with Plan B and took an eight carburetor setup from my parts box. I unassembled it and did some smoothing and sanding for the parts. Except for the bottom plate the parts are now in paint stripping. The bottom plate was shot with Primer at the same time as the valve covers. And I drilled holes to the front axle to make it a bit lighter. Here in the picture it's still before final cleanup, but now it is ready for paint.

Thank You David for the great information! It has been a while since I've worked on this Impala, but I was able to do some minor work with the interior. I flocked the carpet using flat black from spray can to "glue" the flocking to the floor. Then I mocked up the seats for the picture. Next step will be painting a dashboard, but I will need a set of Revell '62 Impala cauge decals for this one, the ones in this Lindberg kit are not very good.

Last week I got my driver's license. I can tell you that I've driven lots of miles with my '87 Chevy Van during this week, and it looks a bit different on the High School parking lot between all of the "four-wheel washing machines" made out of plastic.

That Ventura would be a cool one, even if it was in wrong scale. I know I'd have to get at least one of those, but the other kits in the same series are would be really interesting too...

That Starliner is a cool idea. Good looking build of an unique subject (How often have you guys seen a '60 Starliner in this section of the forum?). I like the hood and paint looks smooth too. Decals fit perfectly to the overall look of this one as well. Great work, gives me an inspiration to get going with my '60 Starliner Altered project.

I almost always listen to music while modeling. And only music that comes out from my record player is Rock 'n Roll or Rockabilly music. Here are a couple of my favorites: The Go Getters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnQa0ybtCTY Stray Cats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-efr9pJFbY Pole Cats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihXeWEXCgJk And of course others for example... Eddie Cochran Gene Vincent Wanda Jackson Blue Cats T-Bird Gang Riot Rockers Crazy Cavan

Wow, thanks for that! It worked perfectly for me, never thought something like that could be done (Or that even I could do it ).

Anyone want to try this one? Oh, when you touch my hand my heart skips a beat And it beats that strange ol' way And when we glide into dancing my heart starts to pump I wanna shout Hey! Hey! Hey!

Yep I think it's the most fair way to do a second round. I think Jordan said it just perfectly: Eh I disagree. It may have a larger lead now, but that's against other builds and not the other finalists. It's like calling one NHL team the winner of the cup in the semi finals simply because they won 4 games in a row against 1 team. It may turn out different against the other finalists (or it may not as well). Just to make sure everyone understood, I'm not wanting a second round because then I had the possibility to improve my placing (And I know that would be very hard, because the other finalists are super nice builds and I believe I'm not going to make it to the top three with this high quality builds). Personally, it's no big deal for me, if I make it to the top three, it's nice, but I'm VERY happy to have my build finished and everything else is just bonus to me. Not to take anything away from Erik's great work. I think his build is probably the best of all. All builds are really nice, but that one just stands out. I'm just thinking that when the best of each group are against each others, it's a fair game for everyone. As said earlier, I'm not crazy about the final standings, but I'd really like to see who takes the win when everyone are against each others, not only the other builds from their groups. And finally, Great job Everyone who made it to the starting line! All of the builds are really good looking ! And the team spirit is the thing that makes me wanting to take part in this Cannonball each year. Edit: The link to my Charger Daytona: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=96237

This is a re-post as the original thread is gone. I want to thank you everyone who posted comments in that thread and / or during the buildup! Oh, looks like I was able to dig out my description from Google. Thanks for the tips in Off Topic Lounge section. Well I'm happy to say this: I have finally Finished something! This Charger Daytona was built to the Cannonball Run Community Build and I started building it from an AMT kit. First, I will have to say that anyone who is thinking of building a Charger Daytona or a Superbird, start with Revell kit as this kit is definitely not the best. I started by doing the bodywork on this thing. I wanted to make the front fenders and the nose clip a one piece unit that looks like fiberglass part. The front clip of the kit didn't fit together with the fenders at all and it required lots of styrene and Bondo to smooth out. There was a huge gap between the nose clip and stock front valance panel that needed to be filled with sheet styrene. I had to use some Bondo on trunk lid too, as there was a quite large sink mark. Engine is a 426 Hemi from the kit, but I changed valve covers to resin pieces from Comp Resins. Carburetors are from my parts box as well as the air cleaner, which required minor modifying though. Blower belt and pulleys are from Pro Tech. Engine bay detailing is done with variety of aftermarket parts and scratchbuilt details, for example the fuel lines are Braided Line by Pro Tech, the fittings and fuel pressure regulator are scratchbuilt. Firewall is from AMT kit, the radiator wall is from my parts box with some modifications as well. Interior is built mainly with kit parts. I wanted it to be brown with black carpet. Front seats are from my parts box and seat belts are made from Scale Dreams harness and Model Car Garage photo etch parts. The tachometer is from my parts box too. Those wooden areas on the dashboard and steering wheel were painted with Humbrol flat brown, followed by an uneven coat of Humbrol Clear Orange and finished with Revell Clear. The chassis is built pretty much box stock. I didn't do any modifications there, as the chassis from the kit is pretty simple. Exhaust pipes are cut from the original kit parts and they end before rear axle. Wheels and tires are from Plastic Performance Products detailed with paint and by added valve stems. Body is painted with Maston spray paints. The wing needed some Bondo to cover its seams too and then it and the hood were painted flat black. The body is polished and I used BMF to the chrome trim. Final assembly went well, only tail lights and rear bumber were a real pain to install. Otherwise I had no major problems. Oh and the mirrors are from my parts box. Together with my 2012 entry... '57 Chrysler 300C.

I think the 2nd round would be fair, as all of the groups might not be as skilled as others. I mean in some groups there might have been more excellent models and somewhere less and it makes the votes split up more or less. Okay okay I can't remember what cars were in which groups, or anything like that, but I think it would be the most fair way to do it. I'm not saying this because now I'd be the last one from those. It doesn't really matter me (And I think Erik's Riviera is probably the best of all), but it might be a fair thing to do...Maybe?

Thanks Jesse and Jonathan! Hopefully we'll see you, Jonathan, on the starting line too with your decals. Heh, It means "on Wednesday" in Finnish.

Ouch! Finding out that your body is warped is really frustrating. I know how easily it can lead to the point when the model is put back on the box for a long time, it has happened me a couple of times too. If you think the body is unusable like it is now, I'd probably try saving it with hot water anyway... If it ends up being worse, it doesn't matter that much when it was already unusable. Replacement body would be a good idea in my opinion too... Or then you could try finding a decent glue bomb / built up of this kit where to take the body from. Those are usually not so expensive and you could get some other parts from the same kit as well in side of the actual body.

Thanks Gene and Aaron! I appreciate the kind words. Gene: That would be a great stance to shoot for. I think I like the high stance, but since every Fiat I've seen has the front end high I might do something different. Maybe something between those two, a bit higher than in the picture but a bit lower than what is it when built box stock. Thanks for the picture, it's a great reference shot for that stance for sure.

Thanks Fellows! Tim: Yep, me too. Right now it looks like I'm making it to the finishing line, and if everything goes as planned, this will be finished on Sunday morning. Then all I have to do is to take the pics and post them up. Here's a little update also. I've been working with the engine bay details and it is really slow progress but it's worth it overall. First the firewall and the radiator wall were glued on place and then I added two thicker wires on both inner fenders. I was thinking that there would be many smaller wires going inside them just like it's done on many real cars. I also connected alternator and water pump wiring. Windshield washer's container was found from my parts box. After some minor modifying it looked alright so I painted some water inside it using Tamiya Clear Blue. Tomorrow's plan is to start polishing the body and if I have time I will work on the carburetor linkage as well.

Oh okay, I guess I'll have to keep on looking then, thanks for the reply! Yeah 100% accuracy is not my goal either, but when building a relatively expensive and a really rare resin kit (Cast by a friend of mine, and he didn't do many of them) and trying to replicate an 1:1 car I think I'll have to pay more attention on little details.

Really nice and clean work. I'm glad to see these Altereds being built and yours definitely has the "Early Vibe". My favorite part is the tinted glass. I might have missed it, but where did you get them?

Very beautiful! Toronado might not be my favorite Oldsmobile even if it's a really nice car overall, but this model definitely belongs to the top class! Fantastic paint job and very clean BMF work all over. Engine bay looks very nicely detailed as well so really great job turning an old Jo-Han kit into an incredible model.

What's your source for the rear tires, Bill? They look like they're narrower than 9" slicks that would be too wide for a Stocker from that era. I'm building also the Ramchargers car and I need a few sets of those narrow white wall slicks on my other builds too.

Citroen 2CV Hot Rod from Finland: I'm building something similar to this in scale. It is coming together very slowly though. I'm planning to use a Flathead Four from an A Model Ford as the powerplant and mine will be rear wheel drive.