MrObsessive

I usually don't quote whole posts with pics like this, but in this instance it's important to answer your question John. He mentions that the hardtop shape (and more than likely the windshield frame) are unique to this kit. Your kits probably contain the later reissued hardtop and W/S frame with its not-so-accurate shape as pictured. This is the main reason I snagged one off eBay recently, the hardtop and windshield frame shape have bothered me for YEARS and, it's a mystery why it was changed when there was a more accurate version available, not that many years before. Hope this helps ya out!

Interesting that GM was the only manufacturer to put skeg fins on their cars. And I agree that Buick might have been better served if it had either the skeg fins, or SOME kind of fins. While the front end is not bad at all on that car, the translation gets lost as you move towards the rear. I could have sworn that I saw somewhere some early clay shots of '61 Buicks under development, and they had some really wild fins on them! Maybe trying to outdo what they did with the '59's? Cooler heads prevailed though and we got what we got.

OK, thanks for clearing that up Mike! I'll see if I can put that on there. I have some spares from junk kits-----but the problem may be the scale differences. If you're talking about the 1/24 scale kit, I'm afraid it'll be too big as the one I'm using currently was a tight fit as it is. My curiosity is up though, and I'm going to dig around to see if that might work.

Thanks for the compliment Mike! Yes, that's part of my objective when I do a WIP is to let folks know how I do certain things along the way. BTW, are you related to a Peter Candelaria in P.R.? I knew him years ago when he lived there, but haven't talked to him in probably 6-7 years.

Hey Mike, just a little confusion about the PVC valve...........I have a pic here which looks to have the valve on the passenger side. Now granted this isn't the Hi-Po engine, at least it looks like the regular 289. I'd like to add this before I get everything set in the chassis later on. As you can tell, I'm not a Ford guy-------I really appreciate all the suggestions and tips along the way here guys.

I want to add that, but I need to find pics of where it's located on the engine. I see where it's on the passenger side valve cover, but exactly where on the manifold/carb it goes I'm not sure of. I'll do some digging around this evening for pics when I'm back home.

Now it's time to move on to the fuel line for the carb. Just simply some bead wire that looks in scale for this use, and some bolts for the ends. .....................And another tricky area, making a bracket for the return spring for the carb. Once again, I used a tiny piece of cat food can aluminum (the lid) and cut a teeny-tiny strip. Holes were then drilled with a #78 drill bit in which I'll have a bolt go through it to pin it to the manifold. Once again, that IS a real penny! One area that I find important to me is return springs for carbs. Years ago, I could never find springs small enough that looked in scale to do this type of detail. A friend of mine (Vere Reider) suggested back in the mid '90's to use coax cable braid. The wire is very thin, almost hair like and, would be just the right diameter for making carb return springs. What I did here was to wrap the coax cable wire around a #80 drill bit to where I wanted the length to be. And here is the end result.........the wire is hooked up to the throttle bracket and, also to the manifold bracket. I did make a throttle rod for the carb, but it wouldn't photo well so I'll be adding that somewhat towards the end of the build as it has to be connected to the bracket on the firewall. That's one of those details that'll have to wait until the chassis gets mated to the body and whatnot. I couldn't get a good bead on the spring so the photo is a bit blurry-----at least to my eyes............ You can now see the spring bracket, as well as the spring mounted into the carb's throttle. BTW, per RancheroSteve's suggestion, I did move the plug wires on the driver's side. Before I get too carried away with finishing up the engine, I wanted to make sure everything will fall under the cowl, so the hood will shut. I had to do some tweaking to the underside of the air cleaner, but I got it to sit low enough that the hood will shut. I still have some details to finish on the engine, but at least I know it will fit in the chassis well without any drama. ...........And here it is with the naked carb. I didn't forget the oil filter! I had on old R&D Unique white metal oil filter laying around in my parts box, so I'm going to put it to use here as it's my last one. Just some white primer over it, and there's a FRAM decal to put on it once it's mounted. Well fellas, that's it for now. I have no clue when the next update will be, but I will be working on this still in the meantime. I'm one that doesn't like to make one or two pic updates. This is just me, but I don't want my updates to become "Twitterized" or "Facebookized". I'm not into either one of those things and the too constant updates IMO become stale, and frankly I don't have the time to do so. Thanks for staying interested just the same, and at least by the next update, you'll see a completed engine as well as some chassis work.

OK! I'm tired of building for the day, and since I have something painted in the dehydrator, I figure I can try to get an update in before it's time for me to get to bed! Most of the engine is done now, and except for some details....I can start to look forward to working on the chassis now. I want to however bring you up to speed as to some of the other details I've done with it so far. One of the things I like to do to make things steady and sturdy is to pin things to whatever structure any one particular object will fit into. In this case, I wanted to pin the alternator as it will make for a better support for the PE brackets, as well as the later to be added fan belt. The alternator fan you see is a PE one from my parts bin. I set the alternator aside to let the epoxy fully dry, and turned my attention to the dipstick. A detail that's lacking in the kit, and I should add, is lacking in most kits on the market.......at least ones in 1/25 scale. Here, I took .020 brass rod and with a vice that I have, flattened the one end as well as I could. I want to represent the finger loop that you see on most dipsticks in 1:1 cars. The little cap below it was some plastic rod that was drilled with probably a #78 drill bit and, then sliced thin to represent the cap that would go over the dipstick tube. OK the end result sitting next to a penny........yes, that's a REAL penny! I didn't bother to flatten the whole thing as I won't be needing to check the oil at all! The dipstick tube was cut from some stainless steel tubing. I have no idea the size as I have a whole assortment left over from years ago from Machined Aluminum Specialties (M.A.S.). Later on I did paint the finger grip and cap the engine color. The tube was painted Ford blue to match the engine. You can now see the alternator and its brackets mounted minus the fan and the pulley for the time being. I had to take artistic license with the brackets as they're not quite like the 1:1........but since I was limited for space (and patience), I used what I had in my PE parts box. Those are tiny brass bolts from Scale Hardware that's holding things up. BTW, I may or may not mention the size of items I use here. Lot of the things I use are not always marked, or at the time I'm editing this, I've simply forgot. Most of the time I go with what "looks right" and I'm not always dependent on a particular size for a certain part or task. OK, I want to now move on to the coil. This was especially tricky for me, as I'm running out of room to place things. Once again I'm going to have to play around with where I'm going to mount this, and it won't necessarily be where most of the '67's coils were located. In this pic you can see that I've also pinned the coil with some .040 brass rod. I need some kind of strap to go around the coil. I was going to use some cat food can aluminum (nice and workable unlike the hobby brands), but this would end up breaking due to being handled too much, so I settled for brass. I cut a thin strip, to suit the size of the coil, and wrapped the strip around it to get a sense of where I would need to drill holes. I didn't want really shiny brass sticking out like a sore thumb on the engine, so I put the brass strip in a tiny bath of "Blacken It". A solution that darkens brass that can be picked up at a well stocked train shop. I could have painted the brass, but once again all of the handling would have worn off the paint. This way it looks a bit more realistic, and could be gloss coated a touch to spruce it up a bit. Here's the solution of "Blacken-It"............ Stayed tuned...............

Well, I'm home today from work since it's a holiday, so I'm trying to squeeze in as much build time as possible today. I've been checking in on the board from time to time (with my phone at my work table), but since time's at a premium for me during the week, putting together an update may or may not happen today. I have about 15-16 pics that I've taken since the last update-------but it takes time to crop, sort and edit the pics so that when I make a post here, it's as good as can be which to me is as important as the build itself. Updates will be few and far between due to my work schedule, and because of the way I do a post.........it can take me an hour or longer to compose something that's coherent and post worthy. So fellas be patient...........I'll try to get something together soon, but I can't promise anything.

Hmmm.......I dunno----I've been wary of Revell's plastic for the last ten years or so. If it were me, I'd put a barrier coat on it before applying any automotive paint over that. Forewarned is forearmed!

The Monaro (aka Pontiac GTO) was a really nice car when they intro'd it here back then, but GM dropped the ball (as usual) and didn't advertise and upgrade the car fast enough after the intro. The equally nice Commodore (aka Pontiac G8) is a car that I truly lust after, and as you said Bill-------they sound absolutely terrific on the road. Sadly, Pontiac is gone and all those cars with it. Chevy offers the SS now, which is nothing more than the G8 reborn-----but with a pricetag of $43,000+ I won't be getting one anytime soon!

I want to add also that it appears that GMS Customs on eBay has sold out of their Torinos! At $19.95 each and free shipping, that was a deal that couldn't be beat! He'll probably stock up on some more later, but as of now they appear to be gone. Glad mine is on its way!

Well, this is just my own personal observation--------the upper window line could stand to be a bit "straighter" and "higher", especially as it comes over the rear quarter window area. Also, Revell seems to have an aversion to getting window corners at a sharp angle. I'm noticing that the upper rear quarter window trim doesn't have the sharp angled corners per the 1:1. Someone did a buildup of an original AMT '70 Torino here a while back, and that's when I noticed the difference. Now this may be the pics, and I also need to dig out my Pro Modeler kit, but the body side creases could stand some sharpening up. They may be fine as is, but a few coats of paint, and they're going to fade away. The crease will be there, but not as sharp as it could be. Just my 2¢ worth and nothing more..............

I just ordered one of these also on eBay from GMS Customs. I'll probably keep my Pro-Modeler kit as it'll be interesting to compare the two while I'm building it. There are a couple other body changes I'd like to make comparing the model to the 1:1. Now when that will be is anyone's guess!

My thoughts on clearcoating.............. One does not need to clearcoat a paint job if the paint is a single stage solid color. There's enough hardener (enamel, lacquer, acrylic enamel) in the paint that IMO it makes clearcoating unnecessary. Conversely, metallics should almost always (there are exceptions) be clearcoated as trying to rub out and polish without doing so disturbs the metallic flakes lending to a swirled, mottled appearance. Here are some examples where I did and did not use clearcoat.......... No clearcoat on the following........ The above model has a very subtle metallic finish, so I was able to get away with just rubbing it out and polishing. Now here are a few pics of models that were clearcoated due to the metallic paint.............. As Bill mentioned, each builder has his or her own way of going about painting. I can only tell you what works for me. As far as burning through coats------I try to make sure that there are sufficient coats of paint to accommodate future rubbing out and polishing. Clearcoating is not always insurance against such a thing happening..............you can burn through the clearcoat as well. Hope this helps!

Bumping this topic........... John, I was so impressed by this review, that as soon as this kit turned up on eBay on a BIN-------I snatched it up! Yes, I do intend to build this one down the road.....I'll more than likely kitbash this one with the newer release '56 with some tweaking of the chassis to get it to fit. Thanks for the much needed info!

I'm not much into customs but that is gorgeous Jim! That's the perfect color choice for it as well!

That's a good point Tim, and considering what I now know of the original body, I can fix the body contours. I still would like the updated kit though as that IS a really nice kit in its own right, and one that from what I've heard builds up very nicely.

That would be interesting..............one can only ask to see if they would. In fact, I may call them Tuesday and ask 'em. I have the original Pro-Modeler kit of that car, and never noticed the body differences until Tim made his post. I like that car, but until I get into really building something, I sometimes never pay attention to those subtle details that can make or break a kit. If you remember, Revell DID replace many bodies of their ill shaped '69 Charger kit (roof shape was wrong). That was a different time though, and with budgets the way they are now, they might not be so inclined to do so this time around.

If you want something bad enough, you'll find a way to build it on your own.

Well there's not much of 1961 anything around these days! Back then and through the '60's and '70's they were just another car and, didn't have the following like they do now. The fact they are now 50+ years old makes them all the more desirable, as we'll most likely never see the likes of that kind of styling from GM again.

GM did some really neat things with their '61 offerings. While fins were on their way out (as opposed to those crazy '59's), they still managed to captured the essence of fins without going totally out of their minds. There's everything to like about this car------thin pillared "bubbletop" roofline, neatly blended in tailfins, nice sweeping windshield without that knee-knocking dogleg, etc. Too bad GM today follows a somewhat "me too" styling philosophy. Back then, they were on top of the world with styling and the world knew it.

Johnny Quest?? Wow, is that a long lost cartoon! I haven't seen that since I was a kid! I do remember that plane in the cartoon series and I'm surprised that there will be a kit of it! Cool stuff!

I'm absolutely in love with this one! That color is fantastic, and just the shade of blue that I want to paint mine someday!

As Bill mentioned, Google (and eBay Motors) are your friends when it comes to getting decent pics for interiors of particular cars. In a long ago started thread, I was working on a '59 Chevy Impala where I cut open the doors and had to make door jambs. It's quite a few pages long, but if you click here, this is where I get into cutting open the doors, and getting into details. Hope this helps!