MrObsessive

Back when that kit was new there were a LOT of complaints among builders about Trumpeter's satin finish "chrome" as opposed to the mirror like finish you would expect. Maybe this was caught midstream and they added the extra tree? Or perhaps the store that had it opened the kit up, added the extra chrome and then resealed it? I'm not sure............

I looked at doing that Mike with the kit I have, but the problem is not just the length of the roof, it also has a strange inward taper starting at about the mid-part of the roof and working your way back. It's very noticeable (to me) especially when looking at the model from the top. As far as trashing a Revell '59 or '60 kit you could always turn them into four door hardtops-------or in the case of the '60, make a convertible out of it and beat Revell to it!

This one! I can't remember the last time I saw a Karmann Ghia on the road! This was parked at the local supermarket which I'm there just about every week, but this is the first I've seen it. It looks very clean and, I'd say it's a '73 or '74 vintage? These were EVERYWHERE when I was a kid, but most have disappeared from the streets.

One reason you'll see the convertibles not go for much money on eBay (or not sell at all) and, the coupes go for sometimes BIG $$$$! I had a coupe that I sold on the 'Bay and it went for well over $100. I've also wondered how did they get the windshield and roof height on the coupe dead on accurate, but be so way off on the convertible??

Emmanuel, that is one gorgeous '60! The roof swap makes that looks worlds better and, is not that hard of a job to do if one takes their time. Those Trumpeter kits can be made into nice show pieces if one does their homework and tweaks a few things here and there. I've got two of those and, one of my "someday" projects is to take one of them and transplant The Modelhaus's 1959-60 "flattop" resin roof sections on it and, make it a Vista four door hardtop.

1959

That was a great story! I love the lines of that car, and I can remember as a kid when hardtop wagons were fairly common. Now I have to look at soulless minivans and their ilk littering the road.

I have the '62 Bel Air (several kits), and it looks as though AMT kicked up the beltline below the quarter window ever so slightly to meet the base of the C pillar, where there should be a little kick up as you mentioned John. In fact, that was a "signature" feature of all those '61 B-Body bubbletops (only Chevy continued this in '62). The C bodies had a similar roofline, but with sharp edge corners and I believe a slightly longer roof than the B bodies. Yeah, I too hope that Moebius gets this feature correct on their '61 Pontiacs..............that's one of my favorite year Ponchos of the '60's (and also a birth year car! ).

Very sharp T-Bird Alan.........I LOVE those colors! Your bumpers look good done in the Spaz Stix......I have that paint but could never get it to come out right. I guess it takes some practice to make it appear well.

John, I couldn't have said it better myself-----I've had this position for years! Very good modification of the door sill and, with some .010 x.020" (or thereabouts) styrene strips, this should handle the beltline trim. In answer to JB's question about the door cut line-------yeah, it might be a bit too curved on the model. Another easy fix however, especially for those of us that might cut open the doors!

Thanks for the pic Steve..........that certainly comes in handy! Now I have to make an adapter for the oil filter as that's non existent in the kit.

Thanks fellas about the wire info! Yeah, I did glue the wires to the head, but they wouldn't be hard to take out and, move them where the should be. As far as the flanges on the valve covers............weeeell, I may leave those alone as those ARE glued in with liquid cement, and may be a bit tough to take apart without causing damage. I may leave those as is. As far as the wires-------you learn something new every day!

Hmmm, that's interesting! I had made a vacuum advance unit but haven't yet attached it. Now a couple questions I have------was the HiPo engine standard in GT's? Would that be for all HiPo 1965-'67 289's? One of the engine pics posted on another page is a HiPo engine but it has the vacuum advance. Of course lots of things could be done to a "restored" car...........but I need to hear from you Mustang guys what was what.

Yeah, at least I've not run into any hangups................yet! No roadblocks that I've run into that would slow things down. The only slowdown is lack of time that I'd like to work on it.

It's been a slow couple weeks for me building wise for me. Between work (10+ hour days) and just life getting in the way, some days it's hard to just have an hour or two just to build. Anyway, much of the past time has been spent working on the engine------namely the carburetor. As I mentioned in a previous post, I wanted something more that just that plain looking block of carb sitting on top of the engine. While it's true that there will be an air cleaner covering up the engine, there's something to be said for that "gotcha factor" when the air cleaner is off and, one can see a fairly detailed carb sitting there on the engine. So here's where I've got so far with all of this.............. I cobbled together the small tower for the choked plate (non functioning of course), and this was done by simply cutting out some brass plate, making a semi-circle and soldering it. I did flow some epoxy around the tower somewhat to fill in the empty spaces. Here's the choke itself--------using some very tiny rivets from Scale Hardware, I made a support for the choke barrel. Here you see it now attached to the side of the carb............. Here is pretty much the completed carb sitting on my finger. I added some HO scale Grandt Line plastic bolts to spruce up the looks a bit, and drilled some holes for the vacuum advance and fuel line. You can also see part of the PE throttle linkage bracket attached. I want to also add the four brass studs that are present on the 1:1 carb. I have to test fit this in the engine bay all the while to ensure that the hood will close once the air cleaner is on. OK, this engine needs some pulleys for the belts! I cut away the way too thick belts from the pulleys and started to carve a groove. This was relatively easy as the pulleys are rather thick, and with a "V" file, I was able to carve the grooves in three of the pulleys. All done-----just a matter of attaching them and painting them up. You can see the size of them relative to the real penny. Now I have PE alternator brackets attached..........the hassle is getting the alternator attached to it! That's pretty much it for now! Hopefully for a little bit this evening I can get some more done. With being gone from home 12 or so hours at a clip--------those of you who have to work long hours can relate. There just aren't enough hours in the day sometimes to get it all done.. Thanks for tuning in!

You can use Isopropyl Alcohol to reduce the BIN. At least that's what I used to thin mine down with no issues. I do recommend using an older airbrush if you have one. I use my tried and true Badger Crescendo for jobs like this. It's not an outright necessity for an old airbrush------I just don't want to use my nice and fairly new Badger Patriot!

It's not just the grille, it's the entire front end that never looked right to me. In fact, I remember a thread started by someone years ago talking about this very thing. I'll see if I can dig it up. For most, this is no big deal. But for me, it changes the character of the car compared to the 1:1. I can remember this car when it was new, and during my high school days (mid/late '70's), you practically tripped over them as they were everywhere. Edit: Ok if you click here, there's a thread from back in '07 talking about the Boss 429. Now I don't mean to hijack the thread Jeremy-------indeed if you paint the grille and whatnot properly it'll look nice.

I just won one of those kits (the original '81 issue) on the 'Bay the other day! I wanted to replace the one I lost in a flood several years ago, and if I ever get around to building it, I've got to do something with that front end! Something about those headlights and grille that's bugged me for many years now!

While some fellas have had success with no crazing using Plastikote and whatnot, I'd strongly advise using a barrier coat before applying any paint on today's bare plastic. As Bill mentioned the older kits withstood a lot of harsh paints without crazing, but if you're building anything molded after 2004 or so, you're asking for trouble if you're not using a barrier coat. I like Future for smaller parts, and while I use to use this for bodies, this is my go to barrier coat for those................ This has to be applied using an airbrush, but I've painted the model below in really hot automotive paint from the local paint jobber, and there's not a crazing section to be seen. Ever since there were howls of protest about 10 years or so ago when Revell came out with the then new 2005 Mustang kit (and '06 Dodge Magnum Wagon) due to crazing, I've been a big believer in barrier coats for all paint jobs on new kits. Interesting enough, I remember Revell saying that they couldn't duplicate the problem with the complaints they were getting. I saw for myself however folks' models looking pretty bad from crazing when years earlier that was not a problem except for the very hottest of paints. Just the appearance of today's plastic to what was molded in the '90's, one can see the difference. The plastic has a "soft" feel to it, and is obviously not as dense as in years past. Hope this helps!

John, for a realistic appearance, you should make some kind of channel for the window. Even for models that there are no opening doors, one should make a channel as the "right up against the door" look of the door panel just doesn't look right to me. I'd would do the same for the C pillar as well especially if it's a hardtop. A number of models I've seen while nice, suffer from the roofline pillars appearing too thin due to this lack of detail. In the May/June '14 issue of Model Cars, I did write an article on not just how to do roll up windows, but also how to add the window channel detail. Hope this helps!

Len I would use the Monogram kit (I have an unbuilt original), since I'd want to keep the same scale (1/24). Although, once again I'd probably get another AMT kit for its windshield (I can "stretch" it), and other little bits and pieces. Of course, the Curtice car would need some extensive bodywork for its nose, trunk fin, and side cove area.

That's the exact box art I have Bill. I did raid the 1/16 '64½ Mustang kit for its wide whitewalls. Something that should be in the MPC '57 kit (but isn't), and something that shouldn't be in the '64½ Mustang kit (but is).

Some thoughts............. I have the 1/16 MPC kit, and while it's very nice------one area that's always bugged me is the front end. It seems that the turn signals are too low as there's just too much real estate between the bottom of the headlights, and the top of the turn signals. Now I built my '57 Corvette back in 2002, and while it was based on the Monogram '57, I actually used parts from the AMT kit as well as there were certain things about the Monogram kit that didn't seem right. One is the windshield frame----it's too wide, and doesn't have the right "swoop" compared to the AMT kit. I also used the taillights and bezels out of the AMT kit as those appeared more correct to my eyes, and the bodywork was reshaped in the rear to suit the differences in scale. Another HUGE error for me was the shape of Monogram's hardtop in the kit. It's too short and too wide. I reshaped it pretty much from front to back, and hindsight being 20/20, there are a couple things that I would tweak a bit differently if I were building this today. Having said that, each kit has its pluses and minuses------I simply combined the best aspects between the two, and went from there. Here are a few pics................. If you'd like to check out the in progress pics from 2001-02, just click here. Just my 2¢

MV lenses are a great alternative for headlight replacement. When I was building my '69 Daytona Charger years ago, and I wanted working headlight doors, MV lenses came to the rescue. We have a local train shop just south of me in Gettysburg, PA called Tommy Gilbert's. Tommy has just about every size and color imaginable of MV lenses. Purists though might not like how the lenses don't have the grid that regular headlights have. But for those projects that you may not want to raid other kits for its headlights, MV's are the way to go.

Luc, I believe it is! I remember when that car was intro'd in the fall of '76-----I was in high school at the time and my buddies and I were BLOWN AWAY by how that car looked! It was a HUGE departure from what the T-Bird had been for years. No more super huge overhangs and dopey opera windows! And yes, I'd love to see this car kitted-------lowrider or not. This is one of my favorite cars of the '70's along with the new for '77 Lincoln Continental Mark V.