MrObsessive

I got 100%! Some of the Mopar cars nearly tripped me up though. I had to remember that '68 was the first year for side marker lights (all makes for that matter)...........'68's are round, '69's are square.

Wow! That's TERRIBLE Chris! One of the compelling reasons I've stayed single though! Glad you're through this drama..........as the others have said, it's great to move on and look at this as just a bitter memory.

I either open both doors or none. To me, having just one door open on a model makes it look unsymmetrical. You have to consider that your shut lines are not going to be consistent from one side to the other with one door open, and the other molded shut. Just my 2¢.

Sigh............I wish there was a plastic glue kit of this. I learned to drive in a '69 just like the model. Ours was burgundy with a black vinyl roof------man that car could get up and go! To my eyes (and memory), that roofline on the model looks dead on accurate to me. I just wish the price wasn't so dern high!

John, the roofline was one of those things that stuck out to me like a sore thumb! Having seen lots of these cars as a kid, I spotted right away that the windshield header was just too plain flat. Interesting that they got it right on the '60, so someone must have pointed that out to Revell. Unfortunately, Revell has some other kits out there that could stand a roofectomy............but I'll cross that bridge if I ever want to build those. As far as the rockers----I don't have the interior fully in place yet. In fact, that may be the reason that you see very little of the rockers hanging down as I'm not using the "platform" that's in the kit for the interior, That would have really interfered with the appearance of the opening doors, and how the door jambs should look when the doors are opened. I'll not be using the kit's glass as well, but will be molding my own------at least make a valiant effort to mold my own as cars like this scream out to have glass as distortion free as possible! That also may contribute to the finished models that you've seen sitting too high. Revell's glass is exceptionally thick at times, and this of course could lead to stance problems with the finished product. Thanks for asking!

Time for some updates! I finally got the engine bay done, and now have moved on to the interior. Here are a few pics to show what's been going on................ One of the things I did was to add battery cable terminals to the battery. These were made from solder, and they're mighty tiny! If I can carve out some time down the road, I'll do a how-to on how I make these. The cables came from some loose wire I had laying around, that appeared to be the correct diameter for what I wanted. One faux pas that I ran into was when I was trying to attach the negative cable, I made it too short and had to try again. The wire I used the next time is a slightly smaller diameter than what you see here. On '59 Chevy's (probably all of GM's '59's) the positive cable runs through two clamps that are on the passenger side inner fenders. I made these clamps from tiny strips of brass with holes drilled through them to accept 0.5mm sized rivets. These were then dipped in a solution called "Blacken It" which darkens and dulls brass to get rid of the "brassiness". This pic was taken however before the clamps were dipped............... OK, the finished engine bay............... Now that's done, it's time to turn some attention to the interior. So far I've just flocked the floor using red Embossing Powder which I picked up at Michael's. Too bad that most of this will get covered up by the seats and such.............but I'll know it's there. I'll probably need to extend back the carpeting a scooch so that it falls just under the rear seat when it's put in. Here's a pic BTW, of what the embossing powder looks like in its jar........... Well, that's it for the time being! I don't know if you know, but I now have a YouTube channel where if you'd like, you can watch me build this! For those interested, you can click on the link in my signature, or you can check out the latest video I did here. The video quality is not the best in the world-------hopefully down the road I can spend some money on a webcam that does macro quite well. But hey! YouTube doesn't charge anything for doing this, and I can be on the air as long as I'd like! I try to be on some evenings (I may be on this evening)............I may be on for as little as a half hour, to as long as maybe two hours. It depends! Thanks for following along...........hopefully more to add soon!

I second that! I don't lay a drop of paint on the body until I'm sure that the chassis/interior are going to fit with no trouble. At the same time, I try to find ways to get those in the body the easiest way, so there's as little fuss as possible when the body is all painted and polished up. Saves a lot of heart/headache later on!

Charlie, believe you me it was a TIGHT fit! I was a lot bigger then in the late '80's/early '90's, and it's the reason I was with them no more than a month or so. To me, the cars were just torture to drive! The other cab company I switched to had nice big Chevy Caprices, and while they weren't as economical, were MUCH more comfortable to drive, especially on out of town trips.

Yup! This was back in 1989 so the car was maybe an '85-'86. It was a four door, and we didn't get very many airport trips as it WAS just too small to carry any appreciable luggage. It was very good on gas however and that's what the owner of the company wanted. Cheap, economical taxis that didn't cost an arm and a leg to fix.

Welcome aboard Jason! Yeah, some of us on here are considered to be just a touch insane! Hope you'll post some of your WIP's when you're able!

The more I look at this, the more I like it! I was never a big fan of Chevettes.......in fact I got stuck with one for a very brief time when I was a cab driver back in the late '80's. That sure is a nice clean build! Those little cars must be mighty tough as I still see one occasionally from time to time. Speaking of that, I got a crazy but true Chevette story for you......... Back in the mid '80's, my cousin owned a four door '81. She really liked the car, but unfortunately knew nothing about taking car of it properly. One day she called me saying that the car wouldn't go over 55 MPH on the highway. I told her that it could be a couple things---------a clogged fuel filter, a fuel pump going bad, or the worst case------a compression leak in the engine. Well, a few days later she called me back, and she says that the Chevette was fixed. I asked her what was wrong with it, and she said that when she went to get a fill-up the serviceman checked the oil, and there was nothing showing on the dipstick. I said WHAT??? How in the heck did you drive to Grantville (a 20 mile round trip from Harrisburg PA), and then back without throwing a rod?? She said that once the fella put oil in it, the car ran with no problem after that! I had a lot of respect for Chevettes after that............

Thanks for the review Tim! Interesting that the box art on the side shows the convertible with the vent windows-----as you mentioned, those were dropped for the '69 convertibles and hardtops. They were still available on the two and four door post sedans though. I have the original '78 issue of this kit, but this one is so much nicer, I think I'll be spending some more money soon! Curtis it's hard to tell, but to my sight it looks the chrome trim is gone. It's an easy addition however.

That's a real sharp build you got going Rich! Your 1:1 reminds me of the one my Uncle owned back in the mid '70's except his was white. Frankly, I think the late '50's Mopars were the best looking cars on the road. Of course, styling is subjective, but Chrysler had the best integrated design with the fins, and the use of chrome. Too bad that sort of creativity and daring has been lost except for a few.

John, another excellent project you got goin' on! I hear you on sweatin' the details! Yesterday I was making battery terminals out of solder for the '59, and wouldn'tcha know it...........I made the one battery cable too short. I put it away and went to bed, probably won't tackle it again till Sunday. "Z" bar for the bell crank clutch mechanism?? My friend I'm about to pass the torch! You asked earlier if someone was going to do this car in "In-Violet"? That was the exact color I had in mind when I get around to building mine. I'm torn between this car, a '57 Chevy Cameo Pickup, or a '68 El Camino for my next long term project. Another possibility is a resto project on a beat up rare builtup which I've never tried before. Keep up the great work!

Thanks Dave!

I echo what Roger says........better to strip and place in the trim before painting, and then BMF it afterwards. I'm doing this with the '59 Impala, and to me it just looks better.......and more cohesive.

Forgive me if this has been covered before, but does Revell's Foose Edition '64 Impala include stock parts besides the Foose wheels and such? I'm thinking about buying this kit, but I already have the first edition one----------was just thinking of a future project.

:lol: Gorgeous build just the same! Excellent finish on that one!

Those wheels pictured above are more representative for a '67-'68 Shelby........notice the spokes. I have a pic of Norm's wheels here............. Also, here's a full on side shot of those wheels on a '66 Shelby.............. Hope this helps!

I have R&R's version. In fact, I did a mini review of the Olds a while back which can be seen here on Fotki. Not a bad kit, but like a lot of his stuff, will need some work to make really nice.

Last I knew, Norm Veber of Replica's and Miniatures makes those wheels which are specific to the '66, I have a set and they're quite nice. Norm doesn't have a website, and I don't have his address offhand at the moment. Someone out there I'm sure will post his info. Hope this helps!

Tom, it was featured in Matt Bacon's build of his Maserati 3500 GT which can be found here. I'm going to try a different tack than what he did------stay tuned for this down the road.

Mike, it's going to be Roman Red-------I originally thought about painting it white with a red interior, but after seeing a red one on eBay Motors, I knew mine had to be that color. That's a beautiful '59 you have pictured there........whatever happened to it?

Hmmm............that is a great question! The U-Joints are now pretty much set in stone------I didn't have any close-up pics showing any of GM's '59 U-Joint set up including the one I'm working on. I have seen transmission case castings where there was a parting line of sorts-----not a real defining parting line, but one could tell where the molds came together. The drive shaft in the kit had a heavy parting line which was a bear to get rid of----------the ones on the universal joints got overlooked though on my part. I'd imagine some U-Joints might have those parting lines since they are cast as opposed to being forged. That one is beyond me though as far as this era of car.

Thanks Mike! For the E-Brake lines, I used the shielding found inside coax cable (I've got a bunch of it since I work with cables), and this was wrapped around .015" dia. bead wire. I just simply kept pushing the coiling together to represent shielding. This was also the same shielding wire I used to make the return spring on the 348's throttle linkage. It's just thin enough to look in scale for springs and such. Thanks for asking!