MrObsessive

Right! The only 2 door car I could get in and out of comfortably when I was 330 lbs+ a number of years back! I sat in one at our local car show, and was pretty impressed how much room was inside for a smallish coupe. They're probably holding their value due to Pontiac now being defunct, and they were pretty much dismissed (at the time) for not being a "true" Pontiac. Holden is still a GM product despite being in Australia, and it was one of Pontiac's better offerings for the time. In fact, that was one of the cars that was supposed to be part of the "new" Pontiac. A restyled GTO for the American market, the G8 in sedan, wagon and an El Camino type sport ute, possibly a new Firebird, and there was to be a new gen Solstice at this point. There was to be no G5, no Vibe, no stupid G3, and of course no Aztec..........and IIRC, only the hotter G6 variants were to be offered. All this in limited build numbers. All scrubbed when Pontiac's death knell was rung.

Hi Tom! I've been doing fine.......VERY busy at work, so no time for building lately. Yes, China is pretty much the sole reason that Buick is still with us, otherwise they would have been on the chopping block as well. My main point with Pontiac is that GM had a pretty good plan to breath some life into them, but due to the bankruptcy among other things, those plans got the kibosh. GM always did things a bit too late which is typical of big corporations-----instead of doing this for Pontiac say back in the late '90's/early '00's, they waited until things got really bad for them, and decided "OH! Let's make Pontiac our high performance division with cars only exclusive to them........like Cadillac." But...........what did they give us?? The Aztec, the G5 (warmed over Cobalt), the Vibe (??), and there was another forgettable small car that they foisted on us which was a rebadged Daewoo.........can't remember the name of it which is just as well. A couple bright spots for sure.........the G6 wasn't a bad car at all especially the GTP versions, and then you had the Solstice, and then they came out lastly with one of my favorites-----the G8! But it was just too late for them, and now they're history.

The Aztec always reminded me of a design committee that couldn't quite make up its mind what it wanted this car/sport utility to be. The top half of the vehicle looks like one thing, and the bottom like something else. Like you said Harry, nothing flows together at all anywhere in the design. Interestingly enough, the Buick Rendezvous was based on the same platform/chassis as the Aztec, and yet the Buick IMO looks MUCH better! I honestly believe that the Aztec (along with other bad moves that Pontiac made) led to the divisions demise. There were some REALLY cool cars that would have been coming from Pontiac right around this time had they survived. Pontiac was to be GM's "niche" division offering only limited production high performance vehicles. I had even seen some of the future designs several years ago from what might have been. Pity GM didn't see fit to keep them alive.

Len, you might want to extend the fenders directly in front of the leading edge of the wheelwells. In fact, a second kit (for just the body) may come in handy here as you can take "slices" (maybe a 1/8" or so) out of the fenders on the spare body, and then use the main body's forward section to graft on to that one. That way you're keeping the original contour of the fenders as you're trying to copy the shape of the fenders per the 1:1. I'm definitely following this one as I've not seen anyone attempt this car before!

Still a gorgeous design after 50 years!!

Wow! That's a real bummer Rich! And that was lookin' real nice! I'm sure you'll get it back to the way you want it. One of the nicest colors I can remember seeing '58 Olds' painted was a color called "Heather". You can spot it on the color chart below courtesy of Auto Color Library............ Your Olds reminds me of the one my Uncle had back in the mid '60s. His was a 98 just like yours, but was triple white. White body, white top, and white interior. As a little kid, that car was a real beast to me seeing it! They're worth some HUGE BUCKS now as of course, that was a one year deal, and GM didn't make that many of them considering back in the day.

Oooh! C'mon Kevin-----give us a hint! Is it the Supreme like the one I have pictured, or is it the large window fastback ala the Johan kit/promo?

Mike that looks really good, and a lot more accurate! Until guys on the board here pointed it out, I would have never known the many issues that the body has as Fox bodied Mustangs are not my forte. As Jason mentioned, the fly in the ointment will be the front and rear glass. I would have a way to make them, but not everyone is skilled in working with acetate, or "molding" them out of PET. Keep up the excellent work!

YES!! That was my Driver's Ed Car! Particularly the Cutlass Supreme..........the one with the more formal roofline like this.......... And yes I agree------those were the best looking years of that body style IMO.

1) Was your introduction to modeling at home? Not exactly. I happened upon a hobby shop in a local mall one rainy Saturday. Years before in the late '60's, someone bought a model kit for me as a Christmas present...............I never even touched it. 2) From whom? The store owner...........He suggested some kits that I might be interested in. 3) What kind of models (cars, planes, trains, etc)? Cars! 4) What did the person who introduced you to modeling do for a living? He was the hobby shop owner. I don't know if he's still in the biz today or not, as the store closed up shop years ago. 5) How old were you? 16 or 17. 6) About what year was your introduction? 1978 when I was a senior in high school.

WOW! That's the first I heard of that Harry! Yes, as a kid in the '60's I can remember The Doors' music very well. My one complaint about today's music---------------why must all of the female singers sound so much alike?? They all have that wiggly-tickly kind of singing voice that makes me cringe whenever I hear it. Others sound like they're just plain constipated!

Funny you mention that! I was having a conversation with someone not long ago about the kinds of cars that were in the school parking lot circa 1977-78 when I was in high school. Back then '60's vintage Barracudas, Chevelles, 442's, Chargers, Torinos, etc----- were just another car and very common. Now they command BIG bucks especially the rarer big block versions. What do you see now?? Honda, Toyota, Geo, Nissan, Hyundai, etc------not that those are bad cars, they just don't get me excited compared to the stuff I used to see 35 years ago. Makes you wish there was such a thing as a time machine!

Yeah Bill, I originally bought it for $2500 in 1987, and the car had ZERO rust. The only drawback-----it was painted a very bright yellow (not the original color) which stood out mightily! I guess one advantage of that was the car wasn't likely to be stolen as everyone knew that was my car. Unfortunately, AMX's (especially the '68-'70 models) have really grown in value over the years, with pristine examples going for $40K+.

A 1969 AMX with the 4 speed and 390. It had a 3:54 rear end so it had some real get up and go, and a rather spooky top speed. I saw 120 once and still had more to go! I had to sell it when I was going to be stationed in Fort Jackson SC in '92, and I've regretted it ever since. Mine was an absolutely no options car------no power steering or brakes (drums on all fours!), no AC, it even had vacuum wipers! I thought those went by way of the dinosaur before '69! Believe it or not, I still know the VIN of the car, and even the plaque number on the dash which showed where it was in the production for '69.

Charlie the brand that I get that is sold here locally is Hain Pure Foods Safflower Oil Mayonnaise. Even though the dressing or mayonnaise may say "Olive Oil", or "Made with Olive OIl", read the label carefully as most if not all commercial brand stuff------the olive oil is near the end of the ingredient list. Most times you'll see that the primary ingredients (first four) contain that nasty soybean oil. As I mentioned, read up on what processed soy can do to men (estrogen producer), and you'll see why I mentioned that men with weight troubles (and women) should avoid that stuff at all costs! Canola oil can be problematic as well------especially the highly processed canola beans, as it's been shown to actually increase fat storage in people and not help shed it.

Hey! Safflower oil mayonnaise! It's the only kind I use as I hate and won't eat the soybean oil laden stuff! What processed soy can do to folks with weight problems (especially men), can make your hair stand on end.

Yes, back in 2005 when the Revell Mustang came out (and Corvette too) there were howls of protest of how the plastic was crazing much easier than ever before. The subject came up on another board at the time, and it was said that Revell couldn't duplicate the problem. I suspect that they were not using automotive primers and paints as most of us were using, but regular hobby paints, so that was their "out". When I started to build my '06 Magnum and '05 Mustang years ago, I strongly urged fellas to start putting a barrier coat on the bare plastic, either using Future (Pledge with Future Shine) or BIN Zinnser sealer. In fact, I still strongly advise that now. I recently built the '03 Dodge Viper, and I used BIN on it and had no problem whatsoever. Kits cost too much these days to get ruined by bad paint........not to mention the time wasted (and cost) of stripping the body and starting over. I didn't know and hadn't heard the Chinese story on this about the racetrack, but considering the time frame of when this was going on, it doesn't surprise me a bit.

Excellent advice John! Back in '09 around this time, I was at my heaviest ever at 330 lbs. One morning I was getting things together and had this strange sensation in my feet-----particularly my left foot on the left side. There was a slight numbness there that I hadn't noticed before. I decided right then and there that I needed to do something and right away! I cut out all the fast food I was eating, stopped frying everything I ate, and started working out (again). At the time I was wearing a size 50 in pants and 3XL shirts (and was bursting out of those). I'm now down to around 242 lbs as of this morning and I'm 6' 3". I can get in to a size 38-40 and a regular XL shirt. My foot troubles have since gone away, and my blood pressure and blood sugar are normal. I did this without any crash dieting, or crazy pills that are out there..........just a determination to NOT come down with diabetes which unfortunately runs very rampant on both sides of my family. Every day I have to watch what I eat and when, but I do allow myself a weekly "cheat day" which I'll indulge in certain things for part of the day-------and then the next day it's back to normal. You're right in that it's definitely a lifestyle change, and not just a fad that one goes through and you're done. I'm a firm believer that certain body types have to watch certain things they eat more than others. Now I'm not a dietician by any means.........but I know that since my weight likes to gain first on my lower back and belly, I have to stay away from insulin spiking foods such as wheat, corn (and their byproducts), dairy, and of course super sugary stuff. It's not always fun, but as you mentioned---we're not getting any younger (I'll be 52 in October), but it's certainly worth it for the health benefits that taking care of yourself yields.

Mike for the ball end of the antenna, you can use a very tiny drop of epoxy, and then when it's thoroughly dry, paint it silver. I like my epoxy to "set up" a bit. Put it on too soon, and it can tend to "droop" over the end. It doesn't show up well, but you can see the top of the antennas on the '49 Merc and Turbine car that I did. Also there's a pic of what I used for the base on the Mercury. Yes, I used guitar string, but I also used M.A.S.'s stainless steel tubing to represent the telescoping feature of most antennas. Hope this helps!

Michael's and other similar Arts and Crafts stores sell something called "cake decorating foil" which looks exactly like that. It comes on a roll (like tin foil) and comes in gold and silver. I have a roll of the gold as I want to duplicate (and correct) the side trim of RC2's woefully inaccurate '58 Plymouth, as its side trim pattern was quite similar. That is when I can get some of my other projects done!

I want to try Túlio's tutorial on my '59 Chevy eventually. I'd like to use a heat gun instead of a mini torch however.

Spoon test, Spoon test, Spoon test! Get yourself some plastic spoons (they're styrene), and do a thorough test before putting paint on your pet project! This will save you a lot of grief from any surprises in case the paint does anything funny on the spoons. I can't stress this enough!

You could always cut the gas tank out, paint it, and then reattach it where it once was. I've done this in the past where getting a clean paint separation would have been impossible. Of course, you might have to do some touch up work on the surrounding frame rails and maybe the gas tank, but that's an easy putty and scrap plastic job. As far as your paint question.......check out the myriad of color samples that Alclad produces. Somewhere there's bound to be the galvanized steel.

Very, Very Nice!! I remember those land yachts quite well when they were new! I was in high school back then and do remember seeing a number of them in that exact color combo.

Alclad is definitely for airbrush users! You won't be happy with the results trying to brush it on!