MrObsessive

David, I'd need the '57 Chrysler 300C (basic body shell), the '58 Plymouth for the front clip and the '55 Nomad kit for the roof section. The Nomad can also give up part of its interior especially the rear. From those three I'd take it from there. I also have a '57 Buick Caballero wagon that's high on my list too. Just the body I have for that (a VERY good one), so everything else would have to be cobbled together to make a complete car.

CRUZ! My Bro that is lookin' waaaaay sharp!! LOVE the color and that stripe combo is VERY clever! ?

Wow! That Caddy (a '73 Eldorado) could be a real gem if fixed up and on the road! I hate to see what could be a potentially sharp car just rotting away like that. Not sure she'd get 20k out of that......MAYBE half that and that's if the car will even run. Restoration parts for those beasts are NOT cheap.

Hmmm...............VERY good and interesting WIP! I had no idea the front end on the kit (likewise with the coupe) was an issue. Thanks for pointing this out! I too get crazed over woefully wrong body lines and would probably do the same thing you did when it came time for me to build this. One interesting thing is AMT did get the rear fenders on this MUCH more correct than they did the coupe. If I did build the coupe, that would bug me enough to simply turn the four door back into a coupe with some rather in depth bodywork using both kits. Just drives me nuts when things to my eyes are way out of kilter. ? Keep up the great work!

Even by the start of the '60's, GM was already thinking "Psychedelic"!

Mark, thanks for showing how you did the body corrections for a 2+2! I've had a similar idea in mind..........I was going to someday swap roofs between the two (kinda like I did with my '59 Chevy Impala WIP), and rework the rear/front ends as needed. AMT REALLY missed the mark when they tried their hand at a 2+2 Catalina............so bad was the job they did that an article was penned by someone at SAE pointing out how TERRIBLE this kit was. I also happen to have the Prestige kit of the '65 Bonneville I got years ago and I did the same thing you did as soon as I saw the misshapen drivers side DLO. Reshaped the whole thing and put the body back in the box. Hopefully, it'll get a full build treatment someday, but I'd rather restore the MPC '66 I have which is not often seen these days. Ever since that kit debuted as an annual, that side window area was wonky. Someone had to have seen it years ago in the planning stages, but they decided to leave it as is for whatever reason. AMT's botched 2+2 Catalina attempt might have been more palatable if they fixed that but nope..........they decided to make a wonky kit that much more WONKIER. And yes, out of all of GM's '60's designs.........those 1965-'66 B Body two door hardtops are one of my favorites too. Used to see them all the time as a kid but of course, they've long disappeared off the roads.

That looks TERRIFIC Steve! MUCH better than the original kit! One of these days, I'll get around to restoring the convertible I have. I think I have all that's needed as far as parts to get started......it's just getting the time to squeeze that one in down the road.

Kurt, it might be your cowl/firewall height. I had that problem when I was building ROG's Jaguar XKSS turning into a D-Type. I had to shave some of the cowl down a bit to get the upper body and hood to sit better on the lower half. Keep in mind you'll have to watch the engine height due to those carbs. Perhaps the engine needs to sit a tad lower in the frame?

If the bumper was body colored (think Pontiac's "Endura" nose on GTO's and Grand Am's), it might not be so bad. As it is with all that chrome, it looks out of place.

All I'll say about this one is this is a car that I'm very SERIOUSLY considering building for the next GSL in '23. At least one of three that's in my top choice to build for that show. I'd need at least three kits to build it though. Don't want to give it away until this quiz is all over.

Thanks much for the heads up Bruce! Particularly engine/engine bay items I'd be interested in. Do you know if there will be separate bits and pieces for that and not just the whole set? I may call or drop Paul a line and ask him about that. Yeah, the price is kinda steep, but this will be another one of those "If you can get it, BUY it" deals. We all know how when something ends up discontinued, it very quickly ends up becoming unobtainium for those that wanted it. BTW, I found out via a newsletter that Agora is coming out with their '61 Jag E-Type convertible in September. BUT.............I did break down and get that 1/8 Shelby COBRA! Got the first four packs just a couple days ago. A thread coming up on that one in the not too distant future!

^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ What he said times 1000!! ?

Steve, I meant the solids should be kept "undisturbed" for a bit. I missed where he was using a metallic and yes.....you want to keep the flakes suspended in the paint before starting to spray. As I mentioned when I used Tamiya's paints in the past, I found the propellant out-gassing after decanting to be horrendous! Maybe it was just that particular can, but I do remember it happening more than once. It's why I just don't care for spray bombing anything except for a chassis or maybe an interior floor. Bodies I'd much rather airbrush as I have much more control over how and where the paint is applied.

To echo what Mark said, Tamiya paints (especially in the cans) are notorious for having IMO way too much propellant action in their cans for spraying. I get why they do that to keep paint flow consistent, but I wholly recommend doing what he said. Strip the paint thoroughly and then repaint. Yes, letting the can sit for a spell (maybe a 1/2 hour) till the propellant settles down is not a bad idea at all. I take it you're not familiar with airbrushing, but this is the chief reason I'll decant spray cans and airbrush them on my own. I don't trust cans (even Tamiya's) for painting bodies as I've had some rather bad issues with them in the long ago past. As I can see from my end, that looks an awful lot like trapped propellant which decided to gas out in bubbles after you did your paint coats. Hope this helps.....to be honest that's not one of my favorite things------repainting bodies. But, it's a necessary evil if you want the model to be painted and look nice when done. That Tamiya's 1/24 Lotus Europa kit which I have. It comes molded in white, but whether it's white plastic or not, I like to primer bodies as it gives it a much more "solid" appearance.

Kurt, this is turning out GREAT! I've seen this car before.........in 1/43rd scale models and I even thought about attempting this in this scale. VERY good bodywork and I'll certainly be tuning in!

WOW! I love seeing this kind of work! It's great that you're saving what's literally a SIXTY year old model. This model is as old as I am........Too bad people can't be fixed as easily with "piecing" us back together. Please keep up the EXCELLENT job!

Bruce that is looking really good! Something to definitely use for reference when I get to that point. ? I hear ya about building "under pressure'. I've had folks in the past ask me to build a whole kit for them and I've declined because I instantly see it as "work". Something you have to do when you don't want to instead of wanting to do it because you WANT to. I have to ask are your parts showing up on a regular basis now? Seems as though DeAgostini is back on the right track after getting sidelined because of "world events" last year. As I mentioned, I'm having a terrific issue with Eaglemoss and the 1/8 '55 Mercedes 300SL as I've not gotten regular shipments since June. They finally sent a part that was "out of stock" for months so I can get the chassis on four tires now. I haven't posted anything on it for the board yet because the shipping has been so dang spotty and there's not a heck of a lot to show yet.

Thanks for the heads up Rich! I had never thought about that until you mentioned it. Now I can't UNsee it. I have one of my police car kits to do just that........turn it into an LTD four door hardtop as I have the conversion pieces. Now that you've pointed out the differences, it would make my job that MUCH easier! This thread reminds me of a project I've had in mind for YEARS. I have one of Don and Carol's resin '70 Ford wagon transkits for one of my police car kits. Right before they shut things down, I got their LTD conversion to turn the wagon into a Town and Country. One thing though............I CANNOT stand the fake wood trim on those wagons! I love the look of the hidden headlights and such, but I was wondering could one order a LTD wagon back in those days WITHOUT that fake wood trim? It would be kinda neat to build one and have folks scratching their heads. ☺️

Mine won't have the "dipped in clearcoat" look. I just don't care for what seems to me excessive orange peel particularly where the light is shining down on it. Yeah, I'll leave the scuffing alone, but just in case there's a mishap (body part falls on the floor, or cat damage), I might pick up a touch-up amount of paint. I came across references online and it looks like Triumph had that color for their '63 models according to paint chips I saw. Looks very close to what the race cars used in '68 and '69. Thanks Bruce! I won't do the entire car (too many decals and such), except for those wide areas that jump out at me where the light hits it on the upside. I'm not going to get crazy detailed with this one.......seems as though this looks to be a bit more added engine wise than what they did with their Mustangs.

Wow! TERRIFIC job and what a neat little car! I built one of these (Nitto kit) a looooong time ago and I have the Tamiya kit, but for whatever reason I never touched it. I also have the HUGE 1/12 scale Doyusha kit that I need to tackle some day. Thanks for the heads up and the pitfalls to watch out for in case I ever get the ambition to build this. Here in the States, I've NEVER seen one of these in person.......I'm not sure as tiny as it is I'd be able to get in one!

Ok Fellas, this is just a tiny sneak peak here as I'm doing basically the same car as Brudda elsewhere on the board. As with my Shelby, this will be a VERY long WIP as parts will be coming to me on a subscription basis, well into next year. Looks like they've got some of the kinks worked out as far as shipping as I hadn't received anything for a couple months straight, but now it seems they're back on schedule. Of course, one thing that's a must do as far as this goes is rubbing out the paint, particularly in the topside of the bodywork. Just a bit too orange peeled for me and of course in my zeal, I rubbed through a very tiny spot near the spare tire compartment. I should have known better to tape that off first before rubbing things out. Here are a few pics............ The passenger's side front fender I was able to rub out as IMO the surface looked way too orange peeled for my tastes. Here's what happened next.......... As I was rubbing out the paint near the stripe, you can see the paint rubbed through a tiny bit. One question I have............does anyone know what color Ford called this by name? I can see if I can have it mixed or at worst, mix the paint on my own and try and touch up that spot. Interesting enough, DeAgostini wants you to download ALL the instructions now. That's all well and good, but there's something to be said by having a 3D copy of the instructions to use. I was able to download the PDF with no problem and I was able to have color copied the pages. However when it came to Packs 3 and 4, the file size was SO BIG, it would not go through to Staples via email to be printed and unfortunately, they don't allow thumbdrives or portable hard drives to be hooked up to transfer files. The best I can do is save them on my hard disc and look at the instructions off my laptop which I dislike. My table is cluttered enough. Here's a couple shots from the PDF......... That's all I've got for now.......on to rubbing out and polishing the rest of the front end and then move on to those carbs. Whether or not I'll add more detail along the way will remain to be seen. I'll have to dig through my pics and make a judgment and then I'm not all sure what DeAgostini gives you although I can see that it is a bit more detailed than what they did with the Mustang as far as the engine. Thanks fellas!

Just seeing this about Oscar. Back in the early '90's, I lived in Drums, PA (just above Hazleton) and I went to Oscar's shop a number of times in Scranton. VERY nice fellow and his hobby shop back then was AMAZING. From the outside you'd never know that this place had such gems in it as it was in a residential area and very unassuming. Once inside though, a modeler could literally spend HOURS looking at all the neat stuff he had and I remember buying a number of kits from him...........kits I'm sure I still have and haven't built yet. RIP Oscar.

Tommy, somewhere on the page there should be a link where you can drop him a line (go to his feedback). Maybe he can make an exception and send what you need? That could be the case that he had to drop international shipping for a time as Les mentioned.

Pleeeeaaaase don't use regular masking tape! That can create more havoc than it's worth. Ray suggested using Tamiya tape for masking and I wholeheartedly agree. I've done many a paint job and never had a problem with masking and paint peeling up. Here's a latest example where I just did a two-tone on this '55 Ford WIP. You want to also make sure your paint is thoroughly dry, but not leave the tape on excessively long. I believe I had the tape on mine for maybe overnight, pulled it off the next day with no problem. When pulling off your tape, pull the tape straight back........not straight up. Prior to color coat painting, I'd make sure you don't excessively handle your model when in primer. That's asking for trouble as you're bound to have oils from your skin (or other contaminants) get on the surface. Hope this all helps.

Tommy, I literally just got a set of gauge decals ('67 Coronet) from him the other day. I also happen to have his '57 VW Beetle trans kit which is absolutely EXCELLENT. ? If you check here, this is all the items he's got listed at the moment.