MrObsessive

Hi Ted! 8) Welcome to the board! Looking at the test shot which I was able to pick up and examine...............it does have the stock wheel covers and what looked to be a stock interior. Don't know about the fender skirts though............. Hopefully Revell doesn't slip us a red herring and change up on us but it looks to be a 2'n'1 kit.

Good to see you again Miguel! As I was telling you at the show.........I'll see how the finances (and vacation time) go towards the end of the year. I REALLY want to get back down there again! Talk to ya later!

Bill's work IS outstanding!! I have the fortune of being in the same club as him (MAMA) and I get to see these in person! His work is seamless...............nary a parting line or bodywork flaw can be found! 8)

Sigh..............That food sure looks good! The models there are pretty slick! Would love to get back down there..........hopefully for the NNL this fall, gotta see how the money goes. One question..........Who makes that Stingray racer??? :shock:

Good to see you again too Billy! You had some really cool builds there! As usual I had a good time talking with your Mom.................hope to see you all again next year!

It was great meeting you at the show Andy! Glad you had a good time! Keep us posted about that Firebird III!

Wow, I missed this one yesterday!! There was soooooooo much there! 8) Very, very nice Randy! I'd like to see Chevy offer this color come '09/'10 for the 1:1!

Very slick!! I LOVE that color!

Hey Larry this is a shot in the dark since I haven't used HOK paints............Why not try using acetone? Acetone can be picked up cheap at your local hardware store, and it's what I use to thin and clean up Alclad paints which is pretty hot stuff. I also use it to thin acrylic enamels when needed. Lacquer thinner may work also, but it doesn't seem to "wash" as well as acetone. It's worth a shot! :wink:

Looking at the separation lines in the chrome, it looks like it will be on chrome trees. If I get to building one, I would strip the chrome with Easy-Off.....and then attach it before I painted the body. If it breaks while removing it off the tree, you could always piece it in on the body and fill it in as needed. Once everything is all polished out, then BMF the chrome to keep everything consistent.

Sometimes I wish I did! I took them at NNL East yesterday............there was a nice display there and Ed Sexton of Revell was there to talk with us and answer questions. I didn't take close up pics of the Camaro as it's pretty much the same as the current RC2 kit........but it's a bit better IMO (especially the wheels). I just don't get too excited about '49 Mercs which was there as a test shot although I'll probably buy one.

Here's another Chevy that looks to be right on the money! While I'll be curious to compare this one to AMT's evergreen '58.............2007 tooling makes this one up to the minute. It looks as though the trunk opens on it------that's good 'cuz it'll save me some work! :mrgreen: I see no probs with the body shape here............everything looks to be proportioned the way it should. Get your sharp exacto blades ready for this one! That's an awful lot of chrome as I can attest to! :wink: Stance appears correct as far as a test shot goes and the tires have the period correct www's..........I also like the optional spinners on the hubcaps. Looks like I'll be doing another '58 down the road!

Here are some pics of Revell's long awaited '55 Chevy Belair hardtop test shot. The hardtop shape looks excellent to my eyes and IIRC will have the stock parts like their convertible kits. The rear wheels appear to have bigger offsets than the fronts...........while I won't build my model with those wheels I do have some models in mind that would look great with those wheels and tires! I thought I took a pic of a side profile shot but I guess I forgot........:oops: I want to give thanks while I'm at it to Ed Sexton for letting me pick up the models and letting me take these pics other than the far away angle that don't show much. These should be good sellers as the original convertible kits that these are based on were great kits on their own..............Having a companion hardtop now to go along with it is icing on the cake!

I agree Darin.................I don't think he was being apathetic on his part, I'm talking more about the folks behind the scenes that are doing the tooling to begin with. As Bob said, there are thousands of pics and tons of reference out there to get this body right. However, he's the one that's facing the modeling public since he's the one at the shows. If I were in his position and had some clout, I would NOT put this thing on the market and have yet another black mark on the same kit. They've done this before with the redone roofline on the Pro Modeler '69 Charger when its roof was tooled wrong on the first go round. It would make things in an uproar, but they have to know that the kit was not done right the first time (thus the attempted "rework") and would want to save themselves the embarassment of doing it wrong again. Not to put words in his mouth, but I was also talking to Larry Greenberg and was telling him about the kit. Larry said that he would take a look at it as he said that he included the original in an article he wrote about kits that "terribly missed the mark". (The exact name of the article escapes me :oops:) This was written years ago in SA and he had some unfavorable (but accurate) things to say about the first AAR 'Cuda. I don't know if he got a chance to see the reworked body, but if he's reading this, maybe he can chime in on what he thinks of it now. :shock: Edit: Larry you read my mind!

Okay, everyone noticed pretty much the same things.................The rear fenders are arched too high, and the C pillars don't "stretch back" far enough. From a distance it looks like they got it right, but when you get up close and personal as I tried to do..................you can see that's it's woefully inaccurate-----------again! :x The rear fenders look like they're also too rounded. The 1:1 that Dave shows in his pic-----the fenders are rather "blocky" from a side profile. But here's the thing that kinda got me tee'd off where I just stop taking pics............ When I approached Ed Sexton and told him that they missed the mark (and I was as polite as ever), he simply gave a half smile, shrugged his shoulders and said "Oh well.......!" Now those of you who read the "Rants and Raves" section may remember a long thread I posted about the model companies and how they seem to miss things that are obvious these days (body shape wise) as opposed to the "old days". If they're wondering why they're losing market share and us experienced builders get very ticked off, it's due to apathetic attitudes such as this one! When you're paying upward of 15 bucks for a new kit, you shouldn't have to dissect and reshape body panels that should have been designed and molded correctly in the first place. I'm not saying Ed is a bad guy, (he was very nice) but maybe there's some hope that if others saw the same thing as I did (and you guys too) and said something, that maybe they'll pull this turkey off the line and roast it! :x Hey Bob! No, I'm afraid it won't look better in person when you see it..................IMO it would have been better to start off with a completely new tool (ala the '69 Camaro) than to perfume and primp up this pig.

Okay guys and gals............here's a few pics of Revell's "new" '70 AAR 'Cuda kit test shot taken at NNL East today. You decide on this one...................I'm off to bed------it's been a looooong day! I'll add my 2¢ in the morning of what I think and what I was told. :?

I figured I have some time to post before I head off to bed............got to get up at 3:00 in the morning to head to "Joisey". Marcos Cruz is coming up from Maryland around 5 AM and then it's off to the biggest show on the east coast! I decided to try my latching door technique on this one after 7 years or so from the last time I tried this..............I'm a little worried that the door "catch" on the model won't last all the opening and closing it will see. It'll soon wear out and the doors won't stay shut properly. These are two standard size watch pins........you can get these at your jewelers, or I went to Wally World and told the lady what I needed 'em for and she gave them to me. Here's a pic of the passenger's side door with the molded in catch. It's just a little stem sticking out. And here's what the stem "locks" into. I remember this feature also being a problem area with the one I built years ago...................It just would NOT stay closed! I took a #61 drill bit and drilled a hole into the door jamb as to where I want the watch pin to come out of. Since the drill bit was the largest I have at the moment, I made the hole a bit larger with a diamond file. You don't want to overdo this as you'll see too much of the inside of the body when the door is open! Okay, now I want to make a mark on the door where the point of the watch pin will go..................You want to shut the door completely, and with a pencil or some other sharp object, go through the hole you made in the body door jamb and make a mark on the door jamb itself. Now we want to make a support for the watch pin. Using some square rod........(I have no idea the dimension), make your support so that the pin will go through the hole without binding. You want to make the holes in your support just tight enough that the pin has quite enough friction to hold it's own without too much back and forth movement. And here's a pic illustrating how the pin should look when its in place.......... I'll still be able to move the pin out for painting the body. The above pic shows the general location of the pin..................it's a little too far forward, but it'll be adjusted to catch the door in final assembly. When you drill your hole in the door jamb you don't want to drill all the way through! What you'll get is a locked door when you shut it that a stick of dynamite might not open! Drill it far enough that you can see the pin go in and you'll hear a little "click". Note how I made a slight "trough" for the pin to be guided towards the hole as the door is shutting. There'll be no working door handles to unlatch the door.........a gentle tug on the upper part of the door will be all that's needed to open it up. :wink: I'll also scratchbuild striker plates to dress up the inside of the doors a bit. When you get to the point of aligning the doors and getting the pin to catch, that's where trial and error and your patience will come in! :shock: At one point the rear of the door closes too high, and the next time a little too low where the trim doesn't line up. You may have to fill and redrill the holes a coupla 3 times until you get it to where you want it to be. I have the position I want it in for the time being.............I wish you could hear the little "click" and "clack" it makes when the door opens and shuts! If you're going to NNL East tomorrow, I'm taking what's done so far to the show. Next week I'll focus on latching the other side and doing some suspension and interior work. As I look at the instructions, I think I better build it in the sequence it recommends..............I need to trust my instincts here.............. :wink: Thanks for lookin'!

Mark you're killin' me! I have this kit right in my hobby room and I'm saving every page of this thread for "future reference". Really, this is gonna be another killer build!! Keep us posted!

Sigh..............:? Here are three '56's.......................... Looks like cowl vents on those '56's to me...........................................:? Will ya let him build it the way he sees fit???......................and no more hijacking his thread? This is my last response to you.............. Yeeeeeessssssssss! As I said............That's why the hardtop roof needed to be shorter................for the entire rear window to clear the wheelwells......................................................:? Pics courtesy of Dave Lindsay and eBay

Zeb, Randy has it correct................He's using part of the "tulip" panel from the Revell '55 convertible and the deck lid off of the '56. '55 and '56 2 door sedans and hardtops would have the same decklids. It was the tulip panel (the flat part you're talking about) that was longer on the hardtop because the roof on the hardtop was "shorter". This was so the rear windows could roll completely down as opposed to the 2 door sedans' windows that still had part of the rear window showing when down. In the '50's into the early '60's, GM hardtops were nothing more than convertibles with a metal roof tacked on. :shock: Keep up the good work Randy! That's one of those "forgotten" model kits for some reason :? Edit: '55-6 Chevy hardtops, Nomads, and convertible windshields were interchangeable between those models. The 2 and 4 door sedans and standard wagons rooflines and windshields were a bit taller.

Excellent work on all of them!! The Vdub stands out for me also! 8) Can't wait to see them in person at NNL East!

Ditto that! One of my favorite cars of the '80's when there weren't too many favorites to pick from. Somehow I like the notchback roofstyle with the GT nose better than the fastback roof that came for '86. It would have been nice if Pontiac could have did more with that car instead of killing it off so soon! Keep us posted!

They're nice because it gives you a positive location to place the dash. Johan probably did it this way because the model has opening doors, and there's no side panels to hold up the dash. In other detailed builds I have done, I had to take some square rod and run it underneath the cowl somewhat as a support for the dash. ---------Stay tuned for a couple days from now when I'll do a mini tutorial on latching doors with watch pins. I'm still building it up right now and I have the driver's side almost done. I'll try to have a post put up by Thursday so those who are going to the NNL East Saturday will get a sneak preview before seeing it in person :wink:

Excellent!! If you go to my Fotki page and look under "Models I have built", you'll see the albums for my 2005 Mustang GT and the '05 'Vette kits I did. Both were by Revell who seemed to have more of a problem with crazing plastic than the other manufacturers. I have step by step build up pics of how I used the Future. The threads for both buildups are somewhere here in the "Under the Workbench" section too...............I'm just being lazy right now to find the links for it! I just got home from work and dinner is a 'callin'!

Mark has it pretty much correct as to why Future is used for cases like that. I also have been using it lately on this "new" plastic from Revell which has been subject to crazing. Not everyone has been experiencing the crazing, but when it comes to painting I don't like to tempt fate so I like to barrier the plastic with Future before anything. The military guys have been using Future for years so its been in the modeling scene for quite some time. As far as fuel/brake lines it depends.................On the Turbine Car engine, I used various diameters of bead wire which can be picked up at any arts and crafts store. It gets kinda dull over time on the spool, so I fold some 400 grit sandpaper in half, and "comb" the wire to shine it up a bit before cutting the piece I need. I work with cables on the job, so I also have an endless supply of other types of wires and such to use. :wink: The linkages you've seen are tiny photoetched pieces from Detail Master. They take some patience to work with but add to the detail when put on correctly. Sometimes I'll scratchbuild my own brackets.............the brackets holding up the throttle roller was scratchbuilt using cut thin stainless steel sheet.