MrObsessive

You ain't kiddin' Jon! The stylists went through the trouble of making a clean roofline and someone comes along and mucks it up with that terrifically ugly vinyl monstrosity!

I'll look at the diecast stuff from time to time as I like a very good, well proportioned one. Not much interests me this month though. The Dodge truck while not a bad kit at all, I never really cared for the looks of it compared to Chevy and Ford. That era Trans Am might be worth looking at. I don't care for the T-Tops though for that year. Although I'm sure it was patterned after the actual car, they look too much like an afterthought to me. I'd rather build it without 'em.

Terry it would, you just have to make sure the part of the hinge that's inside the body is fastened securely to the inner fender. The door would pivot on the retainer you have for it. Another caveat is to be careful that the hinge does not impede on dashboard placement and door jambs. This is where a LOT of test fitting and 'pre-working' comes in handy before you do any painting or putting in the interior. One thing I'm noticing about your body work.............if it were me building this, I make sure those A pillars are braced so that they'll be in the right location before all is said and done. In fact, I'd make provisions for building up your door jambs totally and get those pillars fastened now so that there's no damage to them before you get too far with the doors.

Ok.......back home for the time being. If you click here, this will take you to my Fotki page which has all the pics I took when I was building my '63 Turbine Car years ago. Start with pic #9 and take a look at the descriptions for each one. If there's anymore questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Sorry it took a bit to get back to you. I saw your comment overnight at work, but it was one of those nights where a lot was going wrong leaving no time to surf the board. Yes, I would add some plastic to the bottom of the window to shorten things up. Perhaps a scale inch or two? At the same time, I'd shorten the side windows just a teeny bit. The shape is very good---------they are trapezoidal like the 1:1. I'd like to do a '77 like the metallic red car I posted. That looks an awful lot like my Driver's Ed car that I had way back when that car was new. While the Salvino car isn't bad, there's some correcting that one would need too, but I'd sure like to have just the hood alone to make things easier. Yes, I agree. If you take a look at the red car you have in the background, its B pillar has the correct slant. Of course it's also a Johan and they were at the top of their game once upon a time when it came to body shape accuracy.

Yes. As Snake said, you'll need to sand the inside of the trailing edge of the front fender in order for the door to swing inside without binding/scraping. At the same time, it wouldn't hurt to also thin the trailing edges of the doors themselves. If you look at the door skin of a 1:1 car, it's thin sheet metal. Not a thick slab of metal that would be represented if this isn't done. I gotta leave the house for work soon, but when I'm at work later and if I have time, I can post some pics of WIP's that I did with models that I opened the doors.

Phillip, that definitely looks better! You're still working on it......those cars had sharp corners in the upper rear window. That's one of those things in my book that give a roofline an "attitude". Think GM 1959-'60 B body Bubbletop hardtops and opposed to 1961-'62. Sharp corners as opposed to rounded corners. A change I'd make........the rear window could maybe be a bit shorter. This'll also raise the lower part of the vinyl roof just above the beltline at the trailing edge of the doors----not quite level with it. I know------I notice subtle things too much! A complaint my Mom had of me when I was a kid. Also, don't forget to make the lower corners on the beltline at the trailing edge of the doors a bit more rounded. That's one detail that Revell forgot on the Monte Carlo, or at best sort of halfway attempted it. Keep up the good work!

Very sharp Randy! This is one you don't see on the roads anymore and built up kits are rarely seen now. I had this kit years ago, but when my place got flooded, it was among the casualties that got thrown out. I might grab another someday as I saw a very cool two seat version of this car years ago which was very nicely done.

Now THIS is an attention grabber! I mentioned in another thread that I didn't care for the car's looks at first, but I REALLY like this! I might just break down and grab one of these down the road now after seeing this BEAUTIFUL color!

I was a bit put off by the looks of this car at first, but now it's growing on me. Lookin' good so far Jonathan and you've had a run in with "Murphy's Law" unfortunately. I know that feeling and painting believe it or not is not one of my favorite things. I'd much rather be building things up and painting I like to leave for dead last if possible.

I really like where this is going Steve! You know me..........I would have made the skirts removable and "magnetized" them somehow! That's a good idea with the interior. I'm not a fan of tubs for interiors at all and when I was building my '49 Merc years ago, I cut out the sides and then reattached them later after they were painted. Keep up the (as usual) TERRIFIC work!

Yup!

AM or PM Dave?

Very nice and clean!

It's probably that quarter window shape that changes the appearance (for me). It's also interesting that there were several different shapes for that between the divisions. The Grand Prix had its own 1/4 window shape, then the Chevelle, Lemans and Century had its own shape (shared). Lots of variety back in those days.........something they don't do much anymore between the same type cars. Of course we're short two divisions now too. I think I've owned a car from every country that makes them (mainstream) in the world except France. Never a Citroen, Simca, or Peugeot among 'em. I've lost track of how many cars I've owned since the '70's!

Hmmm.........I dunno Earl.... Not meaning to sound too contrary, but here's a couple side shot pics of the Monte and the Cutlass. Maybe it's the way I'm seeing it but it looks to me that Chevy made the trailing part of the Monte's C pillar a bit more "formal", while the Cutlass seems to be leaned in a bit more. Now the rear side windows are definitely different as Patrick mentioned. The Cutlass has trapezoidal shaped windows while the Monte's are more parallel. I suppose it's in the eye of the beholder, but looking at the 1:1 roof and Revell's Monte, Revell's is definitely waaaay off. Interesting about the chassis too........don't its origins date back to the original '64 design? GM sure got a LOT of use out of that platform in that it was around till '96.

Interesting little back story about these cars. They were designed with anticipation of the new Federal rollover standards that GM got wind of in the early '70's when these cars were on the drawing board. Bill Mitchell came up with the "colonnade" style as a compromise between a true hardtop and a pillared sedan or coupe. While there is a "B" pillar in the car, it's styled so that it blends in with bodywork and not just a post stuck in the middle of the car. They designed the four doors too somewhat the same way. There was a center pillar, but it was not intrusive looking and the doors were still frameless lending to the nice clean look. Interesting though that GM would hang on to true four door hardtops through '76 (full size) and those cars (all divisions) are collectible now. Too bad there aren't true hardtops being made today. I've always liked the appearance of them better than a sedan and for me because I'm tall, I have better visibility out of them without that way too thick pillar blocking my peripheral vision. Especially in a four door since the doors are shorter and I need the seat as far back as possible!

It would be on the home page of the board. It's on the right hand side below where the model events are shown. Now that's for PC's.............phones and tablets might be different.

Ha! Great minds think alike as we posted at the same time! Yeah, Revell's cowl I always thought was a bit too high also for a Monte.....Johan got that shape closer to correct (as they usually do with body shapes). Actually, when I first saw the Revell Monte, other versions of those Colonnade coupes came to mind with that roof. Of course, the '76-'77 Cutlass...1976-'77 Buick Regal, 1973-'77 Pontiac Grand Prix. It's amazing that NONE of the kit manufacturers have ever touched any of those cars save for Johan with that Olds. Johan only did the 'fastback' style of the roof though and never any of the formal coupes.

If it were me doing this, I'd make some kind of pie cut in the rear part of the roof and lay the rear glass (and part of the C pillar) forward a bit towards the front of the car. The shape of the tulip panel is about the same with that familiar Bill Mitchell "W" shape it has, so you won't need too many mods there.

Why thanks Doug! I appreciate it!

John, I don't know if you remember my thread on Doug's engine, but here's the '58 Polyhead that I built using the parts that he sent.

EXCELLENT start Steve! We sure could use some GM 1973-77 A-bodies in the full glue kit lineup! One thing I'd like to point out if you may.........while the A-Body Monte and the Cutlass were built on pretty much the same platform, the rooflines are similar but have some differences. The Monte particularly in the rear part of the roof is a bit more upright and has a bit smaller 'opera' window. Here's a '76-'77 Cutlass Supreme.......... The back part of the roof has a bit more of a 'faster' angle than the Monte. You're actually doing a long time wanted project I've had rolling around in my mind for years now! I have about five or six of those Johan Olds.......I wanted to take the back part of the Monte roof after some mods and graft it on to the forward section of the Olds roof right at the B pillar. I'd like to do what was my Driver's Ed car in high school. A '77 Cutlass Supreme which was sort of a copper color with wheels like I have pictured. Keep up the good work as you just don't see these cars at all on the roads anymore.

I've been waiting for a regular scale, full glue kit of this for a loooong time! I have a decent 1/24 scale diecast which could be made super nice, but it has no up-top or soft top. As far as pics, unless they're on your hard disc, I don't know of another way to put them up. I copied the URL of this particular car from the link you gave, posted it here and it showed up.