oldcarfan

I understand the MPC 1979 Pinto wagon will be reissued sometime this year. I plan on building a plain wagon and maybe a full on custom panel van as well. Does anyone know if a conversion kit is planned to either backdate it to the early small bumper version or even it there might be a hatchback conversion? Also decals to do some of these would be nice too! I for sure have one in mind kind of like the ratty one in the picture below, using the Fireball models 13 inch Minilites and wheels as a definite project.

My model era was mostly the mid to late 70s, so I missed all the great annual AMT kits of the 60s. By the late 70s, AMTs new kits from the Lesney era seemed pretty poor to me. I did get the MPC annuals though, so that was cool. Revell's kits were pretty advanced for me. I bought Revell's 29 A Pickup, the orange one, from Woolworth's with my birthday money when I was about 10 and resolved the fiddly little suspension parts issue with copious amounts of Testors tube glue.

Another home run. Also, I googled your city. It looks like a beautiful place!

I loved driving these little time bombs when I was in Italy. The kit is a 1/24th scale Autobianchi A112 made by Fujimi. It is amazing how tiny this car is. I thought at first it was a 1/32 scale kit, but no! It would almost fit in the bed of a standard American pickup. I bought the kit a long time ago and did a decent job I thought. Time was not kind to it however. The paint had gotten badly damaged, so I stripped and repainted it, and the tires were severely cracked. I couldn't even get the tires off without them coming apart, so I brushed thick acrylic paint into the cracks to help cover them. I learned a few lessons on this rebuild, such as Sharpie ink does not come off of fresh paint, no matter what you try. Over all, I am happy with it for now.

I have a few built and many that are unbuilt. Here are a couple that I have photos of, a recent build of their 70s issue Porsche 924 and a stock and rodded version of the 40 Ford truck.

Sounds like a good idea! I want to build one as a stock pickup and then maybe another as a road racing style one, kind of like a pickup version of Paul Newman's racing 280Z.

BMF works for me as well. I just put it on and use either a red, yellow or orange Sharpie depending...

I found an unbuilt Datsun 620 that I am working on and now I am thinking about building a 720 as well. I have been looking at them online and notice they both have the same style fender flares. That made me wonder if one is just a rebox of the other. Could it be? Also can either be built as stock or are the flares molded in? Any have experience or recommendations?

I really would love to see the rest of the malaise era MPC kits re-released, I am a big fan of their old kits, warts and all. It would be nice to see the stock reissue of the Datsun pickup as well as the monster truck. I understand the Pinto wagon is also coming out. I'll have to have a few of those. I could really use some Volares, Chevettes and Monzas to go with the stock Mustang IIs, and the last reissue of the Caprice in storage already. Now if I could only convince them to start back-dating them every little while. Start with a release of the most recent version, say1979, then a while later redo it into the 1976 and then the 1973 or whatever.

Really good job, love the color combination!

Spaceman Spiff would be proud to own it!

I really like your style! This is going to be great.

I saw a restored Mustang II with classic license plates on the highway in front of me.

It's bright white paint. I have an old, I mean 25 years, bottle of Novus. I just checked and it is still good. It is taking some of it off. I just found some sanding sheets so I'll give that a try too. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, I'll have to look into it. It looks like some of the stuff is out of stock. Hope he'll have more!

I could really use some help. I've used Sharpies for detailing for a while without a slip, but guess what? If you sneeze, while using it, you end up with a nasty mark on your nice fresh paint. I have tried regular household cleaners, rubbing alcohol and such. I thought about thinner, but that will attack the paint most likely. Any ideas on something that will remove it and not disturb Dupli-Color paint? Do I have to strip the paint and just start over? Its not in a place where I can just patch it and go. Thanks for any guidance.

I just came from the C1 Models website http://www.c1-models.com and wonder if anyone can either yay or nay them? They have some really nice things. Are they dependable? I've not ordered from an out of the US company before. How is the order process? I didn't see an order from us tab.

You have inspired me. I remembered a similar 1972 Corolla that I have. I bought it 20 years ago to make a model of my first new to me car. I'm going to dig it out and see if I can do something with it.

I have this same kit sitting in its box. I'll be watching to see what you do with it. Enjoy!

Sorry about the slant six, I was thinking of one for a base model, not an AAR.

For trucks: The Revell 50 Ford F1 into a 52 F1 shouldn't be too hard. The AMT 55 Chevy truck would be a nice 55 GMC. The Monogram 40 Ford truck and the Revell 29 truck would be nice with the stock parts back in them. Monogram's 77 GMC would make a nice Jaws Blazer. The Chevy Rescue Van would be nice with the window option again and the Dodge Van could be backdated to the original 73ish version, ideally with the window option again. Maybe some TV tie-ins: Pretty much any mid to late 60s Chevy Camaro and Belairs. They were used in Bewitched. I think I Dream of Jeannie used Pontiacs. A stock non-T/A Firebird and the Monogram 77 Chevy or GMC stepside could be a Rockford father and son set. The S/H Torino could be cool with one of the Revell NASCAR chassis under it. If they did the Mercury variant it could be David Pearson's 76 Daytona winner.

Nice looking! The only thing you could add for accuracy sake is a puddle of transmission fluid under it. My parent's Oddysey is currently on its 3rd tranny. Apparently that is a regular thing for these vehicles. Rueful Lol.

And a slant six! Lol

Probably not a good idea for a model company to take advice from me, but here goes nonetheless! One easy conversion would be to get a 1974-6 Mercury Montego from the S/H kit, as there were only minor deviations from the Gran Torino. It would fit right in for a generic 70s era detective car. Another option might be a Gran Torino Elite or even a mid 70s Thunderbird or Cougar. I'm not sure how popular those would be, however. Of course I'm always up for a Ranchero and a wagon, of any year and since the chassis is already there, I wouldn't say no to a 1972 Gran Torino of any body style. From the 1991 Ford F-250 I could see an F-150. That would pretty much be just a matter of suspension and wheel changes. A 300 inch six for it would be cool, too. Also how about a nice O.J. Bronco from the AMT F-150? The chassis from the 1977(?) Monte Carlo from a few years ago, could probably yield a 1974 Chevelle, Cutlass, etc. One of the various Bandit Trans Ams that have come out could be turned into a base model Rockford style Firebird. It would also be nice to see a 1976 or so chrome bumper Z/28 Camaro and maybe even a lower level Berlinetta from this as well. I just bought a 27 T roadster body from Flintstone, but I would love to see a styrene version based on the 29, maybe a Bonneville style rather than the more modern hot rod style.

These old Japanese cars make really cool rat-style cruisers. Yours is really looking good!