Drake69

Sorry guys, was just feeling a little exasperated over the whole thing. I did do an all-callout for assistance the moment I ran into trouble though... This was, of course, yesterday at like 2AM in the morning, so no one caught my callout. Had I checked more photos and stuff I would've plainly seen that the lights were wrong in every aspect, and then corrected them accordingly. As I am learning more and more about the muscle cars period, I'll rely less and less on instructions and more on research and instinct.

The other Charger I had built is an MPC Charger from the 80's. The only other Charger I have built since is the Round 2 Charger Daytona. Again, not the Revell one. Never mind. I don't see any way I'm going to convince any of you that I was trying to follow mistaken instructions TO THE LETTER (in this case, pictures). Unless you actually have this '69 Charger REVELL kit you won't understand.

There is NO WAY POSSIBLE those tails can go in backwards from that direction. Look how big they are from the inside (from my previous pic...) See? You couldn't squeeze them in backwards if you had an elephant and 20 jars of vaseline to help. The only correct way to mount those lenses is from behind the panel.

This is a pretty good example of what Testors Clear Coats do to a model car years after being put on. The layers of dust don't help either....

More original pix....

That's the Daytona instructions....

And, just so people won't think I'm losing my mind.... Now, what do you guys get from this? And for fun... Here is my work when I was young, done the first year the MPC model came out. Dad helped me with the decals...

Sweet color! I like that Candy Emerald Green! Did you have any issues with it being enamel? Did it go on really heavy? EDIT: Nevermind, I'm an idiot. It's Inca Gold, NOT Emerald Green. I've used that Inca Gold and it's an excellent color!

Looking at the diagram on the sheet (no way to photocopy it at this time...), the rear of the car is at the top left in the pic, then the rear panel lower to the right with the arrows pointing to the car, then the tail lights lower to the right with arrows pointing to the panel. So, when you look at it, it's indicating the tail lights go on the outside of the panel, then the panel goes into the car, exactly how I did it. In no way does it show as being reversed, like the tail lights inbetween the car and the panel, with arrows pointing to the panel for mounting. I don't know if I have an older copy of the instruction sheet or not, but I follow directions on these models religiously. That should teach me to listen to printed instructions...

A little update with pix... Rear panel in and gluing... Wipers in... I'm still doing the little details around the car like mirrors, foglamps, and plates, but I'm also waiting on a pushbar and CB antenna to be sent from a guy on here (will be paying him today). Pix of his work look really good and are correct for this scale, so I can't wait to try them out.

Ohh, one other thing about the magical Future I forgot to mention. Dipping clear and chrome parts in Future will protect them from the hazing that occurs with certain glues, namely SUPERGLUE. The hazing is caused when the vapors from the glue come into contact with the unprotected plastic glass and chrome, causing those parts to fog up really bad.

I agree. If someone hadn't pointed it out I wouldn't have known, then it would look stupid. Now it looks correct. In addition, I didn't have to strip off everything on the rear panel, just clean it up in a few places and hide the rest of the mess with the chrome bumper. Pics when I finish it!

Well gee, Beav, I guess that explains a lot... Grrrrr........ Now I have to pull the panel apart, strip it, repaint it, and reassemble it. Good thing it hadn't made it on the model yet. Now I can tolerate it when I make my own mistakes. But I can't tolerate it when the instructions tell me to do something and it's WRONG. Thanks for the heads-up!

More pix... Test fitting the pushbar... And I managed to get the tails on with glue and clamps, so we'll see how it holds....

After sanding the glass to remove the glue, dip it in Future. It will clear out any other imperfections and leave it crystal clear.

Purple Power also works well and won't damage styrene. I know some paints work better with DOT3 and some work better with PP, will have to look it up.

I'll have to try that white charcoal pencil idea next time. I can't paint it on and I can't toothpick it on. Both attempts look like a child's crayon art class.

You CAN... the only problem I see with that is once the outside air hits the nozzle it'll seal the hole up. When you can dip whole car bodies in Future or apply it liberally with a paintbrush, why would you even want to squirt it? If you need Future on a select part you can just dip that part alone, or if the part is already on a model you can brush it on as if you were brush detailing.

YES. DEFINTIELY. NEED MORE HERE...... Richmond only has three stores, and two of them are the Hobbytown USA franchises. Need more here! What part of Virginia are you from? I'm thinking past Charlottesville and towards Roanoke.

Yes... how thoughtful of you... I'll take a Javelin, an AMX, a Rebel, a Turbine, and a Maverick to go, please.

I dunno. I look at the number of views my threads get as interest in what I'm doing, not necessarily the number of comments. I, like others here, follow a lot of the builds on here without any particular preference, but I don't always have the time to throw out a comment. I also try not to "clutter" another's build thread with comments, especially when they are at a critical update point (like dead in the middle of a neat trick or big picture update...). This does not mean I don't like or hate what the builder is doing, I'm just showing respect for his work. As far as the whole "offensive comments" goes, I've been prefacing all my builds with the open disclaimer of "fire away, I can take the criticism". I really don't mind criticism, what I do mind is inane chatter that causes the thread to wander away from the topic at hand. I mean, a few comments here and there are understandable, this is supposed to be both fun as well as a learning experience anyway, so a few "off-topic backfires" help to break up the monotony of a long thread. But when the topic goes into full blown argument wars it then loses its purpose and degrades into utter chaos. Then there's no point in continuing it unless it's severely cleaned up. Also in for a "like" button. Ohh, there's one type of comment that really gets under my skin. The comments go something like... "Why are you posting a build thread on this car? Aren't there like 50 gazillion of those being done on a daily basis here?!" Or.... "So many people have built it this way, here comes another one..." Hey. Here's another one because I HAVEN'T BUILT ONE YET, so there. (Got one of these assinine posts in my Duster thread a while ago...)

Thanks for the comments! Okay. For those of you that have built any of the Revell '69 Chargers, I have a question... How in the bloody blue BLAZES did you get the taillights to mount properly?!?!?! I have actually taken an Xacto knife and tried to cut out the inside of the panel where the tails go in and I still can't get them to fit comfortably. I had to repaint the semi-gloss black part of the rear, and have to let it dry now before trying again. I have half a mind to cut the red plastic backing on the taillights and glue them directly to the panel. Assistance?

I have been following this build off and on since you started it. You have talent I could only dream of having dude. Beautiful work!

More pix...

Hat's off to ya... that thing is sick! Now.... build a "General Lee" like that...