Rockford

This is the Revell kit, went together great. Used my usual Parts Store rattle can for the finish which turned out great. These were beautiful cars. wired the engine, added brake lines from the master cylinder and the hold down clip for the cap on the reservoir.Made tailpipes out of aluminium tube. I think the car sits a little high for my tastes and I'd have like a little more of a stinkbug stance but never mind. It turned out ok. [I realise that I put the air cleaner on backwards in the photos, the writing is upside down]

This car is a bit of a learning project for me, because up until this build I'd never had the guts to cut and shut body parts. I wanted to recreate a Camaro a friend had owned here in Liverpool because it was just gorgeous. It was a bog stock car with a lame smog era 350 and a TH350 trans but it looked like it had landed from another planet when you compared it to the junk we drive here in GB. I had to lose the front snow plow spoiler because it is supposed to be a Z28, so I bought another Z28 kit, cut the front of the rear arches out of that to marry into the front fenders once the huge spoiler was gone. I didn't have the guts to fill the T-tops in at the time so i just glued them and added drip rails and have regretted it ever since. Rather than filing the Z28 hood's huge NACA-scoop down I chose to fill the one that comes with the blower hole cut into it. I was fairly successful with that but learned a few lessons doing it. I also tinted the glass using food dye. I'm particularly proud of the wheels on this one, they were very fiddly to paint and one thing I did do with this build was file a flat spot onto the bottom of the tyres to replicate the deformation of the tyre due to the weight of the vehicle, just compare it next to the Trans-Am which has exactly the same tyres. It makes the model look so much more realistic instead of perching on the pinpoint of four balloons! The underhood molding on this model is soooo bad I just gave up and left the brake master cylinder etc... Anyway, that's the story.

Every one of those cars is beautiful! Plumbed and wired too!

I doesnt really come with poseable wheels but the front wheel mounts can be held in place by top and bottom wishbones without glue, so they turn but they're not connected to each other. The steering linkage just hangs in mid air off the front crossmember. Bit of a cheat.

Yes, it is the Revell kit. It is a great kit except for the fit issues with the interior that I mentioned. Despite numerous mock ups I couldn't pinpoint the problem but it was somewhere around the rear seat to the tunnel. I almost considered cutting the rear bench off the interior and fitting it to the body on its own, sliding the side panels past it. I eventually managed to file the seat down and got it to sit properly. The 59s were beautiful cars. When you encounter one in the flesh the sheer scale of them is daunting. To think the streets were once full of cars like this!

Thanks gents, I'll employ your advice on my next build. I have actually got tyre tread prints left on plastic display cases!

Oh when will they release this kit again I'd love to build this truck from a magazine advertisement in Overdrive. You're doing good work here.

Hi all. I've got a few kits now where the tyres are causing the wheels to deform and grow little blisters al around the rim. Is there any preventative solution to this issue, ie: clearcoat wheels ? If so, what with? Any help appreciated.

This is a very detailed kit. Built a few years ago. Looks great when finished but had terrible fit issues with the interior. Had to sand down areas to try and see where the conflict was. Got there eventually. After a few years though, the whitewall inserts are reacting with the tyres. Such a shame, spoils the car.

What a buffoon I am, it's not Revell, it's AMT. I bought it thinking it was a plain simple truck kit. I opened it and there were all sorts of extras in the box turns out it was a classic kit with all sorts of custom options including a blown De Soto Hemi.

Couple of primer coats and a few days to cure and I've had no problems ever. Even Tamiya surface primer has worked ok with it.

I hope it goes well. Rear spoiler is easy, just sand it off and profile, smooth, scribe trunk lid shut lines. T tops glued in filled and sanded, sanded, sanded, then added drip rails. When you take the arch flares off there's no fender behind which had to be built in plastic card and profiled. I had to add the wheelarch trim in fine plastic strip, then foil it. The hood scoop hole is hard, getting it flush and having the right profile for the ridge down the centre. I used gallons of primer because I'd sand something down using wet and dry and it would look spot on, then I'd prime it and it would look like a relief map of the Himalayas! I get a tremendous kick when I look at this car. Cant believe it was me that did it!

I went with the full whitewall tyre on this one and a metallic red interior. Love the dash on this car, I foiled it then gave it a wash of gunmetal to bring the detail out.

That's uncanny, I have that kit built in the same colours, white with a red interior! Great work though. Very elegant body style I think.

It's a KW so there's a big positive to start with, but then you've do e such a good job on the build it looks fantastic. Very realistic, not OTT, a real rig that earned a living but got a bit of TLC too. When you a KW conventional do you think Bandit or Movin'On? For me it's Movin' On. That was a beautiful vehicle, even if it never seemed to earn a cent!

James Garner appears to have been a very genuine man who didn't seek the limelight. I know his marriage lasted for decades and there was no scandal attached to him. I love the Rockford Files with it's permanent sunshine, the street scenes with the passing traffic, the complex storylines, Jim's constant misfortunes and THAT car. The way he threw it about too because he could drive! In the later episodes you can see the beginning of the end, Datsuns and Mazdas start to appear and you just knew the days of the traditional American car were numbered.

Not sure on the sister kit status sorry, I can only say it was an older Revell kit. The moulding was very crisp and required very little fettling.

That's some paint job, must have taken an age.

Nice 396 in this kit. Did a bit of detailing with heater hoses and brake lines from the master cylinder. Added a set of what look like Compomotive wheels from the Revell Firebird kit I think but I'm thinking of digging out the originals and putting it back to stock. Lovely kit this, fell together.

This is the old Revell kit with all the custom options. I used the Hemi engine and built the flathead to keep on it's own to look at! Fiat taxi yellow is the colour, wheels came from the Snaptite Chevy Monte Carlo and fit the bill well. BMF on the front and rear bumpers. Not much more to say really.

This was a nice kit, good definition and went together pretty well. Nice interior with separate side panels for easy detailing. I tried doing a vinyl roof using paint instead masking tape but it turned out too smooth. still, looks ok. Swapped the kit wheels for the generic Revell balloon radials as they were far too small, the car looked like it was on casters. I added white lines using a gel pen and a circle sheet from a school geometry set because I just think they make cars go POP! Colour was chosen from the '66 palette and looks good rather than the usual vivid reds and blues you see for these cars, there's a place in this world for MUSTARD!

Spencer, I've always just used rattle cans of car body paint from a local parts supplier, primer and topcoat. I think this was actually a Ford colour. Olympic Gold I think. Now and again I'll use a Tamiya rattle can and I think their surface primer is a fantastic product, but when painting cars there aren't all the colours you want. I've never suffered a reaction with the car paint and it's so tough once it's cured that you can work on the finished shell without worrying. I have to say I admire airbrush work, and I have an airbrush that I have used ONCE but the amount of work you need to shoot one layer of paint and clean the gun etc.... i just haven't got the patience. Just shaking a rattle can for two minutes is tedious for me! Thanks everyone for the comments, I'm very proud of my Firebird, don't think i could do it again with my gozzy eyes.

I've just seen your build, I didn't know there was a different rendering of the low rider kit. I really would have loved to have one with those Rallye wheels becaue it would be just perfect. I think I used the custom wheel out of the '70 Impala kit.

These Montes are one of my favourite cars. I'd love to have several of these cars built in different colour combinations. The NASCAR version of this car looks stunning! Great job yet again Gareth!

If ever you are suffering build fatigue and just want something that's easy to build but yields great results, get one of these, the Revell Snap Tite Monte Carlo. It comes in vile green plastic but with just a little paint it builds into a great looking shelf model. The dimensions are spot on, the interior is well detailed, it falls together and the end result can't help but make you smile!