TurboKitty

I know of the Revell '68 & '69 Dart kits, as well as a dirt track car and a late '60s drag car. But has anyone, including resin suppliers, ever tooled up a stock bodied '70 or '71 Dodge Dart kit, preferably in Swinger trim? Or is there any way to kitbash and make one? I know someone offers a resin version of the MPC '71 Dodge Demon, so I could get the front end from that I guess. But then that leaves the problem of making a correct rear end. Has anyone here attempted this, and if so please feel free to post your pics because I would love to see how to whip up one of these!

FINALLY bought my mom's car after having been without one for nearly a year!

have you thought about using regular size LED's as a light source for fiber optics instead? They are very small and flexible, and if you need them in colors they come in colors too. You can literally add lighting anywhere - headlights, taillights, turn signals, fog lights, gauges, license plate lights, heck even for making twinkling stars in a diorama scene. Check out this seller's items on ebay, the guy has a lot of different things that you'll need (click on an auction and scroll down to see everything, he explains it all too): http://www.ebay.com/...sid=p4340.l2562 Examples: Click link for more videos of LED fiber optic kits installed on 1/18 diecasts (of course they will work for 1/24 & 1/25 cars too): http://www.autoblog....ting-kits-ever/

Thank you guys, this one is finally getting me out of the building slump I've been in for several months now. I got the idea for the color from playing Forza 4, since I bought a Celica GT-Four and painted it the exact same color as #4 above, with light gold wheels. Liked it so much I had to build it LOL. Only difference is this one is an SS-II instead of a GT-Four.

Update 2/16/2012 - The weather was decent enough today so I was able to primer and paint the body. I applied white primer and yes, because of the red plastic the primer dried light pink instead of white LOL. Because it was getting painted a dark color as a base, it didn't bother me so no harm no foul. After letting the primer dry for a few hours, I painted the Celica with some DupliColor GM Dark Slate Grey Metallic. It is a match to the Testors One Coat Lacquer Graphite Dust that I did a spoon test with (see #4 above), I chose to use it since I had more of it than the Testors. Here is the Celica in its dark metallic base coat: I let that dry overnight and followed up with the Testors Transparent Candy Grape today. The resulting color is intense and I can't wait to get clear on it. Yes it is that shiny & smooth without clear! My camera really does not do it justice unfortunately. However the color came out perfect and I am very happy with this build so far! Don't mind the pizza boxes, we save them for bonfires LOL. I will take more pics after the paint cures and it is clear coated and polished, probably next week if the weather permits.

I've always pronounced it as "tam-me-yah".

I decided to paint the car a completely different color than I originally planned. So instead of white or sunburst orange I am going with a candy raspberry color that I will call "Hawaiian Orchid Pearl". I looked for the basic color from Testors and Tamiya in a rattle can and couldn't find anything that was the exact hue and intensity that I wanted, so I did a series of spoon tests. I did more than these four, but these are the ones I'll keep for future reference: All spoons were sprayed with white primer to get an even base to start with (didn't go with grey or red primer because they would have altered the results and darkened up the final color). Spoon #1 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Pure Gold with Testors Transparent Candy Red shot over that, followed by a 3rd coat of Testors Transparent Candy Grape. While a nice candy red wine color, it is a bit too red. Spoon #2 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Diamond Dust (Bright Silver) with Testors Transparent Candy Red and Transparent Candy Grape, just like Spoon #1. The silver base offers a less red color over the gold, but it is still too red. The flash makes both spoons look almost identical, spoon #2 is actually a little lighter. Spoon #3 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Diamond Dust (Bright Silver) with only the Testors Transparent Candy Grape sprayed over it. The result is a metallic hot pink almost, closer to what I want but still too light of a shade, need to go with a darker metallic. Spoon #4 is Testors One Coat Lacquer Graphite Dust (Dark Grey Metallic) with Testors Transparent Candy Grape sprayed over it. Perfect It is not too light and not too dark, and it is exactly the dark raspberry color that I wanted without it being burgundy or purple. These pics were shot outside using snow as a background LOL. It is an overcast day so I had to use flash, so the colors are a tiny bit lighter in the pics than they really are. Hopefully I will have the Celica in primer and full color soon, weather permitting.

try a mix of different tests on cheap plastic spoons to get an idea of what paints & clears work together and which ones don't

yup, the 1st Gen Supra (Mark I) was based off of the Celica liftback starting in 1978. It stayed the Celica Supra through the Mark II generation and in 1986 they finally became separate cars for the 3rd gen (Mark III) Supra. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Supra

I recently bought this Tamiya Toyota Celica SS-II built up off of ebay, and the person who built it did a decent job overall although it's not what one would call a pro build. Luckily it's not a glue bomb either. The paint is thin in various places because the body wasn't sanded or primed before being painted, so the paint didn't stick well to recessed areas or the lower parts of the car. The hood has some fitment issues, but besides that everything looked pretty good. This is a nicely detailed kit of the often overlooked 6th Gen Celica and unlike a lot of Tamiya kits, it has an engine. I plan on losing the stock GT wheels and tires in favor of some nice 17" or 18" wheels and tires from the parts box, as well as lowering the suspension and adding a resin turbo under the hood, among other things (nothing too crazy LOL ). Starting disassembly: The chassis had been somewhat detail painted, and the builder used glue sparingly here too. If only that were the case all the time LOL. For some reason the rear tires were installed with the tread facing the wrong direction, but that's an easy fix: Quick mockup of the wheels and tires that I am probably going to go with (I believe these are from a Fujimi or Aoshima kit, they are very crisp in detail and look much better than the stock 15" GT wheels! ): For the new paint color, I am thinking of a nice bright white. Either that or 1997 Sunburst Pearl, which is a very uncommon factory color on this car (technically incorrect for a '94-'95, but I don't really care LOL) . The interior will be black and beige either way. Also on a side note, if anyone has one of these kits that they probably won't build, I will happily trade for it or buy it from you (incomplete, partially built, unbuilt, complete, doesn't matter). I LOVE this car

the only person I've met that I guess can be considered a car builder is Steve Saleen. He was at the Detroit Auto Show a couple years ago, and he wasn't exactly a very talkable guy if you know what I mean. I think all the people around got him a bit irritated, because after a while he stayed behind his cars that were on display (he is in the black suit, I know it's hard to see him but there wasn't much room to see him. Sorry for the blurry picture but I only had my phone to take pics with at the time):

from Revell, the '70 Roadrunner , '71 GTX, & '69 Camaro kits are good & don't really have too many parts, so they aren't overwhelming and they are nice models when finished. I would say the Revell '68 & '69 Chargers, but they have a lot of parts and sometimes part fitment can be a little fincky, otherwise they are a great kit (same with the Revell '69 Charger Daytona). The AMT '71 Charger R/T is also a great kit, as well as the '69 GTX, '70 Super Bee, etc.

Meow!

X2 !! They don't know any better, and a model can almost always be replaced. It's just a material possession.

I like the XS Tuning wheels, and it was only recently that I learned about them. If there are people here who aren't fond of them, shoot send 'em my way and I will happily pay for them or trade for 'em. I'll find something to put them on LOL. Seriously I do understand that from a business standpoint it is a longshot that NON universal sport compact parts wouldn't really make too much profit. But then again, how many people do you guys really know that would absolutely not buy any parts if they were of good quality and priced right? I'd take a Dodge Neon set for the Brookfield Promos as well as one for EVERY tuner car kit I have. Heck I'd even get them for the luxury cars and make a nice VIP style car. Yes, there are kits already made but those only have large wheels and sometimes some audio equipment. Whether or not tuner car kits are as popular as muscle cars/classics, there are still LOTS of us out there who would jump on these if someone made them. Make a complete front/rear lip, sidesirts, rear spoiler, and maybe hood and list them for $10. If someone made a conversion kit so I could make this: Into this: (with the JDM Celica Projector Headlights, JDM Only Taillights, SS-II / SS-III front & rear splitters & TRD side skirts) : I would probably buy like 5 sets JUST for this car. Not even joking, this goes for several other overlooked (but made in plastic) Imports/Domestic sport compacts. I'm only 1 potential customer, how many more of us are out there itching for somebody to make this stuff? Keep in mind all the people who would buy them off ebay and consider if an ad was put in MCM mag (and the other mag), that would reach all the builders who may not get online on this site to see this so they too could give their feedback for this? I understand the need to be realistic, if someone added these sorts of parts to their resin inventory that would be awesome. Man I wish I had the skills and know how to scratchbuild this stuff, oh the possibilities LOL.

ok so the seller is basically trying to get out of it by blaming it on the post office, which is par for the course. Ebay has changed a lot (in the buyer's favor) since you bought that Cadillac 1/18 I can almost guarantee. Tell the seller that you will be filing an Item Not As Described case since he is not willing to accept part of the responsibility for shoddy packaging. If he was not happy with the final bid price, he could have asked you to cancel the transaction, of course you could have denied if he had done so. Since he accepted your payment, he also accepts responsibility if it doesn't arrive to you in as described condition. When you open a case with ebay, obviously be cooperative and not accusatory. Simply tell them that yes, you emailed the seller, and that no, he is not working with you to rectify the situation (those are options that you can click on when filing a case), unfortunately I've had to do this a couple times myself and albeit frustrating, don't feel like it is a lost cause. Like I said, if the seller isn't willing to refund by himself or accept it as a return to stay in good standing as a seller, ebay will definitely give you a refund based on that alone. If his feedback means anything to him then he would be bending over backwards to make things right. File the case & let ebay handle the rest, I have no doubt that you will probably get a full refund. Sucks for the seller, but he can't blame anyone but himself - he's the one that neglected to package it correctly.

Very nice, sooooo much better looking than the car on the box art! Are those Aoshima wheels & tires that you used? They look somewhat familiar but I can't remember from where. You have very nice photography skills too!

It would be cool if someone who makes a lot of resin conversion parts made more conversion kits/add ons for Imports/sport compacts. I've looked up SAS before but never really knew if it was a legit site or not (hadn't seen anyone speak of buying any parts from them on here). There are a lot of Tamiya/Aoshima/Fujimi kits of cars that had OEM factory ground effects and wheels that were never offered in kit form. At least Revell made some for their tuner line. Personally I'd like to see TRD, Mugen, Spoon, Tom's, Veilside, NISMO, Mazdaspeed, etc parts made.

Hopefully they do their research and find out that the '71 Challenger grille was simply airbrushed on a picture of a '70 Challenger T/A because they did plan to make it, but it got canceled. People think they made 1970 Charger Daytonas too, LOL.

Honestly that has not happened to me, I request whenever I buy something off of ebay that the seller please mark it as Fragile and if I pay a lot for it, it's a no brainer to get insurance on it since it only costs a couple bucks. Most of the time they do and not once have I had a box marked Fragile be delivered all banged up like you describe. Also I write Fragile on each box that I send out to members if I do a kit trade on here. Not once has anyone said that it arrived damaged. Whether that has happened & whoever I traded with decided not to say anything I don't know, I guess no news is good news as far as that. So anyway it isn't really fair to assume that all postal workers are intentionally damaging packages for the heck of it. I know it happens (I've heard horror stories about sentimental items being destroyed beyond repair & I've seen the recent videos of deliverymen kicking/tossing boxes and the one about tossing the TV over the fence, etc) but if it is marked Fragile and it comes all banged up, that makes whoever delivered the package (USPS, UPS, FEDEX, etc) responsible for mishandling it and you have the right to refuse delivery. If you accept it and open it, well then you're accepting it AS IS, basically telling the post office that you are ok with it even if it's damaged so that lets them off the hook (if insurance wasn't purchased, even if it wasn't you can still have them report that it came damaged). Anyway if the OP has reason to believe it was damaged before being packaged, then it is item misrepresentation and ebay buyer protection covers that as long as the item was paid for through PayPal. If it was possibly damaged in transit, then it's still covered whether insurance was purchased or not. It's not covered by the post office, but it's still covered by ebay because like I said, it's the sellers job to package it safely and securely. Obviously he didn't, not wanting to repeat myself but if it were me I would email the seller, give him a few days to reply, and if he isn't willing to rectify the situation outside of ebay, I'd open a case through ebay. That might light a fire under his butt to refund by his own choice, if that doesn't happen then ebay will refund on his behalf if he doesn't have the money in his PayPal account. Then the seller will owe ebay. If he does have enough in his PayPal account then ebay will take it and no matter what you'll get a refund. You'd think that the seller would do whatever he can to earn a positive feedback and all 5 Star DSR ratings (anything less than 5 stars is considered bad as far as ebay is concerned). If you want to keep the car, ask for a partial refund because it did not arrive to your door as described in the auction description. If you don't want to keep it, return it and request a full refund. If you have to go through ebay you'll end up getting to keep it and get your money back. Lucky for you, but not for the seller if he was honest and it wasn't already damaged before shipping. Maybe next time he will invest in better packaging materials instead of newspaper.

you already emailed the seller, so give him a chance to make it right. If he says he won't do anything, file an Item Not As Described complaint through ebay. It is the seller's responsibility to properly package the item for safe shipment. Newspaper is not a good packing material for obvious reasons, and a package of bubble wrap is not that expensive. If the seller does not have a return policy (i.e he won't allow you to return the car for a full refund minus original shipping), Ebay's Buyer Protection will automatically decide the case in your favor. Be willing to show proof of damage via pictures to the seller (ebay almost never requires you to show proof, they just take your word for it which is not exactly the smartest thing for them to do, because a lot of dishonest bidders take advantage of that). Request a refund (at least a partial refund that both you & the seller think is fair). If the seller is willing to work to rectify the situation, great. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. If the seller can't even agree to a partial refund, ebay will automatically decide in your favor and you'll get a full refund (incl. original shipping). Unfortunately for the seller, ebay won't even make you send the car back to the him (unless the final item price is over $125 I think, might be wrong on the dollar amount). Don't think that there is nothing that you can do, in reality you have the upper hand because the seller is required to obide by ebay policy and ebay buyer protection overrides whatever "policy" the seller has stated in his item description terms. Normally ebay prefers that a seller have a 7 day (at least) return policy for a full refund, no questions asked. A lot of dishonest bidders actually look for sellers w/ no return policy & basic shipping because they can get away with abusing ebay's buyer protection policy. That's what I don't like about selling, having to deal with people like that (I'm not saying that's what you did, not at all!) So 99% of the time a buyer gets a full refund, even if they tell a flat out lie (for example, if they falsley claim they received a damaged item or if they claim that they didn't receive it at all when in fact they did. If a seller slips up and doesn't offer delivery confirmation, that makes them a vulnerable target to the dishonest bidders and ebay automatically sides with the buyer. It's not exactly fair for sellers . Sorry to type so much, but hopefully for you the seller will do right by you. He didn't personally deliver the item to your door but like I said he is at least responsible for packaging it safely. It takes like 20 seconds to write "Fragile" on the box a couple times, and he can even ask for the post office to apply "Fragile" stickers to it. That way if you receive a damaged box, don't open it. Take it to the post office (or UPS, whoever it came from) and have them open it. If the item is damaged, have them make a record of it and contact the seller. You don't have to accept a damaged item (whether you can fix it or not) and as long as you pay via PayPal, you are covered 100%. Good Luck

Usually I'll only glance over the instructions if it's something I've built several times before (muscle cars for example), but for the most part I can figure out where everything goes since I've built a lot of the same things over the years. It's like a routine I guess. If I bought something I've never built before, like a semi truck for example, then yeah I'd probably read every step on the instructions because it wouldn't be a familiar subject.

I've never had the chance to check out the Fujimi kit hands on, so I wasn't aware of how simple it is. I'm used to Tamiya kits and I guess I assumed that Fujimi was the same as far as how nicely it represented the car it is supposed to be, if that makes sense. I think I'll give the Revell a shot, and I agree about the taillights (those pegs are an eyesore LOL) but I really like the dark grey one shown above. From a financial standpoint I have to agree that it makes more sense to buy the Revell, it is simply the better deal. Thanks

Ok, I think I'd prefer the Fujimi kit then. It's cool that the Revell has a lot of optional parts, but I like the accuracy of the foreign kits, even if they are curbside & don't have the extra bumpers & stuff. That's just me though, maybe I'll get the Revell kit & the Fujimi kit and build 'em both LOL.

wow you guys have gotten a lot done since I checked this thread last year LOL. I still have my '66 Riviera, but not much has changed with it. I will try to find the pics of when I bought it, I think I moved them into a different folder on photobucket so they got deleted off of here but I'll try to put them back on. I am going to start working on it again so that I can finally have my first finished model of the year . Nice job guys!