Scale-Master

The rear doors get a graphic that goes across them. Even though the decal is done as two parts, I wanted to make sure they lined up once the van was assembled so I glued them together. I also added the chrome trim.

Thanks Scott. I'm still playing with it.. The can and cap are machined aluminum; I drew the art and made a decal for the labeling. It even has a little hollow red straw taped onto the can and the notch to store it in the cap.

Well, after scratch-building a whole car it seems logical to take the easier way these projects when I can build on existing parts and save a little effort. It's not like there is any need to save them for something else either.

I heard a squeak, have to make something to take care of it…

I used gauge and radio decals I drew for the 2007 IPMS Convention decal sheet for the dash. The wood grain is freehand painted. I added a more modern (90’s era) DIN mount stereo where the CB would go according to the instructions. I’ll move the molded CB to the overhead panel, where they already engraved another CB…

Thanks. It needs clear, there's a little "lemon" peel. I also made some chrome frames for the sun roofs.

It is a cool version, but the kit is not worth in my opinion $100-150.00 as I see they are going for. Unless you are willing to pay for the nostalgia factor. The body is painted (Tamiya TS-16 from the can) and the chrome trim is done so it’s ready for the kit provided decal graphics. I made chrome Mylar pieces for the rear custom window trim. I’m pleased with the way the side marker lights came out…

It's a '76 Chevy Van 20. 1/25th scale.

A light dusting of white primer was applied as an adhesion promoter and then wet sanded with 2000.

Well, for one thing speed. CA with accelerator dries a lot faster than solvent glues. And I am using Tamiya Thin for some of the assembly. Plus where I use CA I don't need any putty. I decided to reinforce the body from the inside with some sheet styrene. Unfortunately as soon as the CA hit the yellow plastic it too cracked in multiple places. And it wasn’t even stressed. The Zap-a-Gap green label CA works fine on this plastic, it is the Hobby People house brand thin CA that is causing the problems. I repaired the top areas and cemented the rear valence in at the same time. I went very heavy with the gap filling CA with no cracking issues. (The instructions call for the valence and front spoiler to go on after the chassis is installed in the body, but the photos of the real van show those seams are filled smooth.) Plus the addition of those two parts really strengthens the body.

Del, the Revell '69 Camaro kit has a 302 with a cross ram. I just used this AMT engine because it was handy and I already used the body for another project.

I’ve never run into this before. Thin CA makes the plastic fall apart/shatter. Just the smallest application and pieces break/fall away on their own. I’ve seen something similar to it with CA accelerator on stressed parts, but his is not the same. I had to replace most of the front suspension parts, and then fix a couple of those once I realized it was the CA doing it. I assembled the frame as the instructions show, but I did not cement the front of the leaf springs to the frame or the lower ends of the rear shocks to the axle so I can adjust to get all four wheels on the ground if needed. The frame is pretty true, so I used it to straighten out the floor pan which was warped, although not as bad as the body.

Wow, that is stunning! What size/scale is it?

The engines/transmissions are pretty weak on detail and overall accuracy in this series of kits. Since it will be barely visible once the van is done it isn’t too big of a deal. Plus I’m building this for the nostalgia of the kit, and fun... I had a spray can of Intermediate Blue handy, close enough to Corporate Blue for this one… Sprayed the trans silver and brush detail painted the rest.

This is an original issue of the 76 kit by Revell Ive had in my collection since it was brand new. The box art on this kit was pretty cool looking, (photos of the real vehicle), but this one is a little rough due to a leak we had in the attic many years ago. And the decals are not going to be usable Fortunately I filed an extra set of original decals away, just in case. They are a little yellowed now so Ill sun bleach them. The body is warped, but not too badly to use. I put a piece of sheet styrene in as a spreader and left the body in the sun for several days.

Thanks! The trans has been painted…

From those two photos and the movie clips it looks like there might have been three paint schemes? I have photos in my files I worked from to build my model that shows a tri-tone paint job with the graphics like the car in the top photo. More gold/orangeish between the white and red.

I prefer the restored version, more so for the "improved" graphics, but also the colors flow better to me. It looks less cheesy than the movie car.

I just realized I started a Fireball 500 when it first came out in the 60's. Four attempts over a quite a few years and I finally finished it 38 years later. And yes, I was building models all the while. Now to finish that Chrysler Turbine Car I started about 1992...

There's two versions of the Fireball 500. The one shown above, and the redone version of the same vehicle after the movie version the original kit makes, (almost). Two different paint jobs. I had to chuckle at the observation in the original post. As hokey and so terribly phony as that movie is, the car pulling the trailer is one of the more believable issues.

After looking at the headers while playing with the wire looms I did some minor reworking to bring the rear pipes in tighter. Despite warnings of fit issues especially since I attached the rear panel to the body, it seems to fit quite well with all the interior parts and glass temporarily installed. The firewall is a little tight to install, but once I modify the kit part to match my car it should provide a bit more wiggle room. I doubt this one will be done for the next GSL, I'm not sure it will even be done this year. It's done when it's done...

Thanks! I took care of removing the wind wings at the same time I made the deluxe lower window trim.

You nailed it Steve. That came out great.

Thanks guys. I decided to use the kit provided engine with some modifications. First I cut the 4 speed manual transmission off and cemented the engine halves together. After painting it I made a decal for the Fram filter.

I made a Hurst T-handle shifter to match the real one. Yes, it is an automatic, but I custom made the shifter in the car to work with the 700R4. This piece can be filed away until final assembly.