bisc63

Nice job; that gray really works on that body!

Nice save!

Interesting project; will definitely be following. Are your 77 Thunderbird castings available for purchase? Really loved that one! I keep looking around here for a mention, but no go...

Wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to an Impala, with the right wheels and stance...

Ponchos were Carousel Red. Get Turned On!

Right!? Was there a sale on Hugger Orange? Not complaining, mind you, that really looks nice on the Nova; gives it a more muscular vibe!

VERY convincing carpet! Nicely done.

Must have!

Nice to see one of these NOT red! Great job!

Love it! Right on the money period-perfect.

That gray is especially classy looking on that bird!

That interior looks sharp!

You have the recent release, that omitted all the extras this kit is normally loaded with. The blue plastic is the give-away, would have had a blue car on the box as well. I accidentally got one myself; I say accidentally because if I had known Round 2 was omitting ALL the extras, I would have passed it by. Literally any other boxing of the kit has the extras!

Being a Pontiac and all, reckon he might have used Pontiac Blue-Silver Metallic, a color used on Pontiac engines? Its a very pretty, very silvery light blue.

Makes sense!

Diggin' this! Dad had a '73, metallic brown with off-white/parchment vinyl top and white interior. With a 455, it was easier on gas than any Impala he ever owned!

C'mon, man... 16 hi-res photos. ATOMIC thread-bomb!

Exactly! A scrap of photo-etch metal or flashing works well, and resists the sandpaper/file.

Cheat: buy some Evergreen hexagonal styrene rod in .020 and .030, cut into small pieces, glue in place, file down to realistic thickness for nice bolt heads. The ones made by the punch set above are mostly over-sized for typical 1/25 automotive usage, but still usable in places; the smallest one shows .8mm, which scales up to 3/4" - 7/8" ballpark. Most visible fasteners are in the 1/2" - 9/16" range. Just something to chew on...

Some of your pics seem to indicate you could gain a scale inch or so of clearance by warming the styrene and massaging the fenders outward just a bit. I'm not saying OVER stretch them, just that they look to be slightly bending inward through the wheel opening, and you could maybe get them back to stock position. Anyone else see it?

I never noticed until your pic above, but that trans cross-member is bogus. The "groove" running the length of it needs to be puttied in to create a nearly smooth profile. Real ones begin life as round steel tubing that is pressed into shape, leaving an oval cross section.

Did you by chance use automotive urethane clear coat? Most have very specific re-coat timing; either right away, or wait 24 hours minimum. I learned that one the hard way when I rushed a small touch-up I had to do on a full size truck I was painting, and ended up causing myself an even larger problem. Hang in there!

I wish he'd sell just that nose piece. Headlights should be fairly simple; I believe the LS used (at least one year) a single large composite lens as opposed to the double sealed beam rectangles. Grill will be a bit trickier. I started scratch-building one a couple years ago, wasn't satisfied, tried again, got closer, put it aside, and so on. Still haven't got one good enough to show, but technology may have caught up to solve the problem as this would be an ideal project for 3D printing! Get yours right, and I know where you can sell a copy or two...?

This will be fun to watch; I like how you're approaching the details!

Nice!