Maindrian Pace

Several kits have a good Cammer, including the AMT '68 Shelby GT500, which was reissued about a dozen times and is everywhere. -MJS

I've got two, the same Bentley, but with heavy play wear, and this Mercer Raceabout, which I really like. -MJS

If you can find the teardrop hood from a '66 Galaxie kit, it is easily modified to fit the '66 Fairlane. -MJS

Very nice II. Reminds me of this '76 Cobra II in my collection: It was built by Jackie Cheyenne Whitecloud, a name familiar to some here but a very mysterious woman to say the least. I cleaned it up a bit and added the RMCoM mirrors. I've always liked these cars. -MJS

Very impressive job, it looks exact. -MJS

I've got to say, it makes perfect sense that you would buy one, Niko. Are you going to do a replica of your drag car? -MJS

Jason, Thank you for the compliments about the conversion work to this body. I measured the resin body and compared it to an untouched kit body and I got less than 1mm difference in overall length between the two. I called a friend of mine, Eric Hight, founder of Copperstate Models (high end multimedia WWI aircraft model kits) and asked him about resin shrinkage in casting. Before I could finish my question, he said that it's normal, but in most cases, unnoticeable and does not affect fit or function. He said that it is the silicone mold material that shrinks a tiny bit while curing, and not the resin itself. Here is the resin body next to the original master kit based body, I'll let you be the judge as to size difference. And here is my mockup of the resin body on the kit chassis to adjust the stance and wheel placement. Everything fits well once trimming is done at the back of the chassis plate to allow for the shorter rear bumper. Thanks Dan, glad you like our little Mustangs, and see you at Modelzona. -Mike

Thanks Charlie. I remember them too ovah theyah, I was born in Boston and raised in Newton Center. Thanks Roy. -Mike

Some of today's diecasts are museum pieces of 20 years ago. Very impressive Chevy. -MJS

I always thought Shelby looked a little like Randolph Mantooth. -MJS

Front suspension, Revell on the bottom. Monogram fits well, almost as detailed. Incredibly, exactly the right width. Test fit: This is a "factory 2nd" body. It wasn't perfect, a little too thick in some areas, bubbles down low - not something we would send to a customer. But fine for me, a bit extra work but no reason to toss it. -MJS

Thanks Bill. Here's the car: Which may be a part of the problem. It's real nice. Non-car guy owner of a 30K+ restored classic comes into shifty shop, and it's a license to steal. There is a good chance that the shop knew it was a bad module, played like it wasn't, planned to do a valve job, the $1,500 estimate would have swelled to $2,500 or more with a few extra profit makers ("we noticed your alternator and water pump are going out") then put it all together with a new Pertronix or points, it would have run well if they set everything OK, and the owner would have felt somewhat ripped but he wouldn't have ever known the extent of it. Or maybe they really were that clueless, which is also possible. -MJS

Suspension attention came next. I'm using resin Pony wheels, the Goodyear GSC tires from the Monogram '94-'95 GT and pace car kits, and the wheel backs, bushings, and front suspension from the Monogram '91 GT convertible. I found that the front suspension from the Monogram kit is a near direct swap for the Revell, nearly as detailed, narrower, and places the wheel/tire combo perfectly in the 1:25 body. You can use the springs and rack and pinion from the Revell kit, but you don't need to. For the rear, the Revell rear end is much more detailed and fits better, so the ends were cut off and the ends from the Monogram rear were cut and attached to the Revell rear. Trim the center ridge from the Goodyear tires, and the wheel, wheel back, and bushing install and place perfectly. Use the pin vise to drill holes in the axle and the ends and super glue with bits of stainless steel rod to regain the strength. The rear end places the rear wheels too far rearward in the body, so to adjust the wheel base, drill the Monogram axle ends to mount about 2mm forward. -MJS

Time to mock all the major parts up and ensure that everything fits, suspension and stance adjusted, and new wheels/tires/wheel backs adapted. New kits have very close engineering tolerances between body and interior/chassis, often making the body tricky to install on the chassis. This one is no exception. Remember the adjusted rear bumper? Revell used every bit of the extra room that the extended bumper allowed to fill with chassis plate. So the back edge needed to be trimmed to fit: I went in about 2mm further than that black line and trimmed a bit from the rear sides before the chassis fit. Adding the interior tub revealed more areas that needed to be trimmed or sanded for additional clearance so that the body could go all the way down. Some of the early resin bodies have the right side a little thicker than the left, but oddly, so does the plastic kit body. The shaded areas were sanded and thinned a little, and the body seated like a champ afterward. -MJS

Beautiful! I sure do like seeing these classic old kits being built with modern techniques and attention to detail. -MJS

1950-51 Lincoln Cosmopolitan 4dr 1952-54 Willys Aero Eagle 2dr hardtop 1958 Mercury Medalist base 2dr sedan with Super Marauder 400 hp 3x2bbl engine 1958 Pontiac Bonneville 2dr hardtop fuel injected 1958 Edsel Roundup 2dr wagon -MJS

A friend of mine referred a friend of his to me several weeks ago. This guy had a '66 Mustang convertible with a 289/auto that had a terrible rough idle in gear at a stop. Idled OK in park, drove down the road decently enough, but maybe 30 of the 195 horses had escaped the corral. He had already been to another local shop that rebuilt the carb, installed new plugs and wires, tried all different timing settings, idle speeds, mixtures, 2 sets of jets, etc. They then told him that the miss was a burned valve or bad guides, and a valve job would have to be done at a minimum. Estimate: $1,500. He didn't trust them. The first thing I did was a compression check, 145-152 lbs in all eight, vacuum gauge steady at 12 inches at idle. A bit low - check timing, way advanced, crank it back down to 8 degrees from 15 or some such, vacuum up to 16 inches. Adjust air/fuel, now up to 18 inches, this engine is in good shape... but still has the fast miss at idle in gear. A fast miss is almost always ignition, so I figure the dwell is a mile off, like everything else was. So I pop the cap, and there it is: a Pertronix Ignitor II. Now I've had plenty of experience with these things, I even run a Pertronix I on my Comet - and I know that they either work flawlessly, or they run bad or worse. It didn't help that the installer of this unit several years back hooked it up to the resisted wire that feeds the coil, (8V) when the instructions call for a clean 12V connection, so I changed that, re-gapped the unit because it was too far closed, and... no difference at all. So I pulled it all out, changed back to points and condenser, fired right up and settled to a smooth idle. Corrected timing again, closed plugs from .045 to .035, runs perfect and the missing horses are back in the corral. Owner elected to stay with points rather than buy a new Pertronix, and was very happy that it wasn't an internal engine problem. Bad diagnostics can cost customers a lot of money. -MJS

I payed the clerk and moved right in A single room with one big twin There's a chest and mirror Shower's down the hall Room 16 ain't got no view But the hot plate's brand new I guess I showed her I guess I showed her -MJS

I love clean box art replica cars, that's really nice. -MJS

Super clean build, and the photography is top notch. I think you could get white walls on a 5.0 Mustang until '85, I like the look. I've seen a few aero LXs with them, almost always accompanied by aftermarket mud flaps. -MJS

Thanks Casey. Neither am I, but it's fun doing something different every so often and this Monarch and the Granada - http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78643&hl=granada - were fun low pressure projects. -MJS

Talk about a coincidence. I haven't got my issue yet, hopefully it's in today's mail. Your parents had good taste, that car sounds about perfect. I lost out on a couple of these on ebay for high dollars, and then this one came up for less than $20 shipped. You just never know. A few shots of the headlight conversion: Not exact, but close enough for Lindberg work! -MJS

Thanks for the nice words everyone. I never owned one Larry, but I've pulled countless front spindles and 8" and 9" rear ends out of them. Back in the '80s, a coworker had the most loaded Monarch I've ever seen - a white '76 coupe with 1/2 white vinyl top, 351W, four wheel disc brakes with the 9" rear, burgundy velour interior, and power everything. I didn't think much of it then, but to have it now... Thanks Peter, I always look forward to seeing your builds. -MJS

This is the exact method that I use, it's tricky but you get the hang of it - and it's much better than trying to run an exacto knife on the paint to remove excess BMF. Fantastic job on the T-Bird. It's so much nicer than the promo, I don't know who could possibly think that it was "ruined" in any way. -MJS

I bought one from VCG Resins. http://vcgresin.atspace.com/ It's under Engines and Kits, beautiful part, and it was $1.50! I also bought their LS7/T-56 kit for a future Vega pro touring project. -MJS