Maindrian Pace

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

This is part II in the Lindberg Ford series, finished last night. The full vinyl top was converted to a half top, the front header panel and headlights were corrected to Monarch, as the kit comes with Granada headlights, and the rest is box stock. Paint is Tamiya gloss aluminum with two coats of Model Master high gloss clear, top and interior are Rustoleum Colonial red, carpet in a darker burgundy. Vinyl Nation whitewall decals, and bumper rub strips and side trim inserts are narrowed pinstripe tape. -MJS

I love that coil cover. Gotta make one for mine, probably a better wiper motor too. -MJS

You're welcome Len. -Mike

IMC/Lindberg Mustang II concept car. -MJS

Beautiful! stance, wheels/tires, and colors are just right. Makes me want a 1:1. -MJS

Thanks everyone. My post on the finished resin kits was moved to the resin section in the "Paging Greg Wann" thread. I'd like to do a hatch, we'll see what happens when the bench is cleared from the coupe build project. Great Fox collection, I've got an '80 Fairmont Futura, the '92 coupe, and a '93 Cobra that I bought new. It's interesting how the same chassis yielded three totally different feeling cars. It's time for A/C and automatic conversions: Here are the belt/pulleys from the LX kit (bottom) and an Ertl '92 Ford F-150 kit. The F-150 is just about the right configuration for an A/C system. And the AOD transmission from the same F-150, cut from the kit 351. I cut the plain trans pan away to use the excellent engraved pan from a Revell '91 Cougar kit. The AOD and the T-5 are the same length and bell housing pattern: "Bolts right up" to the LX 5.0 engine. -MJS

For the best possible UGC, put the decals above the TPC layer because the MRT could obscure the decal artwork, at which point you'd be SOL. -MJS