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While I still purchase most of my supplies and models from a local hobby shop, Hobby Lobby locally offers a wide verity of tools and paint as well as a good selection of models. Depending on what I need I'll purchase some items there, with the 40 % off it's hard to go wrong.

Hugh, I can see that you have gotten many good ideas from your request including some I had never thought of that I will be trying in the future. I never asked, but it sounds as if your are using an after market prewired distributer. The ones that I have used come with a short piece of tubing that you can use to make spark plug boots. This would help the appearance and also help hide what ever glue you should to use. I would like to see how this turns out for you.

I have used Zap-A-Gap and Model Master liquid cement (the black triangle). Both have worked well. The issue of the glue showing may be solved by a little touch of flat or semi gloss black around the area where the plug wire inters the valve cover. On a 1:1 there is a black rubber boot on the plug wire in that area and you could use that to cover any glue there.

Great looking Low Rider. Looks like something out of Low Rider Magazine.

Great looking build. My two Plymouth bodies set on the bench like a rocking horse.

The Chris Craft engine I believe was a flat head six. In the late '40's and '50's I believe that Chris Craft used an engine supplied by Gray Marine, and it was an adaptation of a Chrysler six cylinder. I'm sure there were other engines also and I think this would have been their standard engine.

I watched the this episode only because of it being set on the Rubicon. I have just never gotten that excited about the US version. I wanted to see just how rough the Rubicon was. While difficult it didn't seem as terrifying as they made it out to be.

While I shared my personal experience with the engine color thing, it may well have to do with what plant and when the engine was built. My experiences are while living in southern California and most of the vehicles were either built in South Gate, Van Neys, San Jose and Arlington Texas. While not a small block , I remember a friend that had a '58 Impala with the 348 engine and it was the red color from the '50's small blocks. I was working at a Chevrolet dealership in '74 in Santa Maria Ca. when first '75 Nova's arrived and they had the blue 350 4bl carb. motors at that time. I think the whole deal with the Corporate Blue engines came about because GM had put Chevrolet engines in some Oldsmobile and Buick vehicles so that they could meet government smog standards. The owners raised a stink and sued GM. The sticking point was that GM had not disclosed the Chevrolet engine and the attorneys took it from there. If any of you have been in or around the car business then you know nothing is set in stone as they say.

How and where are you going to put the radiator ? or are you going to stay with the stock engine ?

Your wagon looks dead on, gold inset aside. I have owned two different '57 Fords years ago and the were every bit as nice as the '57 Chevrolet that I also had.

This looks like a really great build. A real shame about the first paint job. You mentioned that you changed the front end and in one picture you can see just the edge of the front, so what have you done there ?

Thank you for the information, will have to check this out.

I believe the color transition came about with the '58 model year products. My reasoning comes from ( yes I'm old enough) looking under the hoods of brand new '57 Chevrolets before they were delivered to customers. I owned a '57 Chevrolet when it was considered a late model car and was purchased from the original owner. The engine was the darker red color and had never been touched. About this same time a very good friend of mine received his parents '58 Chevrolet Impala as they were buying a new car. He had the 283 engine and it was the red/orange color and had also never been changed in anyway before he got it. This leads me to believe that that is the time of the color change. While it was at a later time I purchased a new '66 Impala SS with a 396 and 4-speed and the engine was the same color as my friends '58 Impala. All of the engines in Chevrolets that I bought new after that time were the same color until the last being a '74 Chevrolet 1/2 ton with a 454 engine. Some time around '75 Chevrolet went to the GM Corporate Blue color and then all engines were painted black after a time. I hope this helps.

Well I tried to contact Moebius on their web sites "customer service". I think there is a problem with my server and it would not let me send. That's when I called direct. The unidentified man I spoke to knew of the problem and said I would just have to scribe the panel lines and said that I should just let the frame reshape the body. I mentioned the Ventura that I was finishing and its badly warped frame. The warped frame didn't get straight by mounting it to the interior floor and it rocks a little after mounting the suspension and tires. So so much for that idea. I feel that when dealing with Moebius in the future it will be a buyer beware type deal. I may be criticized for what I'm about to put forward, but it is what I feel. I have built and enjoyed the Hudsons and could not have been happier with how they turned out. I have done the Chryslers and it was more of the same. When I saw the Ventura came out I was a very "happy camper" since this was something I personally have wanted for years. I over looked the faint body side moldings and even tried to work with the warped frame. Then the Satellite came out. I did a cursory inspection and thought I could deal with the panel lines but didn't even check to see if the body would sit flay since this has never happened with any of there other products. Then the Belveder I shows up and this just happens to be the type of vehicle that hits my personal "hot button". After looking inside I couldn't help but notice that the panel lines were just not acceptable. After seeing other here mention the warp body I checked, and sure enough it was warped that made me go back and check the Satellite and it is also warped. The stance I got from Moebius was that I just had to deal with it. I always do the panel lines on a build anyway but the Belvedere has to be turned just right under a light with a magnifying glass to find the panel lines. Let me say that it is my opinion that Moebius should be praised for their engineering of frame and interior design, and most certainly for offering some truly great subjects to build. Up to this point I have gladly paid the premium selling price and feel that I have gotten my monies worth. But based upon the two latest purchases and their lack of interest in making it right I will wait and see what others here find in the box before I purchase another one of their products. As I said buyer beware.

I think I agree with the "B" paint scheme,.

Looking good. Don't forget to save the hump, you just never know when you may need something like that in the future.

I just got the Belvedere I yesterday and the body is warped also. This made me look at the Satellite that I was getting ready to build. The body is also warped and the door seems are just about as bad as the Belvedere.

Just the way a Camaro is supposed to look. Your outdoor pictures make the Black Mt. look almost like a very dark Gray. That would have made a great OEM color but styles were different then.

They are all beautiful builds and accurately depict the OEM paint schemes.

Are you going to build as "out of box" or do you have bigger plans for this ? On Wheeler Dealer on Velocity TV they redid a Citroen van that looks very similar to this. I understand that these are very popular in parts of Europe at this time.

I can understand your wanting to change the boot or trunk on this, but it was one of the original design elements when new. The only big problem I can see is the transition between the trunk area and the base of the roof or convertible top. It would seem that who ever had this kit before was going to modify it with the extra parts you mentioned. There was someone else here modifying this same area and if you can find their post you might learn from the problems they may have had. I will be interested to see what you come up with on for this build.

This is when I start taking the bus.

I start with the engine and chassis. I'll work on the body prep basics such as removing parting lines and imperfections on the side as chassis parts are coming together. I what in the final paint work until I recheck how the chassis fits into the body. After paint and polish on the body I try to minimize any handling so as not to leave any marks in the paint.

In addition to Snake's information, GM was known to use various shades of red "Oxide" primer and sometimes various shades of gray prior to the body color application. The difficult part is that this would vary from one production plant to another as well as year to year. It was also not uncommon to order these cars with factory "Undercoating" which was almost like the spray in bed liners we see in pick ups today. I don't know if this helps or confuses what you're after, but it was really all over the map as far as finishes go.

A great build it looks beautiful. It can be very rewarding building a model to order for some special.