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I like your color combo with what looks like the Firebird interior pieces.

Great looking shoe box. What are thinking for the front turn lamps ?

Red exterior ?

As Andy H mentioned the front bumper looks to big. The bumper its self is not so bad as the splash pan between the grill and bumper is just to large. What I have done on '56 Chevy builds is to shorten the splash pan, this brings the bumper much closer to the grill. The bumper wraparounds will then be into the front wheel opening and will also need to be reshaped. This is how the big guys do it.

Isn't Photo Shop grand . You can make anything out of anything. I actually would be a player for the El Camino / UTE if ever GM "Marketing People" ever get their heads out of where ever it has been lately.

Another one to consider is Model Master Liquid Cement, in the black dispenser. There are many more options then in the past. Just wait until you get to the windows. The quest will begin anew.

I'll have to try the tape method. If you don't already you might think about out lining the trim with a #11 blade during your prep before priming your model. Faint moldings like window and side trim go away with very little paint. This will leave you an edge to work with when it comes time for foil.

A T type sleeper. The FBI used some of these as undercover cars in the day. I got to drive one to lunch one day after the used car manager had bought it at the GM auction. They had a chip that GM later sent a replacement for. You could get 3rd gear scratch before. With the OEM chip, second gear at best. It was white with a light tan interior. You would never notice it on the road, but that was the point.

Great colors. I'm not a fan of vinyl roofs as most were black and didn't really look better than the painted roofs. This accents and enhances the body color.

Very nice color combo. Look forward to how you do the interior.

Wow, I'll be getting a few of the '40 since this was my all time favorite.

Very cool Dad. I will wager that when she is much older with children of her own she will remember this day, and that is good.

I really "don't want to beat a dead horse" here on engine colors because as we have all seen it is very different in different markets. Just let me share a couple of personal observations from years ago. In '64 my employer purchased a new left over '63 model Chevrolet C-20 (3/4 ton) pick-up. It had a 283 in gray and a 3-speed manual transmission. In '65 one of my very close friends ordered a new '65 Chevrolet C-10 (1/2 ton ) with the 283 which came in gray also with a 3-speed manual. I have no idea how much this means to those who worry about such things, but this was two different trucks that I saw and help work on when they were new. This was in the southern California area (Crestline and Lake Arrowhead) and was probably how that plant was painting engines at that time. I still love how this model turned out. I personally prefer and paint all of my Chevrolet builds with what I feel is the orange/red color that I associate with a Chevrolet 8 cylinder engine. The 6 cylinder engines that I remember working on at the time were always blue (blue flame six) until the 230 & 250 inch engines which were then painted a red that matched the 8's.

The class in which the car would have raced was a formula based on factory rated horsepower and factory stated shipping weight, NHRA would often raise the horsepower rating on a particular engine if they felt the manufacturer was sand bagging on the rating. The Revell model represents the 150 series which was correct for the Black Widow although the Fuel Injection was an option that could be ordered on any '57 model Chevrolet save maybe the sedan delivery, but even that may be argued by some. Guessing only, it may have run in A or B stock at that time. If you can find an NHRA rule book from the mid to late '60's you could figure out what class it would have been in. They also would denote say B/SA for an automatic transmission car and B/S or B/SS for a manual transmission depending on the track. I would think that by the '60's such a car would have moved into say a C or D class by then based on the newer higher output engines of the day.

While everyone seems completely satisfied using solder, I have been using another method that has worked well for me. Plastruct has styrene tubing of different diameters. I usually use #90604 1/8" (3.2 mm) diameter hollow tubing. I insert 3/64 (1.2mm) brass rod so that it will bend without collapsing the tubing and it hold the shape. There are several different sizes depending on the exhaust size you're after. If you leave a little of the brass sticking out of the ends you can use that as mounting point for the headers, mufflers, and exhaust tips as needed.

Another one of your great builds. In the picture at least the engine color looks correct, more red than orange.

For the Merc hub caps look at the Revell '49 Mercury wagon or the old AMT Mercury as a source.

The 390 engine in the kit could just as easily be made to look like a Ford 427 as from the outside there is very few visual differences. If can find a dual four barrel setup for it that would really set it off. I'm also a Chevy type but you do have to show respect to some of the old hi-performance Ford engines. Besides the ease of fitting the engine to the chassis.

Depending on the price this could be a very nice sedan to own. As for the styling, that is always a personal thing and it just depends on what you like or not. The grill obviously is a nod to their traditional grill design and I kind of like that.

Is it possible that your father had a Clay Smith cam in his car ? Clay had red hair and often chewed on a cigar, at least that was the story behind the logo for his cam company.

Best magazine ever. Reading the text and looking at the pictures bring back so many great memories.

For small items I have used the screens they sell for smoking pipes. They are usually small and less than an inch in diameter. Check with any local smoke shops to see if they have anything larger.

On the Testors rattle cans, my only experience involved spry nozzles that would always mess up. I would invert the can to clear the nozzle after use, but it would still spray everywhere on the next use. I have even had that happen on the first use, hard to understand what is going on with that. Their lacquer paint is ok but their enamel not so much. At this point it would be an additional expense to go to better products but would save you a lot of frustration. I personally like Tamiya paint but some times use Model Masters depending on what color I'm after.

I used to live in San Bernardino California in the '60's, there was a business called San Bernardino Racing Equipment. All of his personal vehicles where black and always car show ready. He had a shop truck, a Falcon panel, that was black with gold leaf lettering on the side panels with a nice set of mags and had a 289 4speed. Just a thought, but I think a speed shop would be a good commercial type build.

For what you have tied up in display cases you could buy a very nice shelving unit.