espo

In the early '60's the 409 Chevrolet was very dominant in the stock class's of the NHRA. One of the reasons was the great torque at a relatively low RPM. This is why it was first used as a commercial engine. Chevrolet needed something bigger than the 283 used at the time and the engineers were able to get that at the time with great performance from little more than a cam and modified heads. Look at the NHRA record books from 1961 thru 1964 and you might be amazed by their record. At the time the engine development was moving very fast from all manufactures. General Motors realized early on that the 348-409 would have a limited life span as a performance engine. It was limited by head design and combustion chamber design. I don't recall when, but early on GM started design of the 396-427 hi-performance engine. It first broke cover in '63 in Junior Johnsons NASCAR Chevrolet at Daytona. As they say the rest is history. At that time it was about as good as it gets. As to your question on the AMT Impala, it is a very well proportioned body with somewhat fiddly opened doors. There is several engine and styling options. It was a true 3in1 kit of the time. The 348 could be built as a stock 4bbl or optional 3x2 setup. Some editions even had a GMC blower with optional headers, traction bars, and slicks. They also had custom tail lights, grills and bumpers. While an old tool for sure it can still be built into a very nice model with very little effort.

A few years ago I picked up a 4 tire and wheel set from GMP in 1/16. They may still be around from someone. The part no. was 9021. The wheels were a set of outstanding American 5 spokes with a grey center and polished wheel lips. The tires are Firestones with tread detail and very thin gold stripes with raised lettering. The second set has deep set Mini- lite type wheels in yellow. Think of the '69 Sonoco Camaros. The tires are blue stripe Good Years with small white lettering. Their web sight on the box is www.gmpdiecast.com. You might also check the supplier section on this sight as they have just about anybody who is anybody listed.

I personally like the Tuck n Roll interior, but if you keep all of the stock trim and emblems you might want to super detail the stock interior. If you go with a smooth look, removing door handles and hood trim and maybe filling the hood vents then I think you would want the Tuck n Roll interior. I look forward to how this turns out.

Saturn dealers used to have 1/24 or 1/25 Promos. May be someone still has one.

From what I have seen and read the Cuban people have a great love of old American cars. I applaud their use of resources to keep these cars running. Look at how hard it is even with all of the parts resources we have here. Just have to respect what these people have been able to do for so many years.

Kevin, If I can offer some additional ideas for detailing your tires. What has worked for myself is to paint the sidewall of the tire with gloss clear before applying the decals. The smoother the surface the better so that the decal doesn't show. Next , after everything is good and dry apply a light coat of semi-clear. This will seal the decals and give you a more accurate look to the sidewall. I usually sand the tires tread first and then wrap tap around the tread to keep it looking right.

In the past I have used them to pack away my models when I moved. I still save them just in case as I have usually moved every couple of years in the past. Now I think I'm just "hording" since I've been at my present location for 15 years. I have never lived anywhere that long before.

They sure look like the old coolers I remember from my youth, but they also look somewhat like big rig air cleaners. Either way you should use them as a cooler for your project.

You have put so much into this it would be a shame not to finish it. If your thoughts on the engine have changed and you wanted something different, how about the nice Y block Ford from the Revell '57 kit ? You could put together a 3-2 setup or use the 2-4's or even the blower motor. Their are a lot of good big block Ford engines you could use. But you really should go forward on this, I think with what you have already done you could make something really great out of it.

While not 100% correct, the "dog dish" hub caps in the Revell "Black Widow" '57 Chevy look very close. Or the full wheel covers from the El Camino kit could be cut down to work.

Many good ideas here. I remember reading something by a 1:1 painter who pointed out that you should never work on anything in a flannel shirt. His idea was that static electricity would draw the many particles too what ever you were working on. What I have done is to spray of the model I'm painting with my airbrush first even if I'm using a rattle can to paint. This has greatly reduced the problem of "trash" from sanding and prep work coming out of the inside of the body or the door jams.

John, I went back and reviewed your picture of the engine. My Bad. I was looking at the way that the exhaust ports exited the engine, and assumed it was a Chevrolet. I'm sure you have heard what happens when you assume. Well I looked back at your photo and realized that by the way the exhaust manifolds flow I can see it is something other than a Chevrolet. I hope you didn't take offence. You did show an excellent use of scrapes that would otherwise be tossed.

Great stuff, the trouble with You Tube is you can spend your whole day watching dumb people doing dumb things like this.

Very good info on the fuel pump and looks very convincing. But if this is a small block Chevy engine, as it appears, the mounting point would be on the side of the engine block below the front exhaust port. It is driven off of the cam shaft by way of a "push rod".

I have to agree with the others here, once you start "pinning" your builds you my wonder how you ever kept them together before. What I have used with great results is just using Staples from my stapler. They are easily cut to length and are very small diameter, and inexpensive. I'm financially challenged.

Great looking rack. Like you and many others, I like the eraser on the handle to keep the things from rolling around. What I've done is use different colored erasers to denote what I would use that blade for. You just have to remember what color is witch.

A lot of us will be looking over your shoulder on this one. Its expensive and I've been waiting to see just how good it is.

As you can see in the video, not everyone will stop. My personal experience has been that people do in fact stop and help. Case in point, my wife and I were on our way to a Jeep Jamboree last year in southern Missouri. We saw what looked like a dust storm on the other side of the 4 lane divided highway on the other side of the road. When we got there a semi truck had gone off the road and rolled on its side. We stopped and I ran across the highway and my wife was calling 911. By the time I got to the other side of the center divide several other cars were stopping. The driver was crawling out of the cab badly banged up and in shock. In total at least a dozen cars stopped and one of them was driven by a nurse. It was about 10 minuets before the State Troopers and Ambulance arrived. After the driver was loaded up and everyone gave their statements we all just went on about our way.

No plates and your behind a Police car, makes you wonder what else is going on here.

Art makes a good point about the Potvin super chargers. They had an advantage of better forward visibility and less power loss to drive them. But I remember reading about some of the early uses of the Potvin years ago. One of the things found at that time was that the runners from the blower to the engine as opposed to a top mounted blower was that there was a slight loss of boost because of the runners. I don't recall how much, but it was enough that top mounted blowers seem to become the norm.

Have you bought a dress shirt lately? I have used the clear plastic that they use to make the caller stand up.

Great pictures, thank you for sharing.

You might want to check for the Nomad style v-8 emblems under the tail lights. I didn't notice this until I painted mine. Most people will not notice it, but I know they're there and it bothers me on mine. I kept the small emblem without the V but wish now that I had added it. What color or colors are you think ?

Like the bumpers, looking forward to the wench.

For your front bumper you might look at some of the Jeep off road suppliers for inspiration. Tubular bumpers are very popular and are usually made up of two parallel tubes and an option of a loop in the center going up and forward from the bumper. The idea is if you drop of a ledge going down hill this will keep you from rolling over forward. That can be scary. For a wench mount usually they will use a flat metal plate to mount the wench on top of or behind the bumper with the wire coming thru the bumper. Go to www.quadratec.com, they have good pictures of different bumpers and wench mounts. This might help you decide which way you want to go for both front and rear bumpers, also spare tire mounts.