Monty

So are you saying no one's allowed to wonder if the body will be "off" like some other kits based on die-casts? Apparently this kind of speculation isn't new when it comes to concerns about how Revell may decide to produce this kit. Here's what Casey (Moderator) said all the way back in 2011: I hope Revell wouldn't release a '70 Dodge Charger based on a die-cast model/tooling. We need only look at the Revell '70 Dodge Challenger R/T T/A kit to see the shortcomings of such ideas. You also seem to feel the need to protect Revell from any criticism they might incur by releasing a die-cast - based kit. Should we just hope that they'll consider making it with the headlight doors closed, or just be thankful we're getting any '70 Charger at all? Ever wonder why the guys at Missing Link Resin used Revell's '69 Charger as the basis for their '70?

I'll have to let someone with direct experience answer your questions. The situations I mentioned were from an HOA thread on a Corvette forum I'm on. I didn't even know HOAs existed till about 5 years ago, and I've never lived in one of "their" neighborhoods.

No argument there if you've been made aware. In the cases I mentioned, these had been regular neighborhoods until a cabal sprung up and had enough clout & numbers to force this excrement on the others. Seriously, you can't handle seeing my work van outside my house? And you get to dictate the shades of a given color I can use to paint my house?

From what I've seen, Alclad has been pretty consistent in their directions; it's the users' interpretations that vary. Although some modelers have found other bases (non-black & occasionally non-enamel) that they like, the wheels I posted were done according to Alclad's directions. Kinda hard to argue with results like that, huh? As for durability, if you touch some day-old Testors enamel paint jobs, you'll leave a mark. Gonna stop using them, or just try to be smarter about how you handle painted parts? There are too many people on here who've used Alclad successfully for anyone to pay attention to your whining. Like most things in this hobby (prep work, assembly, painting etc) it may require a bit of effort to learn, but that's how we get better. Lastly, I think it's hilarious that you're talking about limited budgets but you're sniffing around for resin kits - many of which are over $50.00 and have parts that will require you to either use Alclad or send them off for plating. Perhaps you could offset the cost by selling your rose-colored glasses.

As I understand it, the original idea behind HOAs was to keep "blight" out of good neighborhoods, thus maintaining a great across-the-board appearance and keeping property values up. By "blight" they used to mean the sort of people who let their lawn go, parked their Camaros up on blocks in the front yard and let the house slowly deteriorate around them. OK, I get that. The real problem with HOAs is the power those in charge have over the others. By the time an unwitting family moves into an HOA neighborhood, the "covenants" have already been voted on, and it's unlikely you'll ever get them overturned. On some of the car boards I'm on, homeowners who'd moved to a certain neighborhood without checking for HOAs were shocked to find that they were limited to certain shades of a given color if they wanted to repaint their house; service vehicles (plumbing & electric vans etc) must be stored in your garage at night and cannot be parked outside; no "maintenance" or washing & waxing of cars in your driveway or in front of your house, and on and on. And of course there are the self-appointed Gestapo members who spend their days making sure everyone's in "compliance". Some charters state that you can be heavily fined if not. If you have the money, move outside of town and buy up as much property around you as you can.

Alclad can help create a fantastic finish if you're willing to follow directions. It's a process. These semi wheels were done by a friend of mine (and fellow board member) purepmd: This wasn't done in one squirt-n-blurt session; he airbrushed multiple mist coats until he got the results he wanted.

Just on the off chance that no one here has exactly what you need, here are some other options you might consider. The wheels above are 1/24 resin 5-slots, but I've seen them work on 1/25 cars etc. They're sold in sets of two, which allows you to do any combination you like (4 of the same, 2 small, two bigger etc). Finish them with airbrushed Alclad or Spaz-Stix chrome. They're made by a fellow board member & sold here http://www.fireballmodels.info/ These are 1/25 resin castings of some MPC wheels. IIRC, he also sells them in sets of two so you can get the combination you're looking for. Again, you'll need to airbrush some Alclad or Spaz-Stix for best results. These are sold by another long-term board member on this site http://www.scenesunltd.com/WHEELS.html . You may see some other styles of slotted wheels on there that you like as well. Last but not least, our moderator, Casey, also has a great line of resin wheels, including 5-slots, on ebay under forward_resin. (99.8% positive feedback!) HTH

Now that's what I call a great answer! Thanks, Mike!

Do you know anything about street machines or street rods? Yes, I'm sure it's an air cleaner, and I remember when these were a common aftermarket add-on. Some people liked the looks, but I assume most of their popularity was based on a combination of low cost, space configuration issues (dual carbs) and the misguided hope that the "all-access" design would result in more power from an increase in airflow. I wouldn't have run one of these on any of my 1:1 cars at gunpoint, but I've got one particular build that the scale version would be perfect for.

I was curious about the same thing. Also, for those of us who haven't built this kit, are there any tricky areas we should be aware of?

Thanks, Mr DeRagon! I knew I'd seen those vacuum advance units somewhere. The distributors look sharp, too.

Most of the time it depends on what I'm building. I've used the Detail Master setup for some of my late '60 / early '70s kits because it looks like the Mallory Unilite distributors I used to run back then. I thought the P/E retainer clips lent a touch of authenticity that other mfrs' kits didn't always have, and the 4/6/8 plug wire option made this a great add-on for those modelers doing plug wiring on 4 & 6 cylinder engines. I think my only complaint was the lack of a vacuum advance unit. OTOH, it's hard to beat M.A.D.'s HEI distributors for applications that require that setup. IIRC, M.A.D. offers 8 cap colors and 8 plug wire colors, so most stock or aftermarket setups could easily be duplicated. Unfortunately, like its DM counterpart, it also lacks a vacuum advance unit, but I believe some enterprising resin caster offers them. I haven't used them, but the guys at M.A.D. also have 4 & 6 cylinder distributors & a couple other specialized units (Ford & Hemi distributors).

I happened to see this air cleaner on another board and asked the builder about it. He said it was purchased through Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland around 15 years ago, and to the best of his knowledge, they haven't been available in this form (metal) for some time. Does anyone know if there's another aftermarket model business that offers this (non-resin, non-styrene) air cleaner as part of their inventory?

Congratulations on attempting and completing this conversion! As others have said, you've chosen a great color combination for the body and interior, and I see you've added some nice detailing touches throughout the entire build. If you don't mind sharing, what specific paint did you use on the body?

Outstanding work, especially given the kit you started with. I never thought I'd see a set of chrome reverse wheels on an old Cadillac and say "That rocks!"...and it does. Well done!

That's got to be one of the best builds of that kit I've ever seen. I shouldn't be surprised, considering who built it. *naughty word* talented Russian

Nicely done old Mopar!

I've got a number of photos my brother took of my 'Vette before I sold it. They're in a file called Pictures, but there doesn't seem to be a way to copy/paste them or even a URL to copy. Every once in a while someone needs a reference photo that I technically have, but can't share. Is there an easy way to do this? I'm not brilliant around computers, so keep that in mind with your answer

Here are some '68s that other members have built. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=85375 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=100274 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19231&p=168864 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79417&p=1011511 Looks like it's fairly accurate and it appears to be a straightforward build. Some people are upgrading to the new AMT tampo-printed Polyglas RWL tires. I think they offer a redline tire as well, which would also be accurate for this car. Are you just looking for any C3 ('68 - '82) or did you have a specific year in mind that you were interested in building?

Looks like they may have issued that hot mess more than once. Another one to leave alone: The ARII 1/24 '80 Corvette kit. It's a curbsider with beautiful wheels and tires, but the body is noticeably "off" from the C-pillar back.

This may have been your first post, but after seeing how well this build turned out, I hope there will be many more. Welcome to our board!

Was your Gold Leaf in a spray can? If so, they don't seem to have that anymore, but they have a regular Gold as well as a very expensive Metallic Gold (TS84) in their spray can line. Gold Leaf is still available in their acrylic line (X-12).

I had a model back in the '70s that I really wanted to do paint with gold enamel. Long story short, the paint (Pactra or Testors rattle can) turned out blotchy & I've stayed away from gold as a car color since then. The pics on here show that we have some highly talented modelers who used their favorite variant of gold paint to finish off their builds. I'm loving what I see - several different shades of "gold" and all of them look good on their respective kits. Thanks to all who posted! I'll take more pics if anyone has them.

If what you're saying is true, and it sounds like it is, this could be very good news for those of us wanting a nice (non-diecast-based) '70 Charger. Man I hope they get this thing right. Dumb question (because I don't understand the process) will they be retooling the '68 or '69 molds to make a '70?