Monty

Agreed. From an accuracy standpoint, the Revell kit would seem to be the obvious kit to use since it blows the AMT kit out of the water...until you encounter that virtually vertical front grille assembly. Maybe you can figure out a way to incorporate the AMT grille. Either way, good luck & keep us posted on your progress.

Wow, never even thought of them, and if memory serves, they're based here in the Dallas area. Thanks!

Thanks for the P/N and the pics!

Would you mind sharing the Duplicolor P/N? Looks like a great shade.

Whose metallic paint are you using on the body? One of the Testors lacquers?

Nicely done! Ummmm, where's the coffee?

It's a Monogram kit. They seem to be fairly easy to find and relatively inexpensive. I don't recall seeing a built one before, but now that Grzegorz has posted his, it looks like a worthwhile kit. I may have to grab one or two myself.

Years ago I happened to drive by the local Ford dealer shortly after they had received a shipment of '87 turbo T-Birds. He had parked a black one, a medium canyon red one, a metallic blue one and a white one side by side. I recall thinking that even if he offered to give me one of them for free, it'd take me forever to decide which one I liked best. These, IMNSHO, were some of Ford's best styling work. Grzegorz, we don't see a lot of posts from you, but they're always worth checking out. Ford may not have offered this car in this color, but that appears to be an oversight on their part, as that shade of yellow seems to really complement the lines of the car. My compliments also on achieving such smooth paintwork, not to mention choosing a great shade to for the interior. Looks like you found plenty to detail under the hood as well. Good job on this one! Can't wait to see what you post next.

Back to the actual subject of the thread, I'm trying to recall if I've ever seen an open element air cleaner with at least the semblance of the undertray molded on it. You know, the piece that actually fits over the carb and supports the filter element? I guess the open element air cleaners are made by the same guys who provide the bracketless Magic-Lift alternators.

Can you post some pics of this? It sounds like an interesting idea.

If you do a little detailing on the wheels, you'll find it makes a big difference. Here's another '71 Plymouth with Rallye wheels. The Mopar experts on here could probably tell you the exact paints (Metalizers?) to use to obtain a near-perfect match, but basically you'd want to start by black-washing the holes. Use a small brush and small amounts of paint to prevent anything from slopping onto the trim rings. The wheel should be then painted some shade of silver, while the wheel center should be a darker metallic gray. Model Master's Metalizers probably has the perfect shade for that, too. To keep things simple on your kit, leave the trim ring, the center cap and the lug nuts unpainted. HTH

Post # 33, 2nd paragraph.

Wrong! See my answer to Harry in post # 33. I'll finish off this thread later when my guests are gone.

Actually, I didn't. As I said in my initial post, my goal from the day I started building was to try to build the most accurate replicas of my favorite 1:1 cars that my abilities would allow. This way of thinking was formed by seeing better builders' models at contests and trying to learn what they did that gave them an edge over the other contestants. Apparently my mistake was assuming that most car modelers shared the same passion for realism as the military modelers, which, to my way of thinking, would preclude building anything cartoonish. Having read all the responses, you can imagine my surprise in finding so much support for these things on here.

Please keep in mind that, while it's blazingly obvious that I detest these kits, the purpose of this thread was to find out why other people liked them.

As Harry said, we all approach the hobby differently. I was influenced by military modelers who strove to get every detail correct, but being a gearhead at heart, I wanted to apply that philosophy to automotive models. That should explain why I prefer this (model & photo by jdcar32) to this

I was there during their heyday. I didn't "get" the Rat Fink phenomenon either, and like you, I had no interest in the majority of Tom Daniel's kits.

First, let me say that this is not an attack on anyone personally, but a few recent threads about these kits brought the question to mind. I've just never understood why a serious modeler would want to buy and build what amounts to a plastic cartoon. Ever since I took up the hobby as a kid, my goal was to try to create accurate replicas of the 1:1 cars and trucks that impressed me. I was fortunate that my older brother and his friends had a variety of performance cars, which I got to see up close and occasionally ride in. None of these were stock by any means, but the overriding theme seemed to be "fast but tasteful". When I see these cheesy caricatures (Zingers, Deal'sWheels, Snap Draggins etc) it makes me wonder what kits might've been put on the back burner in order to get these things out on the market. Do you actually take pride in having built any of these? So, again, why do some of you guys like these things? (Try to come up with something less trite than "slump buster").

Same here. My '80 was my pride and joy, and the modifications I made to it substantially improved the power and handling capabilities. Unfortunately, due to the faltering economy I ended up selling it a couple months ago. After 20 years of ownership, it was hard to watch it drive away.

Google searching only yielded some scanty bits of information, but it appears that Testors/Airfix/Lindberg did a version of Andy Granatelli's turbine-powered '79, although I can't find a pic of the kit. Here's some info about the real thing http://www.corvetter...wered-corvette/ I love me some C3s, so I'm surprised I'd never heard of this kit.

I have to agree with the others - that hood latch/striker plate makes a big difference. Kudos for figuring out a neat way to add more detail to the underhood area. I plan on copying your design when I get back to my Nova. (I probably won't be the only one ) Have you picked a paint color yet? I can't wait to see this one posed next to your Fairlane!

Mark's correct. They're restraints which allowed you to secure your t-tops in the cargo area if you chose to take them off. Mine were mirrored, so when I took them off, I usually left them on the couch to avoid any scratches to the top surface.

I'd never given this model much consideration before, but it looks like they did a good job of supplying the basic details and you did a great job of detailing everything. I love the colors you chose for this, and while the white outline lettered tires can be a pain, when painted correctly, as you've done, they lend that period-pefect look to a car of that era. I couldn't help but notice the Bilstein shocks. Definitely an upgrade. Years ago I stuck a set of those on my Corvette and was amazed at the difference they made. Expensive, but well worth it. Looking forward to your next project.

Fantastic build, Mark! This is my favorite pace car of all time. I was kind of surprised at the lack of detail and occasional poor-fitting parts (glass, spoiler), but now that you've overcome all the annoyances, this looks like it should be sitting in a showroom. As i mentioned during the build-up, the red trim on the wheels is what really sells it, since they're hard to replicate without some innovation.

It's just carpet (see the pic of the red interior I posted). Don't know why GM felt that was a neat styling element, but kudos to Mark for sweating the details.