Fat Brian

I use Duplicolor white primer from the auto parts store. It goes on thin out of the can so it doesn't bury the molded in detail and it's strips easily in Super Clean. This way you can paint over it with anything and be able to remove it if you mess up. I typically only primer the body and hood, things that get painted flat colors don't usually need it unless you're cover red plastic with white or something. I wet sand the last primer coat with 2000 grip paper. I wasn't a believer but it really does make a huge difference in the finished paint job. Personally, I clear coat everything, it just makes it look better to me. I really like Mr. Super Clear gloss but it's pricey so I can't always use it. Rustoleum clear lacquer with the green oval on the can works well over paint that can tolerate it.

I don't see a date on the bottom of the box but the print inside the body is 3/27/2019.

Possibly the nicest Cordoba left in existence.

I'll look and see, I'm sure there's the printing on the inside of the body.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Moebius method of tooling many variations and being able to mix and match different releases.

There are many of us who would build modern trucks but the kit makers either don't make them or when they do they make the wrong version. Truck kits need a 4x4 option and a single cab/long bed version for light commercial builders.

Ok, I'll have to look. I could swear I've bought this but I don't remember seeing it recently .

Yeah, the Popper Pinto only has blackwalls in it. The version of the 77 I have is very recent, I think just before the Popper came out.

Another thing that will help in the future is wet sanding the final primer coat. I didn't believe it so I never did it and always had bad results when using primer so I never used it. Once I tried it it was a night and day difference. Wet sand it with like 2000 grit, it still needs some "tooth" to do its job but smoothing that final coat out makes a world of difference.

You're right, there's just a severe lack of good early 80s tires. That's what prompted my question to begin with, I knew the tire itself wasn't correct but I wanted the lettering to be feasible for the period. These tires are at least inoffensive compared to the snow tire looking junk we had previously.

Thanks Casey, I didn't pick this up but now it looks like I need to.

I saw that build a lot when I was looking for pictures. I could only hope mine would turn out that nice.

There's a 75 Chevelle NASCAR kit but it has the slanted Laguna nose.

I agree that a final, wetter coat would help you tremendously. What I would do with what you've got now is lightly wet sand it with 1500 or 2000 grit paper to remove the worst of the pebbliness and lint, then once it's dry hit it again with the red a little heavier and maybe a touch closer. When you spray from really far away the paint can dry out too much so instead of hitting the body and flowing out it piles up like little pellets.

A lot of Revell Chevy kits with big blocks have separate fuel pumps. I'm pretty sure the 67 Chevelle, both 67 Corvette kits, the 68 Corvette, and maybe the 65 and 66 Impala kits have them. You might be able to find pics of the instructions of those kits to find one for sure.

The muse can be fickle sometimes. I had a build planned out that I hadn't gotten to yet that was perfect for this theme. The basic plan was a modern take on an early Mustang using the MPC 79 body and the guts of the Revell 90 LX, something like this but without the pace car graphics that are specific to 1979. For... reasons... that just didn't work. The wheelbase of the chassis is a bit longer than the MPC body and the tires were too big to get as low as I wanted without major mods to the front inner fenders. So I started with a fresh chassis and looked for ideas that might not require as much modification to the innards of the car. Then the muse pointed a new direction, build the 1981 car in 1981 style. I saw the incredible Cobra decal on the 81s and just went with it. So now I've got a direction and I'm making progress.

Yep, this was the alternate art on the box side.

I would test any heat resistant paint before committing it to a model. You just never know what they've put in there and how it will react with plastic.

I'm probably going to get some dry transfers from Fireball, they have some Copper Cobras that would be thematic on my early Mustang.

They're in the 77 Pinto with the green car on the box from maybe four years. This is the only kit I've seen these markings used in.

Here's a pic next to a standard size AMT tire.

Check with Kris Morgan at M.A.D., I've heard he casts those grilles but doesn't list them on his site. He also does a correct, non Camper Special long bed.

This kit is the AMT Superstones kit that been out for a long time. The early 74-75 grille got retooled into the 78 grille but there are folks who resin cast the early one.

The tread pattern is the basic squiggly lines in their new hollow tires. They're the same as the ones in the 71 Duster and Pinot wagon kits just with different lettering.

The last minute retooling of the body of this kit probably did make it difficult to put together really good art in time.