Fat Brian

Engines usually tilt back a bit like in your picture. It helps with driveline angles, the smaller the angle in a universal joint the smoother it operates.

I might be in, I had fun with my bug from the last one.

Yes, as long as the bodystyle was available in a given year its good even if the specific year on the kit doesn't match. This is great for newer cars where they ran the same body basically unchanged for several years in a row.

Yep, all these are curbside. For a unique swap check out the Clearly Scale 1UZ resin kits, they have a few supercharged versions of a Toyota v8 that should have been available in these trucks from the factory.

This picture is courtesy of Tim Boyd, the kit will hopefully be out next year.

You've also got trucks, Broncos, and Blazers/Jimmy's from all of the Big Three available with a little kit bashing for the GMC truck.

The MPC Fiero kits have a 2.8 liter v6.

The Johan Boss 429 engines are the best in 1/25 scale, none of the AMT versions I've seen much to speak about. If you don't care about a stock intake or transmission you can find them in the Mustang and Pinto funny cars. The whole engine can be found in the 72 Torino stock car kits. The Revell 70 Torino kits with their SCJ motor could supply some of the missing stock looking parts though they wouldn't be identical to the Boss parts.

Keep an eye on ebay, builtups and partial kits come up every so often.

Thank you, really the wing on your car looks totally normal for cars over here. I see cars with race style wings like that every day so it would completely blend in. The color helps too, I had a hard time picking a color but love how the Tamiya gunmetal looks on it, it makes it kind of stealthy. The foil helped too, it was kind of bland without the foil on the upper wing extension piece.

Regular Testors thinner on a Q-tip will remove it, be very careful depending on what type of paint you used.

Three more options for 51, Moebius Hudson Hornet, the Revell 50 Olds passes for a 51 too as does the AMT 49 Ford if you use the custom grille without the bullet nose.

I'm going to combine these three kits into something for my 81 birth year. It's nice to not have to buy anything this year, I think I spent almost $200 on this year's build.

You might try ebay too, the kit breakers usually have the decal sheets listed.

The R-34 Skyline and 350Z were available in 2001. Also there is the Revell 99 Mustang that covers the 99-04 bodystyle and the Revell F-150 Lighning pickup, this theme isn't limited to just cars.

That will make a neat build, it's going to be cool to see a lot of malaise Era hot rods.

I'd like to say I put a great deal of thought into it but honestly it just popped into my head while I was typing up the theme suggestion thread. I do agree that it makes a good theme in that there is one restriction but everything else is left up to the builder. Hopefully it will lead to a good turnout.

#20 - Ford GTO Mustang List of modifications: - Open front grille and remove molded in headlight covers, add headlights and make clear covers - Switch kit V8 engine for Cosworth 2.2 4cyl, add turbo and make piping, add intercooler to radiator duct - Re-route exhaust and fill holes in passenger side door - Re-work transmission cover to open passenger side of interior, add stock car door bars, extend firewalls to close up cabin area, add racing seats - Replace slicks with road tires - Add extra fuel tank for increased range - Add rear window louvres to hide gutted rear compartment

Yeah, those of us born in more recent years might not have some cars listed for our specific year but as long as that bodystyle was available in our year it should be fine. My entry is a 79 Pace car Mustang but the 81 that I need was largely the same so it's close enough.

The Supra looks great, I can't believe you got it together so quickly.

Check out armor modeling forums and YouTube for painting tires, those guys have it down. Basically, tires aren't really black. You'll need a dark gray and give it a lighter gray dry brushing and possibly some dirt effect around the treads.

This would require him to actually accomplish something and I don't think he has enough "information" for that yet. The next post is probably going to be about the specific gravity of various types of thinner or evaporation rates at different humidities and altitudes.

You can do that, the foil does get oxidation on it over time so the clear might keep it good and shiny. The only issue is the clear potentially yellowing, Testors clear is bad about that.

Thank you, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I agree with what others have said. I built some models on commission years ago and you're lucky to break even on materials so you're basically doing it for free.