Fat Brian

If I can finish half a dozen builds a year I could clear the stash in 75 to 100 years if I didn't buy another kit during that time. I think I'm fighting a losing battle.

You can do anything you want with it as long as it's from your birth year. The fewer restrictions the better for something like this.

I've finally developed a reliable painting process that gets passable results without too much work. Once I was able to stop the purple pond baths I was able to finish stuff.

Sometimes you can very gently use an Xacto to open up the holes just a touch. This is much more easily done with the part still on the fret.

And Rusty as well, thanks to you too.

Yes sir, it's wall to wall in there. Fortunately we can get away with things in scale that don't necessarily work in real life.

It's a very easy build, if I had kept the stock engine it pretty much would have fallen together.

Thanks everyone, I'm trying to improve my build speed or I'm never going to make a dent in my stash.

I think you'll have better luck with Scenes Unlimited for what you're looking for. He also has rims that fit his tires if I'm not mistaken so you don't have to worry about not fitting the kit rims.

I started with the Revell Hertz Mustang and added the wheels and tires from a Revell 32 Ford. For motivation I used the block from a Monogram 69 Ford Talladega and swapped on a manual transmission. Then I topped off the engine with the valve covers and low riser dual quad intake from a Revell 427 Cobra and a parts box air cleaner. I had to sand the fender liners paper thin and modify a set of manifolds to hug close to the block to get everything to fit, i also removed the battery from the engine compartment. I guess the story of the build would be as a test vehicle to see what it would take to get an FE into a first gen Mustang. I also made a shock tower brace from wire since the stock straight one wouldn't fit anymore. Just a fun little "what if" build.

Tamiya does plated bodies for a lot of their RC cars. The only model I've seen like that is a Lancia Stratos but there may be others.

Yeah, it would be difficult for it to be any worse than what you've got now. At least once it's out you can decide which is better. I've got three of the MPC kits and haven't built them because they're going to be so much work to make right.

The Revell 32 Ford kits have a modern AC compressor. Also, the Revell 59 Cadillac kits has AC and an air compressor for the self leveling system.

Yeah, the twist is only a few degrees. They should straighten out fine.

My twisting looked more like it was due to how they were placed in the box than mold or cooling time issues. Mine are twisted slightly at the rear where there is just a single attachment point to the sprue.

Other folks can speak better to accuracy than I can but Revell is supposed to have a new tool 71 Boss 351 kit out by the end of the year. Personally I would wait until then instead of putting any effort into the AMT or MPC kits.

Both of the frames in mine are slightly twisted but should be fine once it's attached to the base plate.

One of my go to ebay stores is DiOlex Productions. The 3d printed bodies are a bit rough but everything else is nice. https://www.ebay.com/str/diolexproduction

The best source really depends on what you're looking for. No one place caters to every style of wheel.

In a thread a while back someone who had a stock long bed frame compared it to a USA-1 frame. They are different enough to believe that the stock frame wasn't altered to make the monster truck frame. Now, what became of it and the short bed stuff I have no idea. There seems to be a lot of AMT/MPC tooling that met its end in that late 90s period.

Thanks guys, yeah it was a fun little quick build.

You've got a few options, in 1/25 scale you've got the AMT/Lindberg 53 Sunliner and the AMT 58 Edsel "ultimate" kit. Then in 1/24 scale there is the upcoming reissue of the Monogram 56 Thunderbird. The closest tire cover to the picture is in the Thunderbird kit but it might look a tad out of scale.

I'm seriously jealous, I want one of these kits in the worst way.

Yeah, they've had labeling issues for a long time. Personally, I hope we get the 3n1 kit, it's just odd that the pictures look like a kit that hasn't been seen for over 30 years.

Look at the wheel fitment and the shape of the wheel arches in this kit, this is a variant of the CHiPs kit.