64Comet404

If you don’t have a kit already, the original issue of the Monogram Trans Am from 1978 came with the decals for the gold paint scheme. You may want to post in the Wanted section.

It was a beautiful day for a motorcycle ride, so I ended up riding to a hobby shop. Overall, it was just under 600 km for the day. The shop had the Supernatural Impala, but I’ll wait until my LHS receives their shipment. Picked up these wheel sets, as well as a couple of cans of ELO.

All it needs is the 1:25 astronaut to be complete. Great build!

One here, please!!!??

I think that chalk and cheese were the materials used to create the original master for that kit...?

Move the emergency bits from the ‘70 Impala kit, add some stock wheels with small caps, and you could have a Fire Chief’s car. The fire stations seemed to have dressier cars than the police, so you could get away with a four door hardtop.

To my eyes, the thickness of the A pillar looks to be mostly on the inside of the glass, so I am wondering if most of that thick-pillar look we can see will be taken care of with some minor sanding and a lick of paint. It’s not going to stop me from buying at least one, though! The wheels don’t look too bad for kit items. I know Kurt was asking for wire wheels like Fujimi, but I think the person who tooled those great wires for the Daytona and accessory kits is long gone. The ‘wires’ I received in my 250 GTO looked more like a goofy set of aluminum rims I used to see on a Nissan 280ZX.

I believe NASCAR has tried to improve the on-track product over the past few years with their rule changes. As a long-time fan, I laugh when people talk longingly about “The good old days”. The first Cup race I attended ended with only 4 cars on the lead lap, so it is nice to see closer racing at most tracks. There is the beginning of change in making the intermediate tracks more competitive, and the addition of more road courses makes a welcome change from the cookie-cutter venues we have had to watch over the past two decades. The lack of extended practice has been great, since it takes away the ability for the bigger teams to dial in their cars and stink up the show. As for the cars, I am a bit ambivalent over the coming changes. The current car is at the peak of development, and is providing some solid racing. The biggest issue is that, for all the fabrication, the chassis on these cars are still essentially 1965 full-size Fords equipped with a rear trailing arm suspension from an early 1960’s Chevrolet truck. While there are certain aspects of the new car I am not sold on, such as the sequential shifter, it is an opportunity to introduce more relevant suspension technology. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m willing to give it a chance.

I forgot how miserable it can be to paint with enamel spray cans. Back when I bought this wagon and the matching tractor, I stopped in at the local John Deere dealer and bought a rattle can of the factory green and yellow paint. They have been moved several times, and are almost 20 years old. I dug the cans out of the back of my paint cabinet, and tried out both colours. The yellow was too thickly applied and cracked, but the green sprayed well. I laid a coat down, and waited...and waited...and waited some more?. If I had known the pieces would still be tacky after 3 days, I would have painted with Humbrol! The parts were cured enough to move to the dehydrator, but it’s still a long process. note: the paint in the two photos is the same colour, just different lighting.

For some reason, the C4 wheels suit the C4 Vette, but I haven’t seen many other cars that look good with them. Mind you, there is a 1:1 ‘59 Plodge in my area with the wheels and drivetrain, and it doesn’t look that bad!

The only times I have seen cracking on TS-13 is when it has been sprayed over paint that is still drying. I try to leave my colour coats for at least 24 hours before spraying clear, and I haven’t had any issues. If you are using a dehydrator for paint, I still find it’s a good idea to wait at least 6 hours before spraying.

Airfix car collecting is one of the hardest fields to be in; finding MIB ‘58 annual kits is a relaxing day in comparison! I have been fortunate enough to find the vast majority of the 1:32 Airfix vehicles, but it has been a challenge. The only one I haven’t bought yet is the Old Bill military transport, but I am bound to find it soon since a newly tooled version has hit the market. I wouldn’t mind an earlier release of the DB5 either, because my latest reissue is pretty rough. I am looking forward to the time where I can build all of them, because these kits were the first ‘collectible’ kits I was able to find and buy back in the early 1980’s. Good luck in finding them, but they do turn up occasionally for reasonable prices.

That's my paint colour choice for when I build my 'Bird! I believe the original 1:1 was a 440 Magnum/auto, but I can decide to change it whenever I actually get around to building it.

I bought one of those Citroen Legere kits from eBay a few years back. Beautiful detail, but the seller forgot to include the simulated tires, so I sold it on to a military modeller. That Mercedes was one of the tougher kits for me to find when I collected the 1:32 Airfix, and I have never seen that Imani kit before. Nice score!

AMT ‘67 Shelby GT350 for the base kit, and check in the Resin section for who makes the body and other parts. I know there are a couple of Eleanor transkits out there, but I don’t know who makes them.

I have a feeling it was a mix, based on where the vehicle was deployed. Some of those paint schemes were probably done by the transport pool with a spray gun, while others would be freehand with a paintbrush or mop. At least they had the freedom to try ideas that worked (imagine LRDG units trying to hide in the desert with the Caunter scheme; some ideas should have stayed as ideas!).

Back when I worked at a dealership, my manager told me about the time that a Cougar arrived on the transporter, but it came with a Thunderbird beak. A Friday car, but they did sell it to someone who wanted something “unique”.

Are you planning to try the teacup test on the engine once it’s built? ?

I remember hearing that some dealers would convert the Superbirds back to RR configuration by removing the wing and nose. I have never heard that the fenders were changed, so if you have a resin or parts box ‘70 grille and bumper, try and make one and see if anyone notices the differences.

I build up my roll cages off the chassis, but I use tacky craft glue to glue the cage to the chassis. When the solvent glues have dried, I soak the roll cage free, finish clean-up, and paint it.

I don’t believe that a new Camaro will be made in styrene, due to the plans to phase out the Gen-6 cars at the end of the 2020 season (now pushed back to the end of the 2021 season, due to covid). I know that resin bodies of the 2018-19 Camaro were made in resin, and were being sold by Mike’s Decals (www.mikesdecals.com). The only possible issue is finding one of the donor Chevy SS kits, because they disappeared from the marketplace very quickly. Hope this helps in your search!

Please Round 2, give us a new ‘71-3 Mustang kit! The MPC kit tooling deserves to be retired and sent to the nearest smelter, and the AMT kit would need too much work to return to stock.

Very nice kit, I have seen them built up in magazines and have been tempted to track one down!

Looks great! I have a Sunny truck kit in my stash to do a similar project to yours (we used to have a 1200 sedan too, except it was red with a black vinyl top).

I have been trying to clean up some of my inventory of started kits. A few days ago, I was searching through some boxes when I came across this old ERTL farm wagon, along with the matching John Deere tractor. The tractor may take some time to complete, but the barge wagon shouldn’t be too difficult to finish quickly. There’s a few of these in my area, so I hope to get some good weathering ideas.