Opinions on upgrading rare vintage cars

[Brutalform]

On 5/24/2020 at 11:16 AM, Plowboy said:

The way I look at vintage kits is it's mine. I'll do whatever I want with it. I don't care what some shmoe 40 years from now is going to want to do with it. Just as the person before me didn't when they glued every custom piece in the box on the body. I'm going to build it the way I want. If I want to cut it up, I'm going to. Some people think every one is the last one. Yet they pop up on ebay all of the time. What value does a kit have if you never enjoy it? 

I just recently got a '64 Fairlane Sports Coupe and have been in the process of stripping who knows how many layers of paint from it. At first, my plan was to cut the roof off and stick it on a Revell body and use part of the interior, hood and taillight panel. Just like a full scale, I discovered that paint can hide some serious sins. The roof is actually crazed terribly while the body isn't. Not sure if it can be salvaged or not. I may have to pitch the body and try to sell the parts to recoup some of my money. I'll just have to see how bad it is when all of the paint is off. The guy or guys before me didn't consider me when they did what they did. But, they enjoyed it when they had it.

I couldn’t agree more. Have fun with it. It’s yours. 

[Snake45]

On 5/24/2020 at 11:54 AM, Muncie said:

I'll just leave this here with a couple of notes...

From back in the day - found with at least ten coats of paint, brush enamel and so thick that no sign of the emblems which are intact could be seen.  It is a modification to transplant the Fairlane body on the Mercury Cyclone altered wheelbase kit.  Even the hole in the hood is from the Cyclone. I have one brain cell that says this was from instructions in a how to article in Model Car or Model Car Science Magazine.  That brain cell doesn't work correctly so maybe not.  The Cyclone AWB chassis that came with it was a mess and missing pieces - but Round 2 recently reissued it.  Good to go.

Mike, yes, there are three taillight bezels in the picture - The third one from the left is yours if you need it - just PM your address and I'll get it in the mail.

Now, see, I'd try to bring that one back to stock, or at least a stock-bodied street cruiser, using chassis, interior, etc. from a common "new" '66. 

I bought a couple real glue-bomb AMT "Time Machine" '65 Chevelle AWBs and was gonna try to take at least one of them all the way back to stock. Then I FINALLY scored a Craftsman '65 Chevelle. So now I'm looking to restore the AWBs as AWBs. Still gonna be a mess, the A-pillars and/or cowls are messed up on both bodies. Will probably try grafitng those in from a common Revell Z16. 

Speaking of '65 Chevelles, anyone catch the Memphis Street Outlaws' "new" '65 Chevelle last night? Hella cool! And looks like another MSO winner. Precious dragged that guy all the way down the street with it! Off with his whole haid! 

[Muncie]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Now, see, I'd try to bring that one back to stock, or at least a stock-bodied street cruiser, using chassis, interior, etc. from a common "new" '66. 

 

I can respect that - you'd turn it into a respectable  and good looking model.

 

[Bucky]

As far as doing crazy things with a vintage model.....

AMT '67 Cougar, with '68 Mustang fastback grafted in. The Cougar was a gluebomb, and the Mustang was a more recent kit.

[Brutalform]

Just scored this little gem. I finally got this car, and I have been looking for it for some time now. Rare, and valuable, but I can’t wait to tear into this kit. Gonna build it to resemble the car in the pic. 

[Snake45]

15 minutes ago, Brutalform said:

Gonna build it to resemble the car in the pic. 

 

 

 

Whew! For a minute there, I thought you were gonna build the hideous box art custom. 

[Brutalform]

57 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Whew! For a minute there, I thought you were gonna build the hideous box art custom. 

Haha.. no way. Gonna build a nice street and strip 63 Dodge, with a potent max wedge. One of my favorite cars. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Brutalform said:

Haha.. no way. Gonna build a nice street and strip 63 Dodge, with a potent max wedge. One of my favorite cars. 

I'm planning on building my convertible as a max wedge as well, except a pretty much bone stock Polara on the outside.

Surprise, surprise.

 

 

 

Steve

[Plowboy]

I have a '62 Dart molded in the nasty mustard yellow. The overly shallow interior renders it almost useless. I may do a drag car with it and just make new door/quarter panels out of flat styrene. Maybe use a Lindberg Dodge for a chassis donor.

[Brutalform]

26 minutes ago, Plowboy said:

I have a '62 Dart molded in the nasty mustard yellow. The overly shallow interior renders it almost useless. I may do a drag car with it and just make new door/quarter panels out of flat styrene. Maybe use a Lindberg Dodge for a chassis donor.

I’m have a build of this car on the bench. Got it all primed, and the Lindberg chassis figured out, but undecided what to do over that interior. I’m probably just gonna correct the dash, add the vent to it, and the round trim that surrounds the drivers gauges, and call it done. 

[Tom Geiger]

I have two of these Dodges in a box! Clean old built ups that I bought at a car show probably 30 years ago for $10!

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Plowboy said:

I have a '62 Dart molded in the nasty mustard yellow. The overly shallow interior renders it almost useless. I may do a drag car with it and just make new door/quarter panels out of flat styrene. Maybe use a Lindberg Dodge for a chassis donor.

 

39 minutes ago, Brutalform said:

I’m have a build of this car on the bench. Got it all primed, and the Lindberg chassis figured out, but undecided what to do over that interior. I’m probably just gonna correct the dash, add the vent to it, and the round trim that surrounds the drivers gauges, and call it done. 

C'mon guys!

You're both very accomplished builders.

Don't let a little interior intimidate you.

Treat it like a separate model, cut it apart and re-build it.

You can save and modify the seats, dash and steering wheel and basically start over on the door panels and floor.

You might be surprised how rewarding it is to re-work these old interiors.

 

A '62 Dart door panel would be a pretty simple design to replicate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[ChrisBcritter]

On 5/26/2020 at 5:02 PM, Bucky said:

As far as doing crazy things with a vintage model..... AMT '67 Cougar, with '68 Mustang fastback grafted in. The Cougar was a gluebomb, and the Mustang was a more recent kit.

Got similar plans for a '65 Olds, with a '65 Grand Prix roof and glass to make a Jetstar I (measure 50 times, cut hopefully once).

[Deuces ll]

On 5/18/2020 at 10:54 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

The only thing that really makes me cringe is when someone butchers the body of a perfectly good vintage kit.

Once you have chopped and channeled a body, there is no return.

 

In my opinion, these old kits cry out for us to preserve them in some sense of the word for a possible future restoration from the next generation of modelers.

That being said, I don't see any problem with modernizing what is there to start with.

 

I'm a factory stock nut, along with a vintage kit freak, and nothing brings me more pleasure than taking a rare old kit and updating it with modern kit parts to today's standards.

The way that I see it, as long as the body and necessary parts to build a stock model are retained, everything else is gravy.

A chassis or engine can be changed in the future.

A chopped top cannot be un-chopped.

 

There are few rarer examples of a vintage kit than the Johan 1968 Olds 442, yet I had no compunction with completely rebuilding the interior and doing a complete swap of the chassis and engine.

I feel that the kit has benefited from the modifications rather than suffered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

WOW!!!!...... ??

[Plowboy]

On 5/27/2020 at 12:09 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

 

C'mon guys!

You're both very accomplished builders.

Don't let a little interior intimidate you.

Treat it like a separate model, cut it apart and re-build it.

You can save and modify the seats, dash and steering wheel and basically start over on the door panels and floor.

You might be surprised how rewarding it is to re-work these old interiors.

 

A '62 Dart door panel would be a pretty simple design to replicate.

 

Steve

I've done it a few times. But, only on subjects I really care about. A JoHan '62 Dart isn't worth the effort to me. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Plowboy said:

I've done it a few times. But, only on subjects I really care about. A JoHan '62 Dart isn't worth the effort to me. 

I can understand that.

Just giving you a little razzing!

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Oldcarfan27]

On 5/26/2020 at 12:19 PM, Snake45 said:

Still gonna be a mess, the A-pillars and/or cowls are messed up on both bodies. Will probably try grafitng those in from a common Revell Z16. 

Snake, Try using parts from the 65 El Camino or wagon. Same scale and tooling era. Might be closer. 

[Snake45]

7 minutes ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Snake, Try using parts from the 65 El Camino or wagon. Same scale and tooling era. Might be closer. 

That's another possibility. I have at least one Elky glue bomb body. But I also have several of the Revells, which I now have little interest in building.