Peter Lombardo Posted October 4, 2020 Posted October 4, 2020 These are the latest three vehicles finished. One is basically stock, second is mildly modified and the the third is reimagined as I would have preferred it done. Revell (really Monogram) 1970 Plymouth Road Runner A few years ago, while at a “Lead East” 1950’s party and car show weekend over the Labor Day Holiday, I spotted a lime green 1970 Plymouth Road Runner. That car made an indelible mark on my brain as it struck me as the “perfect” example of the Road Runner of that era. This is something I rarely ever do, I built a bone-stock car. I opened and hinged the doors and added tire side markings. The car is painted in Rust-oleum “Key Lime Gloss” with a flat black hood stripe along with blacked out window trim rather than chrome, and that is it. This is basically the car I saw at the show, which is all that I was looking to replicate. Revell (really Monogram) 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge I still remember when Joanie, an associate of mine at the accounting firm we worked at, at the tail end of 1968 showed up with a bright red brand new GTO one day (her family had “money”). It had a black vinyl interior and black vinyl top and if I remember correctly, it had an automatic shifter in the center console that allowed manual shifting or fully automatic operation. I just loved the front-end treatment with the molded body color front bumper (the Endura option). Being a junior member at the firm back then, more often than not I, and my buddy back then were charged with going to pick up lunch many days. If driving was required to get the food, Joanie always offered up the Goat to me, and well, safe to say, I always took the long way to get the food. I really liked driving the car, and was thankful that I did not have to put gas in it as it certainly had a huge appetite for the stuff, well, at least how we drove it with such a heavy right foot. Great memories, to be sure. I have had this kit it seems like forever. A couple of weeks ago I got tired of looking at it on the shelf in front of me and finally figured it was time to build it. Since I am not a real fan of stock builds, I wanted to give this car a few modifications to put my “stamp” on it. Actually, the only area of the build that I wanted to hold true to the original was in the orange paint and the quint-essential black and yellow stripe, but even that is not quite stock. The body was modified with opening and hinged doors then all of the badging was shaved. I incorporated a lower front air dam and opened up the intake slots. All four wheel wells were given a slight bulge to allow bigger Pegasus wheels and tires and to allow the car to sit down lower, especially in the front. Behind the front wheel wells I added air outlet vents replicating the ones used on the GTO’s little brother Firebird Trans Am. In the rear I added a deck spoiler unlike the wing that the actual car has. I molded in the rear bumper and converted it to a monochrome like by painting it body color. The engine is basically stock with the addition of some wires and detail. The interior is also basically stock with just a bit of orange contrast to the all-black interior and new inside door arm rests were rebuilt and made more substantial. Then I sprayed the rear window with Tamiya smoke to replicate tinted windows. For the body color I started with 70% Tamiya X-6 orange, added 30% Tamiya X-8 Lemon Yellow to lighten up the orange. Once almost dry I topped it with Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow with micro gold metal flake added to further lighten the orange and add a gold gleam in the sunlight. Then when dry, I added a couple of clear coat top coats. Once dry it was sanded smooth since the metal flake makes the top coat still rather rough. Then it was clear coated again and allowed to dry. Once dry the clear was lightly sanded and buffed and waxed to a nice smooth shine. Then I blacked out all of the trim around the windows and door handles. I did not have very high expectations for this build but I really like the way it turned out with just minor changes to the stock car. I think the lighter paint hue works very well and allows the black interior and trim to stand out. 1971 Dodge Charger (the “Street Machine”) version. This is another kit that has been on the shelf staring at me forever just daring me to pick her up and do something with it. As I said before it is a very rare instance when I will build something bone stock. I just feel compelled to tinker with nearly all builds except for specific street and race car replica’s. Over all, I really like the curvaceous body lines of both the Plymouth and Dodge offerings in 1971 as they were a welcome departure, in my eyes, to their rather boxy and sharp angled predecessors. I really love the GTX’s and Chargers of the late ‘60’s, but I remember being blown away the first time I saw these cars in person back then, I thought then, and still today, think they quite beautiful. First thing to modify, the doors had to be opened and hinged. Then I bulged all four wheel wells and added larger wheels and tires from Pegasus along with their disc brakes to fill up the wells. I added built-in side pipes for the exhaust. Then I added a rear deck spoiler molded into the body. On the hood, I thought the little air scoop for the Hemi looked far too restrictive, so I added a much enlarged scoop on top of the hood bulge. Then added hot air exit vents on the outward sides of the bulge. But even with these modifications I was not satisfied with the look of the car. The rear quarter windows and the roofline still bothered me. Looking it over, it stuck me that a fastback roofline might work much better on this car. So I took a rotary saw to the rear of the car, added material to the sides and modified the roofline into a fastback. I enlarged the rear window and changed the trailing angle on the rear quarter window to flow better, I think, with the new roofline. Both the quarter panel and rear window were painted with Tamiya smoke to replicate window tinted windows. The body was painted with Rust-oleum 2X Golden Sunset Gloss. Once dry I airbrushed on Tamiya Clear Yellow X-24 with micro gold metal flake added for subtle sparkle. Looking at the car painted with the fastback roofline it reminded me of the 1971 thru 1973 Mustangs which made me think the car needed twin contrasting racing stripes. I figured I would follow the lines on the hood around the budge and then take them to the rear. The stripes are Tamiya Metallic Black. Then because this is a Dodge after all, I added the twin Dodge Red racing slashes over the left side front fenders using Tamiya Bright Red. The engine is pretty much kit stock with spark plug wires added and the only change to the interior is a long cover over the rear hatch and a little yellow trim to accent the black seats.
e30lover Posted October 4, 2020 Posted October 4, 2020 Great work on those doors! I recently built the same monogram 1/24 roadrunner too.
Claude Thibodeau Posted October 4, 2020 Posted October 4, 2020 Hi Peter! Nice styling exercise, convincing! Can you comment on the properties of the Rust-o-leum paint you used on the first car? Are you satisfied with the response to polishing, opacity, or any other aspects you learned using it? Never tried it, but some of their colours might suit current builts on my bench... CT
THarrison351 Posted October 5, 2020 Posted October 5, 2020 Your body mods are pretty extensive. I like the colors. By the way, the grills on the GTO are swapped left to right.
Bills72sj Posted October 5, 2020 Posted October 5, 2020 Nice styling exercise. especially the fastback Charger. I never really liked the stock C-pillar.
Oldcarfan27 Posted October 5, 2020 Posted October 5, 2020 10 hours ago, Peter Lombardo said: You clearly must have been inspired by Jim Wagner's updated reboot some years ago. A job well done!
espo Posted October 5, 2020 Posted October 5, 2020 Those are all beautiful looking builds. I like how you describe your inspiration for each of them. Funny you mention the Road Runners color. Just last week I stopped at a gas station and a coupe were driving a new Challenger the same color and at first it was jarring to look at. By the time I left I was really liking it.
jamesG Posted October 5, 2020 Posted October 5, 2020 Aside from the wheels on 2 and 3, great work. Nice choice of colors
doorsovdoon Posted October 5, 2020 Posted October 5, 2020 Great looking builds, that yellow one looks a serious beast! Very nice.
Peter Lombardo Posted October 5, 2020 Author Posted October 5, 2020 16 hours ago, THarrison351 said: Your body mods are pretty extensive. I like the colors. By the way, the grills on the GTO are swapped left to right. My current eye-sight is so poor now, I could never have seen the difference. Oh well, it stinks to get old. Thanks
Peter Lombardo Posted October 5, 2020 Author Posted October 5, 2020 Thanks, It doe look similar, but I have never seen that car before. I do like the tail light and exhaust tip treatment. Had I seen the car, sure, I would ripped off those design ques.
Peter Lombardo Posted October 5, 2020 Author Posted October 5, 2020 19 hours ago, Claude Thibodeau said: Hi Peter! Nice styling exercise, convincing! Can you comment on the properties of the Rust-o-leum paint you used on the first car? Are you satisfied with the response to polishing, opacity, or any other aspects you learned using it? Never tried it, but some of their colours might suit current builts on my bench... CT First, the paint is fine, dries reasonable quickly and easy to use, but a strong word of caution. I find that the spray can gets "stopped-up" and will not spray any more not even a little . No matter how much you shake it or even heat the can in hot water. And as the spray gets slowed down the paint can come out too sloppy and gloppy, which is dangerous to the quality of the finish. I have socked the spay tips in lacquer thinner, it really does not help. If you have an air brush it could be better to decant the paint and do it that way. Next time I use this paint, as I have a number of the cans because they offer some great "70's" pop art colors. I have had no issue with clear coating it either.
Claude Thibodeau Posted October 5, 2020 Posted October 5, 2020 3 hours ago, Peter Lombardo said: First, the paint is fine, dries reasonable quickly and easy to use, but a strong word of caution. I find that the spray can gets "stopped-up" and will not spray any more not even a little . No matter how much you shake it or even heat the can in hot water. And as the spray gets slowed down the paint can come out too sloppy and gloppy, which is dangerous to the quality of the finish. I have socked the spay tips in lacquer thinner, it really does not help. If you have an air brush it could be better to decant the paint and do it that way. Next time I use this paint, as I have a number of the cans because they offer some great "70's" pop art colors. I have had no issue with clear coating it either. Thank you for the summary. Much appreciated. CT
THarrison351 Posted October 6, 2020 Posted October 6, 2020 7 hours ago, Peter Lombardo said: My current eye-sight is so poor now, I could never have seen the difference. Oh well, it stinks to get old. Thanks I know about the eyesight. I use 3.5X readers and a 10X lighted magnifier when I work.
RAMBENNA Posted October 6, 2020 Posted October 6, 2020 very cool and creative work, they all look excellent
Koellefornia Kid Posted October 11, 2020 Posted October 11, 2020 Nice Trio! Really like the look of the GTO!
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