“Interim “ 1969 Plymouth GTX

[R. Thorne]

While waiting on some parts for another build, decided to build this out of the box “easy” one of a car my Army buddy had in 1970.  Nothing fancy here, just fun and experimenting.  Sanded down some sharp seam lines, sprayed body and chassis with Tamiya, no primer, “chromed” rear backing plates, tried to chrome some trim with a new marker, cut the tires out.

[R. Thorne]

Oh, yes, criticism, comments, and suggestions are always welcome.  That is one of the ways we learn and improve.

[Keef]

Being a huge Mopar fan, you have my attention sir.

[R. Thorne]

A little work with my cordless drill, coarse sanding stick, and 1/2” drum sander with no sandpaper but wrapped with masking tape to fit the tire makes short work of the center flashing.

[R. Thorne]

Got some painting done yesterday.  Today, assembled the tires and rims, and installed front suspension.

[R. Thorne]

Did some more painting and made a valley pan out of .010” styrene.  I like these thinny sanding sticks to clean off paint in tight areas.

[R. Thorne]

Little more progress on engine and rear suspension.

[Bills72sj]

Sanded tread, yellow shocks, chrome rear diff cover... a man after my own heart.

[dwc43]

Only one slight color issue. AFB carbs are aluminum, not bronze like a holley. That's what the name stands for AFB = Aluminum Four Barrel. Tq is a better carb though. lol And if you want, there are two brackets that hold each end of that valley plate down and they are black. It's starting to take shape though. I had too many of those Road Runners over the years.

[NOBLNG]

Looking really great!?

[Keef]

Looking great so far!! Keep up the good work!

[R. Thorne]

On 12/27/2023 at 1:52 AM, Bills72sj said:

Sanded tread, yellow shocks, chrome rear diff cover... a man after my own heart.

 

On 12/27/2023 at 9:13 AM, NOBLNG said:

Looking really great!?

 

On 12/27/2023 at 6:30 PM, Keef said:

Looking great so far!! Keep up the good work!

 

On 12/27/2023 at 8:08 AM, dwc43 said:

Only one slight color issue. AFB carbs are aluminum, not bronze like a holley. That's what the name stands for AFB = Aluminum Four Barrel. Tq is a better carb though. lol And if you want, there are two brackets that hold each end of that valley plate down and they are black. It's starting to take shape though. I had too many of those Road Runners over the years.

Thank you all for your kind comments.  Since this was an out of the box build, I used the carb that came in the kit.  Well, it certainly doesn’t resemble an afb, nor a Holley either, so the color is a moot point.  As for the black brackets?? On the valley cover ends, this is a steel shim type of intake gasket with bolts on the ends.   While the cover that I made is not great by any means, I couldn’t bring myself to build a model with an open crankcase.

[R. Thorne]

Couple more engine pics with exhaust manifolds on and installed in chassis.

[R. Thorne]

Exhaust system installed and made smaller diameter rod for the steering wheel as the kit supplied one would not fit the dash.  Also, could not find any rear arm rests that instructions called out.

[R. Thorne]

Assembled interior, painted gas tank flat aluminum with my cheapo 1/4” camel hair brush (looks glossy here, but still wet) .  Best way I have found to clean up brush after painting with testors enamel is the testors thinner (better than lacquer thinner).  Painted master cylinder with one of the micro brushes that I don’t know what I would do without.

[Bills72sj]

I use Testors Brush cleaner too. I have had the same bottle for years. As it reduces level, I add leftover lacquer thinner or acetone from cleaning my air brush parts.

[R. Thorne]

Not much done lately.   Couple interior pics .  Semi gloss black with some chrome highlights.  Spent a lot of time trying to clean up this goopy mess of silicone mold that would not harden after a week.  Got most of the parts cleaned up, but threw the silicone pad away.

Edited January 1, 2024 by R. Thorne

[R. Thorne]

Made the mistake (there’s that word again) of not trial fitting the wheels on the axle stubs before installing the rear and front suspension.  Took a lot more time fitting them on and finally glued them on with my high tech alignment jig (Testors bottles and finger nail files because the center of the wheel hit the side of the “jigs”).  Dipped the windows in floor polish, used a chrome pen on the trim with less than spectacular results, installed master cylinder and wiper motor, Testors turn signal amber on front turn signals ( kinda redundant, huh?), some black wash on front and rear grill (will need another coat).  Installed windows with Mod Podge (gonna let them sit overnight.  Getting close to the finish line, that’s all tonight.

Edited January 3, 2024 by R. Thorne

[slusher]

Really nice work!   I love Mopars!

[Musclecarbuilder]

Great work! The 1969 Roadrunner/GTX is probably my favorite car ever. It looks amazing!!

[R. Thorne]

Well, the side windows that came with the kit didn’t turn out very well, so, I popped them out with my handy dandy tool.  

On 1/3/2024 at 9:41 AM, slusher said:

Really nice work!   I love Mopars!

 

On 1/3/2024 at 1:53 PM, Musclecarbuilder said:

Great work! The 1969 Roadrunner/GTX is probably my favorite car ever. It looks amazing!!

Thanks, Carl & Will.  Taped in the interior for a trial fit and so more engine compartment stuff.

[Musclecarbuilder]

Man that looks awesome!! I have this kit in my stash and want to build it now. Amazing job!

[R. Thorne]

Trial body fit, painted on some license plate (or backup, not sure) lights, super glued rear taillights, rear grille, and bumper.  Succeeded in touching wet white pain and smudging rear bumper (will remove later with lacquer thinner).  Decided to walk away from bench for a while before I screw something else up.

[Musclecarbuilder]

Man its looking great!

[R. Thorne]

Threw the hemi engine together that came in the kit and trimmed some of the sprues down.