Hmmmm, ‘79 Firebird Widebody ZL1 anybody?!

[stitchdup]

its looking good, the centreline look right at home on it. with the hood bulge i would strip it just to be safe. you dont want to do all this work then have th paint react

[Joe Handley]

58 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

its looking good, the centreline look right at home on it. with the hood bulge i would strip it just to be safe. you dont want to do all this work then have th paint react

Thanks, I was thinking that and since it’s the next room over, I dropped it in the purple pond.

 

i was hoping those Centerlines would work and happy they do, plus the fronts even cleared the calipers they go over……even more tightly that the big front brake upgrade over the factory 18’s on my daily, but they fit!

[David G.]

What a great looking kit-bash Joe!

Watching you pull these builds together is almost as much fun as building them myself.

David G.

[Joe Handley]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

What a great looking kit-bash Joe!

Watching you pull these builds together is almost as much fun as building them myself.

David G.

Thanks, I appreciate that!
 

Now I just need to work on finishing this and the other ones!

[Keef]

The Pegasus CLs look great on it, the Chrome Ts do as well. I love what you did with the hood, gives it a modern look.

[Joe Handley]

Only got the bulge cemented to the hood this weekend.

Still have to do some bodywork on it once that cures.

[Sledsel]

I am am really liking this build. I just enjoy taking a sub-par kit and doing something with it. Every modification has been very cool 

I think the only thing I may have done differently is rather than reworking openings I'd have shortened the chassis. Now saying that, I may change my thought if the look of the car improves with a different wheelbase.

Build on dude!!!

[Joe Handley]

2 hours ago, Sledsel said:

I am am really liking this build. I just enjoy taking a sub-par kit and doing something with it. Every modification has been very cool 

I think the only thing I may have done differently is rather than reworking openings I'd have shortened the chassis. Now saying that, I may change my thought if the look of the car improves with a different wheelbase.

Build on dude!!!

Thanks, this just looked like it would be interesting to do something crazy with since it is one of those “Meh” Malaise Era cars and kits both. That said though. I have been debating on painting it with colors similar to the Travolta Fever Firebird since that is how this kit started it’s existence.

I had thought about shortening  the chassis, but it’s otherwise pretty close in measurements unlike say putting a mid 00’s Ford GT chassis under a DeTomaso Pantera (there is a greater difference there), so I figured moving the wheel openings around would be easier in this case.

[David G.]

5 hours ago, Joe Handley said:

Only got the bulge cemented to the hood this weekend.

Still have to do some bodywork on it once that cures.

 

 

Hey, progress is progress Joe! 

I spent two hours of yesterday's three hour build session detail painting a set of hubcaps.  

And I still have more work to do on them!  

David G.

[Joe Handley]

12 hours ago, David G. said:

 

 

Hey, progress is progress Joe! 

I spent two hours of yesterday's three hour build session detail painting a set of hubcaps.  

And I still have more work to do on them!  

David G.

Yeah, I spent more time taking pics for the Shelby Charger thread last night, plus didn’t feel like going up and working on anything after lunch…….just being cold and lazy, lazy in particular ?

[Joe Handley]

Ok, spent some time on it after dinner, spent a little time with my Dremel and it turns out that fixed the rear wheel well problem with out any extra work!

Hopefully the front openings will be nearly as easy.

I also used sone of the Bondic UV Epoxy to try and fill in the separation of the two hood sections into one as well as fill in the openings in the fascia where I removed the dividers between the pairs of headlights then stuck both in a UV fingernail paint setting device to cure them.

Then finally, I drilled the wing and decklid so I can pin them together during final assembly.

[David G.]

Nice outcome with the wheel arches.

That UV setting epoxy seems very interesting, I'm going to have to look into that.

David G.

 

[Joe Handley]

4 hours ago, David G. said:

Nice outcome with the wheel arches.

That UV setting epoxy seems very interesting, I'm going to have to look into that.

David G.

 

Thanks, I was pleasantly surprised when I mocked it back up and saw how it fit. The front will need filler panels for the back half of the openings to work with the “little” front wheels and tires.

 

 I do like the resin like that as it can be worked pretty quick since it’s a UV cured product vs waiting for a chemical reaction to kick off or for it to gas out like you would different body fillers.

[atomicholiday]

This is really looking cool.  I picked this one up too and was just drawing a blank on what to do with it.  Good to see you’ve figured it out and are bringing it to life.?

[Joe Handley]

27 minutes ago, atomicholiday said:

This is really looking cool.  I picked this one up too and was just drawing a blank on what to do with it.  Good to see you’ve figured it out and are bringing it to life.?

Thanks, to be honest, I was thinking the same for the next few hours after buying it and this kinda struck me as a good idea to try as I was looking over the kit at home.

[TarheelRick]

On 1/6/2024 at 11:44 AM, Joe Handley said:

did not expect to to snowball like this so quickly!

And what project does not snowball quickly. Don't think I have built a simple project since getting back into the hobby 30 some years ago.

As far as the hood scoop, I believe you will be more pleased with the overall project if you strip the scoop completely before attaching it to the hood. I have had issues with paint not allowing my putty sticking properly.

[Joe Handley]

Got more work done on this last night/this morning, started filling the holes for the fender scoops and finally figured out what I wanted to do for the wheel openings. Made the wheel openings from .040 Evergreen sheet after making a template from a Du-Bro header card I had laying around. Stuck the card into the wheel opening and traced the shape of that out then sat there scratching my head for the new opening and started to freehand draw it until I realized that to match the gap in the radius of the rear openings, I could use the rear tire and trace it’s diameter onto the paper and get an appropriate opening size and shape! There were a couple gaps between the opening and filler that I was able to fill with some .020” styrene then started to fill the holes for the scoops with some of the extra plastic cut from the OD of the fillers. 

I also filled the backs of the wing pedestals with more of that extra .040” from the fillers.

I’m waiting for the cement to fully harden before I do any sanding on what is there then will finish filling the small holes in the front fenders once I get the rest of the fillers sanded down. Kinda want to throw some primer on them once I  get those sanded down as I can’t see what needs to be filled due to lack of contrast with all the while plastic used.

 

Here’s the nose piece after filling in the gaps I created when cutting the dividers from between the headlights. Used masking tape to create a dam on the top side of the openings the filled with the UV resin from the bottom and sanded fairly smooth. This is another area where a little primer will show what needs extra filler

[David G.]

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

David G.

[Joe Handley]

Messed around with the fillers tonight need to do more work on the openings, need to do more work on the new openings but it looks like I had the right idea for what I did. 

 

There was one gap that still needed filling after I took the above pics, so I took an extra scrap of the .020” that I used in other spots.

 

Not sure if I’m going to use the UV filler, Tamiya White Putty, or the 2 part body filler I used for a lot of the filler on the quarters on the Charger convertible.

[Scott8950]

Looking good, I've got one i plan on building soon. 

The town i live in used these as police cars back in the late 70s to mid 80s. All of them were 4 speeds, i was fortunate enough to own one in the early 90s.

Edited January 29, 2024 by Scott8950

[Keef]

51 minutes ago, Scott8950 said:

Looking good, I've got one i plan on building soon. 

The town i live in used these as police cars back in the late 70s to mid 80s. All of them were 4 speeds, i was fortunate enough to own one in the early 90s.

Ringgold Sheriffs Department. I vaguely remember those cars. 

[David G.]

The mockup has a great looking profile to it.

David G.

[David G.]

Duplicate post due to "Error 500"

Please delete.

David G.

Edited January 29, 2024 by David G.
Duplicate Post

[Scott8950]

10 hours ago, Keef said:

Ringgold Sheriffs Department. I vaguely remember those cars. 

Yes sir. I'm hoping to have some decals made so that i can build a couple.

Edited January 29, 2024 by Scott8950