More Accurate MPC 72 Grumpy's Vega

[FoMoCo66]

Hello everyone. As I'm working on finding bumpers for my sox and martin cuda I decided to start this project. I started it last week and got to work on cleaning up the body. I then worked on the engine and put a different. I decided to replace the tunnel ram intake the kit came with one that would be better suited for a hemi or a ford because of the equally spaced exhaust ports. I also cut out the inner fenders on the front because on the real car they were flat and not round.

I then made the flat sheets to go on the inner fenders because they would be more accurate. I was deciding on whether or not I wanted to make the finder well headers that the car has, but I am now leaning towards just using the kit ones and just going for the flat inner fenders. i also sanded down the detail on the fire wall and filled in the gaps. 

I then started working on the roll cage and added a crossbar in the back because that is what the real car had. I just used some straightened out paper clip for this. Then I threw some black paint on it.

I started to add some paint to the chassis. Painted it flat black and accented the rear differential and front suspension with glass black paint.

Lastly i painted the interior, dash, and seats. I shaved all the detail off the dash and painted it silver because who needs a radio on a race car?.

Then painted the intirior tub silver and added a shifter. And threw some semi-gloss black on the seats.

Thanks for looking folks! Critiques and comments are welcome.

 

FMC66

[dwc43]

Looks good so far. Since you mentioned the radio, I thought you might get a kick out of this. Back in the 70's David Pearson had a factory cigarette lighter mounted to the dash of this NASCAR Mercury Cyclone so he could smoke during a race. 

Edited May 15, 2024 by dwc43

[FoMoCo66]

Got some more work done last night. Glued the interior together and did some work on the dash. I printed out some gauge and cutthem out then put them in place with some future floor polish. The last thing to do is to installed the tach when I installed the interior.

 

These are the reference photos i used courtesy of this topic

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/179770-grumpys-toy-ix-72-vega-reference-photos/

The gauges are courtesy Yeah Nah he posted some amazing pdf's of gauge's, here's a link to the topic.

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/187007-round-instrument-panel-gauges-to-print/

Thanks for looking and comments are much appreciate.

FMC66

Edited May 16, 2024 by FoMoCo66
Typo's

[FoMoCo66]

Here's another update. 

Got the wheels done. I sprayed them with some satin finish clear coat then put some black wash on them, personally I think it looks way better. I also added some blue Sharpie to the bearing covers. 

The wheelie bars came on the chrome tree, that means I had to strip them. Painted them white then did some detail painting.

heres a moch-up of the engine bay without the inner fenders moched-up.

I also did some modifications to the headers, now they look like SBC headers. Oh and the collectors  almost did not exist so I made some out of plastic straw.

Again, thanks for looking, comments are much appreciate.

FMC66

[MADmodelDOCTOR]

No comment.

[Scott8950]

Nice job

[FoMoCo66]

1 hour ago, Scott8950 said:

Nice job

Thank you Sir.

[Volzfan59]

I really like what you're doing with this kit. I remember building the kit when it first came out and not being happy with it. Just seemed to look toy like to me. Believe that I'll order another one. Thank you for posting this.

[FoMoCo66]

2 hours ago, Volzfan59 said:

I really like what you're doing with this kit. I remember building the kit when it first came out and not being happy with it. Just seemed to look toy like to me. Believe that I'll order another one. Thank you for posting this.

Thank you. I do agree it does look a little toy-ish, Round 2 did a great job redoing the rear wheel wells from the original. I think that in of itself makes it look a lot more realistic. 

[Volzfan59]

5 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Thank you. I do agree it does look a little toy-ish, Round 2 did a great job redoing the rear wheel wells from the original. I think that in of itself makes it look a lot more realistic. 

You're very welcome! The new Round 2 release looks better out of the box. I was talking about the original release of the kit in the 70's. I was in my teens back then. I'm going to get one ordered tomorrow, Auto World has a 20% off sale for Memorial Day.

Edited May 27, 2024 by Volzfan59

[Tim W. SoCal]

Ace, You did a good job on the header mod. The engine that comes in this kit is a Big Block Chevy and is not accurate for the Grumpy's Toy Vega. That is also why the Tunnel Ram has the wrong intake port configuration. I plan to steal the Small Block Chevy engine from one of my AMT '66 Nova kits when I build mine. I hope to get it on the workbench in the near future.

[FoMoCo66]

10 hours ago, Tim W. SoCal said:

Ace, You did a good job on the header mod. The engine that comes in this kit is a Big Block Chevy and is not accurate for the Grumpy's Toy Vega. That is also why the Tunnel Ram has the wrong intake port configuration. I plan to steal the Small Block Chevy engine from one of my AMT '66 Nova kits when I build mine. I hope to get it on the workbench in the near future.

Thanks Tim. I knew that it was a bbc from the revew, I just wanted to make due with the engine it comes with because it's more fun that way?. That's also why it's called "MORE accurate" it's not perfect but it does the job.

[NYLIBUD]

Just a quick mention.Imo the best drag racing wheels are from the Rickie Smith Pro stock T Bird.They contain the perfect older style Centerlines.Idk to me they just look like very accurate wheels.

[FoMoCo66]

Well I got some primer and paint on the car last week. Yesterday I took it upon myself to go ahead and mask the car. I was originally going to just use the kit decals for the red around the windows but I decided to mask it. I just hope the making stays flat whell I'm painting. ?

[FoMoCo66]

Today I sprayed the red, it came out pretty well. I don't have a spray booth and it's kinda humid out so I sprayed it then moved it inside to dry where it's 72°F and humidity is 49%(I think pretty good conditions).

[FoMoCo66]

I'm calling this one completed! I will post more pictures in under glass.

[Volzfan59]

Looks great, good job.

[Tony Coomer]

Looks great. The paint and decals came out great…