Revell '68 Dodge Charger R/T (UPDATED 8/13/10)

[TurboKitty]

Here is my Revell '68 Dodge Charger R/T that I've been working on for about 7 months now, on & off. I love the '68-'70 Chargers in gold, so I went with Testors One Coat Lacquer in "Pure Gold". I've bought every color in that line of paint, it goes on very nice for a 3 oz Spray can. This one is almost done, I need to plumb & wire the engine, add brake & fuel lines, etc. I keep wanting it to be perfect, and it's slowing the progress lol.

Getting started:

Two coats of paint, before clearcoat:

Seeing how the Body color rims & Dog Dish Hubcaps will look:

After clearcoat (It was too shiny to get a clear picture!):

Tan interior w/ simulated woodgrain, fabric seatbelts. :

I use reference pictures on the internet, and have been having a hard time matching the '68 Chrysler Blue for the 440 engine. I even bought the Model Master bottle of it, and after several thin coats, it just doesn't look right. I might just go buy a big can of the real thing, lol. Also, this is being built similar to an actual car. The real one has a tan vinyl roof, but I'm doing that with another Charger I'm building, so this one got the Vinyl roof nixed,

Let me know what you think of it so far...

Edited August 13, 2010 by MB_ChargerChick

[Chris guthro]

Im very impressed with your work so far, great job!

[MyBradKeselowski]

That looks great,like the color...

Love those wheels

[roadhawg]

Looks good so far, even though I would have went with the Magnum wheels (which would mean robbing a CORRECT set from a '67 GTX)....Lol! I LOVE the color combo! This will be a beautiful car.

I use reference pictures on the internet, and have been having a hard time matching the '68 Chrysler Blue for the 440 engine. I even bought the Model Master bottle of it, and after several thin coats, it just doesn't look right. I might just go buy a big can of the real thing, lol.

Michelle, Model Master Turquoise is an almost identical match for the Mopar color on these engines....so close, know one can tell the difference. It DOES dry kinda slow, so I always shoot some Testors clear lacquer over it.

[TurboKitty]

thanks for the tip, I'll see if I can get a bottle this weekend

As for the choice to go w/ body color wheels with the chrome hubcaps, I personally like that look. It makes it look like a late '60s "grocery getter" lol. I would have made it a Hemi car, but I wanted to build something that would have been more common. This is also a replica of an actual car that is 90% accurate, I'm just not going to paint the roof to replicate a tan vinyl roof lol.

The owner of the real car just bought a set of Minilite Trans Am style wheels, so I'm on the hunt for a crisp set of those now...

Here are some more pictures:

Edited August 13, 2010 by MB_ChargerChick

[LVZ2881]

You can get the exact color you need from your Dodge Dealer. It runs about $9.00 a can, and its a big can so it'll last a while.

[Space Cowboy]

Great job so far..I like the color and the interior is well detailed. Also the engine looks sharp..

[toplessfury]

or just get the duplicolor chrysler engine paint.

[ChrisPflug]

The Mopar engine paint really seems to be the only 1:1 product matching the original Turquoise- the original color seemed to have a bit more green to it

Aftermarket does a decent job on the later light blue (as used on the 72-up big blocks)

[george 53]

Shelle, yer a girl after my own heart! I too LOVE the 68 to 70 Chargers! I had a 69 for a few years, the MOST beautiful body style EVER done by Chrysler. They looked fast even when they were standing still!!! You GO GIRL! build you the HECK outta that Charger, anything you do to it'll ONLY make it BETTER!!!!If that's possible, those cars are SOOOO beautiful!!!!

[TurboKitty]

Shelle, yer a girl after my own heart! I too LOVE the 68 to 70 Chargers! I had a 69 for a few years, the MOST beautiful body style EVER done by Chrysler. They looked fast even when they were standing still!!! You GO GIRL! build you the HECK outta that Charger, anything you do to it'll ONLY make it BETTER!!!!If that's possible, those cars are SOOOO beautiful!!!!

LOL! Thank you, I just took some current pics of it last night but they are kinda blurry cell phone pics, I'll get them posted in a few. I'm nearing the homestretch with this one, maybe another month or so and it'll finally be done

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@davezinn: I will definitely give him a call and/or check out that site, thank you! I love those Minilite rims, so I'll be getting some sets for other projects as well as for this Charger too

[Harold]

Can't wait to see this one.

[george 53]

OOO Girl, I LIKE the way you did the black detailing around the upper parts of the tailight bezels, and the rear tailight panel! Cars that looked like THIS usually had a 6 or a 318 in them! Man, those were the days!!!

[crazyjim]

Sweet looking build.

[spkgibson]

WOW!This is one clean build!

[charlie8575]

Great job! That gold really does look like the Chrysler gold of the late '60s. What did you use for the tan interior? It looks just about right to me.

My dad had a '68 Charger, 318, dark blue, white vinyl top and a black interior. He has one of those kits downstairs and intends to build a replica of it.

Charlie Larkin

[High octane]

Michelle,

I like the direction that your Charger is taking as it looks great in gold and the steelies w/dog dish hubcaps look just right.

[TurboKitty]

Great job! That gold really does look like the Chrysler gold of the late '60s. What did you use for the tan interior? It looks just about right to me.

My dad had a '68 Charger, 318, dark blue, white vinyl top and a black interior. He has one of those kits downstairs and intends to build a replica of it.

Charlie Larkin

I used Krylon Fusion spray paint that I had in flat tan for the interior as a base. If your dad wants to build one with a vinyl top, have him get the Revell '69 Charger kit (box art shows a blue car w/ white top and interior). Use the body from that, it has a vinyl top. Everything else from the '68 kit will fit perfectly. Of course you could always use a vinyl top material, painted masking tape, etc for a simulated vinyl top too lol. I don't know which kits could provide a correct 318 though. Have him take pics when he builds it! There can never be too many Chargers lol.

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Thanks again for the kind words, this one is my pride and joy so far, the pictures don't really do it justice!

Edited July 27, 2010 by MB_ChargerChick

[TurboKitty]

quick update, the rear glass has finally been installed. I'm making some exhaust hangers so that I can get that installed, but no good pics of that yet. As soon as I find my sheet of it, I'm going to use some metal foil on the gas tank to replicate that correctly instead of silver paint, and I need to get a prewired distributor. I want to add real metal angled exhaust tips, but am having some trouble finding them. Something that can replicate this:

I will try to get some more pics taken this weekend, if time allows.

[Harlow]

Great build! love the color and the wheels...looks great on this car.

[crazyjim]

Couldn't you use aluminum tubing for the exhaust tips? I do and just polish them. They look almost chrome.

[george 53]

My thinkin exactly Jim! Give it a shot Michelle, It's NOT hard to do at all, an it will add a little snazz!

[TurboKitty]

I wish I had opened this one earler. Very nice looking Charger Michelle, but the info in the instructions to paint the 440 Magnum engine Chrysler Torquoise us wrong. It should be painted Hemi Orange. Now if you want it Chrysler Torquoise, cool, I just wanted you to know Revell got it wrong in the instructions knowing of the trouble you've had matching that color to your satisfaction. If the engine isn't installed yet, you can of course repaint it.

All 383 & 440 Magnums were painted Hemi Orange. Though a "garden variety" 383 or 440 might have the same HP as a Magnum, (with some exceptions), & be painted Chrysler Torquoise, the "Magnum" designation, (& it's Plymouth counterpart), denoted a high performance engine, thus the Hemi Orange.

One of the exceptions noted & verified was in the 1968 Roadrunner with the 383 & automatic. The Roadrunner 383 Magnum was a 383 block with 440 heads & IIRC intake, which gave 5 HP more than a regular 383 4 BBL, from 330 to 335, For 1968 Chrysler wasn't sure that the Torqueflite could handle the extra power, so every Roadrunner & Superbee 393/Torqueflite combo for 1968 got the regular 330 HP 383 painted Chrysler Torquoise. Starting in 1969 the 393 Magnum in Hemi Orange was used across the board in the RR & Superbee.

Your Charger model, to be factory authentic should have the block painted Hemi Orange.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the compliments, but regarding the engine, I am going to have to disagree, sorry! I use original ads, brochures, and OE restored/original cars as reference whenever I do a factory stock build. In 1968, the 383 & 440 was Chrysler engine blue. Maybe the factory literature got that wrong too?

Here ya go:

From a '68 Dart 383:

Lastly, I have been keeping an eye on the restoration of this '68 Charger R/T 440:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3143982

Edited July 29, 2010 by MB_ChargerChick

[TurboKitty]

see, but not all Mopar literature is made up of pre-production cars and/or airbrushed pictures. I have been to the Mopar Nationals several times over the years, camera in hand, and have literally a dozen or so shoeboxes full of photographs that I have personally taken of OE Gold and OE Silver cars. Those are the cars that are restored to 100% Factory Original specifications. I was into Mopars before I got into Model cars, I am 100% certain, without a doubt, that the model I'm building is correct. I have boxes of Mopar magazines for reference as well, in addition to saved pictures on the Internet. You really should check out the link I posted, there is 31 pages full of photos and information there as a documented OE restoration, using factory techniques as reference. It is worth noting that I have seen a handful of '68 Charger R/Ts in person with the 426 Hemi, and those are in fact, Hemi Orange.

Here is that link again, page 1 lists what each page covers as far as the restoration (engine, body, components, etc).

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3143982

[Greg Myers]

"I love the '68-'70 Chargers in gold" Mr Too :