1968 Plymouth Hemi Road Runner

[mrmike]

I have long been a fan of the Plymouth Road Runner. I loved the bare-bones muscle this car represents and, of course, the beep-beep horn! I built a 383 Road Runner a few years ago and have been wanting to build a Hemi version since. Then, I found my inspiration, listed on eBay last year at $99,000! It never sold and the seller, a dealership, still has the car and is for sale at $89,000. This car is not perfect and IMHO, not worth the asking price. But, that is just me.

I've been planning this build for some time now and I have gotten all the items I need to start building. I am starting with the AMT/Ertl '68 Road Runner kit.

My paint is MCW #6853 Electric Blue Metallic and the decals are from Keith Marks.

I am using the steel wheels and hub caps from Scale Equipment Limited. I also plan on correcting the mis-shaped rear fender openings.

More to come.....

[Bruno]

That will be nice!

You will also have to correct the tail lights on this one

[Mopar - D]

Mike I will checking your build looks like a good start. Have you decided on your interior color yet. I just finished my 69 Road Runner in black with a blue interior.

[mrmike]

That is what the decals include, new taillights! I'll sand the kit taillights smooth and apply the decals. I once saw someone on eBay selling resin taillights for this kit and I forgot the write down their name. I guess I'll be using the Keith Marks decals.

[Patrick2005]

I really like these old school muscle cars that look like sleepers. Should make for a sweet build.

[Funkster]

I'm also working on a 68 road runner. just ordered out the K. Marks decals(hope it don't take long to get back. Just bought some balck gold orange & silver, with a white and black interior. Also bought some detail items.

[charlie8575]

Very cool, Mike.

I'm curious, in what way are the wheel-arches misshapen? I just never noticed before.

These are nice kits an build up beautifully.

Charlie Larkin

[george 53]

Mike, Missing Link sells a PERFECT RED resin cast tailight assembly for the AMT 68 Roadrunner! He also makes a Dash for it that is LIGHT YEARS nicer than the dash that comes in the kit. It even comes with optional speedo decals! Check him out.

[Space Cowboy]

Hey Mike it's good to see you back building a Mopar...Great color choice for a great car...................

[mrmike]

Thanks guys for the support!

Very cool, Mike.

I'm curious, in what way are the wheel-arches misshapen? I just never noticed before.

These are nice kits an build up beautifully.

Charlie Larkin

Charlie, the rear wheel arches are more rounded than they should. On the left is the AMT body and on the right is a '69 Johan Roadrunner I built about 20 years ago.

I traced the more accurate wheel opening of the Johan body onto a piece of cardstock and will transfer this line to the AMT body.

Along with removing mold lines and excess flash, I must contend with this mold line and the sharp crease on the edge of the trunk lid.

More to come.....

[Dragracer]

Looks like a nice build upcoming, always been a Mopar fan (never owned one,always ended up with a chevy,2nd favorite car),had quite a few of the JoHan Roadrunners myself, none survived. Working on a ProMod Nova SS right now, went to the storage shed yesterday & brought home a few of my muscle cars to build inbetween working on the Nova, Revell's '70 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda (I know it's not correct but it is the only '70 'Cuda out there right now/planning on making it a 440 or a 426), also brought home my Revell '70 Plymouth Roadrunner, the '70 'Cuda has always been my overall favorite car, followed by the '68-'69 & '70 Roadrunner, beautiful cars.

[mrmike]

Thanks Richard!

I have transferred the new fender opening line onto the RR body. I'll start grinding and sanding soon.

I clipped these parts from the chrome tree for a bath in the purple pond.

I have assembled the Hemi and it is ready for paint.

More to come.....

[MrObsessive]

AAAHHH! I'm glad you're fixing the rear wheelwells on this one Mike! I see many built that never address this faux pas on AMT's part.

I dunno, the rear quarters on that one seemed a little "pinched" as well, but maybe that's just me. I remember when the 1:1's were littering the parking lot of my high school back in the late '70's---------you could pick one up super dirt cheap..........even the Hemis.

Look forward to seeing more!

[mrmike]

Thanks Bill! The whole body seems to be "off", especially when compared to the Johan '69 Road Runner. To me, the simplest fix is with the rear fender openings and that is one I am willing to do. But as for the rest of the body, I can live with it as is.

[george 53]

The chrome trim around the rear backlite is nonexistant in that kit also. I actually cut the rear roof area out of the 70 superbee to fix it! It came out GREAT but it's just too much work to fix it that way, THAT'S the reason I've only built ONE! :lol:

[mrmike]

Thanks George! I did notice the lack of molding around 3/4 of the rear window and I took steps to add something for molding.

A little more progress! I have reshaped the fender openings.

I added a thin strip of styrene around the rest of the window to act as a molding and to aid me when I BMF the rear window.

I got the engine into a coat of paint this morning. Mopar Street Hemi Orange Engine Enamel.

More to come.....

[george 53]

GREAT fix Mike, Duhhhhh I wish I had tought about it!!! It came out nice. JUST as the rest of this Bad bird is doin!!! Keep it up, Bro, it's lookin GOOD!!!!!!

[Fisher61]

Thanks for the great tip Mike on the wheel openings! I've always heard they were shaped wrong, now I know where and how to correct it. I'll be watching this one!

[Mr. Moparman]

I like the way this is coming along Mike. I'll be watching.........

[mrmike]

Thanks guys!

Thursday afternoon, I painted the body parts of the Road Runner.

Then I looked at the hood this morning and was not happy with it. The heat of the lacquer paint got through the thin plastic that is scored for removal and melted the plastic on top. This is going to take more than just wet sanding to fix.

More to come.....

[Teds57]

To bad about the hood Mike

but the color looks good on the old girl

hopefully you can fix the hood and reshoot it

[dwc43]

I have a fave black paint I like to use. It's pretty hot too. On some plastic it has no effect and then on some it makes it very soft and flexible. I found out I just had to primer it to make sure it did not hurt what ever I wanted to paint with it. No matter if it's the chassis floor, body or just little parts, it gets primer now. You may want to do the same if you did not do that already.

[diymirage]

it almost looks like the damages on the hood are contained to the area that would get covered with the black decal

maybe you could tape of the good part of the hood and refinish the part that gets the decal ?

or (since it is a barebones muscle car) go with a completely black hood or even a slightly damaged one (after all, why spend moneys on making the hood look good if you could drop it into the engine instead)

on a unrelated note....new paintbooth ?

or do some people actually replace thier filters

[mrmike]

Well guys, I have my suspicions as to what may have happened. I might have not had a good enough coating of primer on the hood and the hot paint ate it's way through the thin plastic on the score line underneath. I'll sand down the hood and remove any damage and reprime and repaint. I had planned on adding the Performance Hood Treatment which is not a decal, but flat black paint.

BTW, I am still using the same paintbooth that I always have. I recently replaced the filter which I buy in a 3-Pack at Home Depot for around $5.00 a pack. I gve the booth a really good cleaning and check the fan for proper operation.

Edited March 19, 2011 by mrmike

[mrmike]

I sat down yesterday afternoon and started sanding the hood as sort of an exploratory surgery to see how smooth I could get the hood and to see just how deep the paint burned it's way into the plastic. I got the hood quite smooth and judging by the outline, the paint pretty much went through the thin plastic.

I held up the hood in front of my shop light to see just how thin this plastic is.

This hood came in a '69 GTX kit I bought years ago for the chassis on my '69 Charger 500 project. You can see just how much of the score line shows on top of the hood. This was how my hood for the RR was before I sanded and added primer.

I am contemplating carefully filling in the score line underneath the hood. I am also thinking of putting this one aside and moving on to another project until I feel like continuing working on the RR. We shall see...

More to come.....maybe.