70 Firebird

[tajoe]

Well I finished the bike and now it's time to move on to my firebird. WOW what a disappointment from Revell. It looks like a bad AMT kit, the complete opposite from the Revell 68 firebird I just finished. The rear suspension as all one piece including the exhaust. The front suspension is the same way and just flat out UGLY!!!


The nice custom wheels are way too small, they don't even fill up the wheel wells!!! : And the ride height will need to be lowered.




The engine is all one piece also. The oil pan, water pump, starter and trans are all together. That means a lot of detailed painting, with a steady hand, on the engine and the engine compartment.





The body looks pretty good except for a tight fitting hood which I already sanded down for a better fit. I have a lot of work ahead of me on this one. I may attempt to make my own headers and exhaust. I could use any tips on what type of pipe to use and a good way to bend it. Time to start building, I will post updates as I progress.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

How long have you been building models? The Revell '70 Firebird kit is fairly old, I think it was a kit tooled many years back as a later '70's Monogram T/A and backdated in the early 90's to represent a '70 Trans Am. For it's day, it was a very good kit, and quite a lot better in most respects vs. the original MPC '70 Trans Am kit that came out late in '70. If you want to know how bad that kit was, just look inside an MPC or AMT "Smokey and the Bandit" Trans Am kit in all it's vintage "glory" Kits back then generally looked good on the outside but the details were pretty crude.

I'm glad it's reissued; it wasn't designed in the day of pro-touring or G-machines, so you'll have to do a bit more work to make it to your liking-the kit was stock-only until this issue, the custom wheels are an attempt to get younger builders interested. They couldn't afford to shell out $250K for a new tool like the '68 Firebird, which is pretty much state-of-the-art for musclecar kits.

If the '70 were an all-new tool it would be worth complaining about, but honestly for it's day it's pretty decent. A lot of people missed out on the first issue and it's been a long time out of production. I'm sure you'll be able to overcome some of the vintage details and personalize it to your liking Those small front wheels won't look so small when you lower it down where it belongs.

[Viccario]

I agree with Zoom Zoom MX5, the shape looks perfect to me. I didn't even know that this kit was available!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by Viccario

I agree with Zoom Zoom MX5, the shape looks perfect to me. I didn't even know that this kit was available!

This kit was just reissued in the past week or so.

Shape-wise it's good; but the side window is a bit "flat" at the top. Easily corrected by scraping w/an XActo blade and shaping w/a sanding stick to give a bit more arch to the upper side window profile. Takes about 10 minutes and vastly improves the appearance.

[tajoe]

When I first saw it I thought it was a new kit, that's why I was so disappointed when I opened it. They threw in new wheels and disigned a new package to make it look new and updated. Kind of misleading. The body does look good so it has that going for it and it will look good in the end.

[tigeraid]

I dunno, personally I've always been of the opinion that as long as the body shape is largely good, I'll work with it. if the chassis doesn't fit, I dremel the hell out of it until it does, if the engine detail is poor, I add my own... When I saw this kit reissued, all I had in my mind was "great, finally an early 1st gen 'bird that I don't have to pay big bucks for on ebay." I just do my best to work around the problems.

And hey, you said it yourself in the other thread, you don't feel your scratch building skills are that good. Well here's a chance to try some

[tonioseven]

Modeling is supposed to be somewhat challenging, isn't it? Just an opinion.

[tajoe]

Your right tonioseven, it is supposed to be challenging. My biggest disappointment was thinking it was a new kit. I built kits of this quality before, thou it was a long time ago when I was only worried about how the body looked. Now I expect more of myself and have the patience to do the type of quality work I can be proud of. I never tried body mods before until my last build of the custom 68 firebird and that is my prized posession right now, by far my finest build, interior, exterior and engine detail ( first pic in my sig ).

Tigeraid, if I were to do any scratch building on this I would want to do the whole suspension but I have no clue as to where to start. I have enough confidence in painting skills that I know I can use the parts in this kit and still build an awsome firebird. I may try a practice build of a chassis just for the hell of it and who knows, maybe I'll buy another one of these and go custom. I do want to try an exhaust on this one, I'm never happy with the exhausts. I have begun researching the right tools.

I have started working on the suspension and got the ride height were I am happy with it, so it will be coming along, slowly. I'll paint the engine tomorrow and post more pics if I get a chance.

[tonioseven]

Coolness! I like your confidence and having said that, I expect to see a top-quality build from you!

[Dean23]

Im sure you will make this look great. You modded bird turned out awesome, so this should be somewhat of a challenge but you can look back at your last build for confidence. I cant wait to see what you have in store for this one!!!

[quadzero]

Originally Posted by tigeraid

I dunno, personally I've always been of the opinion that as long as the body shape is largely good, I'll work with it. if the chassis doesn't fit, I dremel the hell out of it until it does, if the engine detail is poor, I add my own...

That pretty much sums it up for me, Tigeraid.

Originally Posted by tonioseven

Modeling is supposed to be somewhat challenging, isn't it? Just an opinion.

I couldn't agree more, Tonio7.

You can expect a few low points with these kits, Tajoe. I like to add my own details and scratch build anyway and thats what I like the most in modelling. With that last beautiful model in finished gallery, this should be a breeze for you.

[tajoe]

Thanks for all your encouraging words everybody. Like I said before, my biggest disappointment was thinking I was buying a brand new issue. I painted the engine block pontiac blue yesterday but that was all I was able to get to. I did another mock up to check my ride height and found something I never encountered before. There is a 1/8 inch space between the back of the dash and the hood. If I move the interior forward then the space will be at the back window. It's almost like the interior is too short for the body.

If I move the dash back then there will be a huge space between the dash and the door panel. I will probably do something along that route since it will be easier to fill that gap. Any other suggestions?

[tigeraid]

That's weird, never had that problem with any of my 2nd gen F-bodies... I would either a) cut the interior tub BEHIND the rear line of the doors and use strip styrene to extend it the 1/4" or whatever... OR I would use really thin sheet styrene and glue it to the front of the dash, then putty it and sand it smooth to give it the appearance of just having a bigger dash... which isn't really accurate mind you.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Is the kit windshield frosted at the bottom, on the inside? It is on mine. That's the area you paint black (as it is on the real car). When you paint that area black from the inside, the gap isn't seen anymore.

Relax, no cutting/splicing/scratchbuilding necessary .

[tajoe]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoomMX-5

Is the kit windshield frosted at the bottom, on the inside? It is on mine. That's the area you paint black (as it is on the real car). When you paint that area black from the inside, the gap isn't seen anymore.

Relax, no cutting/splicing/scratchbuilding necessary .

No the windshield isn't frosted. Painting would be the easy way out but the window wasn't painted on these cars. The finished kit on the box clearly shows that the dash is where it's supposed to be. I need to think about if I want to build this true to life or not sweat the details.

ZoomZoom do you have this same kit?