1977 Firebird Revell 1/25th

[carchub]

Was smitten by a girl I recently met, and being a car guy I found out what kind of cars she likes early on in conversation. The moment we made valentines day plans last month, I knew I had to do something special! I found out she likes a certain green, and 2nd generation Firebirds. I bought the Revell Smokey and the Bandit 1977 Firebird kit, it was the last one on the shelf and I knew I had to get started right away. Before much of anything was painted, I knew I wasn't going to use the stock snowflake chrome rims. Slyly I got her preference of rims and went to Scenes Unlimited for some Steelies to paint matte black. The rest was all detail work to make things look as realistic as I could with a month to finish it up after work.

 

The paint itself was a wild ride, I started by sanding the body and applying white enamel primer spray, with another round of sanding. My original plan was to combine a gold and green spray to achieve the yellow-green I know she likes, (a test spray on a '62 thunderbird body turned out great), but it was too heavy on the metal flake. Plus I was intimidated by the thought of sanding the entire body to perfection while trying to keep the right color combo. In a frantic visit to ebay I found Testors Lacquer spray "Citrus Yellow Metallic" which looked exactly like the color I needed. It showed up, and I sprayed the body even. Wrong!! The metal flake in this color was silver, and the green was very cold (the light in my room gave it the yellow). Another frantic rush around the internet until I realized what I should have done from the start. Her car is the color she likes, so why not order that exact paint code in spray form! Found the code, ordered it, sanded the body with 1000 grit for a couple hours and sprayed a light coat of the real deal. Looked so good to me I decided not to chance using clear coat. Paint booth was primitive technology and couldn't chance ruining it before the deadline! 

The above pic is of the incorrect color, in the sunlight this was a silver nearly-pastel green. 

 

The kit itself is pretty complete, but not up to my standards in quality to put it simply. I'm sure a veteran builder could smooth it out, but I'm not there yet in skill. For example, I can't get the hood to sit fully closed for the life of me! It's okay though, it stays up pretty easily. The wheels I used took some tricks with the kit's wheel-backs, just a lot of sanding & reshaping. Still the front wheels sit oddly but for the most part it looks okay. I'm satisfied with what I could accomplish in such short time, definitely the quickest build I've done, but boy do I just want to make it better. I think though that she will be pleasantly surprised receiving this on friday and I shouldn't be hard on myself; focus on the positives!

 

Don't have the greatest pictures but it's better than nothing. Let me know your thoughts!

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by carchub

[carchub]

I got a strange leather-texture on the interior spraying semi-gloss black and shortly after some dull-coat right over it, which dries quicker. I actually forgot you can get that effect, I had actually just been worried the semi-gloss was too much gloss. Turned out great to me! Here's some more pictures!

 

 

I want to black-wash the body panel lines but my attempt didn't go well. I realized it's because I didn't apply gloss-coat so the black wash doesn't apply very well, being so far with it I decided to skip the black-wash. Scenes unlimited did a good job with the wheels & tires, but they aren't perfect. Namely the tires were a little lopsided and required a bit of sanding on the tread, but I think the look goes with the build. That Green-apple looking thing is my attempt at making a pumpkin out of putty and melted parts-tree plastic, she has a green pumpkin on the dash of her real car like that. Though't it'd be a nice touch to make it feel more personal and unique. There you have it! Happy to hear your thoughts.

[1972coronet]

I love it !  Looks great with the plain wheels , which are a sweet contrast to that splendid body colour ! 

Keep up the great work !

[RAMBENNA]

love it , great build and super nice detail

[John Truby]

Your weathering on the underside of the chassis is very realistic!   The rest of the car is nicely finished, as well.   You did a fine job in a short amount of time.   I'm sure your girlfriend will just love it!   ☺️

[Classicgas]

Very nice.

[Funkychiken]

Great looking car...lucky gal!

[espo]

I'm not normally a fan of Green anything except money, but I do like the looks of this. Like others have mentioned the chassis and just a hint of grime on the Engine look great. You mentioned trying to blacken the door seems, I've started using Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color on some of my builds and have been very happy with the results. The cap has a tiny brush but in fact just a drop and this stuff shoots down the gap by it's self. They offer a couple of different colors also. Should this young damsel not like this build maybe it's not to be. 

[smellyfatdude]

Model building as a chick magnet. Who knew? Nice build, hope she likes it.

[Tommy124]

10 hours ago, smellyfatdude said:

Model building as a chick magnet. Who knew? Nice build, hope she likes it.

X2 

[carchub]

Thank you for the kind words, it's been a while since I've built anything and this has been great inspiration to get back into it again. We'll see if she's my girlfriend after Friday? Thanks for the tip about Tamiya product! Sounds exactly like what I should be using. I'll post y'all an update sometime after Friday to share how it went, we shall see lol.

[mustang1989]

I've never seen a Firebird done up like this with the plain wheels and all but I can tell you that I do like it very much. Definitely different from the norm but again, you've made this one look great!!! 

[Bainford]

Cool Firebird. I’m really digging the black steelies. Chassis weathering looks spot on. Well done!

[Dragonhawk1066]

Looks good in that color! Nice weathering job on the engine and chassis!

[slusher]

Very nice!

[vegasXhotXshot]

Very nice build it You did an amazing job I'm sure she absolutely loved it

[Scott8950]

This is very nice.. im kinda confused i see some folks calling it a firebird but its a trans am... Oh well its still a nice build, you did a great job!

[BigTallDad]

1 hour ago, Scott8950 said:

This is very nice.. im kinda confused i see some folks calling it a firebird but its a trans am... Oh well its still a nice build, you did a great job!

The Trans Am was an optional version of the Firebird...the T/A was not a stand-alone series of bodies, kinda like the Gran Prix was a version of a Pontiac.

Edited February 16, 2020 by BigTallDad

[BigTallDad]

On 2/10/2020 at 10:45 AM, carchub said:

Nice job on those "Plain Jane" wheels. Have you considered putting valve stems on them? It's not too late to do that.

Is that a 670-15 tire? The '77 'bird had 14" tires (or tyres, if you're from England or Oz).

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by BigTallDad

[Scott8950]

10 minutes ago, BigTallDad said:

The Trans Am was an optional version of the Firebird...the T/A was not a stand-alone series of bodies, kinda like the Gran Prix was a version of a Pontiac.

yes im very aware of that but the kit is the trans am version... No big deal at all it was just curiousity.. The model is nicely done.

[Tom Geiger]

Okay.. Valentines Day has passed.. what was her reaction ?  Inquiring minds wanna know!

[carchub]

Back with an update! You'll all be glad to know (as I was myself, very much) that she absolutely loved it and had no idea what was coming. She noticed the green pumpkin right away and though it was so sweet of a gift, her and I both love thoughtful unconventional gifts. She wound up getting me a 1970's reissue of a Chilton's 1954-1963 auto repair manual; now I can start working on the real cars of my dreams! It was a fantastic day for both of us, and we're off to something special together for sure. Feels really good to put in a bunch of thoughtful work for someone, and to be appreciated for it afterwards. This couldn't have gone any better! She also thought it was really funny I went through all the trouble with the paint lol

 

On the confusion about the Firebird vs Trans Am version: I don't know lol! The box says 1977 Firebird, the car looks like a Firebird, I'm just going by the bodystyle. If it's got a different name so be it but it looks like the car she likes and that's what matters to me, sorry for any confusion. 

 

About the rims and tires, eh, she said she liked steelies (my kind of girl) in matte black so I got what I could find on Scenes Unlimited, the moody deep dish for the rears and "Pontiac Steelies" for the front, both only available in 15", I suppose it's custom lol. Valve stems would be killer, but it's already resting in it's new home in her room so I doubt I'll get to adding them. Great idea though so thank you!

 

Thank you all again for such kind words and the appreciation for the build. This was a superb experience and very special to me, the warm welcome back to this forum is a nice bonus to it all and has me inspired to build more. 

Edited February 16, 2020 by carchub

[Nazz]

 I'm glad she likes it Roland, that's what counts. Great build! I must say I like it too . Great color, nice detail. Well done!

[Tom Geiger]

Very cool!  All's well that ends well!  I'm glad she was pleased.   

[christian-w]

Well done! Interessting Color you've Chosen. It Looks so different with the steel rims. Like it! You did a very good Job on the Body work. Nice Details.