MPC 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, in Metallic Red.

[Dragonhawk1066]

    Here's my version of the MPC 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. I started with Stynylrez Black Primer, followed by two coats of Shuttle Art Flash Black (Metallic Black), and then three or four coats of Tamiya X-27 Acrylic Clear Red, all through my airbrush. Then I added the decals and sprayed three coats of Createx High Gloss Clear. After that I wet-sanded from 6000-12,000, polished with Novus #2, and finally a coat of Meguiar's Cleaner Wax.

     The interior is all craft paint, using combinations of Apple Barrel Khaki, Apple Barrel Nutmeg Brown, and Decoart Honey Brown. I used Embossing Powder for the carpet area, which was painted over with the Khaki.

     The engine and transmission is from the AMT 2006 Camaro Concept as is the engine bay surround. The wheels are from Forward Resin on ebay, and the tires are from the parts box. The chassis and suspension are from the kit, with some cutting and trimming done on the front suspension parts to fit the tires. The exhaust is also from the kit, with a bit trimmed off to fit the 1/8 inch styrene tubing carefully bent to reach the LS engine exhaust headers.

     This is a challenging kit in the first place with some excess flash, thick clear glass, sparse details, and an ill fitting body/interior/chassis connection. I don't know if it was easier or trickier with the needed mods made for the non-kit parts, lol. Either way, it was actually a pretty fun build that I am very happy with the results of. I really like these cars, but wish either Round 2 or Revell would re-tool/commit to a new tooling of them as I really think an improved version would do well, but in the end it does look the part which is most important I guess. Anyways, as always thanks for looking!!

Edited October 26, 2023 by Dragonhawk1066

[charger74]

Looks great 

[Intmd8r]

Excellent color choice!

very clean…..

[ea0863]

Oh man, I LOVE that deep metallic paintjob and awesome detail. Great job!

[ChrisR]

Looking great!

[ncbuckeye67]

Wow, that is beautiful! I love the color combination. It looks like the Model Master "Root Beer" brown, on the exterior. That's something you don't see very often.

[Dave42]

Absolutely beautiful! Excellent work.

[Yeah Nah]

Stunning all round build! That paint......

[XYHARRY]

That is one gorgeous TransAm there Craig. The paint is amazing and your mods look great. I have an old AMT/Ertl 79 TransAm that has been waiting in my stash for over 20 years. Your build has inspired me to dig it out. Well done and thanks for sharing. 

Cheers, 

David. ??

[SpikeSchumacher]

You should be very happy with that Craig. Beautiful!

[TransAmMike]

Wow Craig, that's a great looking '79....that color is amazing....great job!!

[DoctorLarry]

Stunning finish!

[espo]

Beautiful looking paint color and finish, like the dark deep look. Contrasting interior color goes well and its finish looks great. 

[AMT68]

Excellent work as always! The exterior color along with the wheels to me give it the restomod look. 

I've built one of these so far and I agree the body takes a good amount of smoothing. And yes such an iconic car deserves a retool. 

[karbuildr]

This is a really beautiful build. Excellent modifications, wheels and tires look great, and your paint is outstanding.

[happy grumpy]

All these efforts paid off. The model looks awesome and with that paint job, Fantastic build. ???

[Classicgas]

Well done.

[KWT]

VERY nicely done! Color is awesome on it!

[Dragonhawk1066]

20 hours ago, charger74 said:

Looks great 

 

20 hours ago, Intmd8r said:

Excellent color choice!

very clean…..

 

19 hours ago, ea0863 said:

Oh man, I LOVE that deep metallic paintjob and awesome detail. Great job!

 

16 hours ago, ChrisR said:

Looking great!

 

11 hours ago, Dave42 said:

Absolutely beautiful! Excellent work.

 

11 hours ago, Yeah Nah said:

Stunning all round build! That paint......

 

11 hours ago, XYHARRY said:

That is one gorgeous TransAm there Craig. The paint is amazing and your mods look great. I have an old AMT/Ertl 79 TransAm that has been waiting in my stash for over 20 years. Your build has inspired me to dig it out. Well done and thanks for sharing. 

Cheers, 

David. ??

 

10 hours ago, SpikeSchumacher said:

You should be very happy with that Craig. Beautiful!

 

4 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Wow Craig, that's a great looking '79....that color is amazing....great job!!

 

4 hours ago, DoctorLarry said:

Stunning finish!

 

4 hours ago, espo said:

Beautiful looking paint color and finish, like the dark deep look. Contrasting interior color goes well and its finish looks great. 

 

3 hours ago, AMT68 said:

Excellent work as always! The exterior color along with the wheels to me give it the restomod look. 

I've built one of these so far and I agree the body takes a good amount of smoothing. And yes such an iconic car deserves a retool. 

 

2 hours ago, karbuildr said:

This is a really beautiful build. Excellent modifications, wheels and tires look great, and your paint is outstanding.

 

1 hour ago, happy grumpy said:

All these efforts paid off. The model looks awesome and with that paint job, Fantastic build. ???

 

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

Well done.

 

1 hour ago, KWT said:

VERY nicely done! Color is awesome on it!

Thanks for the compliments guys, much appreciated!

[Jim B]

Great looking Firebird.  Well done.

[Dragonhawk1066]

13 hours ago, ncbuckeye67 said:

Wow, that is beautiful! I love the color combination. It looks like the Model Master "Root Beer" brown, on the exterior. That's something you don't see very often.

Thanks Jeff! For some reason the lighting gave it more of a red-brown look, but it is a really sharp deep red.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Dragonhawk1066

[kelson]

A thing of beauty!!?

[Monty]

MPC definitely didn't do anyone any favors with some of the design and fit elements of this kit, so kudos for taking on a tough build and knocking it out of the park.  

[Bills72sj]

That is SWEET! Does anyone know if they made a T-top version?

[yellowsportwagon]

This is a sweet build