1968 Pontiac Firebird 400 Build (70's style)

[Shelbytona]

I finished the 1969 Dodge Charger model of my dad's friends car, and wanted to build another inspired build... So i took another picture from his photo album of a car that i knew there was a model of, and i went to the LHS and picked up a firebird! Here is what i've got to work with... I'm gonna do this one a little more beat up since it wasn't in great shape (at least in this pic at the time)

I will have to build shackles again, which look like they were pretty big on this car! regular steelies up front and regular chrome steelies for the back. There also seems to be a repair on the front passenger fender, done in the old pink putty. I'll have to give this a vinyl top as well and do the stripes on the trunk, hood and blacked out scoops... My dad also remembers he had headers on the car and this kit has some, so that's a bonus!

Edited January 26, 2012 by Shelbytona

[Haubenschild]

Neat! , I think you should do a whole series of 70's stlye builds!

[Shelbytona]

Neat! , I think you should do a whole series of 70's stlye builds!

Yeah i really like the styles and the things that were done in the 70's to the old muscle cars! Once this one is done, i'll look into my dads photo album of his/his friends cars and choose another! almost all the cars in the album look like this.. there's a few pics of 69 swinger 340 and 67 buick skylark somewhere in the albums i have to find..

[hvymtl]

Another one ????? All right man this is sooooo sweet i am digging this

gonna do the shackles in white ?

along with the rear axle and such ...

just kiddin' man i really can't wait for this one

Michael

[Shelbytona]

Another one ????? All right man this is sooooo sweet i am digging this gonna do the shackles in white ? along with the rear axle and such ... just kiddin' man i really can't wait for this one Michael

haha yeah another one! yeah the shackles appear to be white.. which seems kinda weird! the springs look to be white as well. I'll have to make some mud flaps too. Looks like red seat covers as well.. or it's just a jacket on the seat. I'll have to ask my dad since he remembers this car well.

[hvymtl]

Well i wasn't old enough back then but i remember seeing old issues

of Car Craft and the cars were all painted white and then the cone shape

trailer lights bolted to the rear axle.And this went on into the eighties also.

Michael

[62rebel]

that's a cool picture! man, i think ALL the "muscle cars" from my hometown had that same "look"; the only thing missing is a set of sidepipes! i've gotten to where i won't build a '60's car "showroom stock" unless it's a specific car... the rest get the speed shop treatment! i have tried to build several replicas of cars myself or my Dad has had, along with some notable ones other relatives had...

BTW that Revell Firebird is a sweet kit to build. one of their best efforts IMHO.

[espo]

I'm afraid I have some recollection of the 70's. The "rake" look was popular. The first 70 and later 60 series tires were comeing into the market from Good Year and Firestone. These required wider wheels. The 6" wide crome revers wheels that most of us had were too narrow. When you start to put 7" or wider revers wheels under 50 & 60s cars they start hitting wheel well opening and even steering componets on the front end when you turned. On the leaf spring cars you could raise the back with shackles and air shocks. On the front you could use spacers in the springs and over load shocks. When you tried to corner hard the rear tires would still sometimes rub on the fenders. We destroyed what little handling the factory put into these cars. It was like trying to run in high heels. I look forward to what your'e doing with this Firebird. They were one of the hottest cars of their day. It realy was a lot of fun as I recall.

[62rebel]

for a good explanation of that, watch "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" and look out for the big black Plymouth Fury on shackles..... or was it a Dodge..... it was CRAZY, that i know.

[Guest]

This will be a cool build. I've been doing the '70s street machines lately myself. I've done a '71 'Cuda and am currently working on a '70 Buick GSX. I plan on building a few others in 1/24,making a base the size of a small parking lot and display them all together.

[Shelbytona]

Thanks for the comments! yeah apparently the rear end was white, as well as the springs and shackles! I got very little progress done so far... i got the rear molding glued on, puttied and it's first coat of alclad primer. I was experimenting with vinyl tops and came up with this idea.. Using black wrinkle paint. It worked out great and looks in scale on my scrap body, so i might give it a try on this model. I have to glue on the vinyl top seams if i go this route. Or i might just buy the vinyl top kit.

[diymirage]

Top looks fine to me

When I need to ad a vinyl top I use regular old painters tape

Overlap it on the top where the seams are and paint it black...all set

[Shelbytona]

Thanks for the tip! i ended up ordering the back vinyl top from MCG... i hope it's like BMF and goes in the same! I've never used it before.. I got the roof sanded and put in final primer. Tomorrow i'll wetsand it and paint the headliner, then mask that off and spray some yellow!

I started glueing the motor together as well.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Shelbytona

[Shelbytona]

Thanks for the heads up! I might just cut some really thin strips of masking tape for the vinyl roof seams and spray some thick paint thru my air brush so it gives a texture... i'll try it out! that wrinkle finish paint is to risky.. you gotta lay it on thick for it to wrinkle, and i just don't wanna chance it on this model

Edited January 30, 2012 by Shelbytona

[car-man666]

Thanks for the heads up! I might just cut some really thin strips of masking tape for the vinyl roof seams and spray some thick paint thru my air brush so it gives a texture... i'll try it out! that wrinkle finish paint is to risky.. you gotta lay it on thick for it to wrinkle, and i just don't wanna chance it on this model

if you're doing this ,add some extra glue to the tape ,cus over the years ,you might see the tape peel of the roof of the car,been there ,done that ,seen it, but while it last ,it gave the good illusion of vinyl top.

Edited January 30, 2012 by car-man666

[Shelbytona]

Thanks for all the tips guys! I'll use some automotive pinstripe instead and just spray over it. I got the yellow on today... I'm gonna leave it with it's semi gloss shine... It turned out perfect!

[Haubenschild]

Nice paint! , what brand did you use?

[Shelbytona]

Nice paint! , what brand did you use?

It's tamiya yellow. I thought it was the paint for plastic models, but someone at the hobby shop mixed it up.. So it's the paint for polycarbonate plastic.. It's pretty much the same paint, just more flexible and doesn't shine as well (worked out perfect in my case) I didn't feel like going to town and exchanging it either. It smells just the same as the plastic tamiya laquer tho!

[Shelbytona]

Well i got the vinyl top sprayed on, i used tamiya semi gloss black acrylic thru my air brush... un reduced so it sprayed thick. I'm happy with how it turned out! i used some automotive pinstripe for the vinyl roof seam.

[hvymtl]

Lookimg good there. remember riding in a 72 Nova that was a 6 cyl jacked upwith 60's on the back .

After that night i knew every nuance of Living After Midnight Cranked to 11 . Four 6x9 Pioneer 4way 200 watt

speakers in boxes anad in the deck with EQ boosters powering the sound. Deaf ? yeah worth it ? No but ask me to do

it again and i am right there LOL yes the 80's were just as bad as the 70's Keep it rolling Shelby am digging it all the way

Michael

[Shelbytona]

Started some BMF work.. I'll have it finished off tomorrow

[Shelbytona]

[Alan_hornet]

looks awesome

[tyrone]

Looking good keep up the great work,,,

[scalenut]

is there a reason your completely finishing the body before test assembling the first parts?

I'm just curious about that methoed