AMT '66 Buick Mod. Stocker....

[rodsnracin]

As a young teenager, I built all of the 6 original Mod. Stocker kits more than once, and the 3 later releases at least once each. All suffered horrible fates! I spent some of my adult life relocating all of them and own at least one each of all 9 originals. I couldn't resist picking up the re-issues as they were released, and this is one of them. Here are some pics of the major sub-assemblies of my '66 Buick Modified Stocker re-issue box-art build:


Interior, basically box-stock with parts box gauges. Engraving on the kit dash was so light as to be unusable.











Kit engine, box stock, paint detailing only.







Chassis bottom, entire chassis and suspension consists of TWO pieces! Paint detailing and resin dirt tires from Big Donkey and Fred's Resin Workshop. Left front is an old AMT Goodyear. Drilled out exhaust ends.







Removed heater box and paint detailed the firewall. kit doesn't supply a radiator so I found one in my spares, added an accordion dirt screen.







Rear and left front are kit wheels, I removed the front spindle hub from both rears.

[donculley]

Even though they looked nothing like the New England asphalt modifieds I was familiar with ,I loved these kits too ; I had the 64 and 69 Fords. Since they said in the instructions to melt the bodies to make them looked raced , both ended up pretty ugly after meeting my dads soldering gun LOL. When the reissues came I bought one of each ; the GTO never got reissued but I found a junker on Ebay and restored that one too. I'm looking forward to seeing your Buick finished !

[rodsnracin]

Thanks, Don! Finished pics coming soon. These kits were pretty close to a late 1960's to mid-1970's class in our area, right down to the huge tires. Some of my teenage ones had a huge firey pile-up in my younger brother's sandbox, courtesy of our can of lawnmower gas! I was lucky enough to find a sealed inside GTO some years ago, I'll be building that one soon. Next up is a '65 Fairlane as an asphalt car.

[donculley]

The mods in my area looked like the later MPC modifieds, but if it was a stock car, I was into building them ! Here is my reissued build , box stock. It looks like our colors are close ! LOL

[rodsnracin]

Here's mine finished:




Had to add a radiator hose and clamps to my parts box radiator!



A little "battle damage" to nerf bars and I drilled license plate holes in the bumpers.


More battle damage and the right front, according to the rules of the era, had to be a "safety hub".

The yellow ovals were challenging, as the decal numbers were apparently bigger in relation to the door height than the "artist's rendering".  I actually made .040 styrene templates for the ovals and the dark green areas on the "C"-pillar so all would be the same size and shape.  First 3 color paint job in many years, dark green and yellow are Tamiya and the lighter green is "Limelight" by Model car world, first use of my airbrush in probably 20 years.

[Paul B. Canney]

How much work do you think it would be to backdate it to stock?

[rodsnracin]

About as much work as it would take to do that to a REAL car!

[donculley]

May 13, 2021 14:54:18 GMT -6 rodsnracin said:

Here's mine finished:




Had to add a radiator hose and clamps to my parts box radiator!



A little "battle damage" to nerf bars and I drilled license plate holes in the bumpers.


More battle damage and the right front, according to the rules of the era, had to be a "safety hub".

The yellow ovals were challenging, as the decal numbers were apparently bigger in relation to the door height than the "artist's rendering".  I actually made .040 styrene templates for the ovals and the dark green areas on the "C"-pillar so all would be the same size and shape.  First 3 color paint job in many years, dark green and yellow are Tamiya and the lighter green is "Limelight" by Model car world, first use of my airbrush in probably 20 years.

That's a real beauty ! I didn't put the nerf bars on mine as the full fendered Sportsman division at our local track had the behind the doors. Your paint job came out perfect and those resin dirt tires you got look more realistic than the huge modified tires in the kit.

[rodsnracin]

Thanks, Don! Our cars (and rules) back then put function over form, hence the exposed bars. Again, I have to say that the tires in these kits are easily within the size range used around here, not only back then but to this day. The wheels scale out to 15" diameter, and the tire circumference (after sanding off the shine and reducing the concavity of the tread surface) comes out at 100". Back in the 1970's, tires went well over 100", my 1:1 vintage modified uses modern tires that can measure into the 90" range.

[kabdriver]

May 14, 2021 6:43:37 GMT -6 rodsnracin said:

Thanks, Don! Our cars (and rules) back then put function over form, hence the exposed bars. Again, I have to say that the tires in these kits are easily within the size range used around here, not only back then but to this day. The wheels scale out to 15" diameter, and the tire circumference (after sanding off the shine and reducing the concavity of the tread surface) comes out at 100". Back in the 1970's, tires went well over 100", my 1:1 vintage modified uses modern tires that can measure into the 90" range.

Can we see your vintage modified?

[donculley]

Jun 2, 2021 11:36:47 GMT -6 rodsnracin said:

Sure! Here it is in October 2019, great way to celebrate my 60th birthday! Below the 2 pics of my re-creation is the original car in 1972. Have become good friends with the original driver, he's 82 now!







(Fred Smith photo)

Great looking Gremlin mod ! Our local track is pavement , so I see why our cars would be different .

[rodsnracin]

So here's how it all started, 1969 IH Scout frame, '76 Gremlin body, freshly gutted (since replaced by a '73 to better match the real car) and the roll cage mocked up with 2x2's! It's come a LONG way since this pic!