Hi all.

Welcome to my build log for the Great 2015 Chev vs Hemi Group Build. I've been really looking forward to this for a long time now, but my bench time is severely limited at present so please don't expect rapid progress. You should, however, expect plenty of lively discussion !

I have chosen 2 cars from the year of my birth for some personal significance.

Only box shots right now, sprue shots to follow in the next couple of days.

Firstly, for the side of Goodness and Light and Righteousness and Power and Reliability etc, etc, is the magnificent 1967 Pontiac GTO . . . . .


Secondly, representing the side of mediocrity and growing oil-stains in your driveway is the very average looking (if you can even see it through the smoke from leaking oil burning on the exhaust) 1967 Dodge Charger . . .


Let the chaos begin !

Cheers, D

For interest, a couple of shots of the magnificent 67 GTO in its natural state




And one that my wife uses to drive the kids to school


Now I have spent hours looking on the interweb for images of the 67 Charger, but only found this one. For sale, only a couple of hundred miles on the odometer, apparently near-new condition . . .


Cheers, D

GTO

Garbage
To
Own

And that's the truth folks. Now quit surfing the interweb for good chebby pictures that don't exist and start building something. And get Karen something decent to drive. Don't want them kids walking to school in the rain now do we?

😄 just as I expected, jealous of the pure class dripping off the GTO.

A Pontiac! What a give away. Not even Damian want's to build a Chevy. He would rather build a goat.

I'm not sure that's class dripping off of the old Garbage Truck either..

Ignoring the comments from the peanut gallery, on to sprue shots of the Charger. There are 6 sprues of white parts plus the body, one sprue of chrome, one transparent, one red and 6 tyres. Not the best pics but they give you an idea of the job ahead of me.













The radiator had come off the sprue in the box, but since they frequently fall out of the cars for no reason, this didn't surprise me at all!

The kit comes with a drag strip option, I am toying with the idea of fitting the bonnet scoop, fat rear rubber and go-fast stripes, but no sponsorship decals, to represent a wannabe street version.




There is a small amount of flash to deal with but in general the parts look very nicely moulded. I will note any issues as we progress.

Not fixed on colour yet, but a deep metallic blue similar to the box art is the front-runner at the moment.

That's all for now, GTO sprue shots and build plan to follow soon.

Cheers, D

Well, now that you've proven all the parts are there, all you have to do now is put them all together.

No rush mate, I've got all year !

OK, on to the sprue shots of the Goat, um, hold on, GTO !

We have 5 small white sprues of parts, the body, tub and pan, one sprue of chrome, the transparent and red, and one set of tyres.













There is a set of decal stripes that I don't think I will use on this one


The build option I am thinking to do includes blown and injected powerplant, headers, and a lift kit at the back to give it that angry stance. I might have a try of the Alclad Candy paint system on this one, maybe a deep red.

There is a fair bit of flash on these parts due to the age of the moulds, so no VonCuda speed-builds for me!

Cheers, D

Mopar little flash
Goat huge amount of flash.
Need I say more


Looking forward to following your build Damian.

Yep, I was thinking, Flash; the natural state of GM plastic.

In the Aussie slang dictionary flash can mean either speed or high quality, so no, say no more!



Thanks Jesper, I look forward to plenty of "constructive" criticism from all quarters.

Mark, thanks for looking in, I think!

Cheers, D

Has nothing to do with the "age of the moulds" mate. Actually, the flash and huge sink marks are some of the most accurate detailing I've ever seen for a GTO. Really glad to see that MPC added the rust holes in the floor pans as well.
Also, in American slang dictionary, "driving a goat" means that you're really, really, really fond of said farm animal.

I see you're still hung over from your birthday celebrations my friend, so I will ignore those confused, alcohol fuelled ramblings.

Ok Damian I am in your corner on this build, as I am a Pontiac man, I am shore you will do the GTO justice.

That GTO is a very old kit but I think it's still pretty good. The Charger on the other hand is a fairly new kit and from what I have read it's pretty good, I guess we will soon see.

Made a start, some sub assemblies on the Charger.

The fit of the door panels to the floor pan is a bit gappy, so very accurately moulded off the original.

The noisy thing that goes at the pointy end is apparently designed to drop quantities of oil at random intervals and create vast clouds of black smoke.




Hopefully more progress soon.

Cheers, D

Alright. The formalities are out of the way, and you're there's plastic going together. Let's see how this turns out!
This is good reading material here!
-Sean H.

Modest beginnings on the GTO, I'm just really glad to have found some time to get started at all!

The plastic is a bit weird, doesn't react to the Tamiya Extra Thin cement as well as any other kit I have built. Very slow to tack and cure.




Hopefully more soon.

Cheers, D

On a work trip away from home for a couple of nights so I made time to do some work on these 2 builds. Did some masking and airbrushed the powerplants. More parts still to add to both, some detail painting and washes, and likely some wiring.

Charger on the left, looking sad, already leaking oil.
GTO on the right, looking magnificent, truly regal, ready to fly off the table and do laps of the room.




No real fit issues to speak of so far, just some minor cleanup of joins. I removed some locating pins from parts on both kits to get a clean fit.

Hopefully more soon.

Cheers, D

Wise of you to give the puny goat enigne some extra respiration.
Still even with Chuck Norris kickstarting the engine, it would fall short when going up against the mighty Charger.
Looking forward to more

Powerplants complete and ready to fit:

Charger



Goat



Next update should see the underbody painted and assembled on both builds.

Cheers, D

Some progress at last, Charger interior, underside and powerplant . . . . . . .






I've used the headers rather than the stock exhaust manifold, so I have some surgery to perform to get the exhaust pipe and manifold assembly to fit. More updates soon.

Cheers, D

Small update on the GTO, detail painting with some chrome and flat aluminium. With the hood lined up at the front there is a large gap at the back, so I will fit a strip to get it a bit cleaner there before I start the exterior paint.




Cheers, D