The gloss finish was my biggest concern when making the Viper, or any car for that matter.  Yours seriously looks like a real showroom finish! 

Thanks Chad.

I've been working really hard on getting this car completed so I can get back on the Maverick. Still a ways to go with all the last minute little stuff and just making sure that it all comes together as well as possible. 

 Body is pretty much done. Still gotta add the side mirrors and take care of some minor details but here's what the front and side views look like so far with the pieces all loosely fit together.

I really need to work with my camera little more because the color looks more like a faded red in the photos instead of the bright red that it actually is.

Now....this is where most of the corrective work needs to be done. There are some fit issues back here in regards to the apron-to-body fit along with some minor wet sanding and polishing of the tail light assy that I painted black. In any case I've always liked the look of the dark tinted tail light panel versus the stock tail lights on these cars. ust gives them an evil look back there.

The body looks stunning Joe. I concur with the black tail light assembly. Looks all bad and such. 

That looks really good. Looks real even. NICE!!

BK

Looking good Joe!

That's some paint job the real ones didn't look that good .

That's a beautiful job Mustang. The paint looks perfect!!! 

Hmm;

   Howcome youse painted the car strawberry color?

You!

 Are Not going to superdetail? sure when the sun sets in the EAST ! I ain't gonna hold my breath either!

Joe: I do appreciate you chiming in good buddy. Hope your recovery continues to go well.

Brandon: Thanks bud. There are things that I wished I could've done differently or paid attention to along the way.

Lew: Glad to have you on board with this build and thank you.

Nick: Thank you as well and you're right about the high gloss. Factory ones didn't have that amount of shine to them. If I had one this that is what I'd be aiming for in a finish though.

Cliff: Thank you for not only your comments but your reference material of your own T/A as well. Stuff like that is invaluable.

TB: I hate to disappoint but no major add-ons with this build. Pretty much OOB except for the oil filter decal, the magazine in the front seat and the dual tail pipes from the Revell 2000 Camaro SS kit. Man you just cannot have a single exhaust pipe hanging out of a muscle car. I dunno what Pontiac's deal was back then but it really looked weird to all of us dealer techs at the time.

This is going to be my last update before I post the finished pics. I've just got some work to do on the dual outlet tail pipes that I robbed from the Revell 2000 Camaro SS kit and there are still a few touch ups & minor details to take care of but she's all but done now.

I'm just glad I chose to lower this one some. I hate to think of how high up it would've sat if I didn't.

This is looking good Joe!  I have always found these Firebird/Camaro siblings to be sort awkward and heavy looking.  Even the new generation Camaro looks awkward and nothing like the original Camaro.  My neighbor has a new Camaro and the only thing I like about is the bright metallic blue paint.  

Thanks Mike! If you haven't already....you've gotta drive one. I thought the same thing when I first saw these cars in the late 90's.....the test drive in a brand spanking new one was a game changer for me.

Mustang: Oh gee that looks friggin' fantastic! I've got to get one of those kits- I don't do much in the way of cars but I can make an exception this time. And no problem about the photos- glad to help! 

TB: Lol, strawberry! I refered to my car as cherry red but cherries are a little darker. I think Pontiac called the shade 'fire red' but I like strawberry better.  

Mike: I had a 2014 Camero for about six monthes till a lady T-boned me. Always thought it was a great looking car. I did not like how it drove though. It had power to spare but I just didn't like the handling. I descibed the car as 'driving a dump truck with a rocket engine strapped to the back'. I really like my 2000 Trans Am a lot better, no where near as much power but the car just handles better to me. 

that looks great!

Cliff and enemeink: Thanks both of you guys. 

Hopefully the glamour shots will bring the red out some what better.

This is my first real out of box build. I had been working on a Pro Stock Maverick for around 5 months and needed a break from it to just get something completed. I've been wanting to build this car for the last few years and figured that now might be a good time to break it out. There's not much in the way of AM for this kit so it was the perfect one to do an OOB build on. The only things that were added was an "AC Delco" decal on the oil filter, a Hot Rod Magazine in the passengers from seat with a picture of an older T/A on the cover and I robbed the dual outlet exhaust pipes from the Revell 2000 Camaro SS kit. Just couldn't build this car with the single outlet exhaust system like it came from the factory with.

The kit wasn't too bad but there were several fit issues with it starting with the chassis to body assembly. For some reason the glue adhesion didn't set up right at the rear of the car resulting in a slight twist. I made some bracing that went from the body down to the chassis and glued that in place to suck the chassis up on the side that got the lower part of the twist. Flash and mold lines were TERRIBLE on this thing. I spent ALOT of time getting rid of those and still didn't get them all. The front and rear facias fit great during the test fit and didn't want to cooperate at all during the assembly process. I got them as close as I could without disassembling the whole friggin' car to straighten everything out. Once I got the chassis sucked up in the back on the drivers side to where it was supposed to be I noticed that now there was a gap between the engine throttle body and the molded in intake duct on the body. I ended up cutting a piece of plastic and carving it to fit the gap there. The only other thing that I did with this car that needed to be done was that I lowered it about a scale inch or so all the way around to give it a more aggressive stance.

Anyways....here are the finished shots...….and now....back to the Maverick!!!

Excellent work. It looks like the real deal. Well done!

BK

Joe, that is just awesome.

The exterior is stunning and goes well with that smashing interior I commented on earlier.

Very cool you managed to stay with the OOB. Wait a minute, did that magazine on the passenger seat come with???? (hehehe)

One of my favoite things is how the red logo on the back sets everything off.

Excellent oob build Joe.

Thank you all (Brandon, Greg and Lee) for taggin' along. I'm not much on OOB builds and this one wasn't all that hard to stay within the guidelines of OOB because there's no aftermarket stuff for these that I know of. Regardless of that fact , it was nice to just "build a model" for a change instead of "Raise the Titanic".

Outstanding work!   

Jim 

Stay Safe.

The end of the Pontiac era.  Nice piece of American muscle Joe. 

Bravo Joe! You managed to nail your OOB effort flawlessly. It looks absolutely fantastic all around. I am so very proud of you.

Joe,

Well done sir, well done.

That's weird about the warp in the chassis but she turned out perfect! Other than the differently coloured interior she's the spitting image of my car. I've got to get me one of these, thanks for pointing out issues in the kit. Now I just need to be able to paint a good gloss finish. 

Jim: Thanks bud!! 

Chad: Always good seeing you man and thanks!! 

Joe: I really didn't think I could pull an OOB build off. Thanks for taggin' along brother.

Lew: 'Preciate the very kind words.

Cliff: I think that was a mistake on my part for not keeping a close enough eye on it when clamping things together during the adhesion process. I can help you with that gloss finish whenever you are ready. It's a fail safe method pal. 

Thanks Mustang!!! I've had a couple of auto modelers in our club give me advice on glossy finishes too but you can't have too much!!! 

Gamera

Thanks Mustang!!! I've had a couple of auto modelers in our club give me advice on glossy finishes too but you can't have too much!!!