This kit, to be blunt, was a pain in the ass. The end-result wasn't bad, but I didn't think I would ever finish filling sanding, or otherwise cleaning up the plastic in this kit.

To start with, this is one of the old four-piece bodies, with seperate pieces for the sides, hood, and trunk panels.  There area also two other parts that form the lower valance panels under the front and rear bumpers.
The only clear part in the kit is the windshield, with the headlights and other lenses on the car being done in chrome. And speaking of the chrome, it tends to be heavy and thick. The grill was a solid plated casting, with little definition. The wire wheels were plastic, with an integral brake drum - very heavy spokes, not realistic at all.
The image at left shows just how bad the flash was on the plastic in this kit. My other big gripe is the number and size of the ejector pin marks. They must not have used any mould release at ALL. The pin marks are many and require lots of cleanup, either with filling or sanding. And it's aggravated by the fact that they seem to eject these parts on the most visible side!

Well, enough carping, I'll get on with the general review...

I started with the body, putting the panels together and using gap-filling CA

on the inside to fill and strengthen the seams, and using putty on the outside. Then it was sand and primer, sand and primer. Once the body had set for a while to make sure the joints were set and strong, I sprayed the sides with a light desert tan. After this paint had set up, the body was masked and the dark blue was sprayed on. Masking was a challenge because of the interesting little turn it makes at the front wheel. It could have been sprayed in a single color, but I prefered the two-tone - and not that this is not a prototypical color, but rather just a combination that I liked. From the factory, the lower color would likely have been white. The body was then set aside to cure for a while and I turned my attention to the (ugh!) wheels.
The kit wheels are on the top left. Two-piece wheels/tires with very thick spokes. Just really ugly, and definitly not in scale.

Fortunately, one of the GPMA members referred me to Herb Deeks, who makes not only a nice set of wire wheels, but wire wheel transkits for the old Merit kits. I had ordered a couple of each (as I have a couple Merit kits in the closet), but in this case decided to try the transkit on the Revell kit wheel.

Basically, the kit spokes are cut away, leaving just the rim and tire. Deeks supplies the photo-etched wire and a turned aluminum hub, which replace the parts previously snipped out. I sprayed the wheels with Allclad II chrome and painted the tires flat black. I think the result was very nice. Of course, I have to remove the brake drum and trim it down to work with the new wires. And the nice thing is, it really doesn't take that long. It actually takes longer to clean up the kit parts than to put together the transkit. Deeks also supplies a variety of knock-off styles to go with the wheels.
-