1979 PONTIAC TRANS AM 10TH ANNIVERSARY ARTICLE 1/25TH

Lets start right away with the negatives of this build.
I used the AMT newest reissue of this kit #31809 It is
a repop of the original MPC kit issued in 1979 They
are both the same kit except the decals in the MPC
kit have the side script "Trans Am" decals are one
decal. On the AMT reissue the letters all separate
for all the scripts. You have to cut out each letter
and line them up together. Heres the rub. On the
decal sheet there are only 2 of the right size letter
A's for the side scripts, DUH!!! There are 2 A's in
each side script. I ended up buying another kit to get
the decal sheet for the extra letters. Had I known this
I would have found the original issue MPC. China
fucks up once more! Or least somebody did. The
charcoal gray in the hood eagle matches nothing! I
had to adjust the factory paint to get it as close to
the decal color as possible. The tooling is wore out!
Countless hours were spent removing flash and
adjusting ill fitting parts.

This kit is typical of the kits in the 70's, the era I
refer to as the cereal years when these 2 companies
were producing real junk. At least the chrome is
good on the reissue AMT. It came with the same
shitty hollow tires that they tossed into thousands of
other kits. I added some decent tires from Scale
Equipment Ltd, much more correct. The T/A turbo
wheels come chromed. In order to get the correct
aluminum look, I sprayed them silver, dull coated
them, then rubbed them out, and detailed the
centers.

The interior was done as correct as possible to the
Anniversary car. I added silver gray carpet, and
foiled where needed. The interior had no stampings
for the 10th Anniversary door eagles. Also, there are
no 10th Anniversary decals for under the Trans Am
side and rear scripts. And the pinstripe offered is not
quite correct. The T tops have no clear plastic for
the inserts, You can cut them out, but my customer
requested leaving them in. I shot the insert areas
with alclad, then sprayed smoke window tint over
them, and slightly rubbed them out. A really nice
illusion, looks very much like tinted glass.

I airbrushed the body with platinum silver and
medium charcoal adjusted to match the gray in the
hood decal. After the decals were applied, I clear
coated them in. The tailight lense has a black out
appearance, to achieve this I sprayed it with black
window tint. It comes with outside rear view mirrors
not shown in pictures, as I never ship with them
attached. There was no inside rear view mirror with
this issue, so I added one. The headlight lenses need
to be painted around the outsides with flat black,
and grill inserts blacked out. the rest of the body
was properly detailed.

The 400 ci. engine was wired and plumbed. the
engine bay detailed. The chassis was detailed and
dull coated. All in all a nice example. This is about as
close as you will get with car, with what you are
given to work with. Another late muscle car legend
from GM. The 10th Anniversary Trans Am