# Monogram '70 Plymouth Superbird



## tolenmar

Since I finished the Challenger, it's time to turn my thoughts toward the next project:









The only problem is, I don't know what to do with it. I was originally thinking of painting it black and white, with zebra stripes. But that idea doesn't attract me so much anymore. (The idea was to do that so my tiger-striped Shelby Cobra would have something to chase.)

Looking at Google, it seems that the vast majority were a solid color, but I did find this one:









Maybe some of that old '70's disco style is what I need. But I'm open to suggestions, too.

What do you think?


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## Rotwang

My mind has just been blown...


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## 71 Charger 500

That Alpine White Superbird has a Pitchfork hood on it too, like was on the 70 Superbee. I've never seen one on a superbird before. Surely it was a custom job on the hood. Pretty cool though. Also, all Superbirds came with a vinyl top to hide the bodywork on the rear window plugs that they added.


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## tolenmar

Researching Superbirds, I very quickly come to realize that the road runner decals are missing (i.e., not a part of the kit as opposed to being lost). It's a 1:24 scale kit. Can anyone help me find a set? I only need the roadrunner superbird logos for the wings and the headlight cover.


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## tolenmar

Well, I found a place that has what I'm looking for. I have contacted them, hopefully they respond.


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## Marty

I would love a stock Superbird, but I always like the convertible conversions. Plymouth made Satellites and RR convertibles. You van buy all the parts to make it a Superbird.

Marty
Marysville, OH


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## 71 Charger 500

tolenmar said:


> Well, I found a place that has what I'm looking for. I have contacted them, hopefully they respond.


Let me look through my decals, I may have some spares.


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## bucwheat

That superbird came in few original colors, Blue Fire Metallic EB5 
Alpine White EW1 
Vitamin "C" Orange EK2 
Lemon Twist FY1 
Lime Light FJ5 
Tor-Red EV2 
Corporate Blue 999


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## tolenmar

71 Charger 500: That would be cool if you did have them.

bucwheat: I know, Plymouth versions of the Dodge colors. I finally have a plan for it, it'll be based on Alpine White.


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## tolenmar

Some Work-In-Progress shots. I decided how to paint the thing, now all that remains is to drag up some of the decals I mentioned earlier. The guy I contacted did in fact reply, and it'll cost me another $13 to get the set I need from him. I'm going to hold out a little bit longer in the hopes that 71 Charger 500 has some extras and can cut me a better deal...Fingers crossed. After all, I only paid ten for this kit in the first place, seems kind of silly to pay the same price for just some decals. But if nothing else happens and I get close to the point where I'll need them, well, that's life I guess.

Here's the engine:









I'm mostly done with the undercarriage, just a few more details to add in (of course the rear suspension will go in after the exhaust system):









And the body is close to finished as well. I'm going to be adding red stripes soon to the nosecone and then partway down the sides. 








This is going to be one of the most technical paintjobs I've ever attempted. I need to mask off the stripes and paint them red, but it will take multiple stages, and then I'll have to go back by hand and finish the design by adding some shading to the stripes so it looks like a flag flapping in the wind. But before I get that far, I have to get the glue residue from the stickers off without damaging the paint. Then of course, the top has to be painted black, chrome added in...yada yada yada.


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## 71 Charger 500

Okay, I found my Roadrunner Superbird decals, finally! What color are you painting the Bird? Actually, I need to know if you want the decals with the white lettering or the black lettering. Also, do you need the large Plymouth decals for the rear quarter panels? Let me know what you need, give me your address in a PM and I will fire off what you need!

Mo


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## s.moe

Hey, Tolenmar.....The Bird's looking good, man.....:thumbsup:

Just to let you know.....When I used those sticker's on my '66 "Old Glory" Nova...
I had painted it with Lacquer Paint's,,, So I used Mineral Spirit's applied with a Q-tip
to clean the sticky Residue off of it....

But,, if you painted your's with Enamel Paint....You might want to try WD-40 on a Q-tip,
to remove your's.....Just rub EASY and it should take it right off.....

The only Issue with using the WD-40 That I've found...You'll have to wash off the part's with
Dawn dish soap (or some other kind of Grease removal soap) to remove the oily film 
that the WD-40 leave's....

I'd test the WD out on something with your paint on it first....NOT the car !!!!
After all,,, We wouldn't want that Paint job, Messed Up...

Hope this Help's.....

MOE


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## tolenmar

Thanks for the tip, Moe. I'll have to try it.

I am finding I really dislike white paint. My work habits aren't exactly the cleanest (no one will ever mistake my shop for a CDC-grade clean room), so it gets dingy easy. Once I'm finished, though, I do think it'll be really pretty.


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## tolenmar

A quick update here, mid-way through the paint job:


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## scottnkat

That's coming along - I can just picture Steve Rogers driving that car! ;-)


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## tolenmar

scottnkat said:


> That's coming along - I can just picture Steve Rogers driving that car! ;-)


I showed my son your comment, and he just gave me a look. One of those teenager looks that say "I don't get it."

*facepalm*

I said "Captain America."

"ooohhh."


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## s.moe

I like the Look your going for on this, tolenmar.....Pic's on it,so far are looking Great....

MOE


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## Marty

VERY 1976! Good job!

Marty
Marysville, OH


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## tolenmar

I have learned one thing from this process:

I'm never doing a white car again. It is so easy to mess up the paint when it's white. I've had to tape off most of the car (everything from the ends of the stripes forward) so that I could sand and repaint the back end. Only one part of the repaint was because of runs in the paint, the rest were fingerprints and dark smudges from handling the thing.

Yes, the fingerprints came when I picked it up thinking it had had time to dry...The rest, though was well after the dry time. I can't wait to get it finished, the decals on and the clearcoat over it.


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## scottnkat

yep, white cars can be a pain - you've gotta have clean hands when handling the paint, for sure


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## tolenmar

Well, I was going to show you pics of the (almost) final body. The flag in the wind look didn't turn out as I had hoped, but wasn't terrible. Of course, painting on a white car, if you change your mind, you're kind of stuck. So I had to finish the other side as well.

There are a couple of places where the paint crazed because of incompatibilities that I never did resolve to my satisfaction.

But more importantly, the decals 71_Charger_500 found for me arrived in the mail today. Thank you Wayne! They were exactly what I needed to complete the look.

I _was_ going to show you more pics...but my camera decided the battery needed recharging. So, coming soon, ok?


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## tolenmar

Ok, on with the pics:









I love the road runner logo. Very cool. Yeah, it is a bit yellowed, but the decals are old after all. No complaints here.

















These two kind of show where I was headed with the flag. It has been way too long since I drew anything. I might still tweak the design a bit, but it means a lot of work by hand to add a few furls to the flag. If I could find a couple of good tattoos that would fit, I'd re-spray the doors and use them. I'll have to keep my eyes open.









We should have used the white text logo here on the light cover. I didn't think anything of it. I screwed up the paint under those two black areas. I am so glad that the two decals work so well to cover up the mistakes. (There's just a little bit of crazed paint visible above one of them, but it isn't bad.) Don't get me wrong, I would love to have perfection, but I've already discussed my thoughts on working in white.










And now it's time to go back to work on the engine, exhaust and suspension. Oh, and the interior. Which I haven't touched yet.


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## scottnkat

Very ambitious, tolenmar - You may have pointed out some issues with it, but it's better than I could do with something like that - I think you're doing great. Keep it coming


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## 71 Charger 500

Glad you got the decals alright. Happy to help a fellow modeler!

Mo


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## tolenmar

Continuing the Red White and Blue theme on the interior:


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## tolenmar

Yuck...I think I zoomed in too much.


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## tolenmar

Wouldn't you know it. Ran out of glue...

But I did snag this from Ebay earlier today:









So now I know what my next project will be. Just gotta decide how I want to paint it, and if I want to "tweak" the design any...

And yes, I bought more glue.


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## tolenmar

So, here we are. I dipped it in Future instead of clear coating it. This works for me, and does a pretty good job of sealing the decals down. However, the black lines I put on the flags was painted on one side, and marker on the other. The marker was easier to control. But the Future apparently rinsed the marker away. So I wound up re-painting one side anyway.














































I'm not sure how the blot of glue wound up on the roof.

The Willy's ought to be here this weekend. Time to go looking for paints. I'm almost out of primer anyway.


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## dge467

Very cool! Nice job!


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## scottnkat

nice execution on the patriotic theme - glad you got the glue!


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