'77 Pontiac Firebird

Shortly after finishing the DeLorean, Hil and I watched both Kill Bill movies. In Kill Bill 2, Elle Driver drives one of these to Bud’s trailer to try and buy the Bride’s Hanzo sword. Because of my enthusiasm for Kill Bill and desire to paint a “real” car model, I decided I’d give this Firebird a whirl.

I can’t say with great confidence that this build is typical of other car models, but in building this kit, I needed to paint every part before cementing it in place. Basically, I worked in batches of a dozen parts of so, carefully cemented everything down, then waited for half a day for the cement to fully cure.

The finish was accomplished by wet sanding up to 12,000 grit, polishing compound, then covering the kit with future floor polish. This was the first time that I attempted wet sanding and I feel this kit was successful just as a reason to figure that out. The floor polish finish adversely affected the clarity of the finish, but left the car extremely well protected. The next time I build a car, I’ll go for a lacquer clear coat so I can wet sand that to an even more brilliant finish.