"Vintage" 69 Charger 500--Engine Compartment

I haven't had a lot of time to work on hobbies this week but have been thinking about this build more than I should.....it's been bugging me that the way MPC tooled the engine compartment of the 69 Charger 500 looks nothing like the reference photos I have been using.

The engine compartment out of the Revell #85-2824 Charger kit doesn't look quite right either but it's closer, so I decided to chop the engine compartment out of the latter.



I have seen this done in hobby magazines but haven't done this myself, until now. I chopped up the body of the Revell kit....



...using a razor saw and the back end of a hobby knife I cut up all the pieces I would need.....



....and using Tenax7R glued the bits into the Vintage Charger body. It fit remarkably well--no need for any sort of putty or filler, really.



The firewall from the MPC kit didn't look that good with the rest of the new engine compartment so I dropped the Revell kit's in. Fits perfectly!

This whole process was a cause for much fear and loathing throughout the week--I was afraid of screwing this up and it taking all day to transfer the engine compartment from Revell kit to MPC. Turns out it was really easy and only took a few minutes. Which makes me wonder--why ever worry or be fearful about any of this????