Rat_Pack

Matt, all three Rat Pack Camaros were supposed to be the Rally Green from 68/69, but every picture I have of the car shows it to be darker than that. Even the ERTL 72 Camaro is darker and more brilliant than true Rally Green. However it is probably the closest to the real car when compared to the cover shot of it in SS&DI. My Dad's model is pretty darn close when compared to the picture of the car below. I am betting the car was a candy color, or pearl over a metallic base..................RatPack.................

The reissue kit decals are generic stuff that "resemble", and I use that term loosely, the original kit decals. Model King did not want to have to pay the licensing fees associated with putting the correct Hot Wheels, Coke, Goodyear, etc, decals in the kit so they had some generic looking ones made. Slixx did pay up to reproduce the original copyrighted & trademarked logos for the car thus allowing us to build correct appearing Mongoose "Hot Wheels" f/e dragsters. Now if they would only do the "Snake" decals too ..................RatPack......................

Randy, after doing some comparisons it is actually the Funny Hugger II kit which had the 1-pc. chassis like the Model King Camaro. The instructions are almost the same. So now that makes an easy find!!!!..............RatPack................

Real..............RatPack..............

Been a while since I built one, but I am pretty sure it is the one from the original "Funny Hugger" kit. I have a copy of the instruction sheet scanned and I can email to you. Check your private messages.............RatPack................

Matt, Thanks for the link! I have looked at those sheets numerous times and never noticed the RatPack lettering! Valerie has a cool t-shirt with the f/c and pro stocker on it on her website. Pulde has one of the best looking t's and sweatshirts out there with his War Eagle T/A f/c on the front. It is an exact copy of his original artwork done when he was selling them out of the trailer in the pits.........RatPack.......

Thanks guys! I learned a lot from my Dad when I was young, and still do today. He had the patience to teach me his hobby when most kids have the attention span of a gnat! I did pick up on it really quick from what he said, and by the time I was 11 I switched gears and was building military stuff. He said I had a better knack for building airplanes and tanks than cars. I was winning awards in the Junior categories at IMPS shows all around the Southeast with airplanes which was a bad thing as I was building models to "win", and not for fun. When I got to driving age I turned my attention towards cars & girls, putting models to the side until my Junior year in high school in 82/83. However I didn't get back into building model cars until a new member to our IPMS club in Knoxville showed up with a 70 Boss 429 Mustang to club meeting one night, and that car looked real! I was hooked! His name was Jack Higgins, co-founder of JNJ Hobbies, and Accurate Miniatures. Dad still builds models to this day. He mainly builds military stuff with an occassional car thrown in for fun. To this day he still does more "handpainting" of lettering, and will scratchbuild something before buying it in resin or photo-etched form. I am still the same way, but I will use some aftermarket items if I cannot build it easily. I am still impressed that is still building at the age of 68, but it keeps him busy and out of Mom's hair since he retired!!! As for the "Real" stuff, there have been numerous cars I have restored over the past 13 years which occupy my time along with taking care of our two boys. Here are a couple pics of some that I have finished up in the past few years................RatPack.................... *** Which decal sheets by Slixx did you find the stuff for the "Rat Pack" car?.....................

Guys these are some very old builds of mine, not contest quality, but more static display stuff. I'll break them down: 1970 Snake f/c: is an original build from 1973/74 when I was 6 or 7. I had to replace some broken & missing pieces but the body is untouched from back then. 1970 Mongoose f/c: original build from 1970. Same as the Snake, had to do some repair work on the chassis and replace broken or missing pieces. The 1971 f/c's were built long before resin kits were available and are mostly stock builds with slight modifications to resemble the rear cars. 1971 Snake f/c: is an original 1970 issue kit with the grill filled in with sheet styrene and a faux handpainted grill done. (The actual race car was the new Buttera narrowed/stretched body style but his "show" car was the 70 repainted in the 71 colors, though a little different in some aspects). The front wheels are from the Troublemaker El Camino f/c kit, with the injector hat from a Revell f/c kit. The lettering is a combination of decals and handpainting.... 1971 Mongoose f/c: this started out as a Cop Out f/c with the front bumper removed and the spoiler molded into the lower grill area. I "adjusted" the body to fit the chassis so it would have a little more rake to it after removing the front bumper. The front wheels/tires are from one of the issues of Monogram's "Rampage" 69 Camaro, about the only thing useful from that kit. As with the Snake the lettering is a combination of decals and handpainting...... 1972 Snake R/E dragster: this is the Revell Army kit just painted in his famous "Yellow Feather" markings from the 72 season. I know the front wing shouldn't be present on this car, but at the time I wasn't going for 100% accuracy. However, I have already built a new nose and correct wing to go on it. The Hot Wheels, the Snake log & lettering, Don Prudhomme, and Coca-Cola on the wing are all hangpainted. 1972 Mongoose R/E dragster: this is the Don Garlits r/e kit with some modifications. The front nose was changed to be more "pointed" than what was in the kit. Also all of the body panels were "rounded" off to keep from being so "squared" off as supplied in the kit. The rear wing is from the 74 Mongoose Revell kit as is the engine. I added the chrome strap around the cage, scratchbuilt the side canard wings, and used the rear wheels from the Troublemaker El Camino f/c kit. The lettering/logos is a combination of handpainting and decals. I have three pictures of this car with four different rear wing finishes: polished, white, and 2 blue. I did the blue version with the white lettering instead of the red "Coke its the real thing" logo. For some reason he had the Coke logos on the sides of the car twice also: white lettering plus the smaller red rectangular logo. The injector hat is covered with gold Bare Metal foil and that was a pain to do! So I hope you enjoy these few pictures, not the best cars in the world, but they do make good display pieces............RatPack..............

Sean, thank you. I need to find better pictures to post, but that was the only one that was downsized already. As for the CR body, I didn't even know they had one out. Wish there were better pictures than what they show on their site. What I have found is that there is not a correct 67-69 Camaro body on the market today to build a correct version of any Dick Harrell Camaro. Very few of the real cars ever got a lengthened body until late in the 70 season with a few exceptions. Dale Pulde's 1968 "Viscious Too" was one of the early steel body/fiberglass front end Camaros that had the stretched nose. That original AMT Dick Harrell kit is the most accurate 69 Camaro body out there for building accurate versions of 99% of the real Camaro f/c's in the day. I have scoured through hundreds of my Camaro f/c pictures and found only one 69 Camaro that the RR kit can be used for and that is Kelly Chadwicks car. Here is a list of top name drivers/cars that there is not an existing accurate body out there to build a model of (maybe someone should check into making these bodies): Dick Harrell 67-70 Camaro's Bruce Larson 68 Camaro Jim Kirby 68 Camaro Mike Burkharts 68-69 Camaro's Mel Perry Super Camaro 67-70 Camaro Chapman Automotive 69 Camaro Jungle Jim 70 Camaro early cars stock body 120" wheelbase Huston Platt's Dixie Twisters 67-69 The Reliable Resin 67-68 Camaro could be modified to build Pulde's "Viscious Too" Camaro, Parts Mart Camaro, or the California Camaro by moving the front wheels back about 1/8" on the body as those bodies were stretched between the door and the fenderwell. Man I wish I had more time in my life to get back into building these things again. They were a great stress reliever!!!!..........RatPack..............

Of course, Big Rat with 2 4's!!!..............RatPack...................

Man I love the old Pro Stocks!!! I have been putting off on buying one of the Maverick and Comet kits because of the price.....but now I am on the hunt again. Nice build!!!........RatPack.........

Nice build! Kinda partial to that car.... What kit did you start out with? I know the Reliable Resin body is not even close to being accurate. The body is way too long as the real car was a stock body 69 Camaro with the front wheels moved forward 12" making it a 120" wheelbase. The Reliable Resin body is only good for one car and that is Kelly Chadwicks car. He ran a 128" wheelbase thus the body was stretched from the doors forward. What is amazing is the origial issue of the Dick Harrell kit is fairly accurate. The only issues with the original kit are the front bumper needs to be more defined, the chassis diagonal bars need to be reversed (one of two major differences between the Logghe chassis and the Don Hardy one), and the driver side diagonal bar on the roll cage needs to be added. Below is a picture of my 1-to-1 build from a few years ago. Wasn't quite finished in this picture, still needed some sponsor logos added, the parachute wasn't mounted, and the pinstriping on the rear spoiler wasn't done yet..........................RatPack..................

Real, the vinyl top has the correct grain to it....but I may be wrong as this one has been Photoshop'd really well. The panel gaps on the decklid do not look right to me for a real car. They should be more defined or darker.....hmmm..............RatPack................

Back in 98 I started this project when very few people were building street rods with the "old school" rubber rake. One professional builder has always built his cars with the "rubber rake" which gives them almost a cartoonish Hot Wheels look, and that is Bobby Alloway. His 33 Victoria Ridler Winner in 1985 made a lasting impression on me as to what a Hot Rod was to look like. It has huge 33.5" tall tires in the rear mounted on Halibrand magnesium wheels, with dragster like skinnies up front. The car had the right attitude and looked like eat was moving when sitting still. Originally this started off to be a replica of Tom Clark's 33 roadster which appeared on the front cover of The Rodder's Journal #6 which Alloway had built along with a matching 3-window coupe for himself. Unfortunately Tom's car burned to the ground one night while on the lift at Alloways due to a lightning strike which burned Bobby's garage to the ground. I lost interest in the model, and came across it a couple years ago while looking for something else. Bobby rebuilt the shop, and has started building some amazing hot rods since then. I may eventually finish this one up, but for now it sits in its box in the closet. I have modified the firewall and cowl to replicate the one on Tom's car eliminating the cowl vent and moving the Past Tech Duvall windshield forward towards the hood. The rear fenders have been bobbed a scale 3" with the gas tank cover modified to match. The rear wheelwells and interior floor are all scratchbuilt along with the tunnel. The front axle has been relocated to put the wheels in the center of the wheelwells. The rear wheels are from an old Street Fighter Sedan delivery kit, but now that Polar Lights has correct ET III wheels I will eventually change them out. The rear tires are from one of the Revell pro street kits, and they have been split down the middle with about an 1/8" removed then reglued to narrow them up. The sidewalls have been sanded smooth and will get polished out to remove all traces of lettering (we did this on the real cars while I worked for him and it is a freakin mess to do!!!). So basically that is it in a nutshell as to where I stopped on it about 12 years ago........RatPack................

Thanks guys, I'll send the replies onto Dad. Sean, got your PM, not sure how to get it back as I think I deleted it or something. However I do have that issue, actually a couple copies. I am a huge fan of Wally Booth (hence the screen name), and I started a 1/12th version of his 69 when that kit first came out. Due to its size the detailing has to be dead-on, plus there is a lot of conversion work to build that car. I wish Monogram had never put a deluxe interior in that kit as it is a big PITA to convert it to a standard interior. It has been shelved since around '95...I may dig it out in a few years. Everyone is building the Grumpy car with that kit since Slixx came out with the decals. A lot of people didn't know that Wally's 69 is actually his 68 with new sheetmetal which is why the rear wheelwells are "rounded" since they didn't change the outer wheelhouses. There are a few good pics showing the build in Hot Rod under the "Strictly for Stocks" section...not sure which issue off the top of my head. Did you happen to pickup RSC's 1/24th release of Wally's 68 Pro Stocker? Excellent detail for a diecast.........RatPack...............