AMT & Revell Parts Packs Engines

[jbwelda]

the plan as I understood it was to package four motorcycles into one box and sell it for normal kit price. I believe the bikes were going to be the hardly worthitson, the Honda, the bsa and the stockish triumph. I am positive that combo would sell as many or more than say your average Gremlin or Pacer reissue.

jb

Edited May 12, 2014 by jbwelda

[Spooky Benson]

I have never heard of any plan by Revell to reissue the Parts Pack bikes as a single kit. I think Model King may have floated that idea as a possibility at one time, but never got anywhere with it.

[Toner283]

if all four bikes were in one box I would be in for a couple of them. That and if they could bring back the nailhead parts pack engine I would buy a case of them.

[Joker]

Does anyone happen have a digital copy of the instructions for the motors in the Blueprinter pack?

http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/amt-instructions/engines/amt-competition-par/

[DaveM]

I would go for the bikes too. The Harley was cool, but the Triumph can be really sweet with a little tweaking. Sure would be nice to have a few old bikes to put with all of the older pickup and van releases we are getting. I would probably buy two or three of each.

[Jim Keeler]

I've never seen any explicit discussion on this, but my theory is that since so many parts on these engines needed to be chromed, in the interest of keeping all the parts on a single tree they just chromed the whole thing. It's such a simple explanation it must be true...

[Jim Keeler]

Since I designed all of the Revell Custom Car Parts kits I can answer a lot of questions that are in this thread.

There were twenty kits in the fist go round and they sold like HOTCAKES!

We did a lot of kits after the first twenty, and there were more in the works until slot racing tooling money took away the last planned release.

The kits were metallized (chrome plated) because modelers could paint parts easier than they could "chrome" plate them. The kits were designed to be completely interchangeable and adaptable with the other kits and other 1/25 scale kits. AMT and Aurora copied the concept a year after Revell's first twenty Custom Car Parts kits were released. They were originally .29 cents and .49 cents and the later body kits were .69 cents.

I could write an interesting story about the planned later release which would have provided model car builders with an amazing concept, which I believe would be successful now.

Jim Keeler

[Jim Keeler]

the plan as I understood it was to package four motorcycles into one box and sell it for normal kit price. I believe the bikes were going to be the hardly worthitson, the Honda, the bsa and the stockish triumph. I am positive that combo would sell as many or more than say your average Gremlin or Pacer reissue.

The bike kits were always designed to be sold separately never together in one box...I designed all of the kits when I was at Revell in the early sixties....any other questions?

Jim Keeler

[mk11]

Since I designed all of the Revell Custom Car Parts kits I can answer a lot of questions that are in this thread...

...I could write an interesting story about the planned later release which would have provided model car builders with an amazing concept, which I believe would be successful now.

Jim Keeler

We're all ears ... let's hear it

mike

[Toner283]

I would be interested as well to hear about the planned pats pack that never was.

[southpier]

waiting patiently

[tim boyd]

I believe Jim may be referring to a planned series of 1932 Ford-based Parts Packs

This was a very detailed and well thought out proposal, and if I recall correctly, I wrote an article on this stillborn Revell Parts Pack series that appeared in a mind 1990's issue of The Model Car Journal (published by Dennis Doty and Bob Woolley at the time). The article was based on copies of discarded documents that Jim had provided to Mark Gustavson, who then sent them to me.

While my article was pretty comprehensive, it would be extremely interesting to hear the story first hand from its inventor and developer. Jim....over to you...!

PS - my apologies in advance if this is not what your earlier note refers to! TIM

[mnwildpunk]

I'm all ears or eyes I guess I would love to read what both of you have to say no matter if it overlaps or not

[Greg Myers]

The bike kits were always designed to be sold separately never together in one box

This may very well be true, however we have seen a few recent reissues that seem to show some interest in more in the box.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Casey

[horsepower]

The idea of a parts pack based on'32 parts wouldn't be a bad idea for a "new" pack, with the amount of '32 based kits that Revell has,& the success they have had with them it would be possible to take the different parts from each kit & possibly offer them in one "options" kit. & possibly in a separate kit offer some of the parts to build a stock chassis & another for some of the "traditional" parts like an I-beam axle in a a stock & dropped version, & maybe a more traditional rear axle for an earlier suspension style. See there's lots of possible ideas, & we didn't even touch on the bodies that could be done, like chopped coupes & a Bonneville style roadster, the possibilities are mind boggling,& that's just one kit and there are quite a few that could be used in the same manner.

[Daddyfink]

Too bad they did not do the HEMI, that would have sold pretty good. The Revell bikes would be pretty cool as a set

[Ace-Garageguy]

Since I designed all of the Revell Custom Car Parts kits I can answer a lot of questions that are in this thread.

There were twenty kits in the fist go round and they sold like HOTCAKES!

We did a lot of kits after the first twenty, and there were more in the works until slot racing tooling money took away the last planned release.

The kits were metallized (chrome plated) because modelers could paint parts easier than they could "chrome" plate them. The kits were designed to be completely interchangeable and adaptable with the other kits and other 1/25 scale kits. AMT and Aurora copied the concept a year after Revell's first twenty Custom Car Parts kits were released. They were originally .29 cents and .49 cents and the later body kits were .69 cents.

I could write an interesting story about the planned later release which would have provided model car builders with an amazing concept, which I believe would be successful now.

Jim Keeler

Now THIS is fascinating.

Jim... apparently I've been a fan of your work since it was introduced, though I never knew who had designed the parts-packs, or had any idea that they were all done by the same guy. I bought as many as I could get my hands on when they were current. Those kits, combined with what I learned reading Hot Rod magazine, laid much of the groundwork for my knowledge of suspension and chassis construction, and gave me an early intro into recognizing and identifying US V8 engines.

The Revell parts pack line was responsible for my preference for everything Revell back then. The detail and scale fidelity of those kits gave a more advanced builder the ability to make some beautifully-detailed models with correct hot-rod guts.

Since I've been back in car modeling from 2005, I've re-acquired multiple copies of every one, and I'm as impressed with their accuracy and usefulness today as I was when I was just getting going, many years ago.

Were you also involved with the design of the Mickey Thompson Challenger and Tommy Ivo Showboat kits?

One more question...was the Olds V8 ever planned to be introduced in parts-pack form? The multiple versions of it in the Anglia, Willys and Roth kits remind me of the appearance of the Pontiac, Buick and Chrysler in other car kits.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

While we may feel the parts packs would be a hot seller, the engines they did a few years back didn't sell too well iirc. Now that may be due to the subject matter?

They're still available for reasonable money, and I think you'll find that, as builders of traditional hot-rod models mature and find out just how good those Pontiac, Cadillac, Chevy and Ford engine kits really are, the supply will be starting to dwindle.

Many of the parts-packs bring fairly big money these days too. I started collecting them again several years before they started climbing. The Hemi and "nailhead" Buick engines (not part of the re-release some years back) are almost impossible to find now, as is the non-blown smallblock Chevy, and I've bought nailheads from as far away as Finland. I recently bought a Chrysler that's obviously Revell-based, possibly made in pirated or reverse-engineered tooling.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

The idea of a parts pack based on'32 parts wouldn't be a bad idea for a "new" pack, with the amount of '32 based kits that Revell has,& the success they have had with them it would be possible to take the different parts from each kit & possibly offer them in one "options" kit. & possibly in a separate kit offer some of the parts to build a stock chassis & another for some of the "traditional" parts like an I-beam axle in a a stock & dropped version, & maybe a more traditional rear axle for an earlier suspension style. See there's lots of possible ideas, & we didn't even touch on the bodies that could be done, like chopped coupes & a Bonneville style roadster, the possibilities are mind boggling,& that's just one kit and there are quite a few that could be used in the same manner.

A dropped I-beam axle, '39 and later Ford "juice" brake backing plates, straight-tube axles, and a couple of different quick-change rear ends, all with appropriate buggy-springs and hairpins / radius rods WERE available in the old old old Revell Roadster and Dragster chassis-bits parts packs. That stuff was / is great.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[1930fordpickup]

Mr Keeler we are waiting for more input . Please ......

[southpier]

not to be a wet blanket, but I don't recall such an abundance of cottage industry parts producers in the early 60s. this may have been why the parts packs went over so well.

I understand the small guy cannot compete with a giant both in R&D and production, but there's plenty of goodies to be had just a click away.

[1930fordpickup]

A dropped I-beam axle, '39 and later Ford "juice" brake backing plates, straight-tube axles, and a couple of different quick-change rear ends, all with appropriate buggy-springs and hairpins / radius rods WERE available in the old old old Revell Roadster and Dragster chassis-bits parts packs. That stuff was / is great.

Bill just type up a good wish list so we can drool! You are the one who knows the right parts to bolt together .

[Ace-Garageguy]

not to be a wet blanket, but I don't recall such an abundance of cottage industry parts producers in the early 60s. this may have been why the parts packs went over so well.

I understand the small guy cannot compete with a giant both in R&D and production, but there's plenty of goodies to be had just a click away.

Very true...BUT, how much $$ is, say, a Ross Gibson engine kit these days? In comparable bucks, the Revell kits are / were much cheaper. And the price of today's resin front end for a hot rod doesn't compare favorably with the about $7.00 that a parts-pack "Roadster Chassis Speed Equipment"" parts-pack would sell for in 2014 bucks...and you got 2 front axles (with hairpins and radius rods), 2 complete rear axles (two different widths, one old Ford banjo and one quickchange center-section) plus buggy springs for both ends of two cars, and miscellaneous brakes, shocks, brackets, steering boxes, torque-tube driveshafts, 2 Moon fuel tanks, and 2 cool steering wheels (one dragster-style semi-butterfly and a 3-spoke).

Edited May 15, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[Mark]

not to be a wet blanket, but I don't recall such an abundance of cottage industry parts producers in the early 60s. this may have been why the parts packs went over so well.

I understand the small guy cannot compete with a giant both in R&D and production, but there's plenty of goodies to be had just a click away.

There were no photoetch or cast resin parts (though somewhere here I do have a 1963 Model Car Science issue with an article on resin casting). But there were some aftermarket items. Ulrich, a company that made model railroad items, got into cars with their Mini-Men figures in both 1/25 and 1/32 scale. Those were aimed at slot car guys, but they later did surfer figures with surfboards for the static model crowd. Ulrich also did some cast metal car club plaques in 1/25 scale, as well as pre-packaged upholstery kits. Flocking in usual and unusual colors ("Funny Fur") was available. Another designer, Monte (credited by some with some of Ed Roth's creations) offered upholstery items, decals, injection molded custom tops, and a show car display. The display is interesting; it incorporated the box in which it was sold, as a platform. Lengths of dowel are included for stanchions, along with fabric covering, and a "potted plant", the "pot" being an inverted cap from a toothpaste (or something similar) tube. Engine wiring kits weren't prevalent because a lot of builders were still using waxed thread back then. Chassis detail items weren't really available because most kits still had everything molded as a unit with the chassis. If you look at the old magazines, there was a lot of customizing with detailing being secondary. Even the AMT Trophy Series kits had exhaust detail molded as part of the chassis. You didn't see a lot of separate chassis details until the classic Revell kits ('56 Ford pickup, '55-'57 Chevies) appeared.

[Danno]

Fascinating discussion. Anxiously awaiting more of Jim's input.