209 replies to this topic

[Jairus]

The kit could have been engineered so that the fenders are separate, like on the real car. The fenders could have had the chrome trim molded in place, allowing the builder to decide whether to keep the trim or sand it off.

When you tool up a brand new kit from scratch, especially one aimed at adult modelers, "sweating the details" should be part of the process. The addition of the mylar stickers to replicate the chrome trim seems like a bad last-minute decision. The kit should have been better engineered in the first place, and since it was designed to offer the builder the option of building several different model year and trim level cars, the trim/no trim issue should have been worked out. Seems odd that they went to so much effort to get the kit right in terms of detail, yet they totally blew it on the fender trim.

You have no idea what the heck you are talking about Harry!
The trim is METAL not mylar and if you built one you would know that. Please keep to subjects you are familiar with and stop flapping your keyboard.

[Jairus]

Perhaps, but I'd just as soon not play Russian roulette with a fresh paint job in such a manner ... again! Been there and done that and the results were NOT favorable!
Besides, even if you CAN get them to stick, you still have the problem of the trim pieces being flat, rather than slightly raised from the bodysurface, like they're supposed to be.

Now that I agree with! Double etch was considered....

[Harry P.]

You have no idea what the heck you are talking about Harry!
The trim is METAL not mylar and if you built one you would know that. Please keep to subjects you are familiar with and stop flapping your keyboard.

Metal, mylar... that's totally beside the point. What the stickers are made of isn't the issue... the issue is that the trim could have been done in a better way.

And Jairus... you obviously can't be unbiased on this subject, can you?

I say we both have a right to "flap" our keyboards...

[Jairus]

Galaxie did sweat the details and considered all avenues as I said. Your stating that the metal trim was a "last minute thought" is disingenuous and insulting.

[Jairus]

I never got the sense that the article was intended to be a review of the kit. I always thought it was intended to show folks some of the possibilities the kit held for building versions beyond those depicted on the box. However, I DO remember that there was a build-up review of the kit published in Car Modeler, which, of course, was SA(E)'s sister publication until Kalmbach killed it off.

And yet on the cover is a "Review" of the new 1948 Ford kit next to the new 1948 Chevy kit. Both came out same time and the Galaxie kit out-sold the Revell kit two to one! Gary was promised a review of his kit and that was the first and only time in SA(E) it was featured until the "best of the year" article. The review in Car Model.... Pleeeeezzzeee

[Harry P.]

Galaxie did sweat the details and considered all avenues as I said. Your stating that the metal trim was a "last minute thought" is disingenuous and insulting.

What I said is that it seems like a last-minute decision. As in "appears to be" or "looks like." And I'll concede the point... I shouldn't have worded it that way.

But if Galaxie did consider all avenues, why did they decide on stickers instead of molded pieces? Obviously one of the "avenues" would have been to mold the detail onto the fenders and give the builder the option of removing it if they wanted to. An "upscale" kit like this should offer the builder every chance to build an accurate model. And mylar (or metal, or whatever) stickers just don't cut it.

Look, man, I'm not here to pick a fight with you. I'm just calling it like I see it. You can agree or disagree with my opinion, that's perfectly fine... but no need for the personal attacks.

[Jairus]

He advertises in SA because he gets a.... special rate.

[MikeMc]

Thanks guys... Now I know MY challenge and if I'm up to a 3.5.

Simply put I'm gonna build this the way it should be done...with the elegant look of real chrome....you will see the difference

between metal and foil....

[charlie8575]

Sold out of the Aero Sedan as in no plans to make more? I better find one then.

Charlie Larkin

[MikeMc]

both model roundup and model express have them now...

[midnightprowler]

Khart, the kit was released in 1998. Only reason I havent built mine is that I have so many going already, lol.

[Jairus]

Ken, for some reason I find myself in this thread agreeing with you on all points. Either you are beginning to make sense or I need to up my medication...

I have no idea why so few of these wonderful kits fail to be constructed. The quality is first rate and more than a dozen members of THIS forum have admitted to having more than one on the shelf. Ken even admitted, and I agree, that because of current trends the subject matter is even more valid. Yet, we still see only a few completed kits on tables and in the forums compared to the plethora of Camaros, ElCaminos, Caddys, Tri-fives and... Mercury low riders. (I believe Virgil has built more than his share.... )

Check this picture out....

Pretty cool huh? No aftermarket, just paint and the basic kit!

[Jairus]

I have to say I never got then, and don't get now, what the reasoning was behind this kit. When it came out I thought "wow...a super-detailed kit of a subject nobody asked for."
This kit was made me shake my head then, and makes me wonder: "What if Galaxie had made a kit people actually wanted?" Maybe it would have been the start of something instead of a dead-end.

Good points, & a prime example of why I have exactly one of the kits, with no desire to buy another.

Man I hate belaboring the point but it indeed was the most requested subject. Do you think Gary would have invested so much time effort and money on a radical new project if there would be no payoff? The fact that it out sold the Revell '48 Ford kits should be your answer.
Is the kit too hard? Yeah, probably for some builders who don't have the skills. But then the box is clearly labeled as being for the advanced modeler.

Former SAE editor Gary Schmidt wrote in one of his editorials asking what builders would like to see as a new kit. I am not totally sure of the issue but I am very sure of the written response. SAE you will remember WAS the voice of the adult modeler in 1990 and it was in the June issue that Gary wrote the following paragraph in his editorial:

"A few issues back I asked what cars from the '50s, '60s, and '70s you would most like to see in kit form. I got some heat from readers who wanted to see more cars from the forties. Although no particular body style was specified, the '47-48 Chevy was the choice of those who favored the forties. The fifties was another matter. Everyone had a favorite, but he overwhelming vote-getter was the 1955-57 Chevy Camio pickup. Ford fans favored the 1952-54 Victoria, while the '58 Edsel and the '59 Cadillac attracted attention."

If you want to read the rest of the editorial then you will have to dig up the magazine yourself. But the point is modelers did ask and the industry answered all requests!!!! I was one of hundreds who put a 3 cent stamp on an envelope and wrote in my three requests and I remember celebrating each time a new kit was announced and recalling it WAS on that holy list of desired subjects Gary wrote about. AMT, Revell and Monogram all listened and all the projects have been successes.

Edited by Jairus, 16 April 2010 - 10:46 AM.

[Harry P.]

"I got some heat from readers who wanted to see more cars from the forties. Although no particular body style was specified, the '47-48 Chevy was the choice of those who favored the forties."
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Yeah, but the question is... how many people wanted cars from the fourties? If several thousand readers were clamoring for a subject from the fourties, that's one thing, if a few hundred wanted it, that's a whole different story.

So to say that the '47-'48 Chevy was the choice of those who favored the fourties may be true enough... but that's not the whole story in context.

[Art Anderson]

Actually, that approach would have required molding an extra body as well, seeing as how the rear fenders were not molded separately, and those also have the Fleetline trim ...

Exactly Ken! Frankly, separate chrome trim such as Harry suggests has almost NEVER been a successful way of doing it, short of making "trenches" in the fenders (necessarily overly wide, in order to accommodate a paint job--the thickness of the paint, or locating pins and holes. Either method would have meant filling the locating holes or recesses, and how may questions do we see on these very forums as just how to do that?

Granted, this is neither a subject matter likely to attract very many 12-16yr old kids due to its age, nor is it one that most younger builders would have a high propensity for a really successful build--but it's wise to consider that not all adults are at the same high plane, skills-wise either--again, anyone who monitors these forums surely has seen the wide disparity of skills admitted to by posters here, or on any model car builder's forums wherever they might be.

Being old enough to have seen dozens of 46-48 Chevy Aerosedans as a kid, I can tell you that relatively few of them were built (or sold--or equipped after the fact from dealer parts bins) with the speed streak chrome strips. Apparently most buyers back then, be they adults having experienced the Depression and the war's home front, or returning veterans seem to have been willing to buy such extra cost items.

In point of fact, it wasn't until the advent of the Bel Air Sport Coupe in 1950 that any postwar Chevrolet came with loads of brightwork from the assembly plants--those were very much post-austerity cars for sure. Now, what is neat, is to see one of the VERY few Aerosedans equipped at the dealer with the "Sportsman" woodie trim on the doors and forward rear quarter panels--now those few were, and the one or two remaining ones still are, ATTRACTIVE to the max!

Art

[Rick Forrester]

papafo here it's a great kit.Ihave looked at for different frames to lower it. i wanted to build the sedan delivery slam to the ground. got it all done painted and went to put on the decals and they just fell apart. and i even went an got decal set before i did them. so it set not finished. i think thats the only bad thing i can about it. and mybe it was me. time to start another one.

[Harry P.]

While I obviously don't have access to any numbers to back me up, I would be willing to bet that by this point, the '48 Ford has outsold the Galaxie '48 Chevy by a wide margin.

Which, if true, only serves to bolster Mark's argument that this kit was the answer to the question that nobody asked...

[Jairus]

And yet Harry.... 50,000 kits are now sold and out there! How do you answer that one?

I am not trying to start a pissing match between Chev'n Ford or Galaxie and Revell. Both are great kits and both have their weaknesses. The difference in my opinion is that the Galaxie kits are clearly higher quality tho I own many copies of either.

But it WAS one of the most requested kits as SAE demonstrated back in 1990 and I proved citing printed examples. The fact that so many of the kits have sold is proof that it was an answer to a demand. So I cannot continue to keep revisiting my question, with so many kits floating around.... why do we not see more built examples?

My thought... there are no 3.5 skill level builders left! At least that is how I see it.

Edited by Jairus, 16 April 2010 - 04:18 PM.

[Harry P.]

That all depends on what the expectations were, I suppose. I'm sure Galaxie had a number in mind when they released this kit. Did the kit sell as well as expected? If so, obviously a win for Galaxie.

[Jairus]

Ken, Revell had two versions of the '48 Ford. A woody and a convert. Both Galaxie and Revell kits used shared molds and both were produced about the same time. Standard production for a new mold is 25,000 the first time out. Do you really think Revell sold 25,000 of the Pro-modeler kits? I doubt it, with the price they were asking. They might be close to 50k production now with the licensed "Goodguys" release but that was not actually Revell pulling the purse strings on that release... was it?

Besides, that is not my question and you keep citing production numbers comparison. My question is and has always been: with so many kits floating around in circulation, why are there not more built?
My proposal and suggestion is that the skill level of the average builder has dropped precipitously!
Yes!
The days of chopping and channeling and wiring for lights is over. Very few builders are going the "Bill Geary" route. In fact I think guys like Bill are extremely few and far between. Most modelers want to build a car in a few days instead of a few months like we used to back in the 80's.


But then, that is just my opinion. Take it as you will...