Mark

As much as possible of the strip to be removed should come from the widest point of the body side. You'd find the wide point, then take half of the section amount from above that line and the other half below. It isn't necessarily a straight line, it might follow the side trim. If you want to keep the trim intact, that might force you to move it a bit. I don't have that kit within reach, but if the quarter panel has a styling bulge in it, the cut might jog up/around it, to keep that intact. If you aren't keeping the side trim, the cut should probably go up/over the front wheel opening also. I'd work strictly on the sides first (right up to where the body sides meet the back end of the car), then tackle the front and rear afterward. You might end up taking the rear material off of the bottom and keep the original trunk opening as-is. Or shorten the trunk lid (height) and keep the area below the lid intact. With the front, you could remove material from the lower edge of the hood and move the grille opening up, or leave the hood intact and end up with a lower/smaller grille opening. It will come down to what you think will look better.

Last year, I picked up a built '66 Rambler wagon that was cast from the promotional model. Model King has been selling some resin kits at NNL East the past few years; I got a '64 wagon from him, but not a '66. Has anyone ever seen the '66 for sale? I wouldn't mind getting another one...

I've got an original issue Deal's Wheels "Trans-Um Tirebird" kit that was waterlogged, so the box, instructions, and decal sheet are all toast. Decals can be from a reissue or original kit. Have decals, parts, and some resin parts to trade, let me know what you need!

How stiff is the stem wire? I'm fiddling with making replacement hinges for an old Revell '55 Chevy, using paper clip wire. For the trunk and hood, I'm working with the bends already in the paper clip, using the large loop at one end as part of the hinge. For the doors, I'm leaning towards just straightening the wire and re-bending to match the hinges in the kit, so I don't have to mess with filling the slots in the door panels and cutting new ones. One suggestion: on the trunk hinge, make the retaining tube (the one attached to the body) longer, so there's no side-to-side slop when the trunk is opened.

2X on the side and top views. I'd get two bodies (maybe even three) rather than trying to use flat sheet plastic for the stretched areas. And, I'd think it through; you won't necessarily splice pieces from one body into the other. You might have to cut the two bodies at different points and join the two "long" pieces together to get it to "flow". For the narrowing process, I'd work from a center line as opposed to narrowing anything by a specific amount. Some of the narrowing will involve V-shaped pieces being added or removed to change the taper of the front end. Definitely not a beginner project.

Round 2 quit at the right time (if not a bit late) with the slot cars, judging by the numbers of them that got dumped into the closeout stores.

Nobody in my family has been afflicted, but in prior employment I became aware that the problem is bigger than many want to admit. I used to do payroll and HR for a construction-related company, and we always had a hard time finding people who could pass a drug test. The aggravation was compounded because the owner tended to hire people he knew couldn't pass, because he could get them a buck or two an hour cheaper. (Never mind that the absenteeism cost him more than that, with other guys in the crew standing around waiting for them to show up.) The place became a magnet for those guys, because "---- doesn't ask any questions". Often he'd have to play mix-and-match with two-man repair crews, to get one guy in each truck who had a driver's license. Sometimes a crew was sent out, knowingly, with two non-drivers in the truck. My mom always told us that getting drunk or stoned didn't make sense, because in her words she always wanted to be aware of her surroundings and what was happening, even if it wasn't always good. And, plenty happened to her that wasn't good: two bouts with cancer, and a couple of nasty car accidents, either of which could have killed her. I don't mind a beer every so often, but keep the other stuff away from me. I never got the point of burning something (tobacco or whatever) and inhaling the smoke...maybe I equated it with sniffing glue, which one kid in my class did do...

I'd like to know who had the brainstorm to revive the Maybach nameplate...

Both of mine have the HOT ROD logo on the box. The "late" version may have been produced as a "custom" or "street" version with pretty much the same box minus the HOT ROD markings. Revell did that with the old '57 Chevy hardtop kit, probably after the HOT ROD deal had ended.

I can't remember the last time I bought an X-Acto handle at a craft store or hobby shop. I've gotten a few of them in kit boxes from "short-term" modelers who maybe got the kit(s) as a gift, and decided the hobby wasn't for them. I've found a number of them at automotive swap meets, in those "any item on the tarp is a dime/quarter, leave the money in the coffee can" deals. Sometimes they're oxidized solid with the blade busted off. A short soak in penetrating oil takes care of that. Clean/grease the threads, screw it back together, good to go. I've got a lifetime supply of #11 blades from a previous job at a sign shop that went through a lot of them (sharpened the throwaways that didn't have the tips broken off), and otherwise buy only X-Acto brand blades so I know they'll fit the handles properly.

Watch out for that metallic brown plastic; in some kits it's extremely brittle. I had one of the Big Ten-Ford issues that I picked up for cheap because the cab was broken into several pieces. I tested the parts trees, they broke easily. I wound up combining that one with another kit to get a complete one. There are other issues of the '56; there's a Street Demons issue which is pretty much the Super Trick Classic molded in a different color. There might be a Grease 2 issue also.

The Roth version has the small window, correct for the 1:1 it represents. The big window/100% stock issue appeared in 1995. 2X Don's comments re: the HOT ROD version. I've got an "early" one and a "late" one (what possessed me to get so many of these kits?) and the differences are amazing. The "late" HOT ROD kit also has the nice Goodyear racing tires that Revell used in the new-tool '32 Ford kits. They're "early" tires with the Goodyear lettering still in place, before being wiped later on.

The original issue (1962) had the custom headliner. It also had US Royal thin white stripe tires, and clear red taillights. The tires (like most other Revell tires then) were notorious for softening any styrene plastic they came into contact with. Unfortunately, Revell bagged the clear red lenses with the tires, so if you find an unbuilt first issue kit the taillights will probably be toast. The "stock" version was not 100% stock due to the custom headliner, dual exhaust, and Thunderbird air filter. I'm not sure how long the first issue remained in the catalog, but it was probably into the late Sixties. My first issue kit is molded in white. Second issue (1974 or so) was the Super Trick Classic. Red taillights were replaced with chrome, stock wheels/tires replaced with the mediocre Cragar Super Trick wheels and two-piece tires/slicks like those used in Revell's funny car and dragster kits. The custom headliner detail was eliminated also. Other optional parts, including the Pontiac engine and custom grille, remained in the kit. This issue was produced over a long period of time, and in a couple of different boxes. These were molded in blue, but the plastic color varies from one kit to another depending on when it was made. The large rear window version first appeared in the mid-Nineties. A good chunk of that issue was newly tooled including the running boards, pickup bed, stock wheels, some engine parts, and the entire plated tree. This issue is molded in red, and has a 100% stock version for the first time. All issues after that include most (if not all) of the newly tooled parts, but most have the small rear window. The Pontiac engine is no longer included.

The pro street Willys has a Mustang II based independent front suspension. Lowering would involve moving the wheel mounting position higher up on the front spindles. If those are already "maxed out", you're stuck with shifting the entire suspension setup upwards versus the frame rails.

Those rear wheels aren't Flys (flies?). The centers would be flatter, like the fronts on the Monogram '69 Camaro pictured above. Incidentally, the MPC kit of the G&R Pinto did have wide wheels similar to those on the rear of the Pinto pictured, as well as correct narrow Fly wheels for the front. That was the only MPC kit ever to include those front wheels.

Dremel is apparently taking lessons from Sears (Craftsman) regarding batteries...change the battery design, and hopefully a bunch of people will then buy new tools from them. If you look at where Sears appears to be going, doesn't look like a particularly smart move...

That piece is correct for the Marlin (and other '63-'66 Ramblers). The 1:1 '67-up larger cars (Rebel, Ambassador) ditched the torque tube. Jo-Han did tool a correct chassis for some of the promotional models (the rest used a flat chassis plate with no detail at all). Why they didn't update the kits with the improved chassis is a mystery. They did the same (updated promos but not kits) with the '69-'70 GTX also.

One of the MPC issues in the Eighties had smoke gray tinted glass. The glass is the only clear in this kit; the headlight lenses are molded with the plated bezels.

The original "Kat from AMT"...

The hood will fit, don't know if it is exactly the same though. The detail around the center peak might be different. The Modified Stocker hood has a hole in it also.

Most people wanting to build the kit will be okay with the reissues. Collectors will still want the originals, but they had better be in mint condition from here on out. The reissues will deflate the value of all of the started/partial/project kits that are sure to clog eBay over the next few months...

Your kit is from 1967, it's the second issue. The parts are exactly the same as the first issue, as are the decals. There was an Elegance Series issue after it, molded in yellow, but did not have the chopped top glass. It did have the Keystone wheels though. The Elegance Series kits could only be built as they were pictured on the boxes. All of the other parts were blocked off in the tool and not included in the kits. Then there was another Gasser issue, in a different box and with a cardboard dragstrip starting line display base included. That one had the custom wheel covers put back in, and the Keystone wheels removed. Alongside that (they're both shown in the 1969 catalog) was the first Pepper Shaker issue. The box art is different from the currently available one, it had a green car with a black roof. Same parts as the Gasser issues, but different decals and no display base. The second Pepper Shaker issue (turquoise car on the box, 1971 if I remember right) had the more elaborate custom parts removed, including the chopped top glass. None of those parts ever got put back into the kit again. A few years later, the cut lines on the underside of the roof were eliminated. The lines on the inside of the roof pillars might still be there though.

Walmartians...

There's at least one other AMT/Ertl issue, probably early Nineties, with a red truck on the box. There's also a repop of the Double Flip issue from around 2005.

It'd be ironic if one of them were a submarine kit...