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Mark

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  1. The optional parts got switched around a bit in the first couple of annual kits.  The "for 1968" annual kit is really a '67, with no 100% stock building version.  Reissues from the last forty years or so all have undersize stock tires, and a mix of optional parts from the annual kits.

    All of them have a shallow interior bucket.  Place the interior and chassis into the body, then look through the hole in the chassis where the end of the transaxle goes, and you can see that.  But overall, they are pretty decent kits.

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  2. Paint can be removed from metal with common household paint remover.  I would remove all separate parts first, so paint remover does not get trapped behind or between parts.

    I wouldn't cut any panels open.  Actually, I wouldn't remove the paint before at least checking into the value of the item.  It is only original once, and the paint on that one looks good for its age.  Checking into it, you might find that color combination to be rare or unusual which would warrant leaving it as-is.

  3. Tom Daniel is still very much alive.  It was Harry Bradley who passed.  Tom's son is doing some of the box art for the Atlantis reissues, perhaps TD is overseeing the business end of any agreements he presently has.

  4. 3 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

    I don't remember the Camaro in 1/25th (I remember a 1/16th Berlinetta), and the El Hefe custom truck is a new one to me (I wasn't paying close attention to Revell as a kid in the late 70s). 

    That truck was issued alongside the Captain Hook wrecker back in the day.  I don't remember what it was called, but I do recall the box art showing it from the rear which ignores that unique grille.  It looks interesting but I'll pass, having a Captain Hook in paint right now, and a Sneaky Pete (different kit altogether, but in the same "big rig" territory) in prep for paint.

    Mojave Mule is neat, but either TD will get it shelved, or Revell will bring him back into the fold.  Or, maybe that one was done under a different contract which would give Revell the right to issue it without his name on it.

    The early Eighties Revell Camaros weren't as good as AMT's or MPC's.  The engine is a lump with characteristics of Chevy and Pontiac V8s.  The 1:1 Trans Am was supposed to get the 301 Turbo V8 (the '80-'81 Birds had it only to get it ready for the '82) but GM cheaped out and forced Pontiac to use the Chevy (or, "GM Corporate") engine.  All three (AMT, MPC, Revell) kits had the Cease-Fire (er, "Cross-Fire") injected engine with a manual transmission.  Again, GM cheaped out and didn't do emissions testing on that setup, requiring the automatic with that engine.

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  5. I also collect model kit catalogs from the Sixties and Seventies.  AMT, MPC, and some Revell.  Looking through any of those, they are HEAVY on reissues.  AMT, for example, reissued pretty much every available 1965 car kit tool in 1969.  And many of the Trophy Series kits got reboxed every couple of years, sometimes with more than one version in any given catalog.

    Seventies Revell catalogs all have their old opening-doors Tri-Five Chevy kits in different packaging every year or two.  So constant reissues are nothing new. 

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  6. I mentioned the Volare as, though the engine is much the same as those in the annual Duster/Dart Sport and recently tooled Demon, the Volare has an automatic transmission while the others are four-speed equipped.  The IMC engine's three-speed could be used, you'd just have to rework the back of the transmission to a passenger car configuration.  That could probably be done by lopping the tailshaft from a parts box manual transmission and piecing it onto the IMC part, after the mounting bracket is trimmed off.  A lot of cars had three-speed transmissions back then, so that would be a legit option.

  7. The IMC Dodge engine is a 273, so it should work.  Accessories (oil pan, exhaust manifolds, alternator drive belt) are all probably different from what is needed for a Barracuda.  The IMC engine has a three-speed manual transmission with a unique rear attachment setup for the pickup chassis.  That will also need to be reworked or replaced for the Barracuda.  The MPC Duster/Demon, '75/'76 Dart Sport, or '80 Volare engine/transmission might be better, with the intake and air cleaner replaced with earlier parts.

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  8. The original issue Fireball 500 used a strange choice in tires, the front tires from AMT's Indy car kits.  The AMT Mach I fastback Mustang concept car also used those.  AMT had a few sand dragster kits out at that time, those used the taller rear tires from the Indy cars.  My guess is that the mold for that style tire produced both front and rear tires, and AMT had to pick something to use up the front tires as well as the rears.

  9. 1 hour ago, M W Elky said:

    I always thought this kit looked like it was more 1/24 scale

    The body is longer than the stock '65-'66 Barracuda mainly up front, because of the nose extension.  The chassis and engine in the Fireball 500 kit are actually the parts that had been used in the '65 and '66 kits, with different headers and with the molded-in exhaust detail removed.

  10. 8 hours ago, Bainford said:

    That's why I suggested cutting out and swapping the rear wheel wells between the two kits. But, as I look at some reference photos now, I see a flaw with my plan. McEwen's car actually has stock wheel wells, so you are right, one of the two will not be correct. Looks like I will be building a front engine drag car from my '66, then. 😉

    The '66 wheel openings could be reworked back to stock using the '65 as a template.  Sheet plastic, epoxy putty, and a little two-part glazing putty.20240914_124404.jpg.65d957e5e9c3e9887e5aff4a482f5bdd.jpgThe Dodge body is a Polar Lights piece.  After piecing in a strip of plastic to build up the height of the body below the beltline, the wheel openings were reduced in size using an annual kit body as a template for the rears (and as a starting point for the fronts).  All that is just sheet and strip styrene, and two-part glazing putty.  This was done long before the Moebius kit came out.  My educated guesses on the wheel openings were pretty good.

    The Olds is a Modified Stocker body; again the wheel openings were restored to stock using an annual kit as a template, with sheet plastic and two-part putty.  If you have done custom work on a model car body, you can do this.20200926_074321.jpg.69ece4c049413ab83ef4509e5e822f4c.jpg

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  11. Boy, I'd bet a lot of people wish that those Tamiya slot car bodies would resurface, specifically that Plymouth Fury.  

    The foreign companies weren't the only ones issuing anything and everything as a slot car.  Monogram did some stopgap slot cars with kit bodies, like the '40 Ford pickup, '58 Thunderbird, and even a Duesenberg.  AMT did a few 1966 cars in 1/25 scale.  I have a Mercury Cyclone, and have seen fullsize Ford and Chevy assembled slot cars.  

    Jo-Han didn't sell complete slot cars, but did offer four bodies: Toronado, Rambler Marlin, Plymouth Fury, and Chrysler turbine car.  An operation called Paramount sold assembled Toronado slot cars utilizing the Jo-Han body.  And, yes, the slot car was front wheel drive.

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