Vince Nemanic

In case you're wondering, those "Fordgone" decals are from the AMT71 Mustang annual. I had the kit when it was new.

I help out with the NNL Western Nationals every year by ushering vendors to their tables before the public is allowed in. The doors open to the public at 9 AM and remain open until the close of the show around 3 PM. The awards are by vote for People's Choice (Adult and Junior), plus there are some private awards. The models are not judged, and the swap meet runs concurrently with the NNL.

In early 1984, a bunch of us went to dinner after the first NNL Western Nationals. One well known modeler (who can identify himself if he wants) presented a plan to the group. He had contacted Revell in Venice CA (before the Monogram merger) about having a private run of kits made. He was told that there was a requirement of three runs of 5000 bagged kits with instructions- no box or decals- for X amount of dollars. If each of us at the dinner invested $1000 we could have gotten the ball rolling- it might as well have been a million for me. Less than a year later, the Advent line of kits were released. The relevance to this discussion was that we were told that Revell had ALL of their old tools up to that point. In the intervening years with all of the mergers, moves, and changes in management, who knows what happened to all of the tools, but the information is interesting.

I'm very pleased to hear of the full bumper Camaro- the Enduro nose was not used in the Trans Am because it weighed something like 80 pounds more than the full bumper, and the road racers weren't allowed to replace it with empty fiberglass like the drag cars could.

NNL West #1 was held about two weeks before I was hired for my first teaching position. I lived about five miles from the site and didn't know about it. I met Don Graham Bruce Treadwell and Doane Yawger about three weeks before NNL West #3 in Turlock.

So VW expects a model manufacturer to invest over a half million dollars before the kit is licensed? In other words, I'm not holding my breath for any new VW models.

David, the AMT "66 Impala engine is in the '60 Ranchero kit.

There was a segment where a GM guy told Jay Leno that the purpose of wraps like that is to throw off the autofocus of the spy photographers. As you can tell, it works REALLY well, doesn't it? LOL.

It might be the interior floor from the Phantom Vicky.

The real question is have they fixed the leakage trouble?

It was posted on one of the threads here tht it will be reissued as the "Surf Wagon" with a new roof rack & surf boards, but I can't seem to find the listing, so I don' how soon it's coming.

The humorous tone of the model belies the fact that the guards were brought from Russia so they would have no second thoughts about shooting any defectors who entered the "kill zone". My wife's cousin, who was born in East Berlin the year the first wall went up, is terrified of dogs to this day because the guards would turn their guns and attack dogs toward him every morning and evening as he drove his Trabant to and from work.

I wonder how it felt to "land" in one of those flying boats. I imagine it could be pretty rough in some of the smaller ones.

Gerry, the Villa Riviera also has the nose and tail extended, plus the hood is extended in the center. There was an old magazine called "Super Customs and Hot Rods" that mentioned the amounts of extension. I remember that they were different, and somewhere in the 10 to 12 inch range. When I did mine that was in the Oakland Roadster Show diorama, I used two kits.

Hiway, yu showed a picture od the Bruce Larson Vega Pro Stock that has been promised foryears. The listing says that it is a funny car and doesn't mention a driver or sponsor.