unclescott58

Gene, thanks for link to that article on Walt's Puffer. Very cool. I knew the AMT kit was based on that car, but I never really knew anything of the car, or the driver's career. And I'm glad to see the car is still around. With great detailed pictures to boot. Thanks, Scott Aho

Like others have said, very nice build Darryl. Great looking model. I especially like your last photo. It looks like the guy in your photo may be carrying a helmet? Is he getting ready to race? And if so, I like that you have him dressed in what looks like sweatshirt and shorts! Shorts!? Not the best idea. I do know that in the early days of drag racing, few if any, wore any type of flame resistant racing suit. But, I wonder if anybody ever did drive their dragster in compition wearing shorts? In the '50s I could see happening! Again, very nice model. Scott Aho

Gene, was the "memo" on the Mighty Mouse decals? If so, I got it. And you have got to go with it. A V8 powered Topolino is as "Mighty Mouse" as one can get. By the way, it was my favorite cartoon as a very young child in the early '60s. As we speak, I'm working on the same kit. So I'll be keeping an eye on yours. Bought a set of Gofer Racing racing decals. In the set I bought is a cartoon rat with the words "Rat Rod" underneath. Thought about that for while, but I don't want build mine to looking like a "rat rod". It is a Topolino, not a rat after all. And I want to mine to be nice and shiny. On the same decal sheet are some Hamm's Beer logos with the Hamm's bear. Growing up in "The Land of Sky Blue Waters", near St. Paul where Hamm's was originally brewed, I'm thinking of going with that. Painting the model in Tamiya's Light Blue Metallic. Then adding the Hamm's Beer/bear decals. Hamm's Beer decals on a A/A dragster? I haven't drank in years, so I kind of like the humor of that. What do you think? Scott Aho

Very nice job Steve. You say that's the best you can do? Looks like you do a pretty job of it. Looks perfect to me. By the way, can anybody out there tell me the history of kit? When was it last available? I wonder if there any chance in the near future that Revell may reissue the kit? Scott Aho

If they would come back with the Texaco version, or if I could find decals to do something rather than a generic "Joe's Power Plus", I'd consider buying this kit. In fact I'd love build this kit as an early '60s Pure Oil station. When they had the Firebird logo. Scott Aho

Mr. Adams, any chance of seeing your Toro with the Allison engine? Like I said in my first posting on this subject, I like the big 1960's (and1970's) personal luxury cars, like Ford's Thunderbird. So I also like the big personal luxury cars from GM. Grand Prixs (mainly pre-'69 in the case of Grand Prix), Rivieras, and Toronados. So I'd love to see a Toronado with an Allison. Also from the picture with posting, do you own a Corvair in real life? Another car I like. And thanks Casey for picture of the real "Big Al" Allison powered dragster. Talk about a chop! No wonder the driver's head sticks out through the top. Don't know a lot about this car. But, I've seen pictures before. And still think its cool. Scott Aho

Another Z/28! I'd like to see a nice '67 or '68 RS/SS instead. Preferably the '67. I like building kits of cars that were mainly used on the street. Things like Z/28s and Hemi 'Cudas made great race cars. But were poor for everyday driving. I'd also like to see a second generation Camaro that is not a Z/28. Again I'd like a '70 or '71 SS, with or without the RS package. In real life I'd rather have a 396 Camaro SS with hydraulic lifters and air conditioning, than a solid lifter Z/28 302 or 350. Just as I'd rather have a Mopar with a 340, 383, or 440 over a 426, for same reasons. In '73 the Z/28 350 finally got hydraulic lifters and optional air conditioning. With it the SS Camaro disappeared. The Chrysler 426 also switched to hydraulic lifters (1971 I believe?), but was never available with air. Again solid lifter cars are great for racing. But a pain for everyday street use. That's part of the reason few people bought them. And part of the reason why I like my fantasy cars in a slightly milder form. Even though I've bought and built two AMT '70 Z/28s. I'll be passing on this one. The first generation 302 Z/28s were much more of racer than '70 and later 350 Z/28s. Again, not a car I would have purchased in real life (1:1) at the time. Scott Aho

Thanks to Mr. Asher for showing us one complete. Mine's not ever close to being done. I have the engine nearly finished and other minor subassembly work done. So I have really nothing to show as of yet. But, I'd like see other completed versions of this kit. If there are any out there. How about it guys? If you have one done, lets see it. Scott Aho

I love what's going on with Round 2's reissues of old kits. The ones I've being buying look great! I'm not seeing a lot of flash. Details look crisp to me. I'm not doing any more sanding of mold lines than I did in the past. I'm happy and impressed with the old AMT and MPC kits Round 2 has been putting out. Several of these kit haven't been available in years. And when many of them were last available, I couldn't afford them. I'm having a great time building kits I had as a kid. And kits I couldn't afford or were out before I got into the hobby. Then throw in the new stuff Revell is doing, were living in a Golden Age of modeling! By the way, I love the new(old?) Slingster Dragster Revell just gave us. To retool/reinvent an old kit like that. Cool! Yes sir, we're living in a Golden Age! Scott Aho

An interesting kit. Just picked one up at a local hobby store a week or two ago. I love AMT's old Allison engine. I've built a couple over the years, but I have never really found a project I wanted to use it in. I also like big 1960's personal luxury cars, like Ford's Thunderbird. And though I'm not a big funny car fan, I like the pun "Allison Thunderland". So I had to buy the kit. The Allison engine is beautiful. A work of art. And reading reviews by airplane guys, it's very well scaled and accurately done. The Thunderbird body is pretty typical of AMT's annuals of the time. Not bad. Not very accurate for a funny car. But I like it. The chassis and roll bar set up? Its obvious these were designed back in the day, quickly and simply. They lack detail and set the car up to sit way too high. It's the chassis and roll bar that are unrealistic and disappointing in this kit. But still I like the kit. I plan on painting it Pearl White, using the Allison Thunderland decals, and displaying it on the back of AMT's recently reissued Ford LN 8000 Race Car Hauler. I'm glad AMT and Model King have reissued several of these old kits. Despite them not being up to the detail of modern kits, I love them. And still find them fun to build. I find it interesting, despite my basic lack of interest in funny cars. I now have this and Monogram's last release of Tom Daniel's S'cool Bus. Two not very accurately designed funny cars in the real world. But two I like in concept. Scott Aho

Sharp Dart (pun intended). All joking aside, very nice. Uncle Scott

What happened to this project? Any updates since this was posted? Love seeing anything with AMT's Allison engine in it. Uncle Scott

Very nice! I maybe six years late in telling you this. But, better late than never. I love the old style hot rods and dragsters one could build with these old parts packs. Uncle Scott

All I can say is WOW! Very nice! I like the Eldo in the background too! Uncle Scott

Another sharp '72 Chrysler product. Got to go to Poland to find all the cool old full-size Mopar models. Again, very nice. Uncle Scott

Very cool! I'm going to do it. And since the Hang 10 was available with the 360, I'm going to stay with that engine. Uncle Scott

Oh by the way, relooking at your photos. You modeled what was called a Fury Gran Sedan. Not a Fury III. Only the Fury Gran Sedan, Fury Gran Coupes, and Fury Sport Subruban carried hidden headlamps in 1972. Fury I, Fury II, Fury III, Suburbans, and Custom Suburbans had exposed headlights. Despite the '72 Fury Gran Sedan being called a "Sedan" it was really a 4-door hardtop like your model. The Fury Gran Coupes were likewise 2-door hardtops. Why they called them Gran "Sedans" and Gran "Coupes" since they're really hardtops is beyond me. For '72 the Fury Gran series basically replaced the Fury Sport series from the year before. To confuse matters even more, in 1975 all full-size Furys were now called Gran Furys, and were available in both hardtops, sedans, and Suburbans (wagons). And the redesigned Satellites now carried the Fury name. Anyway, again a very nice model. But, sorry to say it is not a Fury III. It's the more prestigious Fury Gran Sedan 4-door hardtop (Plymouth model PP43). Uncle Scott

You need to tell us more about this build. Did you photograph the steps you took in building this model? What you use as your inspiration? I'm assuming since we rarely see '72 Plymouth Furys in their country of origin any more, there can't be many running around Poland? Just telling us you built this from scratch isn't enough. I wish to know more. I always like the looks of '72 Fury Gran Coupes, Gran Sedans, and the Fury III hardtops. Had neighbor who worked for the State of Minnesota back in the day, and was given a '72 Fury I sedan to drive. I loved the big double looped front bumper of that year only. So you need to tell, at least for me, more about this model and your ideas and inspiration. Uncle Scott

Love those Fiats. And yours looks great Ron. Everything looks right on. I love it! Uncle Scott

Steve, I don't know why your unhappy with how this build turned out. It looks very good to me. And I like others, think the the addition of the scoop is a very nice touch. Uncle Scott

I love AMT's 1/43 scale cars. Some of the most satisfying builds in my collection are different models from this series. The early versions were normally molded in fairly nice colored plastic. Something in general I dislike. But on these, it was fun just pulling them out of box. Add just a little glue, and in less then a half hour you had a fairly nice looking model. Later versions had to be painted so they took in little more time. I avoid the Matchbox versions. As noted they had no chrome plated parts. With Alclad that maybe not so bad. But, when the Matchbox versions were out, there was only silver paint. I still own several. Had more in the past. Wish I still had some of them that can not in be easily found now. I also wish Round 2 would reissue they kits, molded to different colors (Round 2, please all other kits in white!) and with chrome. I'd buy every one of them. I planned on including photos of a couple of early, molded in color versions. But I'm new to posting stuff here and haven't figured out how to add pictures to these posts yet. As soon as I figure it out, I will post photos. Uncle Scott OK, I went and watched the video on how to add photos. Let's give this a try. There we go. Here are two for you to see. Uncle Scott

Despite all the complaining, I like this kit. I'm no Mustang expert, but over all the kit looks fine to me. More accurate than many models offered in the past. I'm building a phantom MN state trooper car. Minnesota ran some unmarked Mustangs, but mine's going to be a maroon cruiser with white doors, full markings and lights. It make not be correct. But it's what I want. And Revell's Mustang will work just fine for what I want. Uncle Scott

I've seen the real '66 Riviera AMT/Ertl used in designing this kit. I've seen the car and met its owner at the Riviera nationals and Buick club nationals. The owner of the car, Dennis (I can not remember his last name) is a interesting character. Dennis is a retired Buick engine engineer. He has done seminars at Buick events on the history and maintenance of Buick engines. He started working with Buick around 1960, and was involved with the development of both the 425 and the dual four-barrel version of the same. He also of course worked on later Buick engines. But, he always has had special feeling for the 425 dual four-barrel. So when he retired, he looked for a Riviera with that power plant. His Riviera is the real car shown on box of the first release of this. It is a very, very nice car. And I know Dennis found the model Ertl did of his car to be very accurate. I figure if a Buick engineer and owner of car likes the model, it's got to be a pretty good rendition. Being a Buick guy, I've built and owned this kit and several versions of the original AMT annuals. The newer kit is by far a better kit in every way except one. The annuals depicted the Riviera GSs with buckets seat. Dennis' car is also a GS, but has a split back bench with a folding arm rest. So the Ertl version is the same. Not a big deal. I prefer a car with bucket seats over one with a bench. But this is not a big deal. The Ertl Riviera is that nice. Just like its real counter part. Uncle Scott

Have wanted one of these for years. Always like first release best. The version they finely now have reissued. I never care for the different combination kits, were you got some type of car, and different graphics. So the present release makes me one happy camper. My plan is to build it just like it's shown on the box. White with blue stripes. And the Ford logos. The plans are then to display it with AMT's Allison Thunderland funny car. Painted in a nice pearl white. I'm not the biggest Ford fan in the world, nor a big funny car fan. But, I love Thunderbirds. So combination seems right to me. No Pintos, Mustangs or Darts for me. Though all are cool in their own right. In fact I've built several "stock" Mustangs and one or two "stock" Pintos and Darts over the years. But I need a race car for this truck. And I wanted something different. Not a car that AMT or anybody else wants to combine with this truck. I especially did not want the last release, the "Tennessee Thunder" combination. By the way, so far I'm not finding any problem with my kit. No warpage to the frame or any other parts so far. The frame went together with no problems what so ever. I hope the rest of the kit goes together as well. Thanks to Round 2 for reissuing a another great old kit. I could not afford this kit the first time around. Nor several other cool kits at the time. So I like that Round 2 is giving me second chance at getting many of these great old kits. Uncle Scott

After a little more research, I was wrong about the Hang Ten not being available on the Dart 360 Sport. At least in 1974 you could get any Dart Sport model, 225 slant six, 318 V8, or 360 V8 with the Hang Ten package. I'm not so sure for '75. The '75 Dart brochure talks about both the Hang Ten and the 360 on the same page, but doesn't make clear if the two can be combined. One can assume it was this was still true for '75. But at this time I'm not 100% sure. Uncle Scott