Luc Janssens

If you ever happen to go to Belgium, I'll buy you a beer.

quite regrettable, but also understandable, cuz you're not affiliated with the company and you don't see what the possible consequences for them could be. Do hope the damage isn't permanent meaning "you're out of the circle of trust" (like Robert De Niro says in the movie meet the fockers) but that this is a lesson to be very careful and to ispense only what has been approved for public consummation. Believe me, I've see lotsa interesting things at my work, but........

That's a good thing, some of the last all new kits from Amt suffered from sink marks in the roof because they had them engraved in the body tool. Again looks like a fun kit to build, and can not wait to check the part for myself, when it arrives this side of the big pond. Luc

I like the set up, but wonder how the big wheel setup would look like if you add the brake disks (with red or blue brake thingies, what's it called?) Luc

Looking at the latest releases of Revell, they really are going after the enthusiast car modelers, and I too hope that they will sell plenty of them. Cuz there are still plenty of neat subjects out there. Thank you for the review and online build and thank you Revell for making this possible. Luc

Most likely they did it this way due to the thickness of the scoops, meaning they would stick out too much if it were to be a flat hood, besides this way they're always positioned in the correct way. If you really wish to have a flat hood then, fill the recess with some left over sheet plastic and some putty, it's not that hard, I did it with the '68 Firebird and it came out great. Luc

Thank you Luc

Bob where did you find these wheels? Thanks in advance! Luc

You're right about that Bob, UT models ones released plastic kits from an Opel Calibra and a Porsche (both racing cars) and they tanked, cuz almost no one knew about them (exposure) or took them seriously cuz they were first of all a diecast manufacturer. Too bad really....and I will keep an eye out for that Mustang Kind Regards from this side of the big pond. Luc

I remember reading that it comes with an engine

I had to be 7 or 8 at the time, I remember as it was yesterday, it was in the early morn and dad wasn't home, thus we (my little brothers and I) took some models two cars and a plane, and started glueing...lots and lots of it (not the tube glue, the liquid one) I don't know who the manufacturer of the cars was, only remember that they like 1/32 scale early or mid '60s race cars which were very simple in construction; four plastic wheels on an plastic axle and they were kept in place on the underside of the body by the front and rear clip, don't think there was a windshield. Anyway by the time my mom got out of bed, the living room smelled so much, she made us open all the doors and windows to get fresh air back in..... Times were so simple then, now they would probably sue the manufacturer of the glue as well as the kits, for whatever...

flexi file sanding sticks, razor saw, needle files bmf panel scriber, exacto knife, polishing kit (to remove tire bruns from glass) air brush old paint cans plus double sited tape and an optivisoir . other stuff Tamiya glue and putty (thins the putty) Daco decal solvent, good brushes, silver& gold paint pen.....is all I can think of right now

I didn't vote, cuz it's like comparing apples to oranges as each kit has it's place in the modelers spectrum. IMHO the Amt kit is like having dinner in a fancy restaurant, while the Revell kit is more like grabbing the fast burger at Mikey D. yet both serve the same purpose: feeding. With that I mean that the Amt kit was tooled up in a time when model building was the number one sport, and people "seemed" to make time to build their models, be it mediocre or show case quality....now fast forward a few decades, those same customers have less time, are harder to please and very demanding not only towards to the product itself, but also to themselves. They don't have the time and patience to "Bare metal" foil a amt kit body, so very pleased with the "die cast" solutions Revell came up with in their offering. It's something I'm very pleased with, cuz as most of you know many of the old car kits were based on promo's which were designed for minimal assembly and (detail) painting for lean production. So in a nutshell I think the "non specialized" kits of the future, will be a mix of current glue design topped of with easy paint and assembly features borrowed from Diecast production experiences. Luc Ps. a lot got lost in the translation

...4 door instead of the regular 2 door? pick as many as you want The reason I ask, is because I was browsing in a Impala book I have and found that the '72 Impala four door hardtop, IMHO looks much much better then it's two door sibling. Luc

The reason I ask, is because I was browsing in a Impala book I have and found that the '72 Impala four door hardtop, IMHO looks much much better then it's two door sibling. Luc

If he's a friend, you want to do it for him and wants to pay you, charge him the price of all the stuff you needed to build the model except time. If it's for a company or someone who uses it for commercial purposes, you add the going hourly rate for craftsmen. BTW maybe quote the price for option number two, so he knows he got a pretty good deal. HTH Luc

When I worked for VP we used vacuum pumps to draw the air out of the casting. The MO was to first put several molds on a tefal coated metal tray, then the tray went into a plexi glass box with a lid and a vacuum pump attatched, then we filled the molds about halfway with a some sort of pistol, on which the plastic nozzle served as the two part resin mixer, the we closed the lid and activated the pump, when doing that the resin seemed to boil, then before the resin boiled over, one slowly had to let the air back into the box, then shoot resin again, 'till the molds were full, close the lid, activate pump, boiling, air back in, open the lid, tray out and up to the next one.... It was a rather big operation compared to other resin casters. Years later when on my first visit at the Lettermans of VLS, I saw that he used pressure tanks, due to less maintenance (the vacuum air pumps needed frequent oil changes) and less waste of resin Luc

Here's mine a '04 Opel Vectra GTS 2.2 Diesel (the gray one), my girlfriend drives a Toyota Starlet 1.3 The other one in the pic is the same car but in black and owned by my parrents

can't believe what I found here...... Picture courtesy of modellversium Germany For more info click here

Mpc 1966 Pontiac Bonneville H/T & Convert. (#9-10) 1968 Chevy Impala H/T (#368) 1968 Dodge Coronet H/T (1768) 1969 Chevy Impala H/T (#369) 1969 Pontiac Bonneville H/T (969) 1970 Mercury Cougar H/T & Convert (#2270-2370) 1971 Dodge Demon (#450) 1970 Dodge Challenger (#754) 1970 Plymouth 'cuda (#270) 1971 Dodge Challenger (#7114) 1971 Plymouth 'cuda (#7102) 1971 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400 (#7115) 1972 Chevy Impala H/T (#7203) 1972 Dodge pickup (#458) later models too... 1972 Plymouth Roadrunner (#7225) 1973 Dodge Van (#410) later models too (the 71 window van, was neat but probably won't sell) 1975 Pontiac Firebird (#7515) 1978 Ford 4x4 Off Road Van (#413) Hope this info is useful....

Thanks Gregg, yes we had a great Christmas eve and day, but since it's almost 9 pm here, its almost another one for the history books, seems life at 40 (almost) is on the fastlane Okay here goes: (data courtesy of "The Directory of Model Car Kits" and all are annuals except where noted) Amt 1963 Pontiac Bonneville H/T (#6623) 1964 Buick Wildcat H/T (#6524) 1964 Chevy Corvair Monza Spider H/T (#4754) 1964 Ford falcon H/T (#5124) 1964 Oldsmobile Cutlass H/T (#5024) 1964 Pontiac Bonneville H/T (#6624) 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix H/T (#6654) 1965 Buick Wildcat H/T (#6524) 1966 Buick Skylark GS H/T (#6566) 1966 Chevy Impala SS HT & Convert (#6726-6716) 1967 Ford Fairlane GT H/T (#5167) 1967 Ford Galaxie H/T & Convert. (#6127-6117) 1967 Mercury Cougar (#5327) 1968 Chevy Chevelle SS (#5628) ???? Kenworth/ Challenge mixer (#T559) not an annual, dunno if the mixer differs from the ERTL unit Mpc in a next post

Gregg, you mean kits of which it's certain that the tooling still exists or suppose to exist? Or do you wanna include complete reverse engineering subjects? TIA & Merry Christmas to you all. Luc Janssens Belgium

Looking great, love those pre-jellybean Ford Pickups, and even more if they're 4x4s. Luc

I agree that subject matter and box art presentation sells a model, but when the assembly of a model fights you in every way possible and therefore ends up smacked into the wall, it is very likely the builder never buys a model (of that brand) again. Ditto when a $15 model kit is so crude, that even a $10 diecast looks much better. One of the reasons why I always ask to specify, what a modeler wants, in termes of the design of a kit, when asking the $250K question. Luc

well...some model companies re-make kits from a competitor. Again some of the out of this world proposals have some pretty good ideas in them, which will help the enthusiast as well as the novice builder assembling a better model. Also sometimes you read about a kit, and you're wondering why it's released in this configuration, when it would've been more more interesting with options x, y, z..., such ideas come from enthusiasts too, you can't expect that the people of model companies know every little detail from every car made. Thx Luc