Bob Ellis

Good idea making a '61 Starliner. Even original AMT gluebombs are hard to find.

Looks great.

You could go on forever trying to answer this question. Maybe the is Yes, and No. If you didn't live through the '60s, it's hard to imagine how it was. I remember my kids asking me after watching an old '60s Nick at Night show if everything in life was black and white back then. It wasn't, but it was. The '60s was a 3 TV channel world unless your TV was adapted for UHF with a couple more channels. TV went off the air at Midnight and came back at 6 AM. At night as a kid, you did your homework, watched some TV and maybe some built a model kit. If you wanted to find out about something, you got a book or an encyclopedia. In the '60s, building models was a way to pass the time, especially when it was raining and you could not go out to play ball, or build a fort in the woods. If you think model cars have taken a hit, consider how nobody plays board games anymore. I guess we can blame Nintendo on that and how it has proliferated into high tech computer games. As Danny DeVito said in the movie OTHER PEOPLES MONEY, " the best way to go out of business, is to get an increasing share of a shrinking market". Your business can go south even if you make the best product and less people want it anymore. Obsolescence. Maybe someday you download some file and you 3D print parts you need to build something. Model kits were cheap in the '60s by today's standards. By the '70s, a kit price represented an hour at minimum wage. My thought has always been that the promo business subsidized the kits. Even today, kits aren't as expensive as you might think considering that volume is way down, and there are no subsidies anymore. The old kits were much more simple in design as well. It's hard to imagine every store in town had models. You could find then at; drug stores, grocery stores, sporting goods stores, 5&10 stores, paper stores just to name a few. I remember buying an AMT '58 Impala at SEARS back in 1971. I would say there are about 30-40% as many hobby stores today compared to the '60s. It was not unusual to see blowouts of 50 cent kits from 1964 to the '70s. I am guessing the amount of diehard modelers is the same today as back in the '60s. People that really loved it, kept doing it until even now. Kids who built a few models in the '60s are now replaced by kids finding other entertainment. Back in the '60s they also used firecrackers to blow up their models after they were tired of them. Not a true modeler. I think things are about the same as they always were. They just look different.

I had somebody in the Boston area do it for my model parts years ago. BTW, it's called vacuum metallizing and that is how you can search for those companies. The biggest problem may be that you might not be able to fill the minimum order.

Only 1/25 kits I know 58 and 58 Cadillac from Johan / X-el 58 El Dorado multi piece from Revell

I have the '69 300 body from Shawn Carpenter. It is a nice casting.

Model Car World may have that resin body

AMT Jolly Green Gasser, a 1965 Galaxie hardtop. First re-issue of the 1965 annual kit in 1969

I think it it ironic that you have to unseal a rare kit (1 in 12) to find out what you have. Then you have a opened kit that might have been worth more sealed?

It is possible the insert for the '71-'72 body is gone. I see no other reason for the insistance of Round2 to keep bringing back the '73-'74 which were less popular and less options. I just checked Google images Daisy Duke's Roadrunner and found a '71 Satellite as well as the '73-'74. If they are hiding the 71-72, they are causing a lot of suspense.

Pretty amazing conversion

Very nice

I have made some headway on the project. The body is about done and the frame, glass and interior fits too. After minor body touch up,paint and foil is the next step.

Looks great

The original AMT/SMP '61 and '62 Corvettes had the opening trunks as you say. Not sure what issue Snake's '62 is, but only the annual '62 had opening trunk. I agree, Snake's 62 looks good. The rear end I cut off to match the '60 front was from an a '62 annual kit. I heard talk about a red Route 66 Corvette. Problem is that the show was filmed in black and white. There doesn't seem to many still shots in color of the car. I know there was a light blue and a light brown. There may be other colors as it sounds like the studios were experimenting with different colors to get the B/W film to look the way they wanted.

Think it's supposed to be a 1990. ERTL made 1989 promos of the ZR1 but Chevy didn't. Rumor is that they trashed all the promos, but it appears some made it to collectors.

This is a Revell '59/'60 Corvette front with an AMT '62 Corvette rear section. The Revell was a brand new kit, but the AMT 62 was a certified gluebomb that I got off Ebay. I was going to throw the 62 in the trash, but I decided to make a '61 Corvette. There are some photos of the '60 Vette in Route 66 season 1, but it appears that it was at least later a light blue '61 The real photos came from Internet Movie Database Cars.

That is a nice build

If you had only considered combining the '60 MPC with the '62 AMT to make a '61, you would have stayed a front runner. Fate is cruel. I think your 62 looks great. I would be happy with it.

nice color

I took the picture with my iPhone in the late afternoon. It didn't seem red to my eyes. Definitely more brown

The snap kit is okay.

This discussion is similar to that I remember during my model railroading days. In that case,metal castings were copied. And lots of them too. Even were sold to other people producing kits that may have known they were pirated, or didn't care because the price was cheaper than the people that mastered the pattern. The end of the story is that it represented enough money for one kit manufacturer to hire lawyers, sue for cease and decist, and monetary damages. It cost a lot of money and in the end it may not be worth it.

I think that 66 Buick glass will work for all '65 and '66 GM 2 dr fastbacks which obviously doesn't include the Cadillac.

sak, a previous poster has a Fotki link and there are lots of photos. I think it will satisfy your curiousity. I believe the tire photos are there too.