Richard Bartrop

I can't even think of another kit designer, so I guess he is the most famous. I remember the "Dot Rods" from when they were in Rod & Custom's track Roadster issue, and a whole bunch of Tom Daniel pictorials from earlier issues of R & C.

Same here, and there is a topic on the new Corvette a few pages back. The sad fact is, there will be people who will react to any change like a five year old to broccoli. Sometimes a little change is good, and sometimes a big change is even better.

I think it's also important to remember that in the mid 60s when these kits were being created, the classic car hobby, while strong, hadn't reached the level of outright crazy it achieved in later years. There were certainly books on the subject, but a lot of the scholarly tomes that would be the definitive reference were still years in the future, so while the information may have been out there, it just wasn't in a readily accessible form. And sorry for derailing the subject with the 240Z example in the first place. The point was it was a modern example of a 40 year old classic with less than classic footwear that was almost universally upgraded.

Near as I can tell, Type 35 owners were making the swap as soon as the new wheels were available, and Monogram was by no means the only one to release a type 35 model that way. Those wheels certainly look right, and since it was such a common swap, it's not that surprising that people thought that was how it was supposed to look. For the longest time, I never knew that Jo-han's excellent V-16 Cadillac lot has the wrong taillights. Here's what they're supposed to be And for comparison, the taillights on the Jo-han kit are the ones used on the V-8 and V-12 models I guess at some point you just have to trust you're getting the right information.

Nicely done, and I like that idea of doing regional variations on the hot rod theme.

True, the Trek stuff has always been a license to print money, but also, how do the new Trek kits compare in complexity with your typical car kit? I know the old ones didn't have a lot of parts to them, and those parts didn't have any undercuts, so no need for moulds with moving parts.

Nice! Gotta love those 60s concept cars.

Assembling the front end. The backing plates got an application of BMF, and I srayed the brake drums with Tamiya Flat Auminum for a little variety. And it wouldn't be the '50s without a set of wide whitewalls. I also added wiring to the engine, and gave the pulleys a touch with a Molotow pen.

I'm sure the good folks at Monogram made a very authentic replica of a Bugatti Type 35 as it existed in the mid 60's, and there are still Type 35's like that today The later model wheels are lighter, stronger, and better looking than the original, so it's no surprise that many Type 35 owners made the upgrade. How many 240Z's do you see with the original hubcaps? Just for comparison, here's a stock Type 35B. Like anything in modeling, it comes down to how much effort you want to spend on these things. Personally, I'd still snap up the Monogram Bugatti if the opportunity arose.

Seeing what Atlantis is offering in the way of car kits, dare we hope for the return of some of the vintage Aurora and Monogram car kits?

Originally from BC, now I'm in Calgary, AB

Thanks for the compliments! Rummaging through, my parts, I came across a set of wheels rom AMT's '49 Mrc that were the same style as the ones in the Mod Rod, but shallower, so I replaced the front wheels. When figuring out the dashboard it seemed appropriate to have a tach as well as a speedometer, and I'd already decided on a five gauge instrument panel, so I decided to do a little research to see how it was handled back in the day. I came across this photo of the dash of Norm Wallace's '32 ford roadster. An extra gauge is in a bracket below the dash, but it's the speedometer, with the tach placed front and centre in the instrument panel, so that's the setup I decided to go with. So I scratched up a speedo, and a bracket to go with it.

Via The Jalopy Journal. A collection of '32 Fords from the November '57 issue of Rod & Custom. A nice snapshot of the state of the art in 1957, and lots of inspirational material. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=38603

They have their roots in a series of illustrations Virgil Exner did for Esquire three years previous. http://www.madle.org/evival.htm

Exactly. It looks like it's going to people who want to make model kits, and a look at the Atlantis catalogue shows some pretty esoteric stuff, so if there's some oddball thing from Revell's or Monogram's past that you wish would come back, this is probably your best chance to get it

I'm still optimistic about them coming back. It'll be hard to ignore all those North Americans, and no small number of Europeans, chanting, "Please, take my money!"

Easily the best looking of the later Thunderbirds. Looking forward to what you do with it.

I decided to go with the finned drums from the Revell kit. I made a set of fender supports from brass strip.. Getting there. Waiting on a MCG sectioned Deuce shell for the front.

I built a Monogram Bugatti way back when, and as a kit, I'd say it's the nicest of the Monogram classic kits. Now, it you're looking for an exact replica of a Type 35 Bugatti as it first came out of the factory, there are some issues. The radiator is too wide, and the wheels aren't stock Type 35 wheels, but are later model Bugatti wheels. In fact, the wheels and tires are closer to what you'd find on a Type 51, which was a twin cam version of the Type 35. Apparently, the wheels were a common upgrade to Type 35s back when driving them was more important than scoring points at Pebble Beach, and in that context, putting in a bigger radiator is probably a very sensible thing to do. Basically what Monogram did was make a very accurate replica of a "day two" Bugatti Type 35, typical of what you might see in the '50s and '60s, rather than the 1920s. If your goal is a 100% factory stock Type 35, you have some work ahead of you, but on the other hand, it's very close to a factory stock Type 51. The biggest difference is the twin cam head, but like most Bugatti engines, it's all rectangles, so building it from styrene stock should be relatively painless. You could also just glue the hood shut, and nobody need be the wiser.

Looks great!

They lost money on every one they sold, so maybe it's not that strange. The Continental did survive as a separate make until 1960, albeit as a fancier version of the Lincoln, and people seem to like to pretend the Continental Mk III, IV, and V never happened.

To be fair, the Continental Mk II looked more tasteful than almost anything built in that decade,

Revell's '48 Ford Custom Coupe also sports a set. I think RMMC also carries them. They were based on the hubcaps that first appeared on Cadillacs in 1933, and you can get those in model form as well.

Another example of how car modelers are just too cheap. If they were willing to shell out two and a half million dollars for a kit, then they'd get the kits they want.

I started on the rear suspension. Between picking the brains of the experts here, and browsing the H.A.M.B. I've hopefully whipped up a convincing set of period ladder bars. For something a little different, a set of Lincoln taillights from a Revell custom '48 Ford coupe I picked up for the parts.