Richard Bartrop

I was wondering about that colour too, but for '57, it could also be had in something called Parade Green, which looks similar, at least in photos.

And yet Starbird did manage to reverse it to the version we're most familiar. As for the Kookie car, the paint's probably the least offensive thing about those mods.

Yeah, that's not pretty, but certainly not unusual. Here's what the L'il Coffin ended up as

And they also advertised in comics. Revell's first car kit was a children's pull toy sold in disassembled form. Not only were they intended for kids, people moaned that they were making things too easy and creating a culture of instant gratification. If there's a decent library, go look up the December 1958 issue of Industrial Design magazine, where they do just that in their review of new toys, which includes plastic model kits. People expected more out of kids back then, and as crude as those kits were, they were still a step up from the wooden kits, or building from scratch. Check out "The Boy Electrician" and "The Boy Mechanic", both of which are available in electronic form online, to see 1913's idea of what's appropriate for children.

Guess what, this stuff was originally intended for children, and you may have noticed stuff for children is still a big part of what they do. If they stuck to "real modelers" they'd be in even worse shape. And you do know Gundams are snap kits, right?

Have you ever put together the AMT Enterprise? Calling it an accurately scaled replica is stretching things juuust a bit. In any case, Revell's shoddy execution has absolutely nothing to do with the value of that license.

Thanks for pointing out the technical problems. I saw an item about Mercedes-Benz bringing back the tartan seat fabric they used on the 300SL and was thinking model upholstery like that would actually be useful, but if it isn't actually feasible....

Hard to say. Star Trek kits were basically a license to print money for AMT for the longest time, and Lucas made more money off the Star Wars toy licenses than he did the actual movies. And let's not forget the millions Bandai rakes in from its Gundam robots. Considering the demand for GM related merchandise, the licensing makes perfect sense.

Very nice. You have to love that attention to detail

Yes. THe distributor on the '40 is different from the '48, and I was wondering if they'd made that change.

Does the Revell '48 Ford flathead have a correct '48 flathead, or is it a copy of the one in the '40 Ford kit?

I keep all the extra parts, but since I accumulate sprue faster than I use it, I generally don't have any qualms about periodically binning the excess. I do hoard the clear red sprue, and whtever white sprue will fit in a bottle of liquid cement. One thing I do make a point of keeping are headlights with supports for fenderless rods. Removing fenders is easy, but all the associated hardware is a little more challenging.

Big & little tires, Deuce grilles & track noses

Outstanding work!

The one that really blew me away was Scalemaster's scratchbuilt Lotus 7. A humbling reminder when someone feels tempted to make pronouncements about who is or isn't a "real" modeler.

Orrrr, you could do it, and show us all how wrong we are.

I've actually made a resin figure kit, though nothing nearly on the scale of Mr. Flintstone. Basically, a pound or two of RTV, and some time, and you're in business. By the time you've sold a couple of kits, you've covered your setup costs. On the other hand, it is more labour intensive, and resin isn't cheap, so your unit costs are higher. This is why resin kits cost as much as they do, and why companies like AMT don't do everything this way.

According to http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/series.aspx?modelID=31 a 1963 Lusso originally sold for $12900, so the model is pretty close to the original price for the real deal.

There was a resin caster in another group who gave up on custom interior kits because nobody was buying them. I'm thinking if there isn't enough of a market to support resin, then there probably isn't enough of one to support cutting a set of injection moulds.

I could go for that. I'm sifting through my parts boxes for four Lucas style headlamps for a custom rod build. Heck, even if they didn't bother with actual taillights, and someone like Evergreen put out some clear rod and strip stock, that would be extremely useful.

That's really cool, and it shows why I think a Figoni $ Falaschi kit would be worth looking into, because it's something that custom and classic fans alike know and enjoy.

As for "There is no try, only do", don't forget in the movie, Yoda backed up his claim by pulling a spaceship out of a swamp with his mind. Now, I'm not saying you have to do anything so spectacular, but feel free to put your money where your mouth is, and show everyone why they're wrong. It's easy to talk about taking risks when it's someone else's money. That said, a decent Lycoming straight eight would be nice, even in resin.

I didn't make the video, so it's entirely possible.

Fortunately, we are under absolutely no obligation to use every single part that comes with the kit.

The Deuce with the Latham blower at the start has given me an idea on what to do with Revell's '29 Roadster.