Richard Bartrop

You may have seen TV ads for the Gundam model kits. Now, just the fact they they can justify a TV campaign suggests they're doing a fair amount of business, but I wanted to see if I could find any actual sales figures, and I ran across this: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100121-Bandai-Sells-400-Million-Tiny-Plastic-Gundam-Models Between 1980 and 2010, Bandai managed to sell 400 million mode robotl kits. That averages to a little over 13 million a year, so the heyday of the model kit boom of the 60s for 30 straight years. Clearly the kids are still buying models, it just doesn't happen to be model cars

When I first got into models, It was hot rods, and show cars for me, but I was also really into the chassics which, at the time were maybe all of fourty wears old. I liked them b precisely because they weren't like what was on the streets. They were artifacts of the strange and mysterious world that existed before I was born. I got into automotive histroy because I was curious about where the world I lived in came from. Sure,. most of today's youth are going to be oblivious to the past, just like most of theri elders were, bot some are going to be curious. And here's a Millenial's reaction to the notion that they don't like cars. http://jalopnik.com/youth-car-culture-isnt-dead-this-washington-post-story-1728346138

I always thought it was odd that Heller never offered a 1/24 DS. It would seem to be an obvious choice for the company

That fact still remains that people were building models, and model of self propelled vehicles, long before there were plastic kits, and it's safe to say that some people will continue to do so long after the only place you can see a car is in a museum.

In that case, how about this self propelled steam carraige model from 1784?

Revell reissued Heller's excellent 1931 Bentley this year, so maybe we'll see some other heller kits coming out from them. The BMW 328 would be a natural fit with the other classic BMWs Revell Germany has released.

Maybe, but unless the carmakers decide they want to do promos again, that's not happenning

In light of the things we've seen Revell bring back recently, I'm going to go out on a limb and say, either a Little T, or a Little Deuce.

I've owned all the jo-Han classic kits, and I'd say that even with all the flaws, the reissues are still pretty nice. Of the ones I currently own, the best one would have to be an original issue Jo-Han 1931 Cadillac Sport Phaeton. The finish on the pieces is almost too nice to paint. However, I had to think long and hard about whether It's better than Heller's Blower Bentley. In the end, the Cadillac wins points for finish. However, the absolute best kit I ever owned would have to be the 1/12 Tamiya John Player Special that's still at my parent's house.

Thanks, Alan! You did a great job on yours, so it's high praise indeed. The weird thing is, I took most of my references for proportion from the front and side views int he 1950 Hot Rod article. I scaled the photos in Photoshop so the front wheel was the some diameter as the front wheel from the 29 pickup kit, and used the measuring tool over everything. All the body measurements were pretty close to the AMT body, except for the distance between the back of the seat and the base of the windshield, which was slightly off. At the time I put it down to either an inaccuracy on AMT's part, or an error on mine. Why don't was see more Niekamp clones? That's a very good question. When Rod & Custom did its track Roadster issue in 1973, there was a waves of track style rods throughout the 70s and 80s, so maybe it's just fashion. It might be a matter of practicality. There's not a lot of room in those old roadsters to begin with, and when you channel the body, there's even less. You look at the Hot Rod cover photo of the Flint roadster, thos guys are practically sitting on it, rather than in it. With no provision for a top, it's very much a fair weather vehicle. Maybe its signature look with no headlights or windshield would make it hard to register as street legal is most places. Maybe Essex frames are just too hard to come by. Anyway, getting back to the new Revell kit. There are so many possibilities with that kit, and I have a few ideas of my own.

For that matter, what about reissuing the Parts packs? AMT seems to be doing all right with theirs.

There's always weathering. If a car spends any time int he real world, it's going to get dirty under there. It's down't have to be anything dramatic, just a light dusting of some earth tone paint with an airbrush will catch the high spots, and bring out the detail.

Alan, I was going by memories of something I read online 5 years ago, so entirely possible you're right. However much it was, I can't see the difference, and apparently, not a lot of people can if they don't know about it. Your are right that it would be an awful lot of work to cut up an intact Model A body for so little effect. However, in the course of trying to find where I red about the section, I came across the scan of the March 1950 Hot Rod article I was using for reference, and it turns out four model A bodies, including a coupe, were used to make the Niekamp roadster body. Maybe this is simply what was left after Bill cut out all the usable bits, and put them all together so they would fit on an Essex frame.

I've been working on a Neikamp replica on and off, and this is where it is so far. It uses the Amt roadster body and upper hood, with the nose and wheels from Revell's '29 pickup. THe frame and front suspension are scratchbuilt. I'm trying to replicate it as in appeared in the March 1950 issue of Hot Rod, so no windshield, and no tonneau. Of course I found out about the vertical section after I got to this point. Mind you, it was a one inch section in the original, so I guess it comes down to how important that 1/25th of an inch is to you.

The Gold Cup kits are certainly right up there, but some of those aren't 100% accurate either. The Cadillacs actually have the wrong taillights for the V-16 models, and in the case of the Town Brougham, the car they based it on was a recreation of an actual Town Brougham. It turns out the guy who built it applied all the canework at a 45 degree angle to how the factory applied it, which was faithfully duplicated on the Jo-Han model. So sometimes you have the problem where the kitmakers create an accurate replica of an inaccurate prototype.

I'd certainly buy a Kaiser if they offered one.

I think think it's one of the best kits every made in this scale. The detail is incredible, and everything goes together surprisingly well for a kit of this ages and complexity. As you can see in the photos, the wire wheels are amount the very few that re actually somewhat decent in that scale. Definitely one to buy if you like classic cars. Try to get one of the earlier issues, as the molds did get pretty abused toward the end. For example, the stone guard originally had a nicely detailed Cadillac crest which was ground down to a blank spot on the later issues, and of course, lots and lots of flash. On the subject of the V-12s vs the V-16s, the Johan kits has a set of V-12 Taillights. V-16 taillights have more of a concave face. If you're looking for info on V-16 or V-12s, this site is a gold mine. http://cadillacdatabase.com/

Search under "van" and you should find what you want

Not even close:

both would end up completely occupied by the Soviets.

Like I said, it would have been interesting to see how Tatra would have done if they weren't bottled up in the Soviet sphere.

Because it's not just about more stuff, but better stuff, and WW2 did see a rise in orders for experimental aircraft. The Manhatten Project alone shows that your theory does not jive with reality.

Very true. Hilter never would have gotten anywhere if there weren't a lot of people willing to follow him. All they needed was someone willing to tell them what they wanted to hear. If that person was more competent than the Nazis, (which frankly wouldn't be hard), things could have gone far, far worse.

Seeing how much the aircraft industry has relied on government money, as much as I'd like to think otherwise, if left to their own devices they would have progressed even more slowly. Airliners were originally based on bombers, and postwar aviation relied on a network of airstrips originally built for the demands of the war. Maybe a world without WW2 would see flying boats remain viable a lot longer. As for the VW, Porsche borrowed from others, such as Hans Ledwinka of Tatra, a company that had the misfortune of ending up on the wrong side of the iron curtain. If WW2 hadn't happened, and Czechoslovakia hadn't ended up in the Soviet sphere, who knows how big they could have gotten?