John Goschke

With regard to the wheels, I think if the engineering of the four-piece wheel assembly requires compromises in the proportions and relationships of the various design details to the point where the essential character of that trademark feature of the car is lost, I'd rather see the accurate proportions and details preserved so an authentic "look" is captured by simplifying the engineering. Would it be possible at this point to make the wheel rim and hub one piece with accurately space fins, smaller lug nuts, and perhaps an adjustment in proportion of the rim to hub? This would still enable the builder to paint and detail it correctly and easily if the plated hubcap and trim ring remained separate pieces.

I'm a bit late to this discussion but Dave's comment here is proof of the pudding that his measurements are correct and he's the only one with model in hand. So I'm happy to take his word for it. There's certainly a fair amount of distortion in the photos we're seeing of the assembled model. In at least one shot the length of the front also seems exaggerated, in the other, it doesn't, so we don't really have a lot of information to go on. The sticking point though is that the rear looks over-long in all the shots. So, is there something else off making it appear so? If I had the model in hand and the rear seemed a bit long, I'd want to confirm the correct length of the greenhouse, especially the length of the side window opening at the beltline and the overall length of the interior opening at the centerline from the base of the windshield to the base of the rear window. Then from the base of the rear window at the centerline to the edge of the decklid. Using a nice line illustration from the '61 Pontiac dealer album of color and upholstery here are some other points to ponder...

Outstanding! Love the idea of the four-piece wheel - more than I hoped for for sure!

Did anyone get better shots of the Moebius '61 Pontiac?

Yep. I remember that experience! Christmas, 1960, my Grandparents gave me a Palmer '60 Olds convertible kit. Oh, the joy...

No 2+2 until '64. Dave, will we get to see pics of the built up test shot? Plleeeezzz!!!

At least Revell was kind enough to provide a gigantic photo of the model on the box cover so that anyone who's ever seen a Mustang fastback can plainly see how awful that kit is!

Beautiful job! Great tribute to your buddy.

I'm going to have to try some of that stuff! Looks great!

Great foil work!

The Doyusha Aston-Martins are wildly inaccurate in basic body shape. Virtually worthless. Premier made a rather goofy 1/24-25th kit of a mid-'50s Anglia.

Very cool!

Really beautiful build, Steve!

Love that color!

One of my favorite kits in one of my favorite color combos! Look forward to seeing your build, Steve! I have one of the blue Craftsman kits I started working on a while back, converting it to a mild custom Fairlane 500 Club Victoria using an Edsel Corsair roof and windows. Project's parked for the moment while I forge ahead with its Sunliner companion. Incidentally, I think the Modelhaus sells the Edsel roof in resin for just such a conversion.

I'd go for it if it were an accurate-looking snap-kit of one from the late-'50s or early '60s. Full-detail kit, no way! I remember when my dad was car shopping in about 1964 'cause the 352-powered '58 Del Rio Ranch Wagon was starting to give him headaches. Among others, he sent away for a brochure on the Checker Marathon. Being an 11-year-old weasel with pretty strong opinions about what cars were acceptable, I made sure that brochure disappeared real quick! Even though my mom fell in love with a white '64 Country Squire, we got a clean '61 Olds F-85 wagon that was a lot cooler than a Marathon wagon!

Beautiful job!

Oh, boy, oh, boy....

Revell's '57 Cadillac is the limited production Eldorado Brougham. Other than resin, there are no kits of the regular production '57 Cadillac. No promos either for '57.

Looks like a convincing argument for a building a scale model kit of a Corvette.

The Junior/Craftsman kits turn up occasionally on eBay, Christian, and at toy and model swap meets. It should be noted that the original Trophy series T-bird kit has the inaccurately angled separate chrome windshield frame as do all subsequent reissues. By the time the "Vegas" kit I have was issued windshield wiper "detail" had been added to the lower windshield frame molding. I'm not sure when the inaccurate roof was added to the ex-Trophy kit but the mid-'60s "Wonderbird" issue has it, as do all subsequent reissues (AFAIK.) Both the kits have their origins in the promo tooling. Incidentally there were at least two subtly different promo tools, the kits were based on the later, common "Free Gift from Ford" red promo. Whether the body for the Junior/Craftsman kit is literally from the original red promo tool I could not say. All the original '57 promos were molded in acetate, and as a result are invariably shrunken and warped beyond redemption.

Nice color combo!

He who owns it now is responsible for fixing it before the next reissue.

If they listened to me they'd have re-tooled the awful body in the '58 Plymouth kit immediately after the first run of kits. However, I know mine wasn't the only voice crying in the wilderness, and they didn't listen to them either.

Whew! That's a relief. No need to explore that evolutionary dead end any further! What I'd love to see would be multi-textured bright and cast metal finishes on the 8-lug wheels to make detailing those puppies less of a headache. It'd also be nice if we got the dog dish caps, stock wheel covers, and the optional spinner wheel covers!