Ragtop Man

Glad it helps! These kits usually end up under the tables at swaps in the "$10 each / 3 for $20" pile, making them great candidates for parting out. Also, the earlier the '66-67 GTO chassis that you can find, the better. Early blue plastic released do not have as much flashing and sink marks, with detail painting and a little work they look good for a shelf build.

Underbody weathering is just spot on. If I didn't know it was a model, I wouldn't know.

Who's going to be first to make those flashing lights work? Looks like there would be a lot of room for a small battery pack and the wiring could run through some of the superstructure. BTW, all of those builds are very, very cool!

Most 1:1 Effies get a wheelbase adjustment, I'm not sure why Ford was putting the fronts so far back in the bucket. Wouldn't hurt any of the kits out that I can see.

Only reason I mentioned is that sometimes PL Goats end up in Doomsville, when builders get an eyeful of the body. I know the desginer, and his math was spot on, but by the time the Peoples Revoultionary Hobby Design Collective #297 got done with it, you could have carved that body from a pine block and done better.

FWIW, the best-ever scale 389 Tripower (that will look great in this kit) is in the JL / PL '64 GTO.

Perfect. Exactly what R2 was hoping you would do. Gold and the redline ** Supremes ** are a great call.

Either you have this book, or you need it. Scolarship is on point, and there are even a few surprises in there. Glad that HP was willing to listen!

Box '77-91 Caprice/Impala sitting there in the corner of the Jr. High dance, like the pretty girl the 7th grade boys are too scared to talk to. So many potential versions, appealing to so many different builders.

Herbie Goes to Baja! Love this.

Making the popcorn now. Have always loved the '34, but never understood how all the majors could swing wide of the subjects all these years later (well, save for Monogram, but 1/24) Really looking forward to this one!

Great link, many thanks!

It is a great thing that Tom will be concentrating on his own work now. However, losing his talents to 'retirement' is a bittersweet send off. I've yet to see a 3D product that is equal to what Tom does with his hands and mind. He gets the 'feel' of the subject that computers and digits have yet to capture. The finished product from the mold is virtually indistinguishable from styrene, lacking only for sprue tags. And this build is out of sight, aligns exactly with what we used to see in the old days poking around under the hoods of those old Fords. Great job as always, Tom - hope to see you at Macomb!

Nice clean fab work!

Heard the first batch is sold out - any truth to that?

So, the search continues to replicate my '67 1:1 - in diecast, for now. Found this online, but never heard of the company. Not unusual in the world of Chinesium, they tend to come and go. "Unique Replicas" - can't find any indication they are still in business, or if this is a knockoff/licensed item from another DC company. I'm digging how this looks, but the price is swerving into the builder-box annual lane...not sure if I want to pop for one. If you have it or any experience with the brand, please sound off. As always, my thanks!

I recieved one several years ago from a friend of mine in the industry... but the rear axle has sagged quite a bit (as well as a 1/12 Revell Ferrari) are there any solutions for this? Also are there any vendors selling 3D or resin cast replacement bits and bobs like door handles, mirrors or antennae? Wish I could find some good 1/12 PE - I'd go after this with a different color and detail it up. Imagine if the tool was still around and they shot it in styrene or ABS... hmmm!

I likethis design, cool looking and simple. The day I win lotto is the day I track down a 599, saw it in Italy when we visited many years ago, just fell in love widdit. Ditto the GTO, even more, but now those have gone up a lot. So I'll stick to building for now. Not sure if these are still available, I need to check. Thanks for any clues or ideas...

Hell yes! Look forward to seeing them all! Hope that Moby is keeping an eye peeled for other under-utilized assets (A-M?) to add to the line. I missed the coupe, had a hard time telling it from the FB based on the box art. While I do Jarius' work - I'm eager to see if Sean Svendsen will get to take a swing at them, or, if they will go to market with the same art but just a different logo on the box.

Here's what probably happened: Promo production always came before annual kit production. Thus, the 428 shipped to dealers (with surplus to toy stores) and in the conversion to annual kit... someone said, "Hey, how come that doesn't say 427?" Sent it back to the engraver, who did their best, but it is slightly wonky. Alas, the 427 Galaxie production for 1967 totalled 89 cars, all in for Custom, XL, 7L and LTD (!) IMO, sand it off, use the shields from the '66 427 Fairlane. While they need to be thinned a bit, they are quite good. Also - the 427 colors (in their OE configuration) are three shades between red and red-orange. Roger Towne of the FB 7-Litre group did some extensive research on the subject.

This looks GREAT. I popped for one of these when the LHS owner got tired of looking at the opened sample on his shelf and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Any notes or details on the build that you could share would be great. If my skills were better, I'd be a heretic and do a roadster - I think I like those as much or more than the Gullwing. And I'm keeping an eye out for an affordable Testor's issue of the same thing.

Anyone do these like some of the really sicko drift cars yet?

A little less than $40 all in, for all three. The major model mags just don't do this level of coverage any more, so for the price of an ish or two of the usual thing and a cup of joe, this was a great value. I'd originally thought they would be more about just missing pratfalls that seem to be in every kit. But these are all a LOT more. The Vette pdf is the sleeper, literally hundreds of pages of mind blowing scratch building, and huge color photos as it came together. Dunno if the detail parts for the Ferrari F1 are still available or not. From my first (relatively fast) read, it seemd like there were still good tips that you could use, even if you didn't get an aftermarket upgrade kit. As for the Trumpeter Mk II GT, a lot of the commentary is somewhat in past tense, showing finished work before assembly, vs. process for the Vette. In any case, having read each of them now, I'd still do them all over again, and look for some other subjects loitering on the shelf taunting my skills. It would be a heck of a .pdf to do some of the really mean and fiddly kits, like the Mickey Thompson Challenger, Ivo 4-engine rail, JoHan Turbine Car, etc. FWIW, I get as much of a kick seeing them come together as I do flinging plastic.

Looks like a scene from a movie. Terrific build.

Thanks, that's what I thought. The one that caught me on the F-100 was the '64 rebox - with some inventory left over in 1965, maybe? I do not ever recall seeing that on a shelf at any LHS (well, I was 4 y.o., but can recall models from earlier than that) or in any of my 'finds' of decades past. A new/old tool Chevy sure would be a nice analogue to the F-100s, and I bet it would sell as well or better than the Fords.