Robberbaron

Jim, it's a bit of a drive from Valpo, but if you're heading west you owe it to yourself to check out G&G Hobbies in downtown Griffith. Old school hobby shop that's been there forever. Best part is that almost the entire east side of the store is model kits, mostly automotive. They're the only local brick and mortar location I know of that carries Moebius, and they also have everything from Round 2 and Revell, so it's the place to go for any of the kits that HL decides not to stock. Very competitive prices too. Unfortunately, like the rest of the country, all the other local "old school" hobby shops have slowly withered and died off.

I stopped in there on Friday, that end display looked.exactly the same, so I don't think they sold a thing. I didn't think they had any auto kits either, but further back in the store down one of the toy aisles they had a cluster of about a dozen Lindberg "1938 Custom Ford Van" Boyd-looking thing. . Took a hard pass on that one. Nothing else automotive that I was able to find

If they're still working on retooling the '30 coupe components, replacing the Deuce-style roof insert with a stock style fabric roof would make it worth the wait, IMHO (just saying...) Almost a sure thing that they'll just recreate the original tooling using the existing CAD files. Still seems like a dopey decision to design it with that Deuce roof insert when 99.9% of 1:1 Model A rods DON'T have that. It'll still sell like hotcakes, regardless.

Stopped in at my local HL yesterday (Hobart, IN). Still no Supernatural Impalas, but they finally did have several new releases: '65 Fairlane Stocker, '70 Galaxie Police, and the Revell '29 Roadster. First new kits I've seen there since the reopening.I For all I know, they may be carrying the SN Impalas and they're just selling out. They only seem to stock two of each kit on the shelves, and frankly they don't seem too diligent about restocking at this location. No auto kits on clearance either, but did see some aircraft/ships with red tags. Suspect there's probably several guys that come in systematically to poach any marked down car/truck kits. I scored a bunch several years ago, but that was just timing/dumb luck on my part.

Technically, since that has the high-mounted side trim, I believe that's probably a '67 Bel Air. (For some reason, in 1967 Chevy decided the Bel Air would get the 6-light taillights, like the Impala. Every other year they used the basic 4-light arrangement like the Biscayne)

My local Hobart, IN Hobby Lobby also still hasn't gotten these. No surprise since it always seems to be back of the pack as far as stocking new releases. Literally nothing new on the shelves since they reopened, and no spaces marked for anything upcoming.

Stopped at my LHS yesterday after work and was able to FINALLY snag one of the new release Revell '29 Model A roadsters. Told me they've been flying off the shelf as fast as he can stock them. Also stopped by Michaels the other day and got another '32 Ford 5-window with their 50% off coupon. Can't have too many of those, just for parts.

Wow, that was 2014? Time flies. I have that reissue, but don't remember the cheaters slicks. I'll have to take a look at them next time I'm digging through the stash.

Looks good, Snake. This would be the only way I'd be interested in building this one, too.

Well, maybe it's patterned after a 1:1, but that doesn't mean the styling is any less bizarre. This is obviously an aesthetics thing/matter of opinion, but the "swoopy" styling of that camper shell clashes with the straight-lined styling of the Courier, IMHO. My first reaction to the above picture is "it looks like it was left in the sun too long". ?

I was the same way when I was a kid. I remember at family gatherings several of my uncles got a kick out of quizzing me on make/model/year of different cars. I even remember arguing with my Uncle Don that a Ford Galaxy was a 1969, not a 1970 because the taillights were different. I knew for a fact, because my dad had bought my Grandfather's 1970 Galaxy 500 sedan when he quit driving. I new all the differences between the different years of full size Ford's and Chevies, and even some of the model differences (like when I noticed that Biscaynes and Bel Airs had fewer taillights than Impalas) Our other family car was a 1968 Impala 4-door sedan, so I would love to see a '68 conversion too. We really need new plastic versions of the '68 and '69 Impalas. Those are the only model years from 1958 thru 1970 that aren't available in a modern kit. While we're dreaming, my first car was a '77 Caprice coupe, so I would love a kit of that too (or an actual DECENT resin version). Not gonna hold my breath for that one, though...

*edit* The cheater slicks are not included in this AMT branded reissue. ? I'm disappointed too. Never had one of the original PL versions, but I always heard that the cheaters were the highlight of the original release. With some of the body inaccuracies, I was on the fence about getting this reissue. Without the slicks, I think I'll pass. As others have mentioned, Round 2 is clearly cost-cutting by skimping on tires in a lot of their recent releases. Problem is, when the tires are potentially the best part of the kit, they loose sales. Also, didn't Dave Metzner (who worked for Polar Lights/RC2 before Moebius) state that this kit had a complete Hemi engine tooled up that never saw the light of day under PL? I was hoping Round 2 would include that too. (not that really there's any lack of 1/25 Hemi's, but it would have been another selling point for this one)

Ok, I saw the second roof and assumed it must be a convertible up top. Didn't think of the possibility that it could be a custom part.

I've got a Modelhaus repop of the original, to use on the one kit in my stash, but I'd pony up for another one if they actually fixed it for this release. Seeing how they refuse to fix the butchered taillights in the two recent 1969 Chevelle reissues, my gut tells me they won't fix the headlights on this one either. On the other hand, Round 2 has been retooling quite a few parts for some of their recent reissues. Usually though, it seems like it's a matter of restoring parts that have gone missing over the years instead of correcting parts that are still present. Personally, I think some of that money could be better spent correcting the shortcomings in a kit like this (headlights, taillights, rear Pontiac lettering) vs. retooling the weird asymmetrical custom parts for the recent 1963 Impala reissue, for example, which very few builders are likely to use.

Just noticed that convertible up top. Have any of the post-80s releases included that? I have the late 80s/early 90s release (molded in turd brown), but I don't remember that being included. Then again, I haven't looked at it in at least 10 years. Just wondering if that's from a newly opened runner in the tooling, or if it was also in the RC2 releases?

VERY happy to see the news on this one! Certainly never expected to see this one again, especially after seeing the comments on that old hanger shot picture from several years ago, plus the fact the original body got butchered. About the only way it could be better in my book is if they had retooled the hardtop body instead of the convertible (since I personally much prefer fixed-roof cars). I certainly still plan to get one. I am curious, however: if the body needed to be retooled, is there a reason they chose to do the convertible vs. the hardtop? Supposedly kits of convertibles don't sell as well compared to the same subject as a hardtop - it's definitely easier for a builder to convert a hardtop body to a convertible than vice-versa. I'm sure the original hardtop and convertible kits shared the same interior tub (with the convertible doglegs), so that doesn't seem like the answer. Maybe the reason is that they were able to reuse the original convertible-specific body core that they already had? Not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth here, just genuinely intrigued by the process R2 sent through when they decided to resurrect this kit.

A '68 Chevelle wagon based on the El Camino would be sweet! Seems like they could reuse all the dirty bits, similar to the Revell '66 siblings. Regarding the Vista Cruiser, that generation (along with the Buick Sportwagon) actually used a stretched 121" wheelbase, I believe. The "standard" (non-Vista Cruiser) Cutlass wagons used the same 116" wheelbase shared with the other A-body 4 -doors and the El Caminos. Since Olds didn't offer a true full size wagon at the time, the Vista Cruiser helped fill a gap above the standard 116" wagons. I really like the idea of a '69 Vista Cruiser, and a tie-in with "That '70s Show" would match up with Round 2's marketing strategy. The main problem is that there is very little that they could use from the existing '69 442/Hurst Olds. Really the only things I can think of are the engine block and auto trans from the H/O, front glass, front bumper/grill surround, and probably (?) the dash and rear axle. Everything else would need to be newly tooled: body, interior, long wheelbase chassis, driveshaft, exhaust, rear bumper, taillights, wheel covers are all different. Even the grill inserts would need to be new, and the non-power-dome hood is different too. I can still imagine Round 2 doing it due to the marketing tie-in, but it would be a LOT more ambitious than the Supernatural Impala, which is itself pretty impressive. I agree that one of the Brady Mopar wagons also seems possible, but I think it would be a similar situation to the Vista Cruiser: almost everything new. Family Truckster seems possible too, but I think that would have much less appeal. Can''t really think of any other iconic TV/movie wagons that could be a candidate? Looking where Round 2 is spending their money for major new tooling, I really suspect any kind of new wagon tooling would have some kind of show biz tie-in.

I was lucky at mine, since they had an in-store price scanner literally 5 feet away from the display. None of the kits had price tags on them, there were only large tags on each side of the display. I thought some of the kits might be in the wrong places, so I started grabbing several at a time and scanning each, with the results stated above.

My local Wal-Mart is carrying Round 2 kits for the holidays, and they did have the '78 Dodge trucks for $24.99, which is about what my LHS has them for too. More than you'd pay at HL with a 40% coupon, but as Mark stated, if HL does end up carrying them, you're not likely to see them for a while. And there's no guarantee that they will carry it. There's always certain Round 2 kits that HL chooses not to stock for whatever reason. (some examples are the most recent reissue of the 1960 Ford Starliner, the MPC Squad Rod Nova, and the AMT Pacer wagon)

My wife ordered new bikes for the kids for Christmas from Wal-Mart online, and I stopped by the Schererville, IN store to pick them up. On the main aisle through the back of the store, they had a Round 2 free standing display, as described above. Quite surprised by the variety of kits they had. One side seemed to have "basic" automotive (car) kits that were $19.99, these included: 1959 Imperial, 1967 Impala, 1967 GTO (the New Weekend Warrior version), 1971 Duster, 1972 Nova "Old Pro", '77 Pinto (stock) and quite a few others I don't recall. Next side seemed to be all the TV/movie licensed vehicles, including Knight Rider, the Godzilla Jeep, Ghostbusters Ecto 1, etc. I believe these were all $24.99. Third side I believe was all Coca Cola branded kits. Yeah yeah, I know: "They could fill the whole display with those!" I believe all those were either $22.99 or $24.99, didn't pay attention because I didn't care. Last side was a hodge podge: some Lindberg non-auto garbage and Weird-Ohs kits on top for $14.99 I think (again: didn't care). Bottom was pick-up kits for $24.99. Several of these were the ones with bonus items like the '78 Dodge and '86 El Camino with the mini-bikes and the '60 Chevy with the go-cart, so at least there's an argument for why you'd pay more for those. But they also had the GMC Deserter and the Super Stones '78 Ford, which really don't strike me as anything special. The basic automotive kits aren't too bad of a deal at $19.99. Since most kits at HL list for $29.99 now, even with a 40% off coupon your paying $17.99 plus tax. Since my local HL has refused to stock anything new for months, this is a pretty good alternative. I ended up getting the '67 GTO because of the Christmas tree, tires, extra wheels, and decals they added for the Weekend Warrior reissue. Sure the base kit is still a turd, but they polished it up enough to get me to buy another!

Finally got around to cracking open the 2005 Chrysler kit that I picked up in October. After checking it out I was looking at the box, curious about how long it had possibly been sitting around, as discussed above: Surprise! It was manufactured in 2019! Date under the UPC on the box bottom is 06/19/2019 to be exact. Took a look at the '50 Mercury: UPC date is also 06/19/2019. Stamping inside of the Merc body (on the inside of the roof) is also dated 2019. Seems like at least some of these kits must have been manufactured specifically for Ollies, since that's only a few months before they actually started hitting their shelves in September. Maybe that's also the reason for the $9.99 price compared to $7.99 previously - at least some of these are no longer overstock from other retailers anymore.

Comparison pictures of 4-door hardtop vs. 4-door sedan:

Agreed that the tires don't seem like a deal breaker. Gotta wonder, would vacuforming be an option for the window glass? Not sure if they could do that in volume, but seems like creating a buck to vacuform would be cheaper than machining new tooling for the glass. Then again, the whole thing might seem too crude to the average customer. Is there some kind of precedent in the model airplane or military world? (are there injected molded kits with vacuformed glass?). Or is vacuforming really just something you only see in the aftermarket/cottage industry, like in resin kits?

Steve, out of curiosity, do you plan to use some generic poverty caps, or does somebody in the aftermarket produce the correct Oldsmobile hubcaps for this application? I'd definitely be interested in getting a few sets if someone produces them, especially if they actually have the "Oldsmobile" lettering. In my opinion also, pretty hard to beat this look: Any decision on stripes/no stripes? I personally find the '68 fender stripes detract from the lines of the car, but that's just my 2 cents.

If you're going for factory correct, I'm not sure if the ones from the Chevelle would be right. As someone mentioned, Chevy's version of these wheels was painted, and I think they always used a trim ring. Since the Olds version was chromed, I don't think they ever offered trim rings from the factory (?) A friend of mine used to have a '69 W-30 that he bought from the original owner. It had SSI wheels, and I clearly recall those didn't have trim rings.