Robberbaron

Just got back from a family visit in El Paso. Hit the Hobby Lobby on Zaragoza hoping for a '68 Chevelle. No dice, but I was happy to snag another 1985 442/FE3X. Those have been MIA at my LHS and my local Hobby Lobby since last year. No clearance kits at the Zaragoza store either - just as well, since we didn't have room in the family truckster for 6 kit boxes, anyway.

And what's up with the red version shown in the upper right corner of the T/A box art? is leaving the rear spoiler off supposed to qualify as an alternate version? Since the rear spoiler was standard on the T/A, that doesn't really work, especially with the molded in air extractors on the fenders. Now if they went ahead and tooled up a new Formula hood or a plain Firebird hood, I'd give them a pass. I still have a '90s reissue of this one sitting in the box, mid-conversion to a base Firebird. Filled the hood hole with scrap plastic, but didn't care enough to put in all the work to smooth it and get the contours right.

Picked up a '59 Imperial at the Hobart, IN location about a week and a half ago. The one I'm waiting for now is the '68 Chevelle. They've had the location on the shelf tagged for about a month and a half, but still empty every time I stop in. According to others on this board, they've had them at other HL locations, but so far nothing here (or maybe they're consistently selling and they're not restocking the shelves quick enough?)

Totally believe it. I also got one of the '48 Ford police cars last year on clearence, when it was grouped with a bunch of other kits. Seemed at the time like it was pretty soon to have put that one on clearance. They also put both the S&H Torino and the factory stock version (blue car on box art) on clearance. But after the clearance ended, they've continued to carry both since then. None of it makes any sense, so I'm convinced all of those were mistakes. The '68 Chevelles and AMT branded '34 pickups.are just hitting the shelves, so there's no doubt that was a mistake, too. I was at my local HL today, and there were no kits on clearance, so I don't think it's anything from corporate. My guess is the local store manager screwed up.

Crimony! Every other release is a Coca-Cola!

Would this be the Street Rods kit that was only issued once back in the '70s?

Incredible! That is some of the most convincing rust I've seen on any 1/25 scale vehicle.

I've got to say, about a year ago it seemed like Round 2 was off their game a bit, but seeing some.of their recent releases, it seems like that was just a lull. Nice to see the extra effort they put into this one. They'll be rewarded with my $

Absolutely stunning! Outstanding work, as usual.

Don't forget Frank Drebin's car from The Nekkid Gun:

That's too cool!!!

I don't recall ever seeing the R-M branded engine parts packs in stores - probably was during my "modeling hiatus". Anyone know if these were still molded in America? If so, let's hope Atlantis got the tooling (can't see the Germans being too interested in these...)

Anyone know if the old Revell 1/25 Beetle tooling ever made its way to China? If it remained stateside, I wonder if Atlantis has it now? Can't picture the Germans really being interested in the old 1/25 tooling when they already have the new 1/24 tooling. If it ended up in China, I think we'll never see it reissued.

I give up! Tried posting a detailed response last night, repeated 404 error. Still happening, yet I can post this? Maybe it doesn't like what I'm trying to quote?

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Sure looks like poverty caps on steelies on that D100...?

Huh, so THAT was the inspiration for Round 2's most recent box art! Learned something new (and useless) today...

WOW, thank you for this link! That entire site is a gold mine! Gonna be going there a lot for reference, highly recommend bookmarking it: http://vintagewheelcatalogs.com/

Aside from the front end, hood, and front portion of the roof, the rest of the tool appears to have remained agonizingly stock. Even the "Grand Prix" scripts remained intact on the c-pillars (and the trunk lid, I believe). If this tooling still exists, I have no doubt that Round 2 could return it to stock. They pretty much had to do the same thing in restoring the AMT Gremlin tooling to stock. The question is whether at this point Round 2 is still willing to make that kind of investment. I can't think of any tooling on which they've done this kind of major restoration work recently. The Bruce Larson USA-1 Vega would have required a fair amount of changes, and it seems like they've given up on doing that one (at least for the time being).

^^^ "All American Trucks" - love the irony! Pretty cool nonetheless.

As you said, probably because you don't see them anymore especially in that condition. I'd also wager that many of the people drawn to it had a personal connection to one of these cars in their past. Fairmonts were ubiquitous around here back in the '80s. If someone in you immediate family didn't own one, chances are that you knew a friend or co-worker with one. My sister's first car was a well-used black 4-door Fairmont, 4-banger, no AC. It smelled like an ashtray from the former owner (a chain smoking little old lady). It truly was the 1970s equivalent to a Model T.

4-door Mavericks had a longer wheelbase, so that would require a different chassis than the 2-door, in addition to the different body, interior, and side glass. Aside from Gapp and Roush, don't think anyone else ran a 4-door Maverick in pro stock (at least that's the only one that people remember and would be interested in building). There might be about 100 people worldwide interested in building a stock 4-door Maverick, so tooling one up would be a financial disaster. This is the perfect example where resin would serve a niche market. I thought someone did cast a 4-door Maverick already. Don't recall who it was or when I may have seen it, since I have zero interest. As far as no agreement with GM, that's nonsense. Moebius has already produced the '61 Pontiac Catalina and Ventura kits. Now, I realize Moebius has been sold to Pegasus, but there's no reason to assume they won't be able to get new licensing agreements, if necessary. My big concern is whether or not Pegasus continues to allow Moebius to develop new automotive subjects. I suspect their main interest in buying Moebius is the sci-fi side of the business, and the automotive stuff may be low priority/no interest.

I'll admit I didn't notice the bullet center caps on the new box art. Since Round 2 had to change the box art, I'd be (a bit) surprised if they didn't show what's actually going to be in the box. So my reckless speculation was probably way off base ? The other obvious factor I didn't think about till now is that with the side-mount spare, they can't just throw a set of four wheels in from a different kit. So pretty much no way they're throwing the wheels from the '36 into this kit.

Comet front bumper is different - center section extends forward to match the protruding grille. Maverick bumpers/grilles/hoods are flat front.