Robberbaron

X2 About half the time that I start responding to a thread, as I'm typing I will then realize that I really don't have anything productive to say, so I delete it. This also often applies when I'm tempted to post a smart-a$$ response. Sometimes just typing the words is cathartic enough that you don't need to actually hit "submit", as long as you have impulse control. If you don't have anything nice to say...

I much prefer that an older thread be continued rather than starting a new one on the exact same subject, especially kit reviews and such. As stated, some of the older content can be invaluable, especially from members who are no longer with us. Consider that Round 2 is reissuing many kits that were previously reissued about 10 years ago. If a thread from 2008 already exists for the same basic kit (tool), doesn't it make more sense to continue that original thread, with further commentary/comparison with the new 2018 release? Among everything else that Harry did for the forum, he was very diligent about combining threads when multiples of the same subject popped up. Some other previous moderators were also very on top of this. That's not a dig at the current moderators, it had to take an awful lot of time to do it effectively, and I don't think I would be able to do it, myself. What infuriates me is 3 different ongoing threads started in the kit review section, for the exact same subject. Either because people were either too lazy or too ignorant to look further down the page or, God forbid, go to page 2 to see if there was an existing thread on the subject.

Sounds like a nice setup. My daily driver is also a white '06 Sierra that I bought new. Mine is a standard cab longbed, bought it as a Worktruck, but have upgraded it with a chrome grille, chrome rear bumper, chrome side moldings, etc. Aside from the regular cab and 8 ft bed, it pretty much looks like yours, except I replaced the W/T steelies with Denali 6-spoke rims. I always planned to do some additional mods, but I got married a year after buying it, then house/wife/kids ate up most of the previous free time. It's turned out to be a pretty bulletproof daily driver, though. I'm at 113K and the 4.8 still doesn't burn a drop of oil. Aside from routine maintenance, the only real annoyance has been blowing several brake lines due to road salt, since I'm in the heart of the rust belt.

The Revell kit has the upper grille trim correctly molded as a separate piece, to install on the hood. On the AMT it is just molded together with the grille assembly. I don't see any problem with the A-pillars on either of the '67 kits. The Lindberg '66 Chevelle is the kit that has the too thick A-pillars.

Notice this illustration shows the incorrect 1971 grille/headlight doors, like the old glue kit. Please tell me that the new tool snap Charger has the correct 1969 grille pattern and this is just an illustration mistake. Otherwise, why bother getting one of these?

Just right! Sure don't see too many of these built and posted anymore.

Back when they were still common daily drivers, I used to occasionally see the big mid-seventies Ford LTDs running Buick Road Wheels from the big Buicks, which always seemed really "wrong" to me, even as a kid. (To be honest, even now it kinda bothers me to see them on anything besides a Buick, even other GM brands.) Think there were quite a few different FoMoCo cars that used 5 on 5, probably for the same reason GM did on all their 71-76 GM full-sized: cars were just getting so huge at that time.

That mall has everything...

Thank you for the insight - I wasn't aware of all the differences between the fuel tanks/spare tire wells/frames. Proof once again that there's no substitute for first hand experience with a subject... "High school was a long time ago now" Ain't that the sad truth!!!

Yup, and I've seen resin 2 door sedan versions of both the Fairlane and the Mercury Comet available from a couple casters. Ford did some weird stuff. I believe the Fairlane & Falcon wagons shared the same wheelbase, just different front clips, and maybe taillights. The '66 Ranchero had a Falcon front clip, then for '67 they used the Fairlane front clip. I'd like to see someone bolt a Fairlane front clip onto a Falcon sedan body, just because.

In 1/25 scale, the chassis from the Revell Cutlass kits will have the best detail, hands down. IF I'm correct about the wagon wheelbase being 108" (see above), the Cutlass chassis should match right up, assuming Perrys correctly shortened the wheelbase from the El Camino that they based it on. The pictures I've seen of the Perry's wagons looked pretty good, but I know at least one other caster did a Malibu wagon that looked weird, I think because they didn't shorten the wheelbase. Of course if you use the Cutlass, you'll probably want to replace the Olds engine. The MPC El Camino small blocks are actually very good representations of late '70s to mid '80s SBC's, including very nice multipiece HEI distributors. You could either swap in the MPC engine into the Olds chassis, or just shorten the El Camino chassis. The MPC El Caminos do have separate drivetrain and exhaust parts, but it dates back to the 1978 annual, so it's not nearly as nice as the Cutlass parts. Another option would be the MPC 1980 Monte Carlo. I seem to recall the engine is about as detailed as the El Camino's, and the chassis should scale out to 108" wheelbase. Problem is that driveshaft/axle/exhaust are all molded in with the chassis plate.

Chris: First off, awesome collection of Malibus (especially the black one!) You obviously have a lot of first hand experience with them. I have more experience on the Monte Carlo side of the equation (daily drove a '79 Landau with pretty much every factory option), but between family/friends/co-workers I've had exposure to all of the different brands and most variations of the 1978+ A/G bodies. One item I'm not sure about is your statement about the wagon wheelbase matching the El Caminos. For previous generations of A-bodies (through 1977) this is correct, but I thought the 1978+ wagons had the same 108" wheelbase as the coupes and sedans, and only the El Caminos (and their GMC Cabellero clones) had the 117" wheelbase. That said, I have less experience with the wagons than the coupes (rode in a couple wagons, but never got my hands dirty working on them).

Probably my #1 item is Ansen Sprint style slotted mags, especially if I can find a big & little set like in the old Monogram '55 Chevy Street machine. These have always been my favorite 1:1 wheel style since I was a kid. By the mid-90s many older kits were getting "updated" with billet style directional wheels, 3-spokes, etc., so it seemed like it was getting harder to find nice slot mags in current kits. That's about the time I started hoarding the ones I could get. Ironically, I haven't actually used too many on my builds since I wanted to save them for the "perfect" project...

I always thought the AMT '58 Impala and '59 Elco Steelies were pretty good versions of factory stock, I've put them on a couple different beaters over the years

Truly great work! Everything seems accurate to how a well done 1:1 would look "back in the day".

Guess they're not fooling around, at least: From their Facebook page...

Excellent build, as usual!

What are you asking for her? Whatever it is, it isn't enough!

Since I had her out, here are a couple more pics. Slicks were the standard solid Goodyear bluestreaks that AMT used forever. Safe bet that the new reissue will have some version of Round2's new tampo-printed slicks. Partially built engine, showing those Mercury valve covers.: Generic decal sheet, with Chevy and Mopar decals in addition to Ford: I'd take some pics of one of the RC2 reissues that I have, but can't find the box that they're in right now...

Alright, you guys made me unearth my partially built 1969 reissue from my stash. Here are some pics of the Hurst wheels that I'm HOPING get recreated in this new upcoming reissue: Normally I'd take the tires off all of these and store them separately, but two of them have the tires on there so tight that I can't pry them off without fear of busting the rims themselves (wheel backs are pretty well welded on) The way I figure it, if tire melt hasn't started after 49 years, its probably not gonna happen. Will we actually get a new version of these? I sure hope so, but my gut tells me it's more likely that they'll just include some of their newly tooled American-type mags they've been putting in some of their releases the last couple years. The Hurst wheels are pretty prominent on the box art, though...

Been looking forward to seeing this one completed, Steve. Wouldn't change a thing! Particularly impressed with the work you did on the bed, correcting those taillights and matching the trim on the cab. Top notch work, as usual!

My bet is on Imperial

Thank you for the corrections, everyone. Must have been crossing up the Merc with a different kit reissued around that time.

Correct - the 1969 reissue still had the Hurst mags from the first release. The last time it was available from RC2 (NOT Round 2) was around 2004-ish with an aqua (teal?) car on the box. This version didn't have the Hursts, I believe it had American Racing Vectors or a similar "turbine" style wheel? (I bought a couple when they were reissued, but they're buried deep in my "stash" and I don't have the ambition to dig them out right now.) I'm suspecting that the wheel switch was made for the "Countdown" reissue in the late 1970s. I haven't seen that version, but when RC2 was reissuing all of this type of stuff, it seemed like they were dusting off all this old tooling and running it pretty much unmodified.

As far as conventional 4-door wagons, as Snake mentioned, the 65 and 66 Chevelles would be my first choices. You mentioned '80s and older, so there are also the Revell '48 Ford woodie, and the AMT '41 Ford woodie. Going back even further there are several Model A woodie kits (Monogram, Revell, and MPC, I believe) I think everything else that's been recently available has been 2-doors. In addition to the Nomads, there's the recent Revell '57 Ford Del Rio and '49 Mercury. Round 2 recently reissued the MPC Pinto wagon and AMT Pacer wagon. Johan had the 1960 Plymouth and 1961 Olds F-85 in their USA Oldies line, but those were gone by the early-to-mid-90s. Can't think of anything else that's been offered new in the last 20 to 30 years, though I'm probably forgetting something. And no, I'm not including foreign branded subject matter, I know there have been some Subarus and such, just zero interest on my part.