Robberbaron

It seems to go in fits and starts. Seems like they're about due for another batch of automotive kits, though you just never know with them. At one point there was a period of about 2 years where they weren't getting any kits. Seems like the Round 2 stuff they've been getting recently is closeout, while the Revell-Monogram stuff has been produced specifically for them. Every time I look at their website they seem to be opening a couple stores somewhere. Of course, that's good if it's near you. However, that also means that the finite number of any closeout kits are getting spread thinner as the store quantity increases. A while back people were posting that they were finding the Dyno Don '62 Bel Air. Would have gladly bought several of those, but never saw them show up at my local store. FYI, the only thing left at mine right now is some MPC Wacky Racers and Atlantis non-automotive stuff.

I'm inclined to believe this. Another factor may be that there is a limited amount of variations that one can build of the AWB cars (assuming one wants to build accurate replicas of 1:1 cars from the sixties), whereas there are thousands of possibilities with the 2-door sedans, which probably sparks more interest. A990 racers, street machines, slant 6 grocery getters, there were even some 2-door police cars in 1:1. Wouldn't be too tough to trans the body to a 4-door either. Having said that, I suspect that the people interested in the AWB kit are more likely to buy multiple quantities of it, to try to replicate several (or even all) of the original 1:1 drag cars.

Unfortunately, like almost everything else Revell tooled up in the mid-to-late '70s, the Capri has multiple accuracy/proportional problems. Numero uno is the incorrect Mustang-style wheel openings. Since Revell decided they had to share the basic body shell with the Capri and the Mustangs, it has the Capri fender blisters but the Mustang wheel openings/arches. So out of the box it's really neither fish not fowl. Aside from that, the front contours of the nose and hood are way off. The headlights aren't inset enough, and I think they're too tall to boot. The rear taillight side reflectors aren't right either. I will say it would be easier to turn the Capri into something presentable vs. one of the "Mustang" variations. But it would still take a significant effort if you want it to look "right". I have one I got cheap back in the nineties

Unfortunately, like almost everything else Revell tooled up in the mid-to-late '70s, the Capri has multiple accuracy/proportional problems. Numero uno is the incorrect Mustang-style wheel openings. Since Revell decided they had to share the basic body shell with the Capri and the Mustangs, it has the Capri fender blisters but the Mustang wheel openings/arches. So out of the box it's really neither fish not fowl. Aside from that, the front contours of the hood are way off. The headlights aren't inset enough, and I think they're too tall to boot. The rear taillight side reflectors aren't right either. I will say it would be easier to turn the Capri into something presentable vs. one of the "Mustang" variations. But it would still take a significant effort if you want it to look "right". I have one that I got cheap back in the nineties. When the Revell 5.0 was released, I initially thught about bashing it with the Capri. But the more I looked at it, the more I saw wrong, and I don't think I love the Fox Capri's enough to go through all the effort to correct everything.

The Hobart, IN store did the same thing - cleared everything out and seemed like that was the end. Then about two weeks ago I stopped in and suddenly they had some kits again. Not much of a selection, but tags for several more kits than what they had. Big news was the 1971 442 kit for $29.99. My HL still has them stickered at $39.99. Last week they had a 30% off coupon so I grabbed one. This week they had a 40% which gets it below $20 so I had to get one more.

Good point. Fully admit that I wasn't paying attention to those. Since the 1:1 parts are bolt on, I had it in my head that they were also separate in the kit.

Fully agree. I've never been interested in getting one of the original T-top versions of this kit. But now with the solid roof and the flat hood, it's an easy conversion to turn into a "mainstreamer" regular Camaro. Kind of ironic that Revell had to add the flat hood so they could match the incorrect movie car.

This thread needs to be moved to the Car Aftermarket / Resin / 3D Printed section. Slapping the Jo-Han name on a resin kit doesn't magically elevate their enterprise above all the other resin and 3D producers listed in that section. As far as I'm concerned, until this new Jo-han starts cutting steel tooling and producing some actual styrene products, it belongs further down in the forum. Don't get me wrong, this looks like a much nicer product than their Dodge pickups, and more power to them selling these. Just don't pretend they're something they're not. .

Stopped in the other night and finally got a 2nd AMT '60 Ford F100.

Not hearsay, straight from Steve Goldman himself: No explanation for what the licensing issues are.

I seem to recall hearing that Goodyear was becoming more of a pain to deal with. But as stated, some of their kits still include Goodyear branded tires. The bigger issue is that, for whatever reason, they can't get the licensing for the "Polyglas" name, which is pretty much mandatory for an accurate muscle-car era white letter Goodyear tire. That's the reason the '68 Camaro kits started out with 2 complete sets of properly printed Polyglas GT tires, but more recent runs deleted the "Polyglas GT" lettering and only have "Goodyear". Looks kind of strange to me, since pretty much any Goodyear white letter tire I've seen has the tire model name (?) in white 180° apart from the Goodyear branding. Makes them look unbalanced. I think that's the main reason for switching to Firestone: they can put both the brand and the model name so that they appear correct. I've been getting a chuckle from some of the rivet counters complaining that Firestone Wide Ovals didn't come from the factory for XYZ muscle car. Considering how fast those tires got smoked when those cars were new, within a couple months they could have been rolling on anything else.

Looks like it's straight out of the pages of Sport Truck, circa 1993. My brother's 1:1 had a similar burgundy interior.

Everything looks so right on this, incredible job.

Really, more power to Round 2 - not faulting them at all. Every space they can claim on the HL shelves means one less Revell competitor. But that's also one less purchasing option for the consumer. (And for the record, I like the AMT '53 F100 as much as the next guy) Just gotta wonder about who's making the purchasing/stocking decisions at the HL corporate level. The three '53 F100's is the silliest example. But just in the above photo, there are also multiple boxings of the '67 GTO and '67 Shelby GT350. Since my LHS went extinct, HL is my only brick and mortar source for kits now. So it's annoying to see them doing stuff like this repeatedly.

More info straight from the horse's mouth in this thread (Erik Solie works for Moebius):

This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts: HL is getting fewer and fewer new releases as time goes on, yet they are taking up shelf space with THREE different versions of the AMT '53 Ford pickup!

That's been my working theory: Tom Daniel did his design with the expectation that Monogram would tool up a BBC for it. After he did his part, it was out of his hands as far as how well they followed through on his concept. It's kind of hard to fault them considering how well these sold, despite the cut corners.

Really nice job! The 3D printed grill looks like a kit part, and the whole build just looks "right".

In a different thread, someone else pointed out that the red car depicted in the factory stock box art is a "standard" Nova hardtop, with different side trim than the SS. Again, I have to assume that this is a mistake and it will have the SS side trim as shown on the blue Resto Mod box art...

At first glance they look quite similar, but there are actually a lot of changes on the '65s. Most obvious is the different grill and headlight bezels. Turn signals also got relocated to the front bumper, so that's different too. (Note that the '65 Resto Mod box art does NOT show the correct bumper, but I'm assuming the correct one will be included in the kit) Side trim and emblem design/location are different on the '65, so different side inserts are needed for the tooling. Taillights/backup lights are also different. In the interior, the '65 had a different console. I think upholstery patterns also changed for '65. Probably other differences I'm not listing.

Huh, surprised to hear that since I seem to recall seeing a lot of them in the Chicago area back when they were new. Maybe it varied by region?

Official announcement from Erik with Moebius in this thread:

Around that same time the MPC Pinto wagon "Pony Express" and Nova "Squad Rod" also came and went rather quickly. I don't think I saw any of those at Hobby Lobby, only my LHS. So that may also correspond to a smaller production run. The Nova just got reissued (without the police components), so I wouldn't be surprised to see another run of the Pacer within the next couple years.

Correct that the tail panel is different, though I wouldn't characterize it as a slight difference. The standard SS trim is completely different vs. the Z16, including "Chevrolet" lettering and ribbed trim running above/below. Even the Z16 taillights are different, since they are from the lower line "base" Chevelles, not the Malibu. In addition to the tail panel, the side "Malibu SS" badges are in a different location on the Z16. So you have quite a task ahead of you to convert the Revell kit to a "standard" Super Sport. I've seen it done a handful of times, but it's not for the faint-hearted. Add to that the fact that the Revell kit has front/rear bumper guards. While not incorrect for a standard SS, many people would prefer to not have them on their model (the Lindberg 66 Chevelle also has that issue). Finally, Revell managed to botch the side window shape on their '65. Where the 1:1 upper molding/rain gutter should have a slight gentle arch, the Revell kit is arrow straight.