StevenGuthmiller

I agree Jeremy, and I didn't take it as disrespectful at all. Just wanted to offer my perspective of the whole "rivet counter" connotation. Steve

Maybe we could just call them what they really are instead of "rivet counters". Just very dedicated and particular modelers. Steve

I agree. But it works both ways. I won't insist that others have to be one, if they don't dis those of us that are one. The term "Rivet Counter" is a negative term just by it's nature, and over the years it has become something viewed as an "undesirable" trait, and there are plenty out there that will use it as such in their conversations. I suppose that we, as "rivet counters" could come up with a derogatory term for people that don't do things as we like to do them, but I don't think that it would be particularly appropriate. Steve

I suppose I would have to call myself one of these.......at least currently. Steve

And then whines again because it doesn't meet his standards. Steve

The whiner. The guy who constantly whines about prices, but at the same time demands the most intricately detailed kits ever produced. Steve

Now I want to build my ‘64 hard top! ? Steve

That’s beautiful!! Steve

Some of mine are built promos, and actually not even under the Johan banner. They came from Johan molds, but were marketed by X-EL, so I say go for it! Steve

My only point was that demand may have been an issue. If wholesalers were offering them up for a buck, they apparently weren’t flying off of the shelves. It’s tough to justify a re-pop when the first round wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Steve

Probably why it hasn't been re-issued. Steve

From Wikipedia: Mickey Thompson claims the first raised white letter tires in 1970,[7] but many manufacturers put out similar raised white letter tires in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Goodyear[8] and Firestone.[9] Steve

2 part epoxy would absolutely be my choice, but hey...... Steve

I just use slightly thinned white glue, (Elmer's) but there are any number of acceptable solutions. You can also paint the embossing powder once applied with very good results. Just apply as you normally would and then let it dry completely. A couple of thin coats of a flat paint over it does a fine job. For my '64 Bonneville, I sprayed some custom mixed flat enamel over the powder. Worked very well. Steve

I agree. Another one that stands a good chance of revival as there's a good chance that at least a fair portion of the tooling still exists. Another group of kits that interests me that seemed to disappear into the ether were the MPC 1965/'66 full sized Dodge kits. The '65 Monaco and 880 convertible, and the '66 Monaco and Polara Convertible. All very rare kits to say the least. I wonder if the tooling still exists for any of these for a possible re-issue. Something makes me think that any of them could be a pretty popular release. Steve

I tend to think more along the lines of kits that were only produced once and have little, or zero chance of ever being released again. My guess is that something like the Land Rover’s tooling still exists and could be reissued should the market demand. Something like a Johan ‘66 Chrysler 300 was produced only in 1966, and literally has no chance of ever being issued again as a mass produced plastic kit. Steve

Oh, I was more than willing to take a chance on the Demon, but I wasn't paying for it. My dad was a Chevy guy, so I suppose what you describe wasn't on his radar. To him, a lifter ticking meant trouble down the road. But I got back at him. Sometime later, a bunch of friends and I jumped in to the Plymouth one afternoon, and from the back seat I hear, "Rev it up and drop it in low!" Not wanting to disappoint, I promptly followed the instructions and blew the front drive shaft yolk into little pieces! Pops wasn't happy at all. Steve

I suppose that's a possibility as I'm sure that AMT/SMP would have wanted to squeeze every nickel out of those toolings as possible, but I wouldn't categorize that as a re-issue. More of a continuance into the following year. That said, if true, I don't conceive that it would have done them a lot of good to continue for another year. As you stated, the rarity of some of the '58s leads me to believe that they either didn't sell a ton of them, or more likely, the little monsters crashed and burned most of them. Steve

That would have been the "Turista Turismo" version. Having it been re-released in the late 60s leads me to believe that the tooling may still exist for this car. Given Round-2's recent reputation for resurrecting these old kits, it wouldn't surprise me much to see the '62 Ford again. Steve

The AMT '63 Pontiac was a Bonneville, available in 2 door hardtop, or convertible. And yes, it is a great example for this subject. The Pontiac Tempest was also available in '63, in either hardtop or convertible configurations, and I believe that the only re-release was the altered wheel base funny car version. Sometimes I think that we forget how prolific some of the model companies were with their offerings back in these early days. As an example, 1964 was a banner year for Pontiac at AMT. Hardtop and convertible versions of the Bonneville, the Grand Prix, the Lemans convertible, and the GTO hard top were all offered in that single year!! As far as I know, none of them have been re-released to date. I'm slowly working on that collection. Steve

You can buy almost any color of embossing powder that you can think of. If you happen to need a color that you can't find, you can try mixing colors. You're not going to get orange if you mix yellow and red, but you can "alter" the hue by mixing some colors, like green and blue to get turquoise. I got all of these colors from 2 different sets from "Hampton Art". One set of solid colors, and one of metallic colors. The sets didn't include a turquoise, but I was able to do a fairly good job by mixing green and blue for this '65 Fury. Steve

I had a similar experience with a ‘71 Demon when I was about 16 years old. We had a “second” car that was designated to be driven by whatever kid reached the driving age at the time. My brother and sister had several “interesting” cars before I reached driving age, including a 64 or ‘65 Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon, and a ‘61 Plymouth Savoy sedan. By the time I turned 16, it was a ‘68 Buick Skylark 4 door sedan, but shortly thereafter, the Buick was due to be replaced. One Saturday, my dad took me to a Mopar dealership in a neighboring town to scope out the used cars. As we strolled around the lot, a “Panther Pink” 1971 Dodge Demon caught both of our eyes. It only had a 318, but it had white stripes, a white bucket seat interior with an automatic on the floor, rally wheels, and white letter tires. A 16 year old’s dream!! My father found a dealer who brought the keys so that we could check it out and fire it up. I was very excited as it was beginning to look like a done deal......until my dad started the engine, and instantly detected a lifter tick. That was the end of that! ? The booby prize wound up being a putrid green 1972 Plymouth Fury 4 door sedan with a green interior, green vinyl top, and a completely gutless, boat anchor of a 360. I hated that car more than anything!! I began wishing that I had the rusty, tan ‘68 Buick back!! ? Steve

I guess I’m a little confused about we’re discussing here. Both the Olds and Merc are pretty recent kits on the time scale, and will very likely be re-popped over an over again in the years to come. Likewise, there is always the possibility of seeing other variations of both of these kits in the future. When I saw the heading on this thread, my assumption was that it was about “true” once and over kits, of which there have been probably dozens, or possibly hundreds of examples over the years. Annual kits that were produced one time in the same year as the 1:1 and then disappearing, possibly forever. There are gobs of examples of these kinds of kits, so it’s difficult to decide where to begin I suppose as good a place as any would be somewhere near the beginning of the annual model kit craze, which probably began in earnest around 1958. For that reason, the AMT 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 would make a good example. Produced in 1958, and 1958 only, it’s a true unicorn, and just the tip of the iceberg as far as “one time only” kits go. Steve

Thanks Manuel. Johan had a ton of really cool subject matter that nobody else did, or has done since. I have probably at least a dozen more super rare gems, and a bunch of “USA Oldies” kits that I have yet to build. Mostly Dodges, Plymouths and Chryslers. Steve

Thanks, but it’s a ‘65 Chrysler 300, not an Imperial. I believe AMT did the ‘65 Imperial. Steve