Mark

Don't just use a bucket, get a container with a tight fitting lid...keeps fumes and smells in, keeps moisture (which will dilute and weaken the solution) out. I use a cheap plastic "shoe box" with a tight fitting, snap-on lid. As for stripper itself, there is no one, concrete answer...it depends on what you are trying to remove and how long it has been on there. I haven't used brake fluid in many years, as it does make styrene brittle. Lately I have been using something called LA's Totally Awesome Cleaner which I picked up cheap (something like four bucks a gallon). So far it has handled everything I have thrown at it, some paints take longer than others though. The next five people who provide an answer will likely recommend five other products, just watch!

The combo kit is still out there, maybe not locally everywhere. LHS in my area still has one, $13 over retail. I had one dropped at my doorstep by an emissary of the United States government cheaper than that, even paying sales tax now. I thought about getting two, but already have several of the Falcons and a couple of Galaxies. The blue tint glass in the Falcon, and the new decal sheet, make it a must-have. I never saw the drag team kits anywhere back in the day, so I'll want most of whichever ones are reissued.

Those rear wheels and slicks (similar ones at least) were in many Revell kits. Early issues of the generic chassis gassers (Willys pickup, Austin, Henry J) had them, as did early issue '53 and '54 Chevies. Forgot to mention, Revell issued a modified Tweedy Pie a couple of years earlier...the Rodfather. Again, different wheels and tires, and they altered the intake stacks on the carburetors. The rear slicks are literally an inch wide, and they threw in some nice custom decals. That kit is hard to find unbuilt, and most seem to have been built or started by unskilled builders. There are other variations on the Tweedy Pie, all are pretty neat on their own.

It's interesting that SMP didn't issue this kit as a '58. The tool did exist, promo models were made for '58, but no kit. It's just as baffling that AMT didn't offer a '58 Thunderbird kit.

I forgot about those scoops, thanks for reminding me! I have a Dual Jewel kit, and also have two or three Outlaws (lots of good parts in those kits). I might want to find a pair of the rear wheels and build a Canned Heat version.

Seventies MPC decals are often junk, they dry out and fall apart on the sheet. And that's not getting into things like muddy brown colors substituted for gold or gold leaf, and cutting corners like using the same lettering for both sides of a drag car when the letters lean forward on both sides.

In the mid-Seventies, Revell issued the Outlaw without reference to Roth. It was called Canned Heat and was molded in yellow. Besides the air scoops, the Canned Heat version had different rear wheels and tires. The alterations apparently made the car different enough to release without paying royalties to Ed Roth. Revell issued an altered version of the Mysterion also, as the Dual Jewel. Slightly altered body, no bubble top, zoomie headers on the outside cylinder banks, different nose piece, and a fuel altered style wing and roll cage.

That's one of the tougher issues of the MPC Mustang II to find. If you haven't got a specific idea for a build in mind, I'd build it as-is. The decals may be beyond saving however, MPC decals from that era tend to dry out and break apart.

Why not just apply all of the putties to a junk body, and do a test to see which option is best with your go-to primers and paints?

On the interiors that I spread the sides out on, generally the instrument panel will only need a sliver of material added at the lower end of the mounting tabs. The side panels don't spread out at the very top at all, so that the interior still fits into the body. The bottom of the side panel coming a bit further out doesn't affect the instrument panel fit very much.

Additional work that can be done while the interior is apart includes standing the side panels up straight, eliminating the "draft" or top-to-bottom taper that one-piece buckets have. Doing that makes the assembled interior look deeper. Another bit of work to add to the pile, is to lower the floor if possible. Some of those old interior buckets are shallow, leaving the floor higher up than it should be.

It's actually a '60, the upholstery pattern on the seats is 1960. When it was first reissued in the mid-Seventies, it was called a '59, and most reissues after that were also called a '59. Revell first reissued their '59 around that time, but called that one a '60. Interior in the Revell kit is correct for a '59.

Maybe whoever does the box art deliberately went over the top with that shade of pink, to make the box jump out at you on the shelf?

If it is cheaper.... ...someone will try it...

What has been seen, cannot be unseen...

The new issue is white, but a small number of them are molded in gold plastic.

Don't know, but it was a pretty early one. Not one of the early Seventies GM test cases (they supposedly sold a few Oldsmobiles with them), it might have been something like a Ford Escort or Tempo.

I had a (distant) relative who actually got pulled over once for going too slow. This wasn't on the highway, just a regular road. Same person bought a new car with an airbag, and thought he could "test" it, thinking it was reusable. Got an expensive lesson from the dealer when he found out it wasn't!

Break down the individual parts into shapes, and they could be duplicated with Plastruct rod, or even sprue filed to shape. The brake drums and wheel inner rims might be a pain, but then again you should be able to save the original parts. The tie rod definitely will be a pain if you insist on keeping the working steering feature, even then you could bend one up from some thin/stiff music wire and keep the steering.

The J is a "typical" Revell gasser, it uses the same chassis as their Willys pickup and Austin kits. Those were (I think) among the last car kits Revell did with the sheet of DIY window material. That is probably the best out-of-box build on one of those that I have ever seen. It uses the original steerable front axle and original Ansen mag wheels from the first couple of issues. The axle was always in the kit, though later issues added a non-steering, ridiculously dropped axle. But the wheels were replaced, as was the original rear axle. I wonder if this kit has gotten some rehab work for this issue.

-Shouldn't he have been able to prove his work didn't leak (or you have been able to show that it did) before you paid for the work and took the part? Of course, if you went back now, he'd probably claim you did something to it that caused it to leak. -I'm surprised you were able to find multiple shops nearby that at least claimed the ability to do the work. All of the radiator and tank shops around here have huge signs reading "new gas tanks and radiators installed". Nobody fixes anymore, just replaces. -How can anyone even install a drive belt inside out? That sure took some doing, all the (pre-serpentine) belts on my vehicles had a definite taper that fit the grooves on the pulleys. Just when you think service can't get any worse, or people any dumber, along comes someone to upset the paradigm...

I haven't seen a Follmer kit with a '72 body myself, built or unbuilt. The one I have has the later body. The RWR (Roy Woods Racing) Javelin AMXs were in fact the ex-Penske cars (AMC wanted Penske to concentrate on NASCAR in '72). Those cars later went to privateer racers but most have since been restored as either Penske or RWR cars. To my knowledge none of the 1:1 cars were ever retrimmed as '73-'74s.

That's a pretty early one, it looks as though it has one-piece hollow tires (Jo-Han switched to two-piece tires later on). It probably has wire axles too (switched to thick plastic rods, probably at the same time the tires were changed). The '72 body details also point to an early kit (once changed to '73-'74 trim, the body was neved changed back). The wheels, and those unfortunate velocity stacks, weren't in the Trans-Am versions and so were taken from a stock kit.

Not a '74, it's a '72. Jo-Han kit, looks like an early production George Follmer/Roy Woods Racing Trans-Am racer, with wheels from a stock kit. AMT sold the Jo-Han kit in its packaging twice. The first was the '71 Mark Donohue/Roger Penske Trans-Am racer, the other was a stock '74. Both were made by Jo-Han, and packed in AMT boxes with AMT instruction sheets and decal sheets.

$25 for breakfast? I should be able to remember the times I paid $25 for dinner, that's how many times that has happened...