Mark

That whole car is a pretty good replica of a 1:1 T that appeared in one of the major car magazines in the late Fifties or early Sixties. It may have even been on the cover.

I've seen it already, but still can't wait for the finished book with photos and text together.

I've seen those in recent years, molded in various types of plastic like glow-in-the-dark and tinted clear. I'd rathet see the full-detail 1/32 kits like the Nova and Charger...those have engines and better wheels/tires that could find their way onto Pyro and AMT All-Stars kits...

The 1/8 scale one? Y-block (272/292/312) Ford. Pretty well detailed too, as I recall.

The wheels pictured (late Seventies MPC Camaro) are likely as close as can be found.

The Futurista used the same tires that were used in the Li'l Coffin (fronts), as well as the Predicta. Those were used in the first issues of Monogram's 1/25 scale Fifties vehicles also ('59 Chevies, '50 Ford pickup). Tires wouldn't be a problem. Revell/Monogram has retooled parts for older kits in the past (Roth Road Agent for example). Clear parts wouldn't be a major problem either. The (unconfirmed) word is that Monogram was making good money in the early/mid Seventies and scrapped some items deemed obsolete to get them off the books. Said (most often) to be among them were the 1/20 scale Cadillac, Uncertain T, Futurista, and Sizzler dragster. It's all conjecture though, nobody close to the company has ever talked or written about it. The Futurista would appear to have been a major disappointment for Monogram. Like the AMT XR-6, thumb through period model car magazines and you don't see photos of built ones, or even any of the major/recognizable parts from them used in building anything else.

The 40% off coupon doesn't apply to anything with a yellow price tag (which ropes in clearance items).

I too saw the two Buicks ('62 Electra, '65 Riviera). No '40 Ford sedan (maybe someone else saw it first, not that I need another one) but they did have a '94 Ford Lightning in the clearance area. I did need that one, and the Riviera is too good to pass up particularly at the price. New stuff included the Revell '29 roadster, AMT '65 Fairlane Modified Stocker, and 007 '70 Galaxie cop car. I'm already good with the roadster as well as the Fairlane (Ollie's blew a bunch of those out years ago when Walmart quit carrying model kits). The Fairlane has a bunch of unblocked parts including the stock engine (minus air cleaner), but I'm set with that one.

The midget's V8-60 is nicely done, but lacks a transmission as midgets only used an in/out box. The V8-60 transmission supposedly resembles the regular V8 unit, only smaller. I've thought about sticking that engine in an Anglia, but have to get the transmission squared away first.

The midget is a great kit. The fanatics bought multiple copies...trouble is, not enough fanatics. The ones sold at closeout were nearly all the V8-60 version, mirroring the preference of 1:1 Kurtis owners who would nearly all want to own an Offenhauser-powered version provided they could afford one.

USPS initiates tracking as soon as the shipper notifies them that the sticker with that tracking number has been applied to a package, and is ready for pickup. I'd guess the seller doesn't want to bother having them pick up packages until they have several of them ready.

This Duster is a newer kit, created in the late Nineties. There was an MPC '71 Duster kit back in '71, but through yearly changes it now exists as the '75/'76 Dart Sport.

It goes even further back...in the late Sixties there was an animated Hot Wheels show that got yanked after one year. The main characters all drove cars replicated in the Hot Wheels lineup. I've heard of one or two early Sixties childrens' shows that supposedly pushed products with tie-ins, but that's before my time.

The newer rattle-can primers are more cheaply made than before. Less solids, more thinner. What they call "filler primer" now used to be sandable primer, today's "sandable primer" is what used to be just plain old primer, and today's "primer" is basically tinted thinner in a spray can. And, the plastic isn't what it used to be either. More recycled sprues (the big ones that never made it into the kit box). Some recycled stuff is actually desirable, it makes the plastic less brittle. Too much makes it rubbery, which is what we are getting lately. Whatever you use for primer...shake, shake, shake, particularly the automotive touch-up stuff. What little solids are in the can need to be shaken into the mix and not left sitting at the bottom of the can when you hit the spray nozzle. Any newer plastic, I'm spraying the first couple of coats from a distance. I've had some luck applying one quick blast of the "sealer primer" over whatever other primer is already on. For me, anyway, this seems to prevent the color coats from potentially raising sanding scratches.

Well, I was referring to it strictly from the model kit standpoint (this isn't a "toys and games" message board, so I wasn't expecting anyone to bring those into the discussion). In the model kit arena, ITC jumped in in the Fifties along with many other companies. For whatever reason, they decided not to stay in that business. By the time that happened, they weren't considered to be a major player in model kits. So, I guess I'll stick by what I said initially.

I've heard more than once that '32 Fords had poor resale value early on, particularly the V8 cars. And that a good Model A Ford was worth more, and was easier to sell. During the Depression, those fortunate few with the ability to buy a used car usually went with a known quantity. There were a lot of myths about the V8 engine ("it used twice as much gas", "the cylinders are on a slant and will wear on the lower side"), things like that. On top of that, there were a lot of problems with the early V8 engines. So someone watching their wallet would gravitate towards something like the A, which was generally thought of as a good car.

But they were about as big in model kits, as AMT was in board games...

I built one some time ago and do not recall any issues with it. As with any car kit with an interior that has separate side panels, test fitting is a must. Some of these kits, regardless of the manufacturer, fit together quite tightly even without paint. And those are first issue early production kits. Reissues will be even tighter as the mold was likely polished before production, making the fit of the parts even tighter. If the rear axle halves are bowed, straighten them, don't remove material to make them fit. Altering one part often affects the fit of adjacent parts.

For one thing, few of the ITC/Glencoe tools were ever modified over the years. They haven't been updated to next year's version, modified from civilian to military versions (as some ship and aircraft model tools were), or butchered into something else just to follow the trends of the day (as with many car kit tools). They haven't been sold or moved as many times as other companies' stuff either, with some of it being scattered to the winds or scrapped along the way. Since ITC wasn't as big as other companies in its heyday, they probably didn't sell as many of any one item either, leaving the tools in better condition for Glencoe to put back into production. Too, I'd bet Glencoe is flying well under anyone's radar in cases where licensing is concerned, reducing costs and allowing production decisions to be made quickly.

Back when Model Ts were new, the average man weighed around 150 lbs. Since then, some "evolution" has taken place rendering a T not so comfortable for the modern man. I've noticed this with Willys coupes, both as drag cars and street rods. At first the '37-'42 cars were favored, then racers went for the smaller, lighter '33-'36 coupes. The pendulum seems to have shifted back to the later cars, as they are roomier than the early ones.

The Open Road camper isn't a slide-in unit, it replaces the stock pickup bed.

Those weren't seen very often, as the dealers that got them out of the sales bank usually dyed the tops a solid color to move them off of the lot...

The stores here do clearance/stock reset twice a year. Maybe they will skip the next one because of the long closure in many areas, and many hobby items (including model kits) selling well after the reopening...

All of them are the newer/better kit. Ertl/RC2 never did a Baldwin-Motion version of the earlier kit. I did offer the B/M hood and rear spoiler for the earlier kit, but that was long before the newer one was available.

All are the same kit. The red "box art car" looks like a 1/18 scale diecast. RC2 did that when they had the same subject in both scales. There was a '69 4-4-2 kit done that way also.