Mark

Best advice is to check the shelf tags at the empty spaces, usually each space is marked with what will occupy that space. The tags often appear before the product does.

I've never seen model kits there, but I haven't been there recently.

I'll agree with before, and I apply primer with a brush (a cheap one will do) ONLY on the worked areas. No blasting the primer on with a rattle can until those areas are right. That minimizes buildup on other areas, particularly those with fine detail like scripts or exposed hinges.

The rear axle in the pro street Nova kit is a narrowed GM unit. The NASCAR kits have 9" Ford pieces, but they are not the cleaner looking housings typically used under street machines. So count on spending some time reworking one of those. The Revell pro street '41 Willys has a nice narrowed 9" Ford setup.

ALDI stores here sometimes sell some offbeat items. Like Hobby Lobby, when they close out those items they cut the price drastically. I bought a bench top drill press for twenty dollars a few years ago. They do that with food items too; I've bought half gallons of milk or loaves of bread for 25 or 50 cents because they were within a day or two of the sell-by date. I don't go in looking for those things, but when they are there I'll give them a look.

The stores in my area cleared out the '68 El Camino kits awhile back. I don't remember if I bought one (probably not) but I do remember seeing them at the reduced price, and not seeing them there since.

The El Camino kits were cleared out last time around, maybe even before that.

All of the Sixties issues of the original Ala Kart could be built as the Ala Kart. But optional parts for both the Kart and the '29 roadster were included. The later Sixties issues like the Mod Rod merely emphasized the optional version over the Kart. The later issues had fewer Kart decals; the scallops for the underside of the fenders were ommitted. The Kart body and fenders were altered for the Street Rod series double kit from 1973. That was the last double kit issue from the original AMT company. They no longer owned the 1:1 Ala Kart, so they likely modified the kit to make it different enough to avoid licensing or royalties. Lesney later reworked the kit to make use of some of the Ala Kart parts as optional parts for the '29 roadster. The Round 2 Mod Rod isn't exactly like the Sixties Mod Rod in that you can't build the Ala Kart from it. The Street Rod series alterations to the body and fenders remain, and a few strategic Kart parts aren't included. But you can build the Mod Rod as shown on the box.

Not 100% positive, but I believe that the Bell helmets were first produced by Roy Richter's company in the mid-Fifties. One magazine (not sure if it was even a car magazine) published a test on helmets available then, and found all of them to be pretty much worthless. Richter had one designed that was much better. Check period photographs, it wouldn't surprise me to see that belts and roll bars were "optional" back then.

I got a Suburban kit there on closeout last year, haven't seen any there since.

That AAR kit will be the next hot item from Revell, not unlike the Foose FD100 pickup or the Model A rod kits. I sold a bunch of AAR conversion kits back in the day; that car has a cult following unlike any other Mopar I encountered. Not even the Dodge equivalent (Challenger T/A) has the same following as the AAR.

If that stuff is peel-and-stick, a light hit with a heat gun (or a strong blast from a blow dryer) should make short work of it. Instead of paint, consider replacing the wrap with another, more subdued one. That's a good get...the bigger, hard-to-move cases are often given away while the shorter ones are usually sold.

The street machine version has an odd combination of parts: Eighties-style rolled pans front and rear (no bumpers are included), along with custom wheels that might have been "in" for about fifteen minutes in the mid-Eighties...

Man, those are nice looking wheels...now have to conjure up a project that includes a set!

Yeah, those styrene-softening tires often do a number on early Corvair wheel openings. I wasn't looking for every year Corvair, but got within a couple of them and thought "why not". I already had a '67 (the "for 1968" kit is a '67), but turned up a started '67 at NNL East for $20. I put it down, thought the next guy bought it. Later on, I passed that table again to see it still there!

Polar Lights tooled the comic book Batmobile, Round 2 tooled the 1966 TV show car.

I'd hang on in regards to putting the custom stuff on the '64, and see if you can run down another '62 for that. Of the early Corvairs I have, the '64 was the last one I found, and the hardest one to get. The '63 convertible is a close second. The '62 is much more common in my experience, finding another one already customized shouldn't be a tough get.

No. The stock issues have stock parts only, the street machine version has the dropped axle and some other unique parts, and no stock parts.

Kelsey-Hayes aftermarket wheel from the late Sixties. I've seen them referred to as "20 spoke" wheels, though they were sold under another name that I can't remember. The unplated ones are from one issueof the AMT '69 Cougar kit (recent issues don't have them). Plated versions are available in the AMT '66 Mercury, and '53 Corvette (the Corvette wheels do not have open slots between the spokes).

I heard the Canadian cars had toque boxes...

Ertl retooled most of the GTO kit. It was their first effort, and it shows. They reworked some of their initial work, but it's still nowhere near as nice as the early issues. The Torino fastback was rescued later. It was the least butchered of the Modified Stocker kits: unlike others, AMT didn't remove the windshield wipers or mess with the bumpers. Ertl had to tool new outer body sides, and a few other parts like seats and wheels. The other kits weren't so fortunate. It would probably be cheaper and easier to tool an entire new kit than fix the butchery in most cases.

The chassis should work under most full-size pickups well into the Eighties, though someone building a truck that recent probably won't do a frame swap. I've got one going under a '63 Ford pickup that has had its unibody bed cut down to the short wheelbase version, and might try one under a '55-'57 Chevy pickup also. The Foose kit frame resembles, and is probably scaled from, 1:1 aftermarket chassis.

It sounds like you painted the entire car one color, then masked parts of it and recoated the rest with another color. Don't do that; instead mask the intended black areas and shoot the yellow, then mask the yellow areas and shoot the black. Saves paint, and besides, why have double layers of paint anywhere?

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe there was a plastic friction toy made in the Sixties. I have a plastic friction Rolls Royce with similar characteristics: molded in color (also blue), opening trunk but no opening hood, slightly smaller than 1/25 scale.

Do they have them in stock, or does the listing include "preorder" in the fine print?