Mark

You can usually find something positive in whatever you look at. Often, at shows or contests, there are entries that aren't necessarily up to the standard of the others, but the builder had a great idea for customizing or conversion that you maybe hadn't thought of.

Back when those kits were first issued, the original AMT company never referred to the Jimmy or Blazer kits by year. Only the annual pickups were given a year designation. For GMC those were only '71 and '72.

You're discussing Chevy Blazers, but showing GMC grilles.

I never really had anyone play games with me on eBay, but in the past couple of weeks I had two instances. 1: Buy it Now on a pack of respirator filters. Got refunded, seller claimed "there was a problem with my mailing address". Yeah, right. Lived in the same house 35 years, only shipping address I ever used with eBay. Next seller didn't have a problem, price was about the same. First guy maybe thought he was going to relist at a higher price? 2: made an offer on a book, seller never responded. I decided to buy at the original price, again get refunded a couple of days later. The seller supposedly figured out he hasn't got the item. Another one thinking he's going to get more? Don't think so; I bought a new copy for a few bucks more...

With any service oriented company, you've got to stick to the basics. Those that do will prosper while the others fade quickly. My mom bought a home in 1999. Right away she called in a heating company to check the furnace. When she asked if it should be replaced, the tech told her it was in good shape and still had about half it's useful life left. Ten years later, when a new one was needed, guess who got the job of replacing it? Same goes with any service related deal, even restaurants. They're hotly competitive around here (we've probably got more pizza/wing places per capita than anywhere else in the country) but a lot of long-timers are still around. The ones that don't cover the basics don't hang in for long.

There are good trades people out there, just not enough in some areas. Some of the boomers are retiring now after making money hand over fist delaying retirement during the Covid period. My employer (a construction company) has brought a number of people into the trades unions in the time I have been there. The union halls have been empty during the work season (we've got a football stadium under construction that has been using a lot of guys; this should taper off soon) but, if you are a good hand, you will not go wanting for work even after that is finished. As for other stuff, I had the furnace in my house replaced just before Christmas. The old gravity setup took a dump...no retrofit available, no replacement parts made in a long time. My chosen company did the job in two eight-hour days, including fabricating a decent chunk of the ductwork nearest to the furnace. Got here when promised, took as long as estimated, job done. The furnace replacement was an emergency job because we were in single digit temperatures, but it required an electrical upgrade to bring the janky fuse panel up to code and move the meter outside as the utility wanted. That couldn't be done alongside the furnace job, but it took place this week. Once again, got here when promised, did everything in under five hours. New panel, new meter installed outside, new wiring from the attachment point outside to the panel. And they even took all the old stuff away.

The small V8 with the distributor at the front was based on the V6. Getting one of the MPC Jeepster V6 engines, and some mold making and casting material, will get you enough parts to piece together a couple of V8 engines.

Those parts were in both the '71 Roadrunner annual kit, and the mid-year GTX kit.

I'd go back in time, to postwar trucks through the early Sixties. That's the romanticized era of trucking: illustrated magazine ads depicting friendly, helpful, dedicated, hard-working truckers, as well as the "truck driving song" sub-genre of country music. Some of the existing truck and trailer kits could probably be backdated to get a toe in the water, with new kits being done later if sales bear out the popularity of the initial offerings.

The annual kit included two engines: a slant six, and a 426 Hemi.

Go with the 3D print stuff. The good ones are light years ahead of even the best injection molded styrene VW engines.

The other day at work, one of the office ladies was leaving and couldn't back up her vehicle. One of the guys figured out that one or more of the backup sensors was blocked by snow/ice, cleaned them off, and she was on her way. That's disturbing, as someone could trigger that condition by blocking the sensors (stalker, disgruntled ex, or other nutcase in general). The victim wouldn't be aware of the problem until they were in the vehicle, and by the time they figured it out they wouldn't want to get out and wouldn't be able to back out of a parking space, driveway, or garage. These things are being implemented without looking at all of the consequences...

I have picked up items at clearance stores that weren't available in my area otherwise. Like I said, if I had a couple of bucks burning a hole in my pocket, I'd buy one to experiment with. I have a couple of cans of off-brand "Bondo" type filler bought at one of those stores, that I intend to use in making vacuform molds.

The charcoal was made from by-product from Ford's production of station wagon bodies (other car companies subbed them out, as production was low). The grill was a way to get people into dealerships during the Depression when car sales were way down. I don't know if it's true or not, but I have heard that the Kingsford brand of charcoal is somehow related to the ex-Ford Motor Company wood related operations.

The working time could be an advantage in certain situations. If you already have a Bondic pen (which incorporates a small UV lamp) it should work with this stuff too. I've got the Bondic pen, so if I saw this stuff on clearance I'd be inclined to buy some just to tinker with.

The wagon front seat is molded as part of the bucket. And, being a four-door piece, the seat back doesn't have the split down the center. The AMT '66 Nova with the Bill Jenkins drag version does include a bench front seat, as his two '66 Novas were not SS trim.

That's the SS hardtop, it's bucket seat interior wasn't available in the sedan. The door panels might match those of the more high-end sedan, but you’d still need to find a bench seat for the front

I would guess "no" based on how they have handled the Plymouth and Dodge sedans. With those, they came close to stock but did not include showroom stock interior parts (the front seats in those kits are van units, not offered in cars except for the lightweight racing versions).

It's a variation of the MPC Don Garlits Wynnscharger and Carl Casper Young American dragster kits (with a few new parts). Reviews of either of those kits would apply to this one also.

MPC did some seats molded in tire vinyl in the late Sixties. Those seats look like they are from a sports car, maybe one of the Gunze Sangyo High Tech car kits or a later derivative of same. Being molded in vinyl, they cannot be painted with enamel (it won't dry). You'd have to go with an acrylic paint more suitable for vinyl.

Revell did tool a Mustang body, but its proportions were, to put it mildly, unfortunate. The Ed Mc Culloch car had a Duster body but its grille and taillight details were painted to simulate a Dodge Demon. None of the fiberglass funny car body makers ever did an actual Demon body, all of the "Demon" funny cars back then used Duster bodies. Some of the later "Challengers" used Barracuda bodies with Dodge grille and taillight detail airbrushed on. The 'Cuda body probably had better aero than the available Challenger bodies.

Lettering on the kit pieces is upside down, and not correctly spaced.

If you consider yourself to be "into" Tri-Five Chevys, you ought to take a swing at one of the classic Revell kits. The '55 hardtop is probably the "easiest", followed by the '57 hardtop, then the Nomad, with the '56 bringing up the rear. The latter two have often had issues that prevent them from being built. The Nomad bodies often have a nasty dip in the cowl on one side, the roof pillars are often broken, and ones molded in metallic plastic are to be avoided due to the brittleness of said plastic. The '56 is to be avoided beyond the first couple of issues, as the windows in later issues fall through the openings. Hopefully Atlantis will address this with newly tooled clear parts should they reissue the '56. I'm surprised they did not do likewise with the '57 hardtop, the rear glass fit is awful in that one.

If you must have the Jo-Han versions of the funny cars, those prices aren't out of line. But Round 2 also offers Challenger and Mustang funny car kits. The Jo-Han kits replicate the Gene Snow '70 Challenger and Mickey Thompson '71 Mustang (original issues did include decals for those versions, later ones do not for licensing reasons). Both have unique chassis designs that replicated those cars quite well, and aren't really similar to those of other cars. If you want some other Mustang or Challenger, the Round 2 MPC equivalent kits are probably better starting points as the chassis (same one in both kits) is a more common design. The Cadillac is way high (you can probably find one for half that price if you are patient) but that's my opinion, and everyone has one of those.

Brown plastic would make it a first issue Pro Street version from the early Nineties. As for the brittle plastic, it may have been stripped and repainted already prior to your getting it. I've got a couple of car bodies with damage from multiple strip/repaint/strip jobs. One had all of the detail and crisp edges softened into mush, another is so brittle that the most gentle handling makes it crumble.