Mark

If more houses had had electricity at the turn of the century, electric cars could have come out on top. Instead, most houses outside of major cities were then lit by kerosene lamps. Refining crude oil to get kerosene resulted in large quantities of waste by-products, including gasoline. Some gasoline was sold as cleaning fluid, but not much. Cars running on gasoline created a market for something that was, at the time, largely being dumped back into the ground. By the time the need for massive amounts of kerosene for lamps was eliminated, gasoline was entrenched as automotive fuel. Alcohol was in the running as an anti-knock additive in the Thirties...tetraethyl lead got the nod mainly because it could be patented as an additive, while alcohol couldn't. Ethyl Corporation = General Motors + Standard Oil.

The Tree was in both the Charger and GTO, '71 and '72 MPC annual kits. Not sure if it is in the most recent reissue of the '72 GTO.

That's from either a '69/'70 Wildcat, or a '66 Wildcat reissue kit. '65 and '66 annual kits were longer at the back, shaped to fit the rear bumper, but the '69 and '70 bumpers were straighter so the piece was trimmed.

That trailer came in the Mako Shark kit also, so those wheels may be the original ones.

No, I believe both versions retailed for $2.00. The $2.25 pricing was phased in during 1970, with existing kits remaining at $2. By the time the 1971 catalog came out, I'm 99% certain all of the kits in this series were discontinued or repackaged.

I picked up a bottle yesterday, and tried it on some sprue. It does appear to be "all that", it's stronger in shear than super glue. I tried it on some round aluminum rod, so far that is holding too. I dropped the aluminum rod on the floor and it didn't break, with super glue it probably would have. I'll break it later today to see what its limits are. This stuff seems to be better than super glue, and better than Bondic. The bond does seem to be better after an hour or so, than immediately after joining the pieces. One other thing: the screw-on cap is great. Provided you wipe the nozzle before recapping the bottle, this product should last longer than most super glues.

Do you mean the double kit as opposed to the Willys coupe/pickup? I've seen both, in person and on eBay, and have saved auction pics of the double kit. The one I have is the coupe/pickup. I would say the vast majority of them are the coupe/pickup.

The Molotow "chrome" is ink. I don't think it will last any length of time in outdoor use, regardless of what you apply over it.

Since eBay started dishing out free listings, to inflate the number of available items... Earlier is better. I've got a recent issue kit; the body tooling is showing wear in some areas...

HOT ROD Magazine featured the Maverick in a 1971 issue. The kit decals are definitely way off, and now that I think of it, the slicks are way too tall. Rear wheels are different too...

Multi-Maverick (1971) was first. MPC bankrolled the construction of the 1:1 car for George Montgomery, in exchange for the rights to make the kit. The kit is off in a couple of places: hood scoop is wrong, also the rear wheel openings are incorrect. The 1:1 was finished after the kit and deviated from the original design. That happened to AMT earlier, with the XR-6 and the Deora. Both 1:1 vehicles differ from the kits in various details. George Montgomery tested the Maverick a couple of times but never raced it. He stayed with the red '69 Mustang for NHRA events, and on occasion pulled out the blue '67 Mustang for match races. The '33 Willys coupe had been sold by then. The Jolly Roger was issued in '73. The body is clearly the Multi-Maverick piece, but has a flat hood with no scoop. It does have the separate front fender pieces, but only one set to match the wheelbase of the chassis. The windows are different: the Multi-Maverick has a one-piece unit with windshield, side glass, and rear window. The Jolly Roger has separate windshield (with cutout for blower scoop) and rear glass, no side windows. The Jolly Roger body trim pieces (bumpers, taillights) are not plated. The chassis is the one-piece 1970 Logghe Brothers unit that was used in a number of early Seventies MPC funny car kits. I never checked, but the basic engine (block, heads, transmission) might be the same in both Maverick kits. The engine is called a 429 "semi-hemi" but the Boss Nine is a true hemi-head engine. The kit was probably produced into '74. There were at least two production runs. I've got a gluebomb Jolly Roger with a yellow body, my unbuilt one has a white body. Both have red chassis/engine parts. I'll probably cut the front section from the gluebomb to correct the hood on a Multi-Maverick (rest of the body is junk). I bought a set of replacement decals for the Jolly Roger, was promised them in gold foil but instead got them in the same washed-out "gold" that MPC used on the original sheet.

I don't think the "car guys" latched onto sheet styrene that early. Don Emmons was still using file card stock on his builds into the late Sixties. I've got all of the Auto World catalogs, and if I remember right they didn't offer it until the late Sixties. AMT actually tooled small pieces of sheet plastic into the '61 flat-box Styline series kits (Ranchero, Galaxie, etc.) My mom cleaned the prototype shop when she worked at Fisher-Price Toys in the late Seventies, and got permission to bring home some stuff they were tossing out. She brought me some sheet styrene, thanks Mom! This was in the late Seventies. Prior to that, all I could get at the local hobby shops was that dark gray Plastruct sheet stock, which might have been ABS and not styrene. It wasn't until another local store opened in the mid-Eighties, that I'd heard of Evergreen products, and they were selling white styrene sheet, oh boy!

There were only two AMT issues with the stake bed. Both had the chromed open wheels and the dual rear wheel pieces (which if I remember right, were just really wheel backs that were deep enough to fit two stock tires on each one).

It will be the one with the T-roof cutouts. The annual (one on the left) was updated through 1981, and was last released as the 1979 model. It could probably be reissued as a '77-'78, but the T-roof version is probably ready to go, so why bother with the other one?

You'd think more of these wheels would be floating around in parts boxes...but no! With that first issue, the stock wheels were used regardless of which version was built. Unless the builder used wheels from another kit, those wheels wound up on the built model, more often than not with the custom caps glued onto them. Early kits were indeed molded in blue, too: someone I contacted looking for an early wheel did turn up a light blue one with the slot detail. Unfortunately, like my gray one, it has tooling damage in the detail area.

The wheels with the slot detail intact must be extremely early production pieces. I went through a box of '36 Ford kit parts, and only found two gray wheels. Both have the slot detail. One is hopelessly gluebombed, the other is unused but is molded with what appears to be damage to the tooling that wrecked two of the slots. In those areas, they're raised areas and not slots. It appears the tooling was modified to eliminate the slot detail. The smooth area (where the slots should be) on the black wheels is raised compared to the same area on the gray wheels. Grinding further into the tool insert(s) for the front side of the wheels would do just that to the now-slotless wheels.

#4 are from the MPC "Convoy Chaser" '76 Dart. Don't ask me why they are eight lug. #3 are from the AMT '67 (original annual) Impala kits (hardtop and convertible), and the "for '68" "Chevrolet SS 427" which was the '67 Impala with the stock parts deleted and the rear window opening filled in (!).

I've got a box of '36 parts stashed, and I know another guy who likewise has a bunch of stuff. The search for a nice, clean, unused slotted wheel begins! As for Trophy Series kit colors, the '25 Model T kits were molded in black for all of the Sixties as far as I can see. The issues with the C-cab parts had those parts molded in white, but the remainder of the parts were black. Those issues all had the one-piece wheel/tire units for the stock version, so to get black tires they'd mold all of those parts in black. The C-cab parts were tooled several years after the original kit, so they probably didn't fit into an already crowded double kit tool so were molded separately. The '29 roadster kits were all white because they included the Ala Kart which was (1:1) pearl white. Most (not all) '32 Ford kits were molded in black in the Sixties. There was a one-shot Collectors Series (all prewar Fords except for a '37 Chevy coupe); I've got a '32 roadster from that series, and it's white. The '32 phaeton (first issued in '69) was molded in brown. The custom-only '32 sedan was molded in several colors. I've got parts from those in yellow, white, light blue, and red. The '34 Ford pickup was molded in red, black, and light blue in the first issue box, probably white for the other Sixties issues save the one-shot Elegance Series issue which is red. The '36 kits are covered here. '40 coupes and sedans were molded in various colors, black among them. The '40 delivery was molded in yellow at first, some of those early kits may have been white but the vast majority were yellow. The '49 coupe, '50 convertible, and '53 pickup were also molded in multiple colors during the Sixties.

The earliest kits were gray, kits produced later (but still in first issue boxing) were black. The second issue was sold by mail through Ford, and at some Ford dealers. That issue has a different box without any AMT logo on it, and the kit has the optional parts but not the Pontiac engine. That one is molded in black also. The next issue after that was white. Some of the early Seventies Street Rods series '36 kits might be black (most are white). The Dick Tracy issue is black too, but that's a five-window. As for the slotted wheels, I think I've got one or two of those with defects in the slot area. AMT probably caught that early on, and altered the tooling to eliminate the slots. I'd say that a nice, clean one of those would be a good candidate for resin casting.

Even though I've got some of them, I'd cough up the cash for a Tom Daniel book with all of those Sketchpads included. Even with Rod & Custom gone, probably too difficult for him to get back the rights to that work...

Just a couple more things that maybe haven't been touched on... -Figure on wasting some time and material going in, before you start seeing usable parts. It's not often that you'll get perfect results right out of the stall, even following the directions. The first cake you baked probably didn't come out perfect. -Until you get some experience, go with one supplier or brand for everything: clay, mold material, and resin. Some clays aren't compatible with some types of mold material: use the wrong clay and the mold won't cure properly, at least in the areas near the clay. Some resins won't cure properly in molds made from certain materials. Even later on, it's best to stick with one source. They made the stuff, they'll know what should be used with what. -What works for someone else might not work for you. I've used the Freeman products and they have worked well for me. I never had any luck with Smooth-on, but they're still in business and people are buying it so it's obviously not junk. It just didn't work for me, so I went back to another product. -X2 on don't use Legos to make mold boxes. Not necessarily because of leakage (I didn't have problems with that), it's that you'll end up making some molds bigger than they need to be which will use up more material. -Resin is cheaper than mold material. If the resin is "kicking" early, stop pouring it. The molds are good for X number of uses, don't burn up one of them to get a part that will end up in the trash anyway. -Look for household items that you can use to make molds. For hubcap molds, I've got a bunch of the little plastic caps from syrup bottles. They're the right size, they leave room around the outside of the part to make a good mold without wasting material, they're transparent so you can see if you have any air pockets around the part, and they're flexible so you can get the mold out easily. Some vacuformed clear "bubble packs" can be used too, but those are generally good for one use only. Those are good if you happen to have a part that fits in it, and leaves sufficient space (but not too much) around the perimeter of it to get a good mold. For building mold boxes, I like clear plastic: you can get clear acrylic sheet material off of the bulk/scrap pile at a local plastics supplier. -Start with small parts and work your way up.

All of the manufacturers fudge on engine descriptions. The MPC Mustang kit engine ('66-'73) went from a 289 to a 302 to a Boss 302. The AMT '71 Thunderbird has a "429" that's actually an FE-series engine (different animals altogether), and the late Seventies Ford pickup has a "460" that's really a 360 (another FE). And that's not getting into what engine should be in what car: in MPC's world for example, you could still get a Hemi Challenger in 1974...

I was going to say that the fat chick singing at the opera was wearing two of those, along with a Viking helmet...

I'm pretty certain the '34 pickup is included in the 1962 AMT catalog as a "new" item. The second issue has those '64 'Vette wheel covers, but the outer edge detail differs slightly from the covers in the Corvette kits themselves. It would be logical to guess that the tool insert was modified a bit and swapped from the 'Vette tool to the pickup's, but the 'Vette only had four of those wheel covers while the pickup had five...

They're made to be easy to put together, not to be easy to take apart...