Mark

The two-piece tires were a mid-Seventies deal. Probably cheaper to make than the one-piece vinyl tires. The sidewall detail on some of those is actually not bad, but the tread detail is poor as it always is on two-piece tires. Too, those weren't 100% plastic, nor were they vinyl. They had too much flex in them to be able to mold them together, and styrene cement didn't stick to them. Much later, a couple of kits were issued with two-piece slicks from that period, but molded in black styrene. Those could be cemented and molded together, which was better but still not as good as vinyl.

The air cleaner pictured is from the AMT '49 Ford. The AMT '58 Impala doesn't have anything like that.

First off, that kit builds a Dodge Dart Sport, not a Duster. That issue lacks stock wheels and a stock exhaust system. If you want a 100% stock '75 Dart Sport, get the Round 2 issue. It's molded in white and has the missing stock parts restored. If you want a stock '75 Duster, be prepared to crack open your wallet, as it was issued in late '74. Never reissued, because it was then converted to the Dart Sport.

A guy I know buys and sells a lot of model kits...when he gets a built one of these, he'll save/bag the body, wheels and tires, and (if cleanly assembled) the engine. There's not a lot of 1/12 scale drag racing stuff out there, and the Fiat body is the only game in town in 1/12 scale.

This is looking like an interesting project. Just checked the Model Car Garage website...their PE set for the '65 Impala does include Caprice scripts...

Maybe the Monogram '64 GTO roof? An intermediate roof in 1/24 scale might work as a 1/25 scale full-size car roof...

Consistency can be whatever you want it to be. More liquid = more shrinkage as that liquid evaporates. I still use a styrene/MEK mix every so often; no cement because most liquid cements seem to have something in them to slow the evaporation/cure time. In any event, don't lay too much of it on at one time. When I use it, I'll usually apply liquid cement along the seam and then put on the mixture, packing it into the seam after a few minutes. I can't stress enough...ventilated work area, outdoors if at all possible...

Some of the X-EL stuff is molded from ABS (same stuff the "dark gray" Plastruct is made of). It won't take styrene cement, and is harder to cut. But you can work with it. The acetate stuff is low-demand in most cases. I won't touch them.

I got my copy Tuesday, haven't read all of it yet. But then again, I did read it earlier, only piecemeal. It's "just right". Tim's writing style is great, the photos are excellent (the beat-up boxes in some shots are representative of what you sometimes see for sale, or have in your own collection). The photos of built models are all very good, with many of the builds by well-known and highly knowledgeable builders. They show the subjects in their best light. I like the desirability factor as opposed to a price guide. eBay threw a lot of things out of whack years ago, and continues to do so. The dollar signs a lot of people saw (and continue to see) there brought a lot of stuff out, that might otherwise have gone to landfills or might still be sitting in attics and basements somewhere. I know my own collection expanded considerably since then (and I've also moved a bunch of stuff out, as well as selling other items to pay for things I've kept). The books with price guides often get minimal updates, the pictures get shuffled around, and become "updated editions" with nothing new for the enthusiast. The stories about the development of some of these kits are great too; you get a better idea of just how long it takes to get something to production. The narrative brings in related areas of interest, but never goes off on a tangent which could be easy to do. It's packed with information yet is concise. Even after you read it in its entirety, you'll find yourself reaching for it again later on.

My mom used to buy me a copy of MAD every so often. She thought it was well-written. I even had the issue with the "finger" cover, which I found out (much later) some places didn't display.

No, the lead was added to increase the octane rating, to allow higher compression ratios. One article I read awhile back stated that this could have been accomplished by adding alcohol to the gasoline (as is done now). But the lead was chosen because it could be patented as an additive, while the alcohol blend could not...

They're out; I got one locally Saturday morning. The Hurst mags aren't back in, but the recently tooled Torque Thrust wheels are included as an extra. The Kelsey-Hayes custom wheels are still in the kit too. Tires include four Firestone Supremes with printed white stripes, two of the smaller Polyglas GT tires, and two Blue Streak slicks. The wrist-twist steering parts are included (the wrist loops have a lot of flash on them, not outrageous as they were blocked off in the tool for a long time) but everything else looks good.

Roofs are not the same...sedan roof is slightly taller and rear window is more upright than that of a hardtop...

The plastic axles came in in the early Seventies. I thought all of the SC/Rambler kits had them until a couple of years ago. The earliest ones had wire axles. The USA Oldies series came in around 1974; I believe all of those had plastic from day one.

Vinyl radiator hoses, no trim on the rocker panels (some of the drag cars had the trim, others didn't), no license plates (front bumper in the original has the entire plate area incorrectly smoothed over), no hood hinges, wire axles instead of plastic rods, and one-piece hollow Goodyear tires and slicks instead of the solid fronts and two-piece slicks with Goodyear on one side and Firestone on the other. The original Sox & Martin Superbird had wire axles and the hollow tires/slicks also.

Deals are where you find them. I've picked up one or two of the original 1971 issue Shahan AMX kits for pretty close to what the reissues were selling for at the time. Trivial for the most part, but there are a number of differences between the original and the reissue...

It's a miracle: the only ones that are incomplete are the ones that "haven't been checked"...

Someone else posted pics of parts from the same kit not long ago. It's an Aurora kit, the Fireball Pontiac. Lame imitation of an AMT customizing kit, multiple piece body, awful proportions. Never reissued, and justifiably so....

Still have the Custom Fleetside my older brother bought for me when they first came out, also have a few other early ones (and a couple of original Johnny Lightning cars). None are in "collector" condition though, all are in "thoroughly enjoyed" condition...

I took several to NNL East, sold only one as I recall ('71 Maverick "funny car only" annual). I've got enough parts to make one, so the mint one wasn't going to get built. I too am glad that I bought what I did when I did, including a carton of "pro street" S/C Ramblers in the early days of being online. I sold three of them out of the carton, which paid for the ones I kept. Whenever I find them, parts for anything Jo-Han go into the stash...

Nope, this series started in '72 or '73. The Chevy kits didn't yet exist. Monogram got the '36 grille more correct than AMT's. Theirs tucks under a bit at the bottom while AMT's doesn't. Monogram's alternate cabriolet body style was more correct than AMT's roadster version (roadster doors aren't the same length as a 3W coupe; cabriolet doors are much closer if not the same length). The '34 coupe kit in this series initially included the cabriolet parts. Later the cabriolet was released as a separate kit (different color, in its own box); the coupe kit then had the cabriolet parts removed and was reissued in a slightly smaller box. All of these were molded in multiple colors (body matched the box illustration, chassis parts were black, some kits had a third color for interior parts or the Woody body). Like the old Auto World catalogs used to say, "you don't have to paint it if you don't feel like"...

The mail/Internet places typically ask more than what they fetch at shows. I can see someone asking (not necessarily getting) $300 for any of a variety of Jo-Han annual kits, but they'd better be in no-excuses mint condition. But even the tail-end SeVille items like the S/C Rambler are starting to climb the price ladder. I think people are starting to realize that they won't be available again...

The ones around here had the Duplicolor "Perfect Match" sprays not long ago. I don't think they make the smaller cans anymore; these are 8 ounce cans, midway between the old 5 ounce cans and the larger 11 ounce sprays. The thing that bugs me is they usually wipe out the color information, but that might be part of the deal by which they get them. When the cans were themselves printed instead of having labels, I've seen them with the Duplicolor brand name obliterated. I've got a few like that. Check the automotive section too; they often have 3M wet/dry sandpaper. This is 3M, made in USA or Canada, not the no-name Chinesium stuff that falls apart when you dip it in water.

When shrinkwrap or bagged parts came into use differs by manufacturer. AMT started shrinkwrap with the '67 annual kits, and bagging unplated parts started with the '69 annuals. In both cases, Trophy Series kits were phased in; when a kit got new box art it also got the shrinkwrap or bagged parts. Plated parts were bagged also, starting in the mid-Seventies. MPC kits were shrinkwrapped from day one. I'm not positive about bagged parts, but they were definitely bagged with the '69 annual kits. '68 and even '67 annuals may also have bagged parts, I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure Jo-Han started shrinkwrapping with the '67 annuals. Their kits never had the unplated parts bagged until the SeVille era in the early Nineties. This also includes the Jo-Han kits sold by AMT in AMT packaging. These were apparently manufactured at the Jo-Han facility and packed with AMT boxes, decals, and instruction sheets. Revell was all over the place. Some of their Parts Packs were at first shrinkwrapped to a piece of cardstock, but were soon changed to cardstock packaging with a cellophane window so you could still see the parts. I recently sold a Revell '62 Dodge kit (non-Metalflake first issue) that was shrinkwrapped. But their other kits had the heavier thickness boxes without shrinkwrap until about '67 or '68.

Checked the nearest store earlier today...another load of pre-Round 2 Lindberg kits, and two Revell kits (pre-finished Challenger and Mustang). Yawn...