Mark

The retooled parts were included to get back two complete cars. The RC2 unblocked issue came close, but the Ala Kart front axle apparently vanished over the years. Round 2 got the kit back to two cars, and does build the Mod Rod version. With different wheels (not included) it will also build the Street Rod issue car which was the last complete double kit issue prior to the Round 2 one. Both Ala Karts have their issues. The 1:1 car has a pronounced "rubber rake" which is not present in the original kit. The hood sides don't flow into the headlamp pods on the grille shell as they should. The engine is also a bit oversized. The new one has a too-small engine, and issues with the cowl and hood. Neither kit has 100% accurate wheels. I'd suspect it's too late to correct either kit now, it's likely that everyone who remembers the Ala Kart and wants a model of one already has one or both kits, or the 1/24 scale diecast.

Never heard of Firth. The heads look a lot like the Smith "Jigglers" which were USA made. Those too are rare pieces, especially the V8-60 version.

Might that be an Australian rod? I'm not seeing a drag link where I think it should be in the picture, if so then those heads might have been locally made there. With two exhaust ports per side, apparently those heads move the exhaust ports out of the block...very smart move. Easier to keep the engine cool, for one thing.

I don't think any of the AMT or SMP annual kits had four-lug open wheels, though the Falcons, Comets, and early Corvairs and Novas should have had them. The kits that did include open wheels nearly always had five-lug. A handful of them (AMT '62 Impalas for example) had no lug detail at all.

Not many. I believe the six may have been a "delete option", meaning the car was built with a 318 unless specifically ordered with a six. Not a lot of Chrysler products were built to order back then; often dealers would find the closest thing in the "sales bank" of already built cars rather than wait several weeks for a special order. So someone would have had to really want a slant six Charger back then in order to get one. Even then most dealers would have probably tried to talk the customer out of it, maybe telling them that it wouldn't have any resale value when traded in later.

All of them have that mounting surface around the perimeter. That kit was created during the Ertl era. I'd bet they designed it, and a '67 diecast, at the same time, and tried to share as many design characteristics as possible between them.

The gunmetal gray plastic points to an early issue Revell-Monogram '55 convertible. I'm pretty sure that the newer tool '56 chassis has a separate gas tank part, to allow for the difference between the '56 sedan and Nomad.

If you end up having to buy a part or two, and add shipping to that, the cost of the used airbrush could equal that of a new one. If it comes with the box and all of the accessories, there's a chance that someone used it once or twice and didn't properly clean it, or just decided it's more work than they want to bother with every time they want to paint something. So you're taking a chance. As long as you know that going in...

With auto sales, those people often work with more than one make. They are going to know (or at least should know) a little bit about each product, but won't know everything about it. Their expertise (the good sales people) will be in figuring out what you, the buyer, need (or want), then steering you to the best vehicle they have access to that meets your needs. And, that won't necessarily be the most expensive one. When I bought a new car last December, the salesman asked me if a leather interior was a thing for me. It wasn't, so he steered me to the mid-level model as opposed to the top one. Sure, the top model had a couple other things too, but I didn't need or want any of those badly enough to pay the difference.

I didn't see the "no chrome". $135 is about where Modelhaus would be if they were still around, and theirs would include plated parts and probably tires too. Yeah, the "name" attached seems to be included in the price...

Looks like these will be a good alternative for those who haven't been able to track down an original one. It would have been nice to see a separate hood, for those wanting to include an engine. That said, I'm glad I got the original Jo-Han items that I have, when I did. Not a "complete" collection by any means, but enough of the ones I really wanted. I'll still be watching, to see if they come up with something I "need".

That Falcon was originally a 271 hp 289 car. You couldn't get a Falcon with that engine in the USA, but Ford of Canada did offer it. Only a handful were sold, along with (supposedly) one or two Rancheros.

Those early Jo-Han annuals were always tough to find. Heck, even the later ones were tough too. Being a WAY smaller producer, and seemingly being more difficult to deal with, meant that the bigger department stores that moved the biggest numbers of kits in those days didn't bother to stock Jo-Han.

AMX-1 was originally a fuel altered. Funny cars made more money, so the AMX body was added. The MPC Bantam Blast kit chassis is the closest thing out there for that car. The original two-seat AMX annual kits were Jo-Han, but ALL of them were sold by AMT, in AMT boxes. None of them with the funny car chassis were ever sold in a Jo-Han box. AMT sold the '68 in one box, '69 and '70 in two boxes (with different stock numbers) for each year.

AMT Ford Courier. 2WD stock version. Nissan (Datsun), Mitsubishi (Dodge), and Isuzu (Chevy LUV) all had six-lug wheels on their 2WD pickups. Toyota was the only one to have five-lug.

I never knew about that one until I saw pics of them (there were two, six and V8) in an AMC book. And I'm into AMC, having had one many years ago (wouldn't mind another, if the right one came along). I believe that is the V8 one, the only one of the two to still exist. It, like the other one, started out with the '70-'72 front sheet metal. AMC supposedly dropped the pickup because the Hornet (particularly the wagon) was selling really well at the time. It's a shame AMC dumped money into the Pacer, and the Matador coupe in the mid-Seventies. Both of those were dead ends. That money would have been better spent keeping the Hornet and Gremlin up to date. Those were great cars; a bit dated and heavier than they needed to be. The Gremlin in particular was overweight, but shared chassis parts, brakes, and power train with the Hornet. I put over 200,000 miles on a Spirit (hatchback derivative of the Gremlin) and would buy another if the right one turned up. They sold well but they were great drivers, everyone (me included) used them until they were used up. Having a trimmer, slightly more up-to-date Hornet/Concord and Gremlin/Spirit in the mid-Eighties might have put AMC in a better position for a merger than the lousy Renault deal they ended up with.

The AMT '66 Galaxie kit has a set, with the carburetor ends like that. You'll probably have to reshape the tubes for the Mustang though.

Too, the restoration of the Falcon is a composite of two years' features. It's the 1967 version of the car, with the 1966 paint scheme. The '66 version had a 427 wedge engine, and the front axle was further forward than it is now.

The guy who restored the car did that truck also, from what I have seen it is a ballpark replica of the one that originally towed the Falcon.

Cement the halves together with liquid cement (not tube glue or CA adhesive). Sand the seams, paint over with liquid cement, sand again. Do that a couple of times. Or, cement the halves together with CA, rout out the seam, then apply two-part epoxy putty or two-part spot putty. When the part is sanded and ready for primer, you want to see a thin "stripe" of putty where the seam was.

Those look like mold parting lines. Literally the points where the multiple sections of tooling that produce the one-piece body come together. After checking photos of 1:1 cars in those same areas, sand away those that shouldn't be there. Doesn't apply to this particular car, but checking is important. Certain British sports cars have panels that are swaged together (crimped at the area where they meet). Every so often I see a built model with those areas molded smooth, there should be an overlap in that area.

Those parts were only in the annual hardtop kit (which, BTW, did not include a stock hardtop--only a custom fastback). The annual kits had an opening trunk lid too. The reissue '62s differ greatly from the annuals.

Not sure about the V6, but Camaros used the straight six into the late Seventies. Two of my cousins had Camaros they both bought new, I believe they were '78 or '79. Both had the straight six and three-speed manual transmission.

Besides the sale price, back taxes probably come into play. Even maximum use of the facility probably won't generate enough dough to cover taxes, insurance, and maintenance on it, especially with the new (higher) taxes.

I don't think the Camaro ever had a base Camaro hood. It's always been issued as a Z/28 that I can recall. The "grid" parts trees for the Blazer kit will probably minimize ejector pin marks on those small parts...smart move on Revell's part.