Mark

The first-generation V-16 (early Thirties, overhead valve, narrow "V") has been kitted by Jo-Han (1/25 scale) and, I believe, Monogram (1/24 scale). The later, side-valve (flathead) wide-angle V-16 has not been produced by anyone as far as I know.

Check the '65 Galaxie. I'm not sure if there is a wheelbase difference, but the frame and suspension are very similar, probably the same on both 1:1 cars. The '65 has a steering front end, nice separate rear suspension, and gas tank (and trunk floor) but has molded-in exhaust detail. The '66 Galaxie has separate exhaust but the suspension detail isn't as good as the '65. So, if you combine the two...

The chassis accessory packs (axles and running gear) are tougher to find than the chassis themselves. The dragster chassis were borderline obsolete when first introduced, while the running gear fit those chassis, other manufacturers' kits, and scratchbuilt chassis also. Same goes for the engines; those fit anything if you had a saw or a hot knife! The motorcycles were the extreme cases, being complete kits in and of themselves. Those (particularly the Harley) were the toughest to find. My older brother told me that when the hobby shop got parts packs, it was always in an assortment. Of course the most popular ones sold first, and as the non-sellers piled up the shop owner would be reluctant to order more figuring only a handful would sell right away. I'm thinking several parts packs were produced at one time on a molding machine, instead of one kit. Unless Revell had the ability to switch individual parts pack tools to put the most popular ones in the same production run, they probably got stuck producing at least a couple of slow sellers along with three or four good ones. I'm guessing that the latter was the case.

Alternate title: "one more reason to stay on the ground"...

There is no such thing as multitasking...you're just switching back and forth between tasks repeatedly...

Those spoke wheels (in the Woody kit) are actually really decent. I've got a set of those put aside for a fenderless '32 3-window. The Goodyear Rally GT tires are still in the Woody kit, lettering is wiped off so they do look a bit better without it. I've got some Testors AlumaCoupe kit tires that Jimmy Flintstone was selling by themselves (leftovers from Testors resin kits?). Those fit the Monogram wheels pretty well and look better than the Rally GT tires, particularly on an open-wheel build.

The U-shaped rear piece WAS in the first issue of the kit. For the second issue (Showboat, 1967) AMT blocked off a number of the Stylizing parts including that one, reworked the Carson/Hall top into a half-top, ditched the custom wheel covers for Cragar mags, and added the straight axle and plastic slicks for drag version. The price dropped from $2 to $1.70 also. Ertl put most of the Stylizing parts back in, the missing ones are likely no longer there otherwise Round 2 would have put them back as they did with the drag version parts.

Someone pulled a switch on the kit pictured...those spoke wheels are AMT '34 Ford pickup items...

Neither the Cobra Racing Team (the original one) nor the Fireball 500 have the ramps. The four-wheel conversion makes it a tilt-bed also, so ostensibly the ramps are no longer needed.

One of the stores here had them on the shelf. I don't recall seeing it on the last "reset list", maybe it replaced something else at the last moment.

A couple other small parts have gone missing after the first issue: the fender skirts, the fins, and another custom piece for the rear of the car. Not many though, when you compare it with changes made to some other Trophy Series kits.

The '53 Ford pickup has been available for some time now. It doesn't have a jack like this, it includes a "scissors jack" like that included with many new 1:1 cars. A similar jack to this one, plated, is in the Model King wedge hauler parts pack from about ten years ago.

Is this the "square" glass bottle? I use that, but I mix in some tube cement. It's thicker then, but not so much that you can't use the brush inside the cap. For thin liquid cement, I've got Tamiya, and probably still have some Plastruct or Tenax left, for now...

No problem here...bought three (at different times, in different places) and all are fine.

"Limited Edition" = "limited to how many they can sell". The funny car kits don't go for big money. I had four or five, bought them for around $8 each, sold all but a couple of them for double that. That paid for the ones I kept, but still that's not big money. eBay: BIG difference between what people are asking, and what they are getting. If they are NASCAR kits, you'll really have trouble selling them at all...

The Dodge cap looks like it would fit a short (6-1/2') bed without that extension at the back. Maybe some company made a 1:1 version, but I've never seen one. The MPC unit is molded entirely in clear plastic, the parts other than the windows must be painted.

Yeah, the Ertl issue of the wagon was yellow. The smaller cap for the '65 El Camino was tooled for the construction issue, along with a couple of hardhats and a "six-pack". To be really authentic, they'd have needed several of the latter, as well as a bunch of loose ones to throw into the bed...

That's about right...whether it's an office or a garage, if there are ten people employed in it and the work of ten people is getting done, boss don't care that it's one person doing the work and the other nine doing nothing...

If you have a yellow '65 El Camino, you've got that construction issue. I have one that was painted when I got it, the yellow plastic looks pretty opaque but mine had paint on it. That, and a very small nick in one rear wheel opening. Radiused wheel openings will fix that...street freak gasser time! The '77 Ford pickup cap is a Ford piece, it's pictured in their brochures. I've got one, unfortunately mine is missing all of the clear parts. That one might get shortened to 6-1/2' when I get back on my "normal" (non-Camper Special) pickup bed project...

1/25 and 1/24, though I have a number of 1/64 scale diecasts and my old HO-scale slot cars. Got a few 1/16 scale car kits too, though none have ever come close to even becoming started projects. The 1/8 scale stuff all went down the road a couple of years ago, though I could probably piece together a '32 Ford from what is left.

With so few people collecting older magazines, you'd want as many people as possible seeing the listing...

The El Camino camper first appeared in the '65 annual kit, which is pictured. Only one issue of the '59 had it, and that one was from about 1968. That camper doesn't really fit the '59. The topper with that funky/useless raised area first appeared in that '63 Ford reissue (1968) then turned up in the '69 Chevy pickup. There were two issues of that; same plastic parts and (99% certain) same decals in both. AMT did two issues of some annual kits in '69, apparently some department store chains wanted kits without the year on the box so they wouldn't end up dumping some to the clearance shelf after next years' kits came out. The topper is the same in all three kits, and it never appeared in any others after those.

The R&D independent front suspension looks like a "Mustang II" unit, the typical street rod setup having few actual Mustang II parts. This one has tubular A-arms and a fabricated crossmember. The Monogram '37 Ford kits have a very similar setup. Both the '37 and the R&D parts are called 1/24 scale, but this shouldn't be a problem.

WSF -Windshield frame. The one-shot stock sedan used the phaeton interior tub. The rear door panel detail was wiped off for the sedan, and is not present on all issues of the phaeton since then. The tooling for the bucket was likely tweaked a bit to make the tub fit into the sedan body. Ertl probably had to undo some of that work to make it fit the phaeton body again. That would explain to an extent why there was a long break between the sedan and the next phaeton issue, also why the sedan hasn't appeared again since.

The more recent Willys kits have a completely different clear parts tree, without the '32's headlight lenses. The Willys headlight lenses are crude compared to the originals, and as I recall the coupe's oval rear window piece isn't even symmetrical.