Mark

Jo-Han '68 Cadillac.

I wouldn't bet on seeing the street machine version parts included. The mag wheels shown aren't the ones included in that kit. The street machine has a bunch of parts that are different from the stock version; I doubt both versions plus the derby car could fit into a regular size box.

Model Car Garage offers a small photoetch set for a Mako Shark. It's probably intended for the AMT/Ertl snap kit of the earlier Shark, but from the looks of it several items could be used on this one. It's under ten bucks (no grille or other large items) so it's worth looking into if you intend to jump into one of these kits. I've got a couple of originals, the Street Shark, and probably a couple of the more recent ones...should check them all against one another and see exactly what revisions were made to which parts. Some of the chassis and engine parts in these kits were also used in the Carl Casper Turbo Shark ('63-'67 custom) kit, later reissued (only once) as the Demon 'Vette.

Quick fix if you want a 100% STOCK MPC '75-'77 Corvette: swap in the engine/chassis from a '78-'82 annual kit. They're out there, if you pound the ground you should be able to turn one up for less than the price of a current kit. The '78 kit was retooled (not based on earlier kits) but the chassis is very similar to the '68-'77 parts. Stock smogger small-block and automatic transmission, stock single cat-con exhaust with dual mufflers so that you see smoke coming out of two tailpipes while it's warming up on a cold morning.

AMT was doing a lot of TV/movie car kits in the mid/late Sixties. After the two Munsters car kits which were wildly successful, they had a few misses. My Mother the Car: show lasted a full season but the kit doesn't seem to have set the world on fire. Those could be had in unassembled form at around "current kit price" into the Nineties. The Hero Imperial: show lasted six episodes, kit probably dead on arrival, hit the shelves after the show was cancelled. T.H.E. Cat Corvette: don't know how long the show lasted but again, kit doesn't seem to have set any sales records. I doubt the Get Smart Sunbeam did too much sales-wise back then either. The only surprise would have been that it was tooled from scratch. All the other car kits (except the Munsters and Man from U.N.C.L.E.) were modified from existing kits. The Sunbeam was issued only four times: Get Smart, yellow Lesney issue Tiger, Ertl Blueprinter issue, and the current Round 2 issue.

Wheels and tires are obviously different, entire exhaust system is different, and there are numerous detail changes to the exterior body panels. The original version was produced through '72 or '73, with the alterations taking place over a couple of issues. Rather than try to backdate a later one, try searching out a previously built original. The newer issues can be used as parts donors (engine, chassis, interior, windows).

The '56 was out in the HOT ROD series around that time...that issue was the truly unbuildable one. Maybe Revell had gotten feedback on it prior to issuing the three-car set.

That's an early Olds engine, from the Revell Orange Crate or one of the variations of it.

Is that for real, or some Walmart hater's Photoshop job? I'm no fan of WM (every time I walk in, I leave wondering why I walked in) but don't care what they do one way or the other. The most bad-tastey 9/11 thing I've seen was a mural on the Continental tire cover of a car. I think it was a '58 Chevy.

There is an AMT/Ertl boxed "Firebird 400" reissue (orange car on the box), that one includes a twin-scoop 400 hood as well as the T/A hood. The 400 hood was (then) new tooling, and leaves a wider gap than the T/A hood when installed. Not terrible as I recall, just not as good as it could have been.

My grandmother had a '56 Bel Air two-door sedan in that same blue/white color combo. She probably got rid of it when I was five or six, so I wouldn't have known what it had under the hood. When I get to mine, I hope I can get it to look half as good as this build!

The radiator, side pipes, and passenger seat were added to some of the AWB funny car kits in the mid-Seventies, so AMT could issue them as "street machines". A lot of kits didn't include radiator hoses back then. For street, you'd still need a water pump and an alternator, and you'd have to work up a different arrangement for the traction bars among other things. The 1:1 drag cars almost always had the wiper arms left off. The kit manufacturers sometimes took them off for drag versions, but not often, because it wasn't easy to do after the fact. Most of the pro stock kits issued in the Seventies had windshield wiper detail on the bodies.

The AMT '69 annual body was not reworked into the '70. It was more likely reworked into the "longnose" '69 funny car body, which uses the same trim pieces. The AMT '70 was all new at the time. After the '70 annual, the body was reused in the Mach Won funny car, the chassis and engine recycled into the '71-'73 annuals.

Which exposes a minor problem...no bracket for the idler, it hangs in outer space. Shouldn't be too much grief to make one. This and the firewall issue, still detract little from an otherwise excellent kit.

The instructions show it upside-down AND backwards. When you put it on the right way, the idler will be where it's supposed to be. The "backwards" part isn't apparent because the drawing doesn't show a mounting pin that's on the upper pulley.

The original Mod Rods (there were two boxes) were unchanged parts-wise from the original Ala Kart kit. The Mod Rod was just an alternate version that was always in there. They just emphasized that version over the Ala Kart which was no longer being shown. The original Mod Rod boxes had a small Ala Kart illustration on one side panel. The decal sheet had the Ala Kart scallops, but fewer of them. The early issue kits boxed as the Ala Kart had scallops for the underside of the fenders as on the 1:1 car, the later issues boxed as the Mod Rod only had the topside scallops. The next issue after the Mod Rods was the Street Rod Series/25th Anniversary version. That one had some different parts (custom wheels, rod version headlights) and most of the Ala Kart parts were blocked off and not included. Some alterations were made to the Kart body and fenders also. The Round 2 Mod Rod has all of the available Kart parts. Some of them don't exist anymore. For example, the 25th Anniversary kit headlight units are in the spot on the chrome tree where the fuel injection pieces for the Kart used to be. So those probably got removed or destroyed to fit the headlights in. When those changes were made, there was probably no thought of ever bringing the Kart back. AMT didn't own the 1:1 anymore, and for the most part it was forgotten. The Round 2 box art illustration with the fendered (red) Mod Rod is altered a bit; the side exhaust pipes were removed because they are no longer in the kit.

I had TWO of the lowrider issue, sold both because I'll never get to them. I'd like to do two or three more of the '57 kits, the reality is I might do one, possibly two. Maybe I should do the one I want a little less first, then I might have the drive to do the third one. Same goes for the Revell '53-'54 sedan; I might do one with the level of work that I feel like getting into, after which I'll probably forget about any others. One of the '57 lowriders was molded in the usual pink, the other was lavender. I've never seen another one like that before or since. When you got the '56 pickup, were the red taillights still bagged with the tires? I too got a cheap original on eBay, the tire/taillight bag was unfortunately still sealed leaving the taillights as two little clear red blobs. Found a motherlode of parts boxes at a 1:1 car swap meet a couple of years ago, combed through tons of small stuff and found a bunch of goodies including two mint, unused, red '56 taillights. All of the reissues have the taillights on the plated tree.

It's no walk in the park, but the '57 actually does go together. I managed to get one together for a club challenge a couple of years ago. I'd like to do a couple more: I've got an original issue, and I'd like to build the Ed Roth issue. I've heard of people putting the Roth decals on other '57 hardtop kits, but to me they belong on that old Revell kit because that's the one that was created in the period when Roth was working with Revell. The last couple of issues are actually pretty clean. I'd intended to build the Roth issue for the challenge, but it wasn't out yet when we got started. Tim's criticism still applies to most aspects of the kit, but the parts appear to be a bit cleaner in the Roth issue than in the late-Seventies one he used for the comparison. Knowing what I know about these kits now, I'll be looking at vacuum forming new rear glass (and probably windshield) for any issue but the original. I'd toss the sloppy door hinges and replace them with scratchbuilt ones. That applies to all of the '55-'57 kits. The '57 has the following alterations, among others: photoetch grille and some emblems (I think most are from the AMT Pro Shop kit, some might be MCG though), Monogram whitewall tires (the older ones, from the Predicta and some of the early 1/25 scale Fifties car kits), wheel covers from the newer Revell Bel Air sedan, engine parts from the newer Revell kit and the old AMT kit, and some scratchbuilt stuff like new interior door panels with separate arm rests and handles. I crammed more work into this thing over one summer than I have done on anything in recent years. I've got to polish a smudge on one door, and reshoot the roof because I polished through the paint in one spot. It actually doesn't look too bad on the shelf though.

I think they've been messing with the formulae for the primers in recent years. The regular "primer" seems to be really thin and hot. What used to be "primer" is now called "sandable primer", what used to be "sandable" is now "filler primer". In the past, even the plain old "primer" had some build qualities...not any more. Just another case of "cheapen the product, then bring the old stuff back later with a premium label and a higher price". Lately, when I have used the automotive stuff, I've used the "filler primer" sparingly because it covers better than "primer". Once everything is smooth, I give everything a quick blast of "sealer primer" and lay the top coats on over that.

That's a Seventies issue, it will have the stock wheels/tires. It should have everything that the original issue had, except the slicks and (rear only) mag wheels for the drag version. They will have one-piece taillights on the plated tree (only the original had red lenses). The bumper guards are molded as part of the bumper, if that matters. The bodies appear to have the temporary braces in the door openings, so they should still be straight.

The old tri-five Chevy kit engines are pretty similar to the parts pack engines. In fact, the '57 hardtop got a facelift in the late Sixties, and the revised kit includes the long block from the '63 Corvette parts pack engine. If you've got a recent issue of the '57 hardtop, take a look at the parts tree with most of the unplated engine parts on it. That was around the time Revell tooled the Nomad kit. I never checked the parts, perhaps some of the parts from the first issue hardtop (like the engine) wound up in the Nomad. The two don't share any parts (things like front bumpers are similar and even interchange, but aren't exactly the same). The engines don't have separate crankshafts, etc, but the detail is molded as part of the engine block pieces. All of them have '58-up engine blocks with engine mount bosses on the sides. The '55 and '56 kits have ram's horn exhaust manifolds which are '57-up pieces. Looking at the '55 stock valve covers, the bolt detail on the upper side is nonexistent. I think the bolt holes were staggered on early cars, and the upper and lower holes were parallel (same distance between them) starting around '59. In any event, they've all got later long blocks in them.

I'm not holding out on getting cable; I just flat-out do not watch TV. The last couple of (non-cable) series I used to watch were Law & Order (the original one, not the spinoffs) and CSI (same deal, the original). When Jerry Orbach left L&O, I packed that one in. When they were giving out the conversion boxes for regular TV, I didn't even bother to get one. I just wasn't interested. My mom had cable (she had macular degeneration and wasn't able to read anymore, something she liked to do) so whenever I was visiting, the TV was usually on. Two hundred or so channels, maybe ten with anything watchable. And when there was a partial loss of service, the only channels available would be the garbage ones. Only by dumb luck would anything worthwhile come on for the most part. And everything is run over, and over, and over. There are a few movies I could have watched a hundred times or more over a given summer. We'd watch baseball whenever we could catch a game. Only a couple of other shows did anything for me, Mythbusters and Wheeler Dealers. Even those two were rerun a bunch of times. I just don't see enough out there that would make me get off of my wallet for either cable TV or satellite radio. And if I'm not using it, I don't feel like paying for it as part of a "bundle".

The religious folk who ring the bell here have been good. It's the Verizon people I can't stand. I've still got a land line, no cable (only reason I have a TV at all is to play recorded stuff) yet last year they were constantly pestering me to "save me money". One person came around at 9:00 in the evening. Anything they were offering was at least twice the cost of what I've got now, and that's before all the taxes and surcharges New York piles on. They've even started sending service people around hoping to catch people off guard, to "upgrade their services". First thing they do is disconnect the land line, which, once disconnected, they won't reconnect for any reason. I wonder how many seniors they dupe out of their phone services pulling that krap. I had a couple of those visits on Saturday mornings, had to tell them to get lost or I'd call the police. Called them to get the phone, e-mail, and in-person solicitations (two or three calls a week) stopped, about a week later they were still calling. I found the information to open a criminal complaint (like for a stalker or an obscene caller), and called. When they asked if I knew who was placing the offensive calls, I told them "Verizon". Haven't heard from them since...

The '56 went bad (became unbuildable) before any of the others, except the '57 Nomad which was never any good. I've got a couple of first issue Nomads and they've got serious issues. Back to the '56: The HOT ROD issue is definitely bad. I bought one when it was issued...windows fell through the openings. I've got a lightly cemented built first-issue '56, which is great because the assembly has kept everything nice and straight. The next '57 I tackle will be a first issue kit. I'll have to get the chrome redone (Revell didn't use any, or enough, lacquer undercoat in those days). I might cast some wheelcover/rim units so I can use those styrene-melting US Royal tires on it.

I doubt we'll see anything like Modelhaus come this way again, but parts makers might start turning up. It'll probably be more specialized. Some guy who is nuts about early Corvairs might do parts and conversions for those, someone else who likes Imperials or Continentals would do parts for those, and so on. When you see someone at a show offering something you need, jump on it. Mail/online ordering will be sketchy, though, if someone you never heard of before starts selling parts...