Mark

The description of the slot car kit includes "vacuformed"...probably the body. AMT did do three or four similar slot car kits in 1/25 scale, with injection molded styrene bodies. And there were shelf versions of them too, with plastic tires and curbside chassis. But the McKee wasn't one of them, unfortunately.

Single action is probably better as a starter outfit. A lot of guys get everything done with that and never see the need to switch to dual action. Ages ago, I did a number of repaint jobs on Lionel trains for my older brother. Instead of using the available train restoration paints (which were poor quality) he'd take a piece of the train to an automotive paint supplier and have them custom-mix a small amount of enamel. I used the cheapo Badger single-action starter set, everything came out great.

In general, there are a lot of new wheel choices with 3D print parts makers. It seems as though some of these guys specialize in one or two areas once they get up and running. For many, it's wheels/tires and engines. My 3D print purchases have been limited to these categories for the most part. No bodies yet; most of what I have seen still don't look quite right to my eyes. Besides, I've got too much stuff already. There are one or two subjects that I will step up for however, should I see ones that "look right". That said, anyone looking to do aftermarket wheels should look at early custom and rod items like the Lyon caps shown further up the thread. I'd like to see a set of 14" or 15" balloon tire rims from the Thirties. I don't think you could go wrong offering the "Divco" wheels (high clearance wheels, Divco never really used them but that's what they are commonly called anyway). There are still some stock items that haven't been done too. I'd be looking at dog dish caps, also at the '60-'64 Ford 15" wheel covers which were actually '56 Mercury covers with a different center piece.

Use your shop compressor. Just get a regulator and a moisture trap if you haven't got them already. Harbor Freight has stuff like that, inexpensive but will work for what we’re doing. Some guys like the tank- less hobby compressors, but I never liked having the thing running continuously. I got rid of one not long after getting it.

The bumpers in the pro street kit can be reworked, just be ready to spend some time on making pieces to fill the gaps where the guards are. You'll be painting the bumpers anyway, why not try doing them yourself before searching for other parts. The tubbed chassis wasn't in the original Missile kit. It had a stock chassis. The tubbed one is a good start, but it can be improved a bit. I've got that kit but haven't looked at it in a while. As I recall, it didn't have a driveshaft tunnel, and the rear suspension detail was kind of "flat". Another alternative might be to start with the Revell '70 kit. I never tried the '72 bits on one though (mine are already on the Jo-Han body) but if you already have the MPC pro street kit, I'd run with it.

'72. The '70 and '71 versions (same car, updated) was a Dodge Challenger. The Mopar Missile Duster briefly ran as a '72 also, but was quickly changed to a '73. The MPC kit of the 'Cuda was issued in '73 (after the annual kit) but the '72 and '73 looked pretty much the same. MPC's drag car kits were often a year behind the 1:1 versions. The photos on the box were often touched up to make them more closely match what was in the box. When they used artwork instead of a photo, the kit was WAY off!

I've got a started Missile. I used a Jo-Han Sox & Martin 'Cuda as a starting point. I got the grille and taillight panel from a MPC '72 annual kit body that someone had butchered (radiused the wheel openings and sanded off the door handles). The Jo-Han kit sits a bit higher, I'll have to get a different set of headers in order to drop it down in front. The Jo-Han Maverick and Comet pro stock kits have the slotted wheels needed for the Missile.

More info in your other post regarding these kits...

Some of the parts are the same, others are not. The Missile kit was released in '73. It's a replica of the '72 car (MPC was usually a year behind with drag cars). But that car was campaigned in '73 by Mike Fons, who bought it and kept the Motown Missile name (and used it on his next car also). The "factory" car became the Mopar Missile for '73, it being a Duster from then on. Both kits have gutted interiors. Both have the same interior parts and same hood. I don't think the Missile has side glass (the red car does not). The red one may have extremely dark tint glass also. The Missile has a stock chassis with the stock exhaust system molded in. The pro street version has a tubbed chassis. The red pro street car has huge bumper guards that can't be cut off without separating each bumper into three pieces. You can build a Missile using the pro street kit, with a fair amount of work. The pro street car has the "later" body. After the annual kits were done, MPC butchered that body for a dirt track car. They later restored it, but the restored body has larger door handles and the headlights are further forward than they were originally. One other thing: the Missile decals are wrong. The Motown Missile lettering slants the same way for both sides, making one side wrong. Some ex-Ramchargers guys were involved with the Missiles. As with the Ramchargers cars, the lettering leans forward at the top, on both sides.

The tall ones will probably work. Other, shorter/wider ones might fit the wheels but will probably clash with the body. Slicks not as tall as the originals will bring the chassis down too low in back.

My mom bought a new Dodge Neon in 1995. Other than automatic transmission, she wanted absolutely no options. Not even a radio. The dealer found one with a rear window defroster (required in NY), side moldings, automatic, and AM radio. She was OK with the moldings. The dealer threw in the radio, as it was more trouble than it was worth to take it out, and he probably didn't have the filler piece for the instrument panel anyway. That car didn't even have a passenger side exterior mirror. My brother took the car when my mom quit driving. He picked up another Neon with A/C for next to nothing...swapped the A/C into that car. It wasn't an add-on unit. It was relatively easy to swap it in, as the wiring harness in the car was the same with or without it. I remember seeing a plug hanging off of the engine. We asked about that...it was indeed for the A/C. He also swiped the passenger side mirror off of the A/C car.

Grille detail is different too.

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.