Mark

I just did a random eBay search...didn't even bother to sort by price. At the top of the list, 100 blade pack for $11.99, free shipping...

It was molded in red, and included one or two small containers of paint, a brush, and a small tube of cement. The rear/lower portion of the top (with the three windows) made it into some later issues of the '27 touring, if I remember right. For a long time, you could get unbuilt Porters really cheap. I've got one on the pile; it might look neat as a street rod.

I haven't seen the 100 pack at either store, at least in the section with model kits. They might have knives and blades stocked in another section of the store though. I never bothered to check, seeing as how I'm set for the forseeable future...

The last place I worked incorporated several businesses, including a vinyl sign shop. The sign shop was the only successful part of the whole thing; several other enterprises including an electrical contractor shut down leaving it as the last thing going. I didn't know too much about how the sign shop worked, I wasn't asked to help with it, I only did the books. Towards the end, the owner asked me not to look for another job right away. He knew there wasn't much for me to do, but the shop wasn't in the greatest neighborhood and he didn't want to leave the two girls (later only one) there alone during the day. He himself didn't want to be there because he had a few creditors after him (once, he unknowingly left five minutes before someone showed up to reposess his truck!). So I'm there with not much to do. I got a lot of reading done, couldn't do much online because the computers didn't work too well (no virus protection, and everyone before me wasn't too careful about how they were used) and I needed mine to do the payroll. The sign shop did a lot of those extended vans for inner-city churches. The design would be created using graphics software, then large sheets of vinyl would be fed into a laser cutter. The cutter didn't cut the letters and designs out completely; it would leave the corners uncut. The whole sheet would be applied to the van, then the uncut corners were finished up with a #11 blade X-Acto knife and the carrier sheet peeled off leaving only the desired lettering and graphics on the van, exactly where it needed to be. They'd replace the blade every few cuts, because they did the trimming with a light touch so as not to cut into the van's paint. The used blades got tossed into a coffee can. I spent a few days going through that can, picking out the blades that didn't have the tip broken off (which was most of them), then cleaning some of them them up on a sharpening stone. I don't think I'll need to buy another #11 blade, ever.

Not much reality in "reality TV"...

The '63 Falcon kit was a snap-together convertible; different windshield (lower) than the sedan unit. The Ranchero piece will fit.

You've got your work cut out for you...all of the Southern Stocker kits used a Buick Regal body, with different hoods and nose sections for the Grand Prix and Monte Carlo.

That reminds me...have to go outside and run the power cord to the engine block heater...

All of the AMT annual kit engines (Rivieras, Wildcats, '66 Skylark, Electra 225s) have axle holes in the blocks. The '61-'62 engine is EXTREMELY simplified (even has the exhaust manifolds molded to the block halves). If I remember right, only seven or eight parts make up the whole thing. That one might be based on the engine from the rare '60 Buick chassis promo. One other really good Buick mill hasn't been mentioned: the one from the AMT double kit with the custom '32 Ford sedan and '40 Willys coupe. That' an easy one to overlook though, because it hasn't been available in a kit in nearly fifty years. If you turn one up, grab it, it's pretty good. Nobody ever did a decent aluminum-block compact V8, either the Oldsmobile or Buick version. The AMT Buick Special wagons didn't include stock engines, and the Jo-Han Olds F-85 blocks are again simplified. The AMT ZZR/Firebug kit had two Buick engines, but those are really simplified (split two-piece block/heads/oil pan/intake). There's a cast metal Rover V8 in 1/24 scale though.

Do a search on eBay; the engine packs from the most recent issue are still floating around and can be had reasonably. They still turn up at shows, along with (if you are lucky) the occasional original one that hasn't been reissued. I tripped over a Buick (one that wasn't reissued) at a show in October, for $10. They're still out there. For some reason, the Chrysler goes for stupid money even though you can pick up a Miss Deal Studebaker kit, which includes that same engine along with Parts Pack wheels, tires, and some chassis parts.

For me, Super Clean seldom fails to remove both the plating and underlying lacquer base coat. I'm still using the Castrol-branded product, but from what I have heard the newer stuff still does the job. I'll be using Dawn Power Dissolver on most paint (until my closeout store supply runs out), but Super Clean has always been my go-to stuff for plating.

The Coddington issue is also missing some of the stock suspension parts. It has a weird articulated rear axle that's designed to fit in place of the stock unit.

I'm surprised the two fit together so well, seeing as how they were created nearly forty years apart, by competing companies, certainly with different personnel, likely with different methods. Having a spare '51 Chevy convertible body with radiused rear wheel openings but a good deck area and windshield frame, I've now got some direction for the '49 Olds convertible pace car that I'd like to do...

There are a few non-Monogram parts on that Little Drag (not that it matters, it still looks great). The Monogram 1/24 scale '55 Chevy (Badman) will have the blower setup (except for the scoop). The rear wheels and slicks could be pulled from any of several Monogram 1/24 scale rod kits. Like the one shown, the headers would be from something else (those look like headers from the AMT parts pack Pontiac engine). The roll bar is probably scratchbuilt. I've wanted to do one of those too; mine would be a little bit different, I'd probably use the spoked wheels from the recent issues on the front, and swap the Little T front brake backing plates onto the later issue kit so I could use the trailer wheels/tires on the front of that one.

No, this kit always had the Cragar S/S wheels.

The kits themselves were great in most cases, the Zinger-wannabe parts not so great. As cool as some of us think those Impalas and Grand Prix (Grand Prixs? Grands Prix?) are now, most builders didn't get into them back then. Some of those weren't hot sellers, and wound up as closeout items that got built by little kids. That's why they are so tough to find unbuilt now, also why built ones are often not worth messing with...

The police car kits weren't newly produced, but packaged from parts already molded that were part of the purchase. The Rambler wagon and Chrysler Turbine car snap kit were the only kits that were manufactured after, if I remember right.

Those Unibody promo models used to be a lot more costly years ago...$63 isn't too bad for one today. I remember seeing an ad or an eBay listing for a resin one, from the company that was supplying resin parts to Okey Spaulding's Johan...did any of those get produced? It's interesting to note that the 1960 Unibody promo was molded in styrene, while Jo-Han used acetate for their other promos through 1963.

They reset the stock twice a year, if I remember right the next reset should take place in a couple of months. What kits will be changed out, and for what, are an unknown. When you see empty spaces on the shelves, check the little stickers on those shelves, the shelves are usually marked long before the product arrives...

22. And he didn't do too much recording in the last few months of his life; he was trapped in a bad recording contract and wasn't seeing much money from it. He was doing the live performances to make some money because his wife was expecting. Only two albums were released during his lifetime: one Crickets album and one solo. Had he lived, I don't think the Beatles would have made the impact they did. He'd probably still be a force in the music business, as a writer or producer...

Most kids (myself included) hated those parts back then, they took the place of other things that could have been a lot better. I've seen a lot of those parts in parts boxes over the years, but have only seen a handful of kits built using them. A guy I know is trying to build all of them; it's taking a while because he's looking for poorly built or damaged kits to use (doesn't want to waste perfectly good kits for the project). Those parts came back again in '72 (except in the Jeepster and Vega) but were barely shown on the box art. Look closely at the drag Camaro...it's not what you think it is at first glance, unless of course you're thinking of "Bill Williams' 'Camaro Joy'"...

I'd keep the chassis that came with it...it's put together better than most of them were. Looks like it's all there, looks like it can be disassembled and stripped easily.

The '73 'Vettes still had the metal rear bumpers, so that body isn't altered all that much from the earlier annual kits. The later ones kind of drift away in terms of accuracy, much like AMT's second-generation Camaro annual kits from '74 on...

I've seen it locally. Didn't buy one (already have an original) but it's out there.

That's the '73 annual. It could be built stock, and there was a drag version included too. The Warren Tope racing issue deleted the stock parts, gutted the stock interior bucket, and replaced a few things like the wheels. The roll cage in the annual and Tope versions was hacked together from the drag roll bar. A better cage was tooled for a later issue; that's probably what will be in the reissue.