Mark

I'd like to see Revell tool up some new Super Trick wheels for the 1/25 scale funnies. The original ones only bear a slight resemblance to the 1:1 parts...

The MPC kit is an '82, not that it makes much of a difference. Their "1983" annual was the 1982 Indy 500 pace car. They were usually a year behind with pace cars, because the Speedway announced the choice well after the annual kits were issued for a given model year...

No single piece in either of the aircraft kits is anywhere near as complicated as the one-piece Charger body. The airplane wings, and even the fuselage halves, are molded using relatively simple tooling compared to what is needed for a one-piece car body.

I've got the Open Road Mini Motor Home, original Rescue Van, and '73 drag van annual kit. All three have separate hoods. Two have broken cowls, which led me to scare up a couple more of the early bodies (with the separate side panel inserts). Those have separate hoods too. The firewall in the Dirty Donny kit still has the notches where the original hood's vestigal "hinges" fit. I believe the hood was tooled into the body at the same time that the separate side panels were eliminated, which was for the Kandy-Van/Nirvana custom issues. Recently, I built one of the Dirty Donny van kits. Among other modifications, I opened the hood. You can barely see the front of the engine, let alone the wiring. I won't glue the hoods shut on any of the early issue kits that I might build, but on the other hand I won't cut another later kit to get the opening hood. If I build any of the other customs (Sun Chaser, Xtasy, Foxy Box) those will probably get dark interiors and smoke-tint glass to keep things simple...

The trunk lid center "ridge" was a mid-'71 change. Cars newly constructed for the '72 season would probably have it, while teams stretching '71 cars into the '72 season might overlook the change. The MPC kit parts don't fit all that well, so it's not surprising that resin kits based on it are also tough to get together. MPC didn't get the front wheel openings right either. I found out about the poor fit while reworking a '76 Dart body to accept some resin front end parts copied from the MPC Demon kit. From a resin kit that I bought second-hand (don't know who made it), as of now all I'm using is the taillight panel (cut from the body) and the front bumper/grille (and I might set that aside in favor of a Modelhaus part, as I did with the hood and front pan).

One other thing: in the earlier (pre-Round 2) versions, the Pontiac kit did not include vent window "glass". The current issue has vent panes added to the windshield.

This issue contains parts to build both the stock and custom versions. Two sets of wheels and tires (and two slicks), stock and custom grilles, stock and custom interior parts. The kit was designed with two versions that were originally sold separately, like the '60 Ford hardtop. Like that kit, both versions are offered together in the current issue.

Revell is smart in not dropping all of the variations of a particular kit at the same time. If they did, a lot of modelers would choose between one version and another. The later variations refresh peoples' interest in a kit, and sales numbers for the variation probably approach the numbers for the first version (while not costing as much as an all-new kit). They might even sell a few more of the first version, for parts swapping and kitbashing.

The week after Christmas, model kits were 25% off. They had the Revell '57 kit in, so I grabbed one. I didn't think they would let me use the 40% off coupon, but they did. They didn't give me both discounts (the 40% off was from the non-sale price), but I never expected that. But, using the coupon gave me the larger discount of the two.

If you have a Michael's store in your area, they currently have 50% off coupons. They haven't restocked their model kits lately, so the selection isn't that good right now. But, the stores in my area do have some of the Testors lacquer sprays and a wider selection of bottle enamels than most stores. Check the other areas of the store, too. I bought a couple of four-packs of 3/4 ounce paint jars (the type used with airbrushes) as well as some "foam board" for a display project. If you use (or want to get) a Badger airbrush, they have those too. The register receipt usually includes another 50% off coupon to use next time you are in the store too.

Wait, there's more... Besides the part # 116 fuel filler, the '76 Monza kit has a few more parts that weren't in the '75 annual. Namely: the front air dam, quarter window overlay pieces, and rear wheel "pants" from the Superhawk...

Wow...Gas Monkey did something nice? The couple of shows I saw had them hacking up the quarter panels on a solid Ford Fairmont, and starting on that Chevy pickup. I think I saw the one with the '59 Rambler wagon too. The Revell '32 Ford three-window coupe kits have developed some nasty parting lines at the rear of the roof; also, I think the tooling around the trunk lid area has gotten a bit sloppy. Even on the earliest kits, the panel line for the trunk lid isn't really an engraved line all around...across the top (near the rear window) it "steps" from one level to another. It isn't hard to fix that; use the "step" as a guide to scribe the panel line, and then knock the stepped-up part down to the level of the trunk lid. I haven't bought the current issue of the 3W; perhaps Revell has fixed this. I've got a couple more early kits (with lettering on the tires too) in case I want to build another one. I've been able to scrounge those kits for next to nothing at flea markets, toy shows, and automotive swap meets, and have a few stashed for parts and conversions. More recently, I've grabbed the later variations (5W coupe, two-door sedan) because they have extra wheels and engines. You don't often see the sedan or 5W coupe outside of retail stores, but Michael's usually has them on the shelf, and the 40% (this week 50%) coupon knocks the price down enough to make buying another one worthwhile.

I have the MPC 1975 and 1976 Monza kits, and one Buick. The Monza bodies look identical, not as though the nameplates were reworked between one and another. The 1:1 nameplates did not change from 1975 to 1976. Besides the decals, the only thing changed was the rear license plate. The 1975 rear pan has an Ontario license plate (though without "Ontario" at the top), the 1976 has a "1976" plate like the promotional. Perhaps MPC was asked for a Buick promotional model, and it was later cancelled, so MPC made use of the body side tooling. To produce a stock Buick kit would have required tooling a Buick V6 engine and stock wheels, so the non-stock version saved them some money. The yellow Monza is probably the 1980 "Pro Street" issue. The only other MPC Monza kit I know of that was molded in color would be the 1979 "Black Max" annual.

MPC issued it as the '75 Monza first, then as the Buick Skyhawk (not 100% stock; no stock wheels and had a Chevy engine). I don't know how MPC did that, and then issued it as the Monza again for '76.

The 1:1 car was red (not black) back in the day. The story I heard is that the current owner bought the car right after it had been painted black. I'm not sure if the previous owner knew (or cared about) the car's prior history. Having seen the black paint job on the car, I wouldn't repaint it red...but I probably wouldn't have added the lettering either.

Monogram tried to pass it off as a "Boss 302 Mustang" engine. Why didn't they just call it a "GTO Judge" engine? They'd have at least been in the ballpark...

The Model T kits in this series ARE accurate, and are correct 1/25 scale. The '33 and '34 Fords that use the same chassis are undersized. The first car issued in the series was the '26 T sedan, the only one that actually exists as a 1:1 car. The kit was scaled right off of the actual car, a sedan built by John Buttera for his wife to drive. The body is pretty close to stock, but the fenders are widened a couple inches (Buttera jokingly called them "the rare Australian fenders"). The first issue of the sedan kit doesn't have any photos of the model, but instead had photos of the actual car. It didn't sell well until Revell changed the box to include photos of the assembled model. After that, modelers realized that the kit wasn't like earlier Revell kits (opening everything, tough to assemble) and sales took off. The '33 and '34 coupe kits are undersized, but the chassis is the same one that was included in the T kits. That makes those worth a look if you only need the chassis.

There was never an AMT issue of the Red Alert in 1970 trim. The Red Alert kit was first issued around 1973. I believe the Red Alert was unchanged parts-wise from the '72 annual kit. The Red Alert was one of those AMT kits that you saw on the shelf in every K-Mart store in the country. The box art was retained through the late Seventies. The '72 was backdated to the '70 many years after the Red Alert last appeared. When that was done, most of the optional parts from the Red Alert were replaced with different parts. There is only one 1:1 car, the '70.

The Chevelle was backdated by Ertl to the 1970 (which actually makes it more accurate as the Red Alert because the 1:1 car was a 1970). It was later reissued as a '72 again, but the '72 bumpers were newly tooled and weren't as good as the originals. Most of the optional parts have been changed, and the cut line on the underside of the hood has been eliminated too.

He's at the other end of NY, in Buffalo. I live nearby, I was just there yesterday. He just mailed out another list, and should have it posted online soon (although a lot of stuff on the printed list is already sold).

The '64 Galaxie annual kit that had the working light feature is now the Modified Stocker kit. The curbside kit that Model King issued a few years back is the original 1964 promotional model, later issued as a Craftsman Series kit and as an Ertl Blueprinter mail-order item. Apparently AMT created two '64 Galaxie tools: one for promotional models, another for the kits. Some parts interchange between the two (which would make sense because AMT would have used one set of masters to create the two tools).

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. car (later issued as the Mademoiselle Secret Agent 97 without any alterations) and the Piranha were first issued around the same time. They didn't share a single part.

The early Gremlin funny car (first released in '71) had two grille/bumper units. One is on the plated tree and is 100% stock (even has engraved headlamp detail). The unplated one has no engraved detail, it's supposed to make the body more closely resemble a one-piece fiberglass unit. I'm not sure which early Gremlin I want; Wally Booth's '72, or H.L. Shahan's '71 match race car (Gremlin wheelbase was too short to run legal Pro Stock prior to '72).

The S/ST (Street Super Trick) was chrome plated. The center section was cast aluminum, the outer rim steel. The center was probably attached to the rim in the same way as the Cragar S/S wheels: steel tabs were cast into the aluminum center which were then welded to the rim. The bolt head detail was decorative. The Street Super Tricks were HEAVY, and the plating started peeling on the centers (and the outer rims started rusting) not long after they were put on the car. The racing Super Tricks are spun aluminum, they may have been anodized clear when manufactured in order to keep them from dulling. Still, they will have a more natural aluminum finish. Most rear wheel halves (and a lot of fronts) had dual bolt patterns (five lug, Ford/Mopar/AMC and GM pattern). The rear wheels are a lot more common than the fronts, most racers had more than one set of slicks but seldom had extra front tires. Centerline wheels are similar to the racing Super Tricks, except the halves are stamped (not spun) and are permanently riveted together. They have a slug sandwiched between the halves in the lug bolt area like the Super Trick. I am not sure if the slug is steel or aluminum. There are more rivets around the perimeter of a Centerline wheel than bolts on a Super Trick wheel (fifteen bolts if I remember right). The Centerlines I have seen have only one lug pattern (either Ford/Mopar/AMC, or GM) not dual pattern. Centerlines are supposedly a bit lighter (when comparing similar sizes), and could be used on the street.