Mark

Those are AMT Turnpike tires. They were used on the 1/25 scale cars made for the AMT Authentic Model Turnpike sets (the cars were sold separately too). AMT used them in only one kit, the first issue Trophy Series 1958 Impala. Two soft Firestone slicks were also included in the Impala kit. AMT also offered the tires separately in a parts pack called "Soft Rubber Darlingtons and Slicks". The tires were probably used in the Impala and parts pack because the Turnpike related items didn't sell anywhere near the numbers expected. When the Impala was reboxed for its second issue in 1966-67, the soft tires and slicks were replaced by conventional vinyl tires that other AMT kits used.

Do the instructions mention anything about how these are made, or how to apply them? Are they printed on the glossy photographic type of paper, or ordinary white paper? Plain white paper will yellow over time, the glossy paper might benefit from a coat of clear scrylic or enamel. You'd have to experiment though; the ink might smear when you attempt to brush on the clear. Printed paper seems to be a cheap substitute for decals in my opinion. Depending on the engine, you might look at Fred Cady's decals. There are still a bunch of them floating around online. The sheets for the various musclecars (and some of the racing cars) often include air cleaner and valve cover decals, sometimes more than one set. You might already have some of the Cady sheets on hand, if not do an eBay search. People selling decals will include a picture or scan of what they are offering, and you can see if a particular sheet has something that you can use. In particular, the Mopar sheets have duplicates and extras, sometimes not related to the car for which the decals were created.

After remembering that I have one of the Minicraft reissue Highway Pioneer '32 Ford hot rods laying around, I dug it out. The 1/32 scale chassis and engine parts actually compare quite well size-wise with the modern Revell 1/25 scale Kurtis midget parts. Of course, the modern parts are far more detailed. But it would be interesting to revisit the Rod & Custom Models article now, with the reissue Highway Pioneer hot rod kit in hand.

The article "Building the Gilmore Midget" appeared in the September 1964 issue of Rod & Custom Models. I too built one of those in the mid-Eighties. My older brother Mike had finished restoring an early Kurtis-Kraft midget around that time. He then acquired a Hillegas rail-frame midget, and was doing some work on that. He got that one up on four wheels, but lost interest in it and sold it (it was a V8-60 car, and he never had any enthusiasm for those). The Kurtis was powered by a Ferguson tractor engine (basically a four cylinder version of Ford's overhead valve inline six from the early Fifties). Henning's model used wheels and tires from the Revell 1/32 scale Hot Rod kit, a narrowed front axle from the Revell Ed Roth Outlaw (which used a Ford V8-60 tubular axle). Rear axle was the narrower of the two units from a Revell parts pack. Other parts were scrounged from various sources. Like Henning's, model, mine has parallel leaf springs in front, and a single transverse spring in rear. I used a narrowed front axle from an AMT altered-wheelbase '65 Nova funny car, rear axle is the same Revell parts pack unit Henning had used. I didn't have access to a Highway Pioneers Hot Rod kit, so I used 1/32 scale slot car tires and wheels, reworking the centers with six-bolt center hubs cut from some wheels out of the parts box. I used balsa for the body and frame rails. After first seeing this thread, I pulled it out of the display case; the sealed wood is still holding up well. Next time I have batteries in my camera, I should take a picture or two of it. It's not contest material by any means, but it was fairly easy to build. I'd like to revisit some of these earlier projects at some point...

The flip front pickup was an MPC kit, created when AMT and MPC were competing companies. No parts are shared between them. My reissue Nostalgia Series Double Flip issue does have the clear parts from the AMT kit, and they fit the ex-MPC body. (The AMT clear window unit has headlamp lenses molded in the area between the windshield and back window, which the MPC window unit doesn't have because the kit doesn't have clear lenses.) The issues of the AMT kit I know of are: -original (1963) -Wild Kat (1966-67) -Baja Patrol (1969) -Street Rod (1974) -High Stepper (1976-77) -Barris Cruisin' USA (1980) -first AMT/Ertl reissue (1984) -second AMT/Ertl reissue (1994) It was included in a few sets, too: -American Grand Prix (with trailer and Shelby 289 Cobra) -Modified Stocker Hauler (with trailer) (issued twice) -Grant King set (with trailer and sprint car) -Diamond In The Rough (with trailer and damaged '40 Ford sedan) There was a street rod set too, with (I believe) the '37 Chevy convertible and the '34 Ford 5W coupe. I think that's all of them, there might be something I missed though.

eBay. They're described as "haven't checked everything, but it looks complete" by sellers that "don't know much about these things" (but when you check their recent sales, model kits are all they have been selling)

Art: The '29 pickup and '31 sedan/Woody kits did not use the same stock wheels and tires! I've got original issues of both kits; the '31 uses 19" tires as you say, the tires in the '29 pickup are slightly, but noticeably taller. The tires in my '29 kit are still bagged so I can't make out the sidewall size detail, but a "20" is plainly visible on the tire. The wheels from the '31 would fall through the center holes in the '29 tires. It's a shame that only the original issue pickup has those stock wheels and tires; the tires are of the "plastic eating" variety. Every built example I have seen with the stock tires, has wheels that have softened into bubble gum. I'd rate the Revell A kits far above all the others. But the AMT '29 roadster has something neither of the Revell kits ever had: accelerator, clutch, and brake pedals!

The Jo-Han '64 hardtop was originally a Fury. The original annual Jo-Han kits (hardtop and convertible) had Fury trim and could be built stock. Both included a 426 Wedge engine. Jo-Han converted it to the Petty Belvedere around 1968. That reissue, and all since, have the Fury trim removed from the body along with the stock parts. The Wedge engine was replaced by the Hemi. The first reissue (in the flat box) includes an early Logghe Brothers funny car chassis.

I do this fairly often, mostly on newer kits. The newer tooling isn't as crisp as a lot of the older stuff. Some older kits, especially ones that have been reissued often, have problems because the tooling has been cleaned or polished with some detail loss. Panel lines are sometimes not deep enough for my tastes, and are occasionally wider than they should be. I'll sometimes scribe around trim too, to better define the edges for later application of foil.

They are Ansen Apollo wheels. The resin units pictured look like copies of the ones in the AMT '67 Impala annual kits. I believe they were in the AMT "for 1968" custom Impala also.

Never heard about any Forty Niners reissues, but Model King was supposedly going to do a reissue of some other Monogram 1/32 scale drag cars, including the Fiat Topolino and '34 Ford coupe. The '41 Willys coupe wasn't mentioned because (supposedly) it no longer exists. These reissues didn't happen, nor did the reissue of the old 1/24 scale Kurtis midget (the one based on the slot car body). Neither Revell-Monogram nor Round 2 (AMT/MPC) are doing "private label" reissues at this time, so I've heard.

Get a brand that has a good bottle with a snap-on cap, like Loctite. After each application, wipe the bottle's nozzle clean and snap the cap back on. When not in use, make sure the bottle is standing up straight, and doesn't get knocked over allowing the glue to flow out of the opening into the cap. That, or buy the cheap stuff that comes in the small tubes, several for a dollar. Those are meant to be used right away once opened.

Two things add to my previous post: -Hobby Lobby doesn't have any plastic beads in a hex shape. All of the smaller stuff I saw there was glass, and therefore useless for what we want to do. -The plastic hex beads can't really be drilled out. They appear to be molded in clear plastic which tends to be brittle to begin with, but this stuff is more brittle than I expected. I just barely started turning a nice, sharp .032" drill bit and the bead shattered. You might be able to enlarge the hole with a rat-tail file, but even then I'd expect to end up with more broken beads/fittings than good ones. Since this was the only hex-shaped variety I saw, there do not appear to be any molded in colors (which might have been less brittle and perhaps drillable).

After reading this thread the other day, I stopped at Michael's yesterday to check out the beads and try to find this particular one. Among the massive variety of beads, I only found one hexagonal style which I believe is the same as the one pictured. The ones I have are Toho Treasure Beads, 11/0 Hexagon variety. With the weekly 40% off coupon that accompanies me on every trip, the package was something like $2. There must be a couple hundred beads in there. I measured the diameter of a piece of wire I had on hand that fits snugly into the hole in this bead, it is .030" which would translate to a 3/4" outside diameter in 1/25 scale. I haven't tried drilling the hole out to a larger size, though I suspect it could be drilled out with a 66, 67, or 68 bit to fit a slightly bigger wire. I happened to stop by an AC Moore store today, their selection was not as good as Michael's. They didn't have anything in a hex shape, though they did have the crimp beads mentioned elsewhere in the thread. There is a Hobby Lobby in my area, next time I am there I will see what they have. I went to the website of the company that sells the Toho beads, and was unable to turn up anything in any other sizes in the hex shape. For larger fittings, the aluminum tubing filed on six sides should suffice. For smaller sizes, drilled/sliced Plastruct hexagonal styrene will have to do. For those of you not familiar with beadcraft, a lot of the available beads are made of glass; you'll want to avoid those. The crimp beads are metal, the hex beads are plastic.

Revell got away with that "prototype model" nonsense on a number of kits. If you closely examine the photos of their 1/25 scale funny car kits, the "prototypes" are often 1/16 scale kits assembled without the wiring. The front tires and wheels are a giveaway; the ones in the 1/16 scale kits are good, the 1/25 scale ones are awful.

There were five cars in the Buttera series: the '26 sedan, touring, and sedan delivery, and the undersized '33 and '34 coupes. All were labeled as Buttera cars in their first issue. All used the same chassis. The coupe body had a separate roof like the Monogram '34, and Monogram and AMT '36 Ford kits. One of the Revell '33-'34 coupes had a strange looking top that was chopped on a slant. The seriously undersized coupes could be cut down further (mainly shortened) to approximate an English Ford Model Y. The Model Y looks like a shrunken '33-'34 American Ford, when in reality the Y came first (in '32) and its styling was adapted to the American Fords for '33.

The Pyro '32 Chevy is a cabriolet. I've got the Life-Like reissue, body and top look the same as the MPC pieces. It's called a cabriolet on the box also.

I can't remember the last time I bought a new X-Acto handle. At automotive swap meets or even flea markets, often you can find them on a "10 cents each" tarp or box where someone lays everything out and leaves a coffee can for payment on the honor system. These will often have X-Acto handles in them. They get put aside when the blade gets broken off in the handle. Dip the blade end of the handle in penetrating oil, let soak overnight, disassemble next day, insert new blade. For the #11 blade, I prefer the skinny handle.

My previous employer (2002-05) was an electrical contractor who also operated a vinyl sign shop. (They sold greeting cards too, but that's another story.) While they were in the process of going under, they threw tons of stuff away. I got some larger diameter coated single-strand wire that might be good for making headers, if I ever get around to it. There were a couple of whole rolls of the stuff, but I only took scraps. (I don't even take pens, paper clips, or stamps from work, only things that are thrown away.) I also took a few boxes of business cards left by short-lived employees. (Why did they save these; did they think they might hire another person with the same name?). Those are good for making patterns, and cheaper than buying index cards. On the sign store side, I've got some vinyl scraps including some that looks like chrome. It's not flexible like foil, though. They also threw away a bunch of CDs that were used with the programmable vinyl cutters; those have fonts on them that can be used in artwork applications. The sign store also used #11 X-Acto blades, and threw them away after every few cuts so as not to tear the vinyl. The discards were tossed into a coffee can so they didn't get mixed in with the other trash. I went through the can and saved every blade that didn't have the tip broken off. I will never have to buy another #11 blade again, ever. I even sharpened them on company time. The owner wanted me in the building during working hours because the sign shop was operated by a woman, and we weren't in the greatest neighborhood. He kept me around full-time to watch the office and do a payroll with two employees on it (me and the girl) though I told him up front that there wasn't much to do. I got paid for two months to read magazines, surf the Internet, rummage through the place, and sharpen X-Acto blades. Small compensation for having been lied to about the company's overall condition, and having to deal with the IRS every couple of months over back taxes...

The flyer for my area doesn't mention them, but they are in the stores. Looks more like "clearing the slow sellers out of the warehouse", though. No ex-AMT '34 Ford pickups, no Dodge A-100 (Little Red Wagon), no '66 Chevelles, no Dodge Chargers. A lot of large scale stuff, diecast items (including engines), monster trucks, and ex-Pyro stuff. I did pick up another Dodge L-700/flatbed/'40 Ford combo though, $20 before applying a 15% off card I had that was about to expire. This one is molded in white unlike the one I bought when it was first issued. They did have '53 Ford kits, the convertibles being the earlier Indy Pace Car issue. Most of the 1/25 scale kits were $8 apiece. For some reason the ex-Pyro 1/32 scale kits were priced at $15.99 each; at that price they will be sitting on those...

There were a number of car kits with clear bodies... AMT Don Garlits Wynn's Jammer (the 1964 car) MPC Ford GT "J-Car" MPC George Montgomery Mr. Gasket Gasser 1969 Mustang MPC David Pearson NASCAR Pontiac GTO Gunze Sangyo High-Teck Isetta Polar Lights Charger and Barracuda funny cars (in clear, with a small number in red clear) Esci made a couple of car kits with clear bodies. One was a Mercedes-Benz, the other a European Ford Escort if I remember right. Of all of these, only the Gunze Isetta had the windows molded as a unit with the body. The body was meant to be painted after the window areas were masked off. All of the others had separate windows that had to be glued in, creating glue marks that were visible on the finished model. All were probably planned for issue with solid color bodies also, otherwise everything would have been molded as one unit. The MPC Mr. Gasket Gasser did not have a separate tilting front end or opening hood, so if you painted the body you couldn't view the engine.

The Coca Cola version is the most recent, but there was another Ertl issue right around the same time. The sedan delivery is based on the coupe and has the Buick engine also. Even the "Rides" issue of the delivery (with the large diameter wheels) has the Buick mill.

Art Anderson: Ed Shaver is correct. Back in the day, AMT Corporation was the largest single model kit producer anywhere around, and as such, had the brand recognition to go along with it. So, Johan either sent the tooling over to Maple Road (which I doubt, given that Johan's tooling was made to fit their injection molding machines, which reportedly dated back to the very earliest types built during WW-II or shortly thereafter) The AMT-boxed Jo-Han kits were more than likely produced at Jo-Han's facilities. The styrene used is the same opaque, somewhat brittle stuff used in Jo-Han's kits, and the unplated parts in these kits were never bagged. AMT started bagging parts in their kits around 1969, while Jo-Han parts weren't bagged until the SeVille era. If I remember right, the first Jo-Han kit sold in AMT packaging was the 1967 Toronado. Jo-Han kept it for themselves for '66. Others included more Toronados ('68 and '70), Olds 442 ('69 and '70), two-seater AMX ('68-'70), the "Coke bottle" Javelin/AMX (Mark Donohue racing version and the '74 annual), '72 Torino NASCAR version, pro stock Ford Maverick, and Dodge Challenger funny car. An "AMT" '70 Eldorado was announced but never appeared. Though AMT made a couple of Cadillac promos in the mid-Fifties, they never offered a full detail Cadillac kit until recently (the Escalade EXT). The AMT/Jo-Han arrangement seems to have ended around 1974. The '68-'70 AMX kits and '68 Toronado were not sold in Jo-Han packaging. The first two-seater AMX kit offered by Jo-Han was the Shirley Shahan 1969 drag car (first available in 1971), then later revised to the near-stock USA Oldies series kit.

If I am not mistaken, Ohio George Montgomery's famous '33 Willys gasser wore AMT logos at various points in its racing career. And I believe that Montgomery's "Multi-Maverick" had MPC decals on it, although it's my understanding that that car was never actually raced. George Montgomery did race the Maverick, though not much. He went back to the red Mustang. I read an interview where he said MPC bankrolled the construction of the Maverick in exchange for the rights to make the kit. That's not too far-fetched: there were kits of four of his cars (AMT's '33 Willys, MPC's '67 and '69 Mustangs and the Maverick). Briefly, all four were available at the same time. Gassers in general, and George Montgomery in particular, were apparently pretty popular with model car builders in the Sixties and Seventies. I don't know if it counts as "sponsorship", but I have seen a number of photos of the Motown Missile '72 Barracuda with small MPC decals on the quarter panels.

The Victoria kit wasn't available in hobby shops or stores right away, this one is the first issue which was sold through Ford dealers for a while before the kit appeared in stores. It has been reissued a number of times, most recently as a DTR private label reissue that can still be found new-in-box if you look around. It's called a "jalopy" but still can be built stock; the "jalopy" version has to be built with aftermarket parts and a lot of cutting. The early issues are more desirable because more recent issues show the wear on the body tooling, the early ones are very crisp while newer ones have thinner drip rails around the side windows, things like that. Even so, an early one in absolute mint condition might fetch $50 or so. With missing parts or other issues, it becomes a "builder" and might sell for about the retail price of a new, current kit, maybe a little bit more. The most recent one I picked one up was about two years ago. Poor condition box and decals, missing the stock fender unit but otherwise complete and in great shape, $15. I wasn't looking for another one, but it was a first issue with the clean, crisply molded body and very nice plating (with slicks and custom wheels that aren't in later issues) so I didn't let that one slide by. The body will not directly swap onto the newer Revell '32 chassis. All of the AMT bodies are designed to interchange with one another. Because the earliest ones (roadster and coupe) are a bit off (not tall enough) the later ones (two-door sedan, Victoria, and phaeton) are "adjusted" a bit so they interchange with the others. If you try adjusting the body to fit the newer fenders and chassis, the proportions get thrown off. Were I to try mixing parts between the AMT and Revell kits, I'd use the AMT body, hood, and fenders, and swap in the Revell chassis. Next choice would be to swap the modern running gear to the AMT chassis and then fit the AMT fenders and body.