Mark

I don't remember any GTO funny car, but there was a David Pearson NASCAR '71 GTO. The body in that kit was molded in clear to show how incorrect the chassis was (rear axle had leaf springs, needed to be coils on a GM intermediate). MPC also made George Montgomery's '69 Mustang gasser (the Mr. Gasket car). I've got a Gunze Sangyo High-Tech Isetta kit with a clear body. Gunze didn't mold it that way to show the detail, though. The builder is supposed to paint the body leaving the molded-in glass areas clear. One other clear-body kit, probably the easiest to find one out there, is the AMT Don Garlits Wynn's Jammer. The Stevens International generic reissue does not have the body molded in clear, but all of the Garlits issues (of which there were several) do have a clear body and oil pan.

Parting out newer kits works out only when you are able to sell all of the subassemblies. One eBay seller was doing that with the Revell new-tool Willys coupe kits. He'd sell the body and trim pieces, the engine, the bare chassis, and the wheels and tires as assemblies. He did pretty well because the slot car guys would bid the body package up to near the price of a complete kit. He did this with both the gasser and street machine versions. I did the same with a couple of the street machines. I wanted the chassis for other projects; it's got a decent frame, Mustang II front suspension, and 392 Hemi engine with nice block-hugger headers. I picked up a couple of untouched kits at automotive flea markets or toy shows for $7-$8 apiece. After selling the bodies and related trim pieces at NNL East for $7 each, I basically got a couple of free chassis. On the flip side, at the Three Rivers show I bought a few kits from someone who was using the bodies to make slot cars. For $4 apiece I got an AMT Resto Rods '66 Nova, AMT '71 Duster (should have bought the other one!) and a Model King issue '70-1/2 Z/28. I wanted the Resto Rod wheels, tires, and seats from the Nova. Now that I think of it, I might just use the whole chassis under a '65 Nova AWB body after moving the rear wheel openings on the body back to stock. The Duster chassis pan gets set aside for a Richard Petty Barracuda, with the 340 engine being set aside to upgrade the AMT Dodge Kit Car roundy-round car. I don't have specific plans for the Camaro parts, but did want a Camaro front subframe, engine, and wheels for different things. The Model King issue decals are there to be used to upgrade an original issue kit. For some reason the hood wasn't taken from the kit, and I was looking for one of those too. One other kit I bought was a '66 Fairlane 427, the one with the bench seats. I've got a model of my first car ('66 two-door sedan) around here somewhere, the new chassis will be an upgrade over the original and will let me scratch the single exhaust system that my car had. So, parting kits out can work for buyers and sellers. I seldom sell parted-out kits and don't part out older stuff. When I do sell something that's missing parts though, I advise potential buyers, as do the guys who set up with me.

The Digger 'Cuda is fictional, created by AMT to share the chassis from the Tommy Ivo dragster kit. This kit was announced before Don Garlits built his mid engine (everyone calls them "rear engine") dragster, so it's not something that was created because the chassis was obsolete. Anyway, there are some little "tab" pieces included, to be glued to the inside of the body so that the upper half can be removed and set back on. I don't care for the separation line running down the lower third of the body side, so mine will be glued together, molded, then cut apart at the lower edge. That is, once I figure out what to do with the steering linkage...

As an aside, the Chitwood Camaro (and Hell Drivers Mustang II) kits I have seen have the "thrill show ramps" made of printed cardboard, as opposed to the detailed styrene ramps in the '49 Ford, '49 Mercury, and '50 Ford Convertible kits.

Which '40 Ford? Don't forget the two-door sedan, and the sedan delivery. I've seen coupes molded in black, white, blue, and gray. I have sedan kits molded in black (original issue), maroon (Lesney/Matchbox issue), tan (AMT/Ertl), gray (Millennium), and have had them in white also. The original issue sedan delivery (derived from the coupe kit) was molded in yellow and white, with AMT/Ertl issues being molded in gray.

I have used Chrome-Tech exclusively for plating resin parts over the last twenty years or so. I've always been satisfied with the results. Sometimes a few parts are unusable due to dirt or other contaminants in the plating, but that happens with ordinary styrene parts from time to time also. I stopped using mold release on castings that are scheduled for plating (actually, I no longer use it at all, having replaced the silicone "greasy kid stuff" with ordinary baby powder bought at the "dollar store"). No more having to wash the mold release off of the parts. I do plan to try Little Motor Kar one of these days, but that is not a reflection on Chrome Tech's service or the quality of their work.

Which hardness? I'm guessing either 60 or 70, leaning towards 70

It has the same parts as other issues since the late Seventies, possibly with a few parts from earlier issues if the tool has been "unblocked". It won't have the optional wheels or slicks from the early issues, though.

Ignore that last sentence...after looking at the '65 hardtop kit, it is apparent that much of the engine and chassis is shared with the '66. The parts trees look a bit different because they are arranged and cut differently to fit in a normal-size kit box. The '65 kits came in much larger boxes. --Mark

Picked one up today, it looks pretty good. The only real knock I can come up with involves the chassis. The front 1/3 of the floorpan area on the chassis is open, with the bottom of the interior floor serving as the floorpan in that area. However, the interior floor has no engraved detail or shape in that area; it is just flat except for the tunnel. It makes for quite a contrast with the portion of the floorpan that is molded as part of the chassis. The width of the driveline tunnel doesn't match up well between the two sections either. By the way, this kit looks to be all-nerw tooling, not derived from the '65 kits. --Mark

Monogram offered two Kurtis-Kraft midget kits. The large one, often called the PC-1 kit (Plastic Car #1, first plastic Monogram car kit) is about 1/18 scale. At the height of the slot car craze, Monogram made a 1/24 scale slot midget. The body from the slot car was also offered as a shelf model, with no engine detail and a driver to fill the space in the cockpit over the area where the slot car's motor would be. The newly announced kit appears to be all-new however, with full interior and engine detail.

Probably just the hood stripe, license plates, and radio face (the newer '70-'71-'72 kits include the '70 ZR-1, which wasn't available with a radio). There were no AMT '71 annual Corvette kits; the '70 coupe and roadster were sold unchanged for '71. Same deal with the original AMT '70-1/2 Camaro. --Mark

Those are from an MPC Vega kit. All of the annual kits (1971-77) had them. MPC offered the kit as a "Chevy Hatchback" (Monza S) for 1978; I'd bet that one has those wheels too. --Mark

The Torino was updated and sold as a 1969 model (along with the other AMT 1969 model kits). It was issued as the Cobra "coupe". But the roof was a separate glue-on piece with vinyl roof texture, and the convertible boot was still included. --Mark

what i find interesting and a bit amusing is how the rear window is the largest one in the whole car Dave The rear window is so large because it's stock size. The curved rear glass couldn't be cut, so the glass and its opening were cut free and fitted back to the body intact. As for the chop itself, the side window openings look "funny", the door windows in particular. The openings seem to rise at the top going from front to back, reaching a high point at the B-pillar, then drop off again towards the rear. I'm not sure whether to re-chop the top or to just cut the window opening areas out, fix them, and graft them back in. --Mark

Never heard of this one! My guess is that it was a handout item at one of the World's Fairs in the Sixties. One year (I believe it was '62) the handout was (or included) some unique decals. I've got a couple sets of the decals, but I've never heard of, or seen, the key. I couldn't guess at the time frame, but if I had to, I'd say it was done after Budd Anderson left AMT in mid-'64. After his departure AMT did run some comic book ads with a cartoon "Kat from AMT" that resembled the key. But there were little figures included in AMT kits that resembled the "kat" before that, so who knows. Nice find!

John: Only the issue with the metallic blue Impala on the box is 100% stock. The current "Rides" issue looks like it is based on the stock version, but it will not have stock wheels. If you can scrounge stock Rally wheels (or resin wheel covers from the annual kits) a stock SS looks do-able. --Mark