Mark

The only stuff that irritates me these days is basic things that are missed: removal of ejector pin marks or trademark info, sink marks and jagged parting lines not fixed, things like that. Sometimes, on an assembled model, you can see into the front of the interior around the firewall (Revell '53-'54 Chevies) or can look at the car from the side and can see clear through to the other side because there aren't any inner rear fenders (AMT '37 Chevies). Engine wiring isn't a big deal to me anymore (especially on older kits, where there's a gaping hole in the lower engine block with a metal axle passing through). Poorly done wiring looks worse than none at all (like when the wires are "parted" down the center, with four going to each cylinder bank). Leaving out the coil wire doesn't make sense either. Even if there isn't an ignition coil in the kit, scratching one from a piece of sprue or plastic rod isn't tough. When you are looking at a 1:1 car or truck, when was the last time the valve stems caught your eye? They are just "there", like balancing weights. One last thought...why are lift-off hoods okay when the 1:1 car has a hinged hood, but lift-off trunk lids or doors aren't?

Not every '62 kit had parts for either the kart or the cycle; in fact, more didn't have them than did have them. You didn't even have to buy all of the ones that did have the parts, as some parts were in more than one kit. For example, one kit had plated wheels for the kart while another had an unplated set. Same with the exhaust pipes for the engines, and possibly the gas tank. The '61 kits didn't include parts for an extra item like this. Some of them had miniature billboard frames, and a printed sheet that you had to cut from the instruction sheet which had a space for the builder to write details about their model.

In addition to the Joe Henning article in Rod & Custom, keep an eye open for issue #23 of Motor Racing Replica News; it contains an article on the Marmon Wasp. 1/25 scale dimensional line drawings are included. This article leaves parts sources "open" but mentions a couple of model airplane items as starting points for the tires. Like the R&C article, engine detail is ignored. The MRRN article breaks some of the parts down into shapes. A passable 1/25 scale shelf model could be constructed from the articles alone. Anything larger would demand a greater level of detail (including access to the engine), which would require a first-hand look at the 1:1 car.

Wheels were the same, tires were not. The front tires were plastic, probably tooled up because the originals couldn't be located. I don't think any of the MPC kits had all four Cragar mags the same width. So if you want all four to be the same, you must either track down two sets of wheels, or get one wheel and do some resin casting.

The LA Dart wheelie car body is indeed a rework of the Ramchargers Dart funny car body. The Ramchargers Dart has the front wheel openings too far forward for stock, but the LA Dart body has them too far back. That kit was cobbled together with the MPC Hurst Hemi Under Glass Barracuda interior and underbody, and the Dart body's wheel openings were shifted to match up with the front wheel locations on the Barracuda underbody. Besides that, the LA Dart body doesn't have a trunk lid, and the front bumper was left out of the kit (the 1:1 didn't have one). For this subject, if you can get your hands on a properly done, correct version in resin, that would be the way to go rather than tracking down all the necessary pieces and doing the conversion yourself.

There are more of the "429" misprint box kits than there were corrected "427" kits in that same box. The misprint boxes were used for the initial run. The highest number of any given kit will be made in the first run. Subsequent production runs are usually way smaller (fewer kits) because not all distributors or stores restock at the same time.

Decide what types of parts you want to build (suspension members, exhaust pipes, crossmembers, whatever), get accurate measurements of the 1:1 pieces, then convert the measurements to the scale you are going to work in. If the dimensions of the 1:1 item scaled down should fall between two available material sizes, take the smaller of the two (to allow for paint thickness). If you are making tubular/round cross-section parts that are straight, use plastic tubing with wire inside as opposed to plastic rod when feasible. If you are scratching a rectangular tube frame rail with a kick-up, or a crossmember with a drop center, you might want to cut it from a sheet as opposed to building it up from multiple pieces. After a couple of instances where you build something with one method and then decide another way is better, you will quickly figure out the best method the first time.

Placed an order 2/5 (Sunday evening), it was waiting for me today (2/16, Tuesday). That's not terribly long. It was short one item (I had ordered two of a particular sheet but only one was included). I checked all of the sets without header cards stapled on to make sure the second one was not in with something else, then sent Becky an e-mail. I got a prompt reply, and was told the missing sheet was still in stock and would be sent out ASAP. Great service, great product...their closing will certainly leave a void (or an opening for someone...)

Where the spokes meet the rim? Unfortunately, those are sink marks. Unfortunate, because those wheels are otherwise excellent. The fix isn't easy...strip the plating from one of each size wheel, fill sink marks, make molds, and cast them.

It was RC2 that brought back the Beverly Hillbillies Oldsmobile, a couple years before Round 2 entered the picture. But logic would dictate that the folks at Round 2 would look at something like that when formulating their decisions about the tooling they now own...

The '33 panel truck seems to be one of those things that "nearly everyone who wants one, has one". A buddy of mine had a clean builtup for sale last year: complete, unpainted, easily disassembled, even the unused decal sheet was included. It was cheaper than the conversion parts alone would be whenever a resin caster offers them. We set up together at three or four shows before he sold it. I'd have grabbed it myself, but I've got enough parts to make three or four now...probably two or three more than I'll ever get to. That said, the Vampire Van body does still fit the '32 Chevy fenders, and actually looks kind of neat in its own right...

They're usually bought by second or third generation money (no clue how it was earned, plenty of ideas about how to spend it), or celebs/sports figures (who made too much too fast, and end up back at zero at some point). Rules only apply to working schmucks anyway...

If they were for a dirt track car, you'd have "stagger"!

The ones I have seen look good in the package. But, like most low-end diecast stuff, easy production and quick assembly trump things like detail and accuracy. You're money ahead picking up inexpensive/incomplete kits for parts IMO...

There were four issues of the custom fastback: Mach I concept: issued 1967 (though the box art resembles the '68 annual kits). The chassis and engine are from the Sonny & Cher Mustang kit, a custom-only '66 convertible itself made from the annual kit. (There were two AMT '66 Mustang annual kits: the fastback, and a convertible with separate glue-on roof with vinyl texture.) The chassis was altered to add dual exhaust (up until then, it had a single exhaust setup molded in). The Mach I body was new tooling, the interior probably altered from the '66 fastback annual (the body from that kit went to the altered-wheelbase funny car kit). The Mach I was molded in red. Autolite Hi-Per Special: issued 1968. changes included different wheels (Appliance "Wire Mag" replacing the Mach I's Apache wheels). I believe the cut line for the "roadster" option was added to the body at this time also. Molded in metallic (not flake) blue. Superstang Gasser: issued 1969. This issue had a full-length plated parts tree (Mach I and Hi-Per had half-length trees). This issue included a drag version. The Appliance Wire Mag wheels are replaced by the "baby moon/chrome reversed wheels" that AMT put into a lot of kits over the years. The drag version had slotted wheels, slicks, and 13" tires for the front. Molded in yellow. Iron Horse: issued 1975 (possibly '74). This issue went is much the same as the Hi-Per Special; the drag version parts are removed. The Appliance Wire Mags are back, the chrome reversed/baby moons are out (though they are on the car in the catalog illustration). Molded in white. The chassis/engine and half of the plated tree from the Iron Horse were later united with the '66 Mustang coupe promotional model tool (issued once in kit form, in 1969) to create the oft-reissued '66 Mustang coupe kit that we know today. Remember, the '66 annual was not a coupe but a convertible with separate hardtop roof.

Around here, Toys R Us had AMT car kits around Christmastime about five years ago. The selection was pretty basic; mostly reissues of Sixties annuals like the '66 Galaxie and Mustang, '69 Torino fastback, and '64 Impala, with a couple of newer ones like the stock '57 Chrysler thrown in. They were priced at around $10 each which wasn't great at the time, but not outrageously high either. These were not on the shelves but were in the center of the wide aisles, so it was apparent that they weren't coming back on any kind of permanent basis. TRU got out of model kits around 2003 if my memory is correct. They seemed to have an abundance of the new-tool AMT '57 Chevy kits, in all versions. They blew those out for $3.33 each. I bought all of the Pro Shop version that I could find, sold all but a couple, which more than paid for the ones I did keep.

The car pictured on the box is a '67 Galaxie, but that's not what is inside the box. The USED CARS kit was a giveaway item made to promote the movie. Inside the box was a bag of plastic parts from a late-Seventies MPC kit. Some of these contained Dodge pickup kit parts, most contained a Camaro kit. One I saw had the bag of parts from the Camaro but the plated tree from the Dodge pickup. The instruction sheet was a joke item with "tips" on prepping a used car. The kit wasn't meant to be assembled, and probably couldn't be assembled with what was in the box. I don't think all of these kits had plated trees, clear parts, or tires. As an aside, in the mid-Eighties a pilot episode was filmed for a potential USED CARS series. Nobody picked it up, and I'm not sure it aired on network TV. The pilot is available if you know where to look for it (I've seen it; it's not worth bothering with). At the time, I had heard that if the series had aired, AMT had (or was going to get) licensing to produce a series of three or four USED CARS kits. Supposedly, one would have been the '66 Buick Wildcat (this was before that kit appeared in the AMT/Ertl Customizing series). No idea if any of this is true, but the series was never picked up anyway...

Here are a few to think about...when was the last time you saw... SMP: 1911 Chevrolet AMT: T-57 1957 Thunderbird (first issue Styline kit, in the small box) AMT: Ohio George '33 Willys with plastic tires AMT: 1969 Cobra (convertible with separate glue-on hardtop roof) AMT: 1969 El Camino "Derby Champion" issue AMT: 1967 Fairlane "Color Me Ford" issue AMT: 1967 Corvette "Color Me Vette" issue AMT: 1965 Fairlane "SSS" issue (only reissue with stock parts) AMT: 1963 Nova "Crew Wagon" issue AMT: 1965 Galaxie "Jolly Green Gasser" issue AMT: 1965 Chevelle wagon "Surf Wagon" issue AMT: any of the Elegance Series kits AMT: second issue Meyers Manx (no display, and box art is different from the first issue) Monogram: Deuce Sport Coupe Jo-Han: 1969 Rebel Revell: Tweedy Pie with Boss Fink

The Popcorn Wagon is an MPC kit. It's 1/20 scale (the second issue box may say 1/25). It's pretty accurate to the 1/1 show car, but the reissue has some unplated parts that were brass plated in the original issue. The front tires are plastic (apparently the original vinyl tire tooling doesn't exist, or couldn't be located). I'm not sure if the reissue had a decal sheet, if it did then I'm pretty certain it didn't match the original. I picked one up a couple of years ago, but the chassis wasn't usable for my intended purpose so I sold the kit. Not a bad kit if you like it as-is, some of the parts might be good kitbash material. The Chuck Wagon show rod that was reissued a few years ago is a variation on this kit, much of the basic vehicle is the same. The Chuck Wagon did not exist in 1:1, the Popcorn Wagon did. The Surf Woody kit is pretty accurate to the 1:1 show car, and has some optional parts and versions. The small-block Ford engine is pretty decent considering the kit was created over 45 years ago. It has a neat dual McCullough/Paxton supercharger setup. The 1:1 and original issue kit had dual narrow slicks on the rear. The reissue has single wide slicks. I don't think the wheel pieces were changed; if you picked up one of the new AMT slick parts packs you could probably slip two pairs of those on to replace the wide single slicks. The decals in the reissue replicate those in the original kit.

The sprues in newer kits are in many cases straight, and are round in cross-section. I save those. The odd-shaped ones usually get tossed unless there are duplicates in the same shape. If I see possibilities with the shape, I'll keep them, at least for a while. If I don't get around to doing anything with them in a reasonable amount of time, I'll toss those next time I re-organize the scrap plastic box. Besides sprues, the box contains small scraps cut from styrene sheets, and other items made of styrene like broken CD jewel cases, a couple of cores from Scotch tape rolls, things like that. I've used sprue to scratch distributor caps. Cut one end of the sprue at a 90 degree angle, and drill the holes for your plug wires. Sometimes the holes aren't spaced to my satisfaction (they'll end up looking like three rows of three holes). In that case, cut the offending area off and start again. Leave the other end of the sprue alone, to make handling easier. Once you are happy with the hole spacing, you can file the diameter of the cap closer to that of the circle of holes just drilled. You want the diameter to stay slightly larger (taper outwards) towards the base of the cap. Vertical grooves can be sliced/filed in between each hole. Once you have the shape, cut the end off of the sprue at the desired height of the cap. I'll use these caps on engines that have the distributor at the rear; for engines with more prominent distributors I'll stick with the molded pieces. As for sprue glue as a filler, the shrinking problems happen when it is applied too thickly in a single application. Shrinking is more likely to take place when cement is used to dissolve the styrene. Something added to the cement slows its drying time, and in large quantities contributes to the shrinkage. I have used MEK, and have heard of others using "hot" lacquer thinner without the shrinking problems. "And now, I'd like to take a moment to talk about shop safety". Whenever using these or any chemicals, paints, cleaners, solvents, or other similar products, be sure to wear protective gear and work outdoors or in a very well-ventilated area. Generally, the better something works, the bigger the skull-and-crossbones on the container needs to be...

GM probably stuck the "Chevelle" emblems on a concept car to keep their claim to the name for licensing purposes. Like those "Jeep Willys" concepts that appear every few years. That name hasn't appeared on a vehicle in the US since the Sixties. Chrysler/Fiat will never use it on a production vehicle again, but they do want to hang onto the licensing...

Chrysler didn't stop drag racers from doing neutral starts, NHRA did...after a spectator was blinded by flying shrapnel from one. At one national meet, "no neutral starts" signs were placed at the base of the Christmas Tree starting lights. The Chrysler guys were caught by surprise; Chrysler had been sending truckloads of prepped Torqueflites to replace broken ones as needed...

All of the items in that pack were issued in the Sixties as parts packs: the T-bucket body, the engines (the Allison by itself, the others in packs of two), and whatever else is in there. The T body is designed to fit the Fiat chassis in the Double Dragster kit; the parts included (roll bar) are made to fit. If the plated frame is included in that pack, it isn't the DD unit (the differences are as I described earlier).

The parts pack chassis is not the same as the Double Dragster (Fiat coupe) unit. It is plated, and the frame rails are round (same diameter as many parts trees, by the way). It has torsion bar suspension that actually works to an extent. It resembles an oversized Kurtis Midget chassis. It is slightly too big to fit inside the old (large scale) Monogram PC-1 Kurtis body, but might fit if narrowed and shortened slightly. The Double Dragster's Fiat chassis is mostly unplated, has square frame rails, and has a single leaf spring front suspension (and a solidly mounted rear axle). The AMT "Hot Rod Shop" (parts pack) T-bucket body is made to fit the DD's Fiat chassis, though.

torinobradley, on 12 Dec 2011 - 12:50 pm, said: I don't know where this fits in but my '71 (IIRC) by Johan had '73 or '74 ovalish taillights. Even the instructions show the correct rear but how this thing got the later lights... I will have to order the correct ones from Modelhaus or somewhere and fix the body to accept the correct lights. Were there any other changes I need to be aware of? If your kit has the '73/'74 taillights, it will have the later body as well. The '71/'72 body has a raised rib (1/4" wide or so) running down the center of the forward portion of the roof. For '73, AMC smoothed this area on the 1:1 Javelin/AMX, and Jo-Han did likewise on the kit body. I don't think Jo-Han offered a '73 kit, but AMT offered the Jo-Han kit in their packaging as a '74 annual.