Mark

I don't think many people here are refusing to buy the parts pack-based kits just because of the box art. The point is that Atlantis could do a better job of promoting them by using box art for these, and a few other kits that more closely resembles the original Revell box art. That's to get the point across regarding the origins of what these kits are, to potential buyers who might be looking for these items but aren't convinced that what Atlantis is selling are the real thing. The funny car kits will sell regardless of box art, as long as the chosen subjects are good ones. The Tom Daniel and Ed Roth stuff will sell because they have a built-in following of builders and collectors. The parts packs have to find the builders who remember them. The box art would help in that regard.

I too picked up two cans. The "high build" is useful for bodywork areas, you don't want too much of it around detail areas. What has worked (for me) is: "filler primer" or "high build", with a light blast of "sealer primer" on top of that. The "sealer" seems to prevent the color coats from burning through and raising scratches in the bodywork areas. I still go light on the initial color coats though.

How old are the single moms? If they are anywhere near 40, tell them to enjoy their box of wine and their cat(s)...

When any of these paint makers change the formula, like most other things, it's to trim the cost of the product. With primer, it's more solvent and less "solids". What was once "primer" is now "filler primer", what used to be "filler primer" is now "high build primer". Pre-Covid, but it has changed in the last ten or fifteen years.

Sometimes, on occasion, the problem with junk coming through the spray can nozzle can be the result of the can not being shaken thoroughly enough. Who knows how long ago it was made, how long it sat on the rack at the auto parts store, or how many cold trailers and warehouses it sat in on the way there. Before even test spraying it, shake until the agitator ball can glide around the bottom of the can freely. This applies to paint as well as primer. It won't solve all problems (sometimes the paint is just bad) but it will at least give you a chance at the right results.

The hood scoop on the Cougar is an option. The hood does have a "cut line" on the inside that should be filled if you don't use the scoop.

They don't use the barcode readers because they carry a lot of items in all departments that are made by outside companies specifically for them, and only appear in their stores. To inventory those with barcodes, they'd have to set one up for each item, meaning they'd have to buy a barcode for each one. It's not because the barcode system has "666" in it, or anything like that which the haters often throw around. On the flip side, their stating that they want the cashiers to be more familiar with individual items doesn't quite ring true either. They just don't want to be beholden to the bar codes so they instituted their own system. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Check: autocolorlibrary.com by year, for both Chevrolet and the make you wish to use the color on. I used Duplicolor auto touch-up sprays in the Seventies, the ones for GM cars often used different names for the same color on different GM makes.

The reason HL buys at a good price is that they buy large quantities. To sell off the large quantities, the same items keep appearing on the shelves until they are sold out.

Around here, the stock varies wildly between the two stores within my reach. One had a pretty decent assortment until a couple of weeks ago. It looks like someone came in and cleaned out the "better" stuff, I'll probably be seeing some of that all summer at the outdoor automotive swap meets at double the price until they get tired of lugging it around. Meanwhile, at the other store...a bunch of Monogram '82 Corvette snap kits...but in the paint section, they had Duplicolor filler primer...

Until you read all of the side effects at the end of the commercial, or can manage to listen to the rapid-fire vocal delivery of same. No thanks, I'll live with the headache for an hour or two, it'll probably subside...

Looking at the bigger aftermarket resin body casters, Modelhaus for example: earliest bodies were light brown/caramel color, after a few years they began using an off-white/light tan resin. The lighter color resin can take on a yellowish cast if left exposed to light (especially fluorescent light) for a while.

Have you tried contacting Pegasus to see if they might sell the Belvedere tires separately? With them selling snowplow and HD wheels/tires from their Ford ramp truck separately, you might just luck out.

You'd have to compare the two bodies in question. The revised '63 could be thicker on the inside, which would cause that problem also. I'd also check the fitment of the long block and the headers. You could trim the headers on the far end and get them to fit also.

I'm assuming Dad thought the column shift created more room up front, and wasn't doing any spirited sort of driving.

The tilted wheels are just this generation's version of tail-dragging customs, extremely jacked-up street machines (Rod & Custom featured some really bad ones in the late Sixties), fake superchargers, putting pretty much anything on a 4 X 4 chassis, and the all-time stupidity of "rolling coal". I remember reading about some guy getting chewed out by his dad for putting a floor shifter in his car. Dad thought the column shifter was the best thing since sliced bread, and "here you idiots go, putting it back on the floor!"

For more entertainment, there's a guy on YT who does collision repairs. He does videos on vehicles he finds at the insurance auctions. Apparently there are a few "flippers" out there buying totalled vehicles, roughing them in to make them look "less damaged", then running them through another auction closer to where they are. This guy goes over the vehicle, then finds the original auction with more damage to analyze the worthless "repairs". Replacement panels (often just less damaged ones in the same color) held in with drywall screws or zip ties (as the mounting holes don't line up), deployed curtain airbags cut away to make them appear as if they are still in place, roofs pushed back up to look less damaged, the list goes on.

I had one wisdom tooth pulled at a dental school. The roots were wrapped around and contacted one another, it came out in pieces. You know you're special when the class is walking through, and the dentist calls them over to show them your X-ray...

The original Mach Won did have the louver; it's shown on the instruction sheet copy I found on the Drastic Plastic instruction sheet site.

I asked about the louver because I can't say I have ever seen a built example of the Mach Won that had it. I myself have two previously built originals, neither of those have it. To take it further, I don't recall having seen a built '70 Mach I annual kit with one either. It's similar to the phone booth in the Touch Tone Terror reissue. Tooling for it doesn't exist anymore, it's not exactly the most important thing in the kit, making it not worth retooling for a single issue.

The HLJ link could be mistaken; there's another version of the wagon coming in Q1. The Gasser sedan was out nearly five years ago. Manufacturers seldom keep one issue of a particular kit in the catalog more than two years or so before putting it aside for a while, or putting some different parts in and releasing another version.

Who ran a rear window louver on a funny car?

No. Body has stock trim but there is no stock interior, engine, chassis, wheels, or windshield.

Many of the people buying the newly manufactured kits aren't aware of where to get the older kits for cheap, and don't know about aftermarket decals either. Some of the newer kits won't get built, they'll be kept as collectors' items like a lot of Coca-Cola stuff.

Is that to keep deer away, or to attract every cat in the neighborhood?