Mark

There was a '70 kit, coupe only however. The last convertible kit was the '68.

With assembly plants near DC and many state capitals. May as well put them near the "resources"...

One kid in the eighth grade brought in a pair of those X-ray glasses. We never saw a bunch of girls scatter that quickly...

Latest info on the HAMB (thread about HOT ROD soon going quarterly) is that the next issue of Rodders' Journal is currently at the printer.

The El Camino wheels are identified as Fenton RTs on the original Street Rods series box.

The wheels in the newer issues (1975 or so until now) are either Fentons or E-T. The original Street Rods series box (the one Round 2 used the artwork from for the latest issue) might specify which. I've got every issue of the El Camino, I'll take a look at that one later today. I had a 1:1 set of the E-T version of that wheel. One piece cast aluminum, "bolt" detail was recessed and cast as part of the wheel. I'd imagine the Fenton version was similar. Neither wheel was any lightweight, but still better than the Cragar Street Super Trick which was (like most other Cragar Street wheels) a cast aluminum center with a steel outer rim. Theirs was chrome plated, but again like their other wheels Cragar never did find the handle when it came to chrome plating aluminum.

Okey didn't buy the company, only tooling and (some) leftover stock. For all we know, the original Jo-Han company could still be in business under some other name, producing some unknown (to us) product or service. Okey's operation is Johan (no hyphen), the other one is hyphenated as was the original company's name.

The beads that look like metal fittings won't be at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. Michael's used to carry plastic #11 (11/0 in jewelry parlance) beads that had a .030" hole. That particular brand seems to be unavailable now, though you might turn up something similar (or old stock) online. The metallic looking beads I have found online (check eBay) are: 8/0; 1/10" (10 per inch for the jewelry folks), .050" hole. 10/0; 15 per inch, .036" hole which corresponds to Beadalon .036" braided wire. 11/0; 19 per inch, .030" hole which corresponds to Beadalon .030" braided wire. 15/0; 22 per inch, .024" hole which corresponds to Beadalon .024" braided wire. The Beadalon brand braided wire is commonly available at craft stores, the beads will be found online. Do a good search, as they are available in a variety of colors. You'll find something you like that won't have to be painted, or that you can tint with colors to get an anodized look.

But if they could 3D print it, it could be done faster...

The Belvedere isn't 100% stock as the box art would have you believe. I'm 99% certain it has the lightweight seats, not sure which engine setup it has though.

One-shot for Model King. X number were made, that's it unless they decide to do another run.

In all except a handful of cases, hardtops and convertibles had one windshield, sedans and wagons had another that was slightly taller.

The black squirrels are a variation on the Eastern Grey squirrel. The black ones are claimed to be able to withstand somewhat lower temperatures than the greys.

Which issue of the kit do you have? The early (Lindberg) issues probably don't have them, but the newest Round 2 (AMT) issue might. I'm not aware of any being sold separately.

The Sunliner/Starliner script deal also applies to the '60 annual kits, except that hardtops can have either script. What probably happened was, kit production alternated between hardtop and convertible a couple of times, with the script being recut on the body tooling's side slides each time (except once, until the error was detected). I've got hardtops in both versions.

The '61 Sunliner and Starliner were variations on the same tool; a couple of inserts got changed and the convertible became a hardtop. I believe the Starliner hardtop body has Sunliner script on the front fenders.

When we were 12, poor parts fit = use more glue!

Modelhaus once did a '57 sedan body based on an AMT promo body molded in styrene that turned up. The story goes that at some point AMT was looking at doing another '57 Ford kit based on the promo body. I've got one of the Modelhaus bodies, will have to dig it out and check it versus the one pictured.

There are certain kits that I collect, and have every issue of (AMT '59 El Camino for example). But for some reason I've been picking up early issue MPC '75-'76 Dart Sport kits whenever I have seen them. The recent reissues are still in good shape, I have one of each. I guess that keeps prices down on earlier issue kits. I bought one as a donor kit for a pro stock Demon resin body, but wound up cutting the taillight panel out of the resin body and grafting it into the Dart body. I've got front wheel openings from an LA Dart body to graft in (the resin body was a copy of an original Demon, and the Duster wheel openings weren’t corrected). I'll wait for the new Demon kit and use that one as a guide to tying up the loose ends on the conversion. Pre-Round 2 reissue Darts (often called Dusters on the box) have the molded-in exhaust pipes removed from the chassis (Round 2 put them back). And these kits have some of the engine parts from the pro stock issues. The engines and chassis can be used in rebuilding annual kits, as can the glass.

I have heard from someone who sells model car kits, that the Atlantis car kits compiled from the Revell parts packs haven't been setting the world on fire. It seems that even some of us old guys haven't put two and two together yet to figure out that the Atlantis kits are indeed the old Revell parts packs. Atlantis should think about putting photos of the parts trees on the boxes in order to tap people on the shoulder regarding this.

You'll have to rework one of the available kit grilles, or scratch one. Nobody will do an aftermarket part for a kit that hasn't been produced for 55-plus years. In my own long ago experience, demand for an aftermarket conversion or part dropped to near zero when the base kit wasn't readily available.

Back when the original AMT used the T prefix numbers on car kits, some numbers were applied to multiple kits, though in all probability not to two at the same time. That's likely the case with the two Monogram kits. The Cop Out Duster was in Monogram's catalog, and on K-Mart store shelves, for a bunch of years. It probably got renumbered more than once along the way.

From what I have seen, the body/chassis pieces look to be thicker than the Piranha chassis tubes. If I ever did one of those, I'd probably extend the Piranha chassis at the back, and move the pivot point back to let the body lift up higher. Too, I'd probably want some sort of interior "tin" in the body, and maybe some other touches to make the thing more integrated overall.

The Studebaker has not been reissued as the funny car version. The stock Studebaker has been reissued, as has the Piranha. The body-to-chassis connecting pieces unique to the funny car would have to be fabricated.

The Atlantis kit pictured has artwork depicting a different truck from what is actually in the box. The kit is closer to the Chevrolet equivalent of the GMC stake truck (third of the first three trucks pictured).