Mark

J.C. Penney tried to eliminate "sale pricing" a couple of years ago, and just sell everything at their lowest price every day. Their sales tanked, and they wound up going back to business as usual. I guess most people want to go away thinking they "got a deal".

Powertrain was changed quite a bit between the Hemi Under Glass and LA Dart. Besides the whole setup being reversed (to put the engine behind the rear wheels), it was changed from fuel injectors to a supercharger, and the headers were changed. There were other tweaks to the chassis also, like the roll cage being altered. I believe the Barracuda had the back of the cage behind the shortened interior bucket, while the Dart has the whole cage inside the bucket. I'm pretty certain most, if not all, of the engine was retooled including the block.

The MPC '71 Camaro molded in white is a tough item...all of the ones I have ever seen (including a couple of them I had/have) were yellow. From where they seem to turn up, many MPC '71 kits molded in colors (not counting the pre-fogged custom jobs) were sold in the Eastern half of the country with the white ones going west.

When a particular kit is listed, you should be okay. The "assortments" or generic descriptions are another story. You might think you are getting a Supernatural Impala because of the item pictured, but you might wind up with a 007 Mustang kit.

Two different things here. The 1:1 Nova with a swapped-in small-block with FI was, and is, certainly doable. Several were built back then using the Corvette FI setup. The V8 installation parts were available at the Chevy dealers' parts counter on day one. The AMT wagon kit has a straight six engine (no factory V8 in '63, even though the '63 hardtop and convertible kits had it). Optional parts include a Hilborn type aftermarket racing injection setup. Looking back, anyone building racing injection setups back then were probably already making one to fit the Chevy II four cylinder engine, as it became instantly popular with the midget racing crowd. Since that four was literally two-thirds of a Chevy II six, putting together an injection setup for the six would have been pretty simple.

The six-cylinder engine FI setup is aftermarket. Hilborn, or other fuel injection companies, didn't offer injection setups for every single engine out there, but could probably piece together existing parts to create one for a paying customer. Those weren't timed FI units as would be used on a street driven vehicle, but constant flow fuel injection as used in a racing application. Some guys did run those on the street, it could be done, but it wasn't done easily or often back then.

Those were in the '41 Willys gasser kits also (the newer one, not the old opening-doors one).

The AMT five-window seems to have been an effort to salvage something from the extremely bad '34 two-door sedan kit. Its chassis and engine(s) were saved, I seem to recall that the only body panels carried over to the coupe were the hood side panels, but I could be wrong on that. The sedan had some things about it that were slap-you-in-the-face wrong. All of the 1/25 scale Model A kits had wider fender units than that '34. You ain't gonna tell me that Ford narrowed their cars for '33-'34, and that all those Model A kits (which are all pretty comparable) were, and are, incorrect. The '34 sedan was the odd one out. The AMT '34 three-window might just be the worst 1/25 scale car kit ever made by the original AMT company. It's way, way off. The Revell John Buttera '34 was just an effort to wring a couple more kits out of that excellent '26 T tooling. Why they didn't just do a '27 roadster and/or coupe is beyond me. My bright idea, which I haven't even tried to this point, was to slice the roof off of the MPC '34 Ford dirt track 3W coupe body and graft it to the AMT 5W lower body. But I haven't even pulled the two out for measuring, so who knows if that will work...

Supplies and tools are "necessities" that you are likely to buy regardless of price (within reason), while the kits themselves are impulse purchases that you can be swayed into with a coupon or percent-off sale. Kind of like supermarkets seldom having staple items on sale (except for maybe milk or eggs, and that's to get you in the door). Grocery coupons are often for items you seldom buy, or haven't bought before, in order to sway you to throw one into the cart.

Both of the Switchers '32 Ford kits use the same engine, chassis, fenders, and most of the plated trees.

I picked one of those up some years back, not complete but it had most of the parts unique to that issue. The coupe body is disappointing, looks way undersize (especially the trunk area). The assembly sequence is goofy too, the cowl is separate and has to be installed after the interior. Atlantis has made some noise about doing a '27 roadster body, maybe they'll do a decent coupe too.

I have all of the RC2 Switchers and Switchers based reissues (T roadster, '32 roadster/coupe, '32 phaeton/sedan, American Graffiti coupe) but there was an issue of the '32 roadster/coupe AFTER that, in original Switchers style packaging but without the MPC logo as I recall.

The coupe kit is a '49, but the hood, grille, and rear bumper (slightly different) from the '50 convertible kit drop right in place as both kits were created alongside one another. There are other slight differences between '49 and '50, but between the two kits someone wanting a '50 coupe (or '49 convertible) should find what is needed.

The rusted rear wheel openings on newer pickups are in many cases caused by the foam that is put behind the panel by the manufacturer, so you can't feel how thin and tinny the panels are now. Nope, can't just use a heavier gauge sheet metal...let's just whip some foam in there instead...

A little anti-seize on the wheel, where it contacts the rotor...problem solved!

There was a private label reissue of the Switchers '32 Ford not long before Round 2 took over and ended that program. It wasn't Model King, it was one of the other companies doing reissues back then.

The first shipment will probably sell out fast, but Round 2 will be more than happy to make more...

The huge blower in the pickup kit is neat in its own right. It resembles (to me, anyway) the superchargers used on the Harry Miller/Gulf Oil Indy cars of the late Thirties. That said, for a more "factory appearing" setup, the Revell '57 Ford parts are the way to go. The AMT '57 Ford also has a blower setup, but that one is a custom deal. The carb is enclosed/covered with a pressure box, and I think the supercharger is on the opposite side from the factory '57 setup.

So far, no fisheye problem for me. No different from any other paint, in that cleanliness is key, but I guess some paints are more forgiving than others. The 1K doesn't leave room for error...

I have used it straight from the can, and am satisfied with the results. I don't know if it changes over time, but in my experience there is no "sand and recoat" ability with this clear. You might be able to recoat, but wet sanding seems to "crack" the outer surface leaving it dull and soft, with the recoat then attacking it. As for the fisheyes, they would be caused the same way they would with any other clearcoat or color coat... contamination on the surface being coated. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to anyone, but it worked for me: before shooting the 1K clear, I wiped the item to be cleared down with a soft, clean cloth moistened with Windex. I didn't want to use a tack rag, as those can sometimes leave deposits on the surface. The glass cleaner seems to have cleaned the surface, without leaving a soapy residue that would create fisheyes. Like I said, I wouldn't out-and-out recommend it, but I did try it and it worked, so I'll likely do it again until it doesn't work.

Nope...engine make is not mentioned on the box, to not pay for licensing from a second manufacturer. Nothing new, Ertl did the same for many years.

The '34 Ford coupe includes a Chevrolet engine, not a Ford as stated.

Kit cab looks exactly like the '72 (Baja Brute) which was the first version of the kit. MPC didn't always keep up with changes from year to year if the kit in question wasn't based on a promo. They'd update the grille and/or other separate parts and call it good. MPC's Dodge pickup also had the separate gas cap for the cab (indicating fuel tank behind the seat) a couple of years longer than the 1:1 trucks had that.

I'm pretty sure Rod & Custom did a two-part article on the construction of the Expo Toronados. They later ran an article on the one Barris built for himself after the fact. R&C also did an article on the Toronado custom that Dean Jeffries built; it's the best looking of the bunch IMO.

Surf Woody was designed by Tom Daniel. There is an issue of Rod & Custom with a Sketchpad by Daniel, that predates the Surf Woody. TD designed the Munster Koach too. The original one was built by Tex Collins at Cal Automotive as a running car, the finishing touches were done at Barris' shop. The Barris Toronados (built for Expo '67) were stretched in the middle by about 10". One was built from steel and used to make molds for fiberglass body panels. Barris built a fifth one for his own use. Not sure if any still exist.