Mark

The hanger shot shows the AWB body, which was originally modified from the convertible configuration of the original annual kit body. The stock bodies in the current hardtop and convertible kits are both newly tooled, as are the stock bumpers and a couple of other incidental parts.

No, '60-'62 Falcons were simply not designed with a V8 engine in mind. Everything is different on the V8 cars, even the "frame rails" up front are heavier gauge. I have heard that some early Falcons with V8 swaps later develop issues with shock towers and frame rails spreading apart under the added strain. Some of the V8 suspension stuff will bolt in though. Ford briefly learned from their mistake with the Falcon. All early Fairlanes have five lug wheels, minimum 8" rear axle, same brakes on six and V8 (later 390 cars do have 9" axle and bigger brakes all around). But they forgot again with the Maverick and Mustang II. With the latter, '74 (only year with no available V8) differs from '75-'78 considerably up front, especially under the skin.

Now they need to stick some of the suspension parts pack trees into the vacuum plating device alongside those engine packs.

They might be dribbling stuff out there from their last buyout, much as they have been doing with the Toys R Us leftovers the last two or three Christmas seasons. Revell and Round 2 seem to be able to sell everything they can crank out for the most part, so I wouldn't expect to see too much in the closeout stores at this point.

The one on the roadster looks like a repurposed canteen, my guess would be some sort of expansion tank. Whatever the radiator is, it doesn't look like much for that Cammer, not that too much is needed when the car might run for a couple of minutes at a time, at most. I can't see rerouting a remote oil filter all the way back there, and on the opposite side to boot. They'd put the remote as close to the original location as possible to make the connecting high pressure lines as short and direct as possible. Fuel cool can would be out too, that task could be accomplished between rounds by draping an iced towel or two over the front-mounted fuel tank.

Besides most of the parts being missing, the Edsel body in the funny car version is r-o-u-g-h. Between promos, toy store frictions, and kits, it was probably just plain worn out prior to the funny car issue.

Now they put "islands" and huge concrete light stanchions in parking lots to prevent that kind of thing. Bunch of killjoys. One kid in high school was doing doughnuts in a parking lot with his dad's Chrysler...misjudged things a bit and caved in one of the quarter panels. I wonder just when he was allowed to drive again.

Best bet might be to check the coming contests and shows here, and at IPMS website, and see if any events correspond with your travel plans.

There are two pins on the inside of the body, on either side of the cowl. The engine compartment piece goes into the body, with the back of it contacting those pins. Besides flash removal which is needed on most kits (some more than others, of course) the parts do fit together pretty well, especially for an older kit that has been issued many times before. The chassis has a couple of small tabs on the top side to locate it front to back relative to the engine compartment piece once that is installed.

Probably not...second version of the '66 is a low rider as I recall. But, the '66 and '65 share a lot of parts, particularly the chassis. So if the parts are different, they will interchange between the two kits.

I had one when I was a kid, have since picked up a couple of partially built/rebuilders. I had a sealed one but sold it a few years ago. By far, the best looking dune buggy body.

The Great Unloading has begun! In the earlier days of eBay, if all of a sudden you saw several examples of a kit that had been impossible to find previously, the "reissue is coming soon" light came on...

Limited quantity probably got bought up, like concert tix that sell out in the first minute of availability. You'll have to go to a reseller, or wait for the next version...

'68 through '70 annuals had stock/custom/funny car versions in one box. '71 on had no custom parts and were issued as two kits each year: stock or Pro Stock, and funny car only. The latter had the promo style body with hood molded shut. '68 annual, '69 annual, '70 annual, '70 Donohue TA, two '71 annuals plus AMT Donohue TA, two '72 annuals, AMT '74 annual. I'm not aware of a specific '73 kit, though some of the Jo-Han kits with the '72 on the box have '73-'74 kits inside. There is also the '73-'74 snap kit, all I have seen have Hurst mag wheels. Also the George Follmer/Roy Woods TA racer. All of those that I have seen have '73-'74 bodies, but the earliest of those might be '72s. I think that covers the Javelins and Jav/AMX kits.

Jo-Han did a bunch of Sixties AMC products as promotional models only...no kits. Mainly station wagons and four-door sedans, which flat-out did not sell well as kits back when they were new. They did all three years of the two-seater AMX as kits. But all were sold in AMT packaging back then. The first one Jo-Han sold in its own box was the original issue Shirley Shahan Super Stocker, in 1971. They did screw up a couple of times. They did the Hornet as a promotional model for '70, '71, '73, and '74. They did kits those years plus '72, but as funny cars only. No stock kits. Insult added to injury, nobody ever ran a Hornet bodied funny car (though the '73 hatchback would have made a nice looking FC body). They could have at least run off the hatchback as a snap kit instead of the Javelin AMX, but nope. MPC only did the Pacer because the promo contract paid for the tooling to an extent. They even updated the hood and grille to '78 spec on their own dime, but stopped there. AMC dropped the car after a couple thousand 1980 Pacers were built, but MPC didn't bother after '78. Just as well, most of the later ones were wagons anyway. The MPC 1/20 scale AMX originated as a stock-only 1968 kit sold at AMC dealers and by mail. The '69 added some optional parts. MPC did the '70 update on their own, to wring another year out of it. Not quite as good as the earlier ones, but any AMC stuff is welcome IMO.

They seem to get big shipments. Next to nothing one visit, fully stocked next time. They may have had them on sale last week, if so that triggers a run on the stuff.

The Matador was produced first as the '74 Penske NASCAR version, then alternated between that and showroom versions '75 through '77. After that came the custom-only version which had a stock body but not the hood or bumpers. Lesney AMT later detrimmed the body and made some other alterations to create the Allison Sportsman. The body isn't stock any more. The Gremlin was one of AMC's better selling cars of the Seventies, even then AMT first offered it as a funny car with no corresponding stock version until mid-'74. '70 through mid-'72 were six cylinder only which might be what prevented AMT from doing a stock one right off the bat. AMT guessed that the Pacer wagon might be the next big thing, they did that kit without a promo contract. From what I have heard over the years, it didn't do too well when it was new. Neither AMT nor MPC did much AMC stuff back then because Jo-Han had most of the AMC promo business locked up. They probably didn't want to split what would have been a pretty small pie back then.

It's based on the MPC Toronado kit ('67-'68 only), but it is very similar to the Jo-Han kit. Engine and chassis are very similar, main difference there is that Jo-Han had inner front fenders, firewall, and radiator bulkhead were separate parts while MPC had all of those as a single piece. The MPC chassis is modified, shortened behind the rear wheels. Otherwise, it should be workable for what you want to do.

Those custom T-Bird roofs were a one-year-only deal. AMT usually changed things up every year with customizing parts. The items being changed out probably weren't kept, unfortunately.

Early promos had metal bumpers. They were phased out in favor of plated plastic ones before AMT and SMP produced annual car kits.

It will stick to a point, but only as well as the paint is sticking...

Chassis could certainly be adapted, rest is a gamble, with glass being the least likely to fit. Totally different kits, with measuring and design taking place forty years apart.

Jo-Han '62 Larks are closer to 1/23 scale than 1/25. They're big, the built ones are large on the shelf compared to other compact cars of the day, or even the '53 Studebaker. Remember the Lark is basically a reskinned '53 sedan (shorter wheelbase than the coupe). Studebaker reworked the sedan into a compact because it was "too small" to be a full-size car by that point, and tacking extra length onto the front and rear sections wasn't getting them anywhere by then. I'm not sure about the size of the Jo-Han '59/'60 Lark promos (not sure if there was a '61). There was no Jo-Han Lark kit prior to the '62, and those promos were all molded in that warping/shrinking acetate plastic. The Premier Lark (the early one, anyway) is somewhere between 1/25 and 1/32 scale, closer to 1/25 but still small. I'm not sure about their '62 as I haven't got one of those. The Hawk '62s are 1/32 scale, and pretty decent as I recall.

I'd use catalyzed (two-part) glazing putty. There is a Bondo product that is sold at auto parts chain stores like Auto Zone. Eleven or twelve bucks last time I looked. Look for the one with a small tube in the package behind the big one. Rough up the area where it is going, mix the filler and apply it, file and sand after it (quickly) cures. One-part putties cure by evaporation. Hard to tell just when it has stopped evaporating (and shrinking), it could be after you have done finish paint and assembly. Automotive spot putty is in its essence extremely unthinned lacquer primer. Applying lacquer primer over it in heavy coats can soften it. I never went in for baking soda, that stuff absorbs moisture. The soda/super glue combo often ends up harder than the surrounding plastic, making sanding problematic. Leave that stuff in the kitchen where it belongs. I used to be big on "sprue filler". But it too cures by evaporation. I have since abandoned it in favor of a two-part epoxy filler that sands and works the same as the surrounding plastic.

Yes...same underbody (not sure if the altered Dodge and Plymouths had different wheelbases...pretty sure the stock ones differed a bit). I'd bet that the altered wheelbase Dodge and Plymouth kits will use the same underbody, same suspension parts, same engine, same wheels, same clear parts...they will only differ in regards to bodies and related parts. If they were much more different from one another, the added expense might have prevented Moebius from doing the Dodge, unless they had also done a stock one first. I really need to get back to my own Dodge conversion, as all the parts are already bought and paid for.