Mark

Well, the warehouse is eventually going to run out of the "same old stuff", and stores will restock with whatever the warehouse now has...

C-cab looks like it is based on the Tweedy Pie kit, while the T-bucket is another parts pack mashup (not that that is a bad thing!). Hopefully at some point Atlantis will run that suspension parts tree through the plating equipment, and get around to putting the Buick V8 engine pack into the rotation. And if they do decide to tool a '27 roadster body, sign me up for a few.

Well, if the shelves are picked clean, then when they are restocked there will be a few different items. The two stores here both had the Modified Stocker hauler set (at $40.99) and sold me one of those. Last Monday they had the Monogram ex-Badman '55 Chevy, and sold me that one also.

Specifics?

Before painting or assembling anything, test fit the major parts and take note of which underside/backside/inside areas will be visible on the finished build when turned over, as if for contest judging. I tend to paint everything just to make sure.

Patience, go slow, use the right tools for the job. Thin saw blades that fit an X-Acto handle, even the hot knife tip for a small soldering iron have saved parts for me in the past with little damage to repair later

That Revell Cammer (Henry J, Austin, Willys pickup) is to be avoided like the plague.

More talented than a lot of them too...

Can't help with the decals, but as for the wheels I would definitely make one master in order to cast as many good ones as you need.

I have done some vacuform bucks in the past, using the same industrial resin used to make molds for packaging. I then had someone who does industrial packaging stick my molds on the perimeter of one of his jobs. I polished the molds, occasionally got some good parts but often had problems with dust and cloudiness. I'm now thinking the molds may have been too polished. After the holidays, I'm going to contact that guy and pick his brain regarding the finish on his molds. I've got my own small machine now, but still have some of that old mold resin (but stand ready to buy new if needed)...

Not every insurance company and agent reports everything. My nephew had someone hit his car some years back, when he sold it a couple of years later he checked the Carfax, it had nothing regarding that one. Every time Carfax runs a new ad campaign, they include more and more disclaimers, they can't catch absolutely everything.

Model Car Garage has some, but theirs are aimed at the earlier Moebius pickups. I wish there were products specifically for the AMT trucks.

"Will pay out of pocket" often = "will drag my feet until it becomes too late to report, then deny everything". I'd make sure there is a report at the very least. I run everything through insurance, that's why I have it...particularly "uninsured motorist" coverage. Next time you drive somewhere, count off the vehicles as you drive, and figure that, at the very least, every fourth or fifth one has no insurance. In some areas, make that every other one. No money for insurance, no money to pay for any damage they might do...

A lot of older annual kits have the transmission tailshaft molded as part of the chassis. That goes back to their origins as dealer promos. Scratch a tailshaft and add it to the kit transmission...problem solved.

Probably a kit, with the custom stuff on it. You don't see many promos, and I don't know whether or not there was a friction version. Pretty sure those would be acetate plastic anyway. All were '61s. None had an engine until AMT stuck the '66 Impala engine in for the 1977 budget series reissue. I don't know why Ford wouldn't have wanted a promo for '60, but the bumpers from the '60 Falcon interchange and what little trim was on the body didn't change between the two. Wheel covers are even the same, though '60 has black-filled recessed areas while '61 has white. AMT moved a lot of those, there was an annual kit as well as the flat box Styline kit which was sold through '62. Looks like a nice project, I have a couple of old builds which are radical customs (shortened, chopped top, etc).

Monogram had it figured out in the late Sixties and early Seventies with the Tom Daniel kits. Molded in the main color needed for a quick shelf build...all your aunt or grandmother had to buy was the kit, plus one of those Testors paint sets with the six or seven bottles of paint. Those sets usually had a cheap paint brush (I like those Testors brushes, don't care what anyone says!), a bottle of thinner to clean the brush, and a tube of cement. Instant gift, sure to get built as soon as possible...

A lot of people bring up comparisons between the price now and the price back then. How much are they earning per hour versus back then?

In manufactured plastic kits, no Catalina, only Bonneville, hardtop and convertible.

I wonder if a new '61 Starliner would be the way to go, rather than a '62. '61 could have a NASCAR version baked in from the start, and the '61s seem to have done better in drag racing also.

What were you supposed to do with the huge gap behind the convertible's quarter windows when they were raised with the roof in place?

I don't understand some folks' obsession with cheap, off-brand primers. With prices going up on everything, the difference in cost between a gamble and something you know will work isn't nearly as much as it used to be. You've got probably twenty bucks or more in the kit to begin with, more money in supplies and possibly other parts, and then there's paint. Not to mention hours of work in everything...why risk all of that to save a couple of bucks on primer? Leave the Krylon for the household stuff. As for Rust-Oleum, they've been killing off Testors via the death of a thousand cuts...why give them even a dime?

Note the different bumpers on the two kits pictured. The one with the "overriders" on the front bumper will also have a Continental tire setup on the rear. I'm not sure if any of these kits include both the "basic" and "accessory" bumpers (the accessories are not separate parts). In any event, they ARE very good kits.

That police department had one heck of a budget...

Says Chevy Engine right on the box. There should be a set of optional custom full wheel covers, don't think there were extra tires included though. Apparently the instruction sheet wasn't part of the deal either...that would lay all of it out for you.

Round 2 entered the picture in 2008, long after the last of any of the Ertl or Racing Champions issues. If they say they didn't get something, they didn't get it, and had to (re)create it.