Mark

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.

Which Ford straight six? The two "classic" Sixties/Seventies engines (144-250, and 240-300) have both been done in plastic. That would leave the later fuel-injected version of the truck 300, the first overhead valve six, and the 1941-51 flathead six.

Gift cards...one size fits all.

Maybe in Europe or England, definitely not here.

The solvent in the amber softened the silver paint and got it going again. Of Testors brush paint colors, silver in particular is the slowest to dry and the easiest/quickest to soften up again.

They're everywhere.

Gotta wonder why that Bugatti didn't resurface in SSP in the mid/late Nineties...pretty sure Monogram was producing a kit of a modern one then, so licensing shouldn't have been an issue...

For brushing (including airbrushing), talcum powder can be added to pretty much any paint to "flatten" it. Very little is needed, just how much can be determined by mixing in different amounts and keeping track.

So, who is going to start talking about Jo-Han in this thread?

Why the mention of competitors? People are comparing prices, that's all. HL might have a limited selection as they're picking items with mass appeal as opposed to niche interests. Ollie's, meanwhile, isn't really choosing at all...they get what they get, which is either overstock from other stores, or excess production from manufacturers.

The 3M, like most/all one-part spot putties, are essentially extremely thick lacquer primer and dry via the evaporation of the solvent contained in it. It needs to be applied in extremely thin layers with each layer getting plenty of time to dry. Otherwise it will continue to shrink through continuing evaporation of the solvent. For major repairs or filling deep damage, two-part epoxy or spot putty would be easier to work with. Two-part fillers cure via a chemical reaction with no shrinkage afterwards. Once it's cured, it's cured, and it won't shrink afterward.