Mark

Is it just me, or does that air filter look awfully small for that engine? I guess I would trust Jack Roush's judgment on that call, but it doesn't look like a lot of air can get to it in that engine compartment...

The headlamps were put there for the kits, which used clear lenses for the custom grille. In the case of the Falcon, I'm not sure the '62 kit used them. But the '60 and '61 did.

Those might have been part of some "save X number of stamps to redeem for another kit" similar to the MPC "Golden Wheels' printed on box side panels in the Eighties. The Airfix brand would point to that kit having been sold in Britain, possibly Canada.

The cars in the upper classes had to have weight trimmed wherever possible, so those would have fiberglass front ends, doors, even trunk lids. Removing as much weight as possible, if some had to be put back in the builder could then add ballast and put the weight where it worked to their advantage (behind the rear wheels). Lower class cars were often built by teams or owners with less funding, so sometimes those would be all steel. Even then, a lot of them were lightened with weight being added back via ballast.

The AMT pro stock Nova was the first issue of that kit. There was no '75 annual. AMT may have kept that version in production with some having the '76 bumpers, but I can't say for sure.

Sixties and early Seventies street rods will almost invariably have bias-ply tires. Few new cars used radials until the mid-Seventies. As for the drag cars, check period photos and not pictures of restored cars or modern "tribute" cars, or worse yet, modern build "street freak gassers" which generally mix parts and themes from multiple eras.

Looks like a '68 or '69 Mustang non-shaker scoop, or maybe a Torino Cobra piece. Strange, but I don't see a hole in the hood in the shot where it is open. And the top of the carb is awfully close to the hood when closed. Maybe that's why Steve Lisk's Challenger beat the Mustang in both of their head-to-head matchups.

One-part putty (especially the red Bondo product) is nothing more than extremely UNthinned lacquer primer. It shouldn't be applied in thick layers, and even when applied properly (thin layer) a visit to the dehydrator is in order before moving to the next phase of bodywork.

Doesn't that car have a small scoop on the hood? Just fill the existing hole, and cut a smaller one where the scoop goes. If your Firefighter kit body is anything like the ones I have, you've got other bodywork to do, particularly around the rear wheel openings...

The GP grilles were installed by individual racers. NHRA class rules allowed for "mild" customizing in the stock/stock-based classes. No lightweight Grand Prix were built, but I believe one was built with the dual quad 421 engine and four-speed transmission.

Did it go in the dehydrator after the putty was applied? If it went in after any two steps were performed together, there might lay the problem.

I'd measure the kit and then go after the dimensions of the actual car. Monogram was generally spot-on with their stuff, so I'd assume it to be correct unless I could prove otherwise.

Fenders might be from the AMT '25 Ford T kits. I don't think the '32 fenders have the ridge down the center (in 1:1, those could have been made from cut-down Continental tire covers). Also, the '32 roadster and coupe rear fenders attach to the body and don't have those inner brace pieces.

How do they get the non-stick stuff to stick to the pan?

The MPC panel truck piece is the only styrene option. I don't know of any in resin, not even copies of the MPC piece.

The Firefighter reissue body is pretty much all by itself when it comes to hood fit. Long story... The original Firefighter kit was a '74. The kit body was revised for '75; though the 1:1 cars all look the same, Ford made numerous changes for '75. The hood is different, grille is taller (all of this was done to fit the V8 which wasn't offered here in '74). The fuel filler was moved also. The MPC pro stock kits all used stock bodies (why else would they have windshield wipers?) so the body was changed each year to use in the annual kits. So it ended up as a '78. RC2 modified the hood opening back to '74 spec, but unless you have any '74 kit hoods there's no way of telling whether or not they will fit the reissue Firefighter body. Best to keep the hood that came in the kit, and change the scoop to whatever you need.

Because of all the junk they foisted off on family members and people I knew in the Seventies and Eighties. Substituted parts (not just engines and transmissions) that made it difficult to ID needed parts (even down to getting a key made), endless corner-cutting and penny-pinching, dealers that didn't take care of their customers (but were quick to boost prices when something new hit the showrooms), outright lying to me about availability of power train combinations in a vehicle...the list goes on. Never owned one, never will. Haven't had one on the shopping list since 2004, and that one was the first to get scratched off...

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool GM hater, but that Nova looks great. GM handled the Seventies regulations better than most other manufacturers when it came to styling. Take the Monza versus the Mustang II for example. Endura bumpers versus somewhat clumsy looking hang-on bumpers, rear view of the Mustang gives you a muffler and gas tank half hanging out. Mind you, I do like the looks of the Mustang II hatch, but those elements (plus the multicolor tail lights) do detract somewhat.

No announcement from any manufacturer, so it can't be called The Great Unloading as with the deluge of 1960-63 Ford pickup items that currently appear.

Do you always put acrylic lacquer jobs in the dehydrator? I don't see the need to do that, as Tamiya spray dries faster and harder than enamels.

That amphibious Jeep would be interesting to build. Some of the real ones were built by Studebaker. They tore up parts of their proving grounds to add areas in which to test the capabilities of these vehicles.

To admittedly stray a bit further, recent issues of the old, opening-doors Revell '56 Ford pickup no longer include the Pontiac engine. The change took place when the 100% stock red one was issued. It, and all issues since, are about 1/3 new tooling, with the Pontiac engine being left out of the mix.

Well, MPC never kitted any Mexico specific cars...

All of those were made during the Second World War. Prior to about 1950, there were few, if any, plastic model kits. When they did appear, they took a while to catch on, as older modelers dismissed them as unassembled toys. To them, real model making required working with wood and sometimes metal. Of the companies we are familiar with, Monogram hung in with wood in some kits the longest, the last ones going away in the early Sixties. Model kits were made of wood back then. They didn't change much during the war, as wood and cardboard to produce them was still readily available. Other hobbies were affected. For example, Lionel trains were not produced during the war because they were made of steel, and all of that was commandeered for the war effort. Lionel did produce a non-powered train set made up of cardboard and wood items. Those turn up at toy and train shows from time to time. Had model kits been made of molded plastic as they are now, the steel tooling that would have existed then might have been seen as non-essential and melted down so it could be repurposed for war materiel.

The fronts I can at least understand, they're what was in the original kit. I've already found replacements for out back, the slicks will go into the parts box with all those leftover wheels from the Atlantis reissue parts pack kits...