Mark

One of my cars has both made of metal. I had the gas tank out last year, scoped it, nice and clean inside. I had the radiator and heater core redone years ago, both are still good. I can now get a new gas tank (couldn't for a long time; there was ongoing litigation over it), can even get a stainless one. I might do just that, if a vendor at Carlisle would actually bring some stock instead of just passing out catalogs...

Nobody around here seems to repair gas tanks or recore radiators anymore. All of the shops that used to do that work now have huge signs: "we install new gas tanks and radiators".

If the car was sitting in the driveway, maybe the homeowners' policy might, just might, cover it...

So not only will you be out a tankful of gas, you'll likely get socked with environmental cleanup costs...

Will the next version include an alert that blames it on the dog?

Those plastic parts probably stiffen the thinner sheet metal being used for body panels.

I have never seen any reference to Detroit Plastic Products, but I'm pretty sure he was involved with SMP. Most people think SMP kits were just rebranded AMT. AMT was heavily involved with Ford in the Fifties (having been founded by an attorney who worked with Ford a lot), so other car companies were slow to give them promo model contracts fearing information could be provided to Ford. SMP was a separate company, although with some financial backing from AMT. AMT bought SMP out in 1961, some early production 1962 kits were branded SMP but were soon switched over. I believe Erikson put in a bid on AMT when it came up for sale in 1978, and took a position with Lesney (the winning bidder) and worked at AMT for a while after Lesney took over. Dennis Doty would know more about this, though.

The only reason that seller listed the body and glass together, was because he couldn't get them apart!

The AMX and SC/Rambler kits were probably the last produced in decent numbers by SeVille/Foremost, so those were the last to move up price-wise, other than the classic cars. So those were "easy to get" for a long time, relative to other Jo-Han kits. Now that it's universally assumed that none of this stuff is coming back, those kits have started moving upstream too.

When money and ethics clash, you can count on your fingers the number of times money doesn't win...

The custom mix paints probably have a "recoat window"; that is, applying a coat over paint already applied has to be done within a specified time frame, if not done "on time" then an extended wait is necessary.

I've never had any problems recoating Duplicolor. Is it a can you bought recently? Maybe they reformulated it, or "improved" it...

The system is generally tilted in favor of those who don't think or plan ahead, spend money more quickly than they earn it (if in fact they earn it), and don't save for the future.

The started/partially built kit can be found on occasion too, another "luck" thing. If you want to build the custom version, and can find one irreversibly started as the custom, it will sometimes sell more reasonably than a stock one simply because those wanting a stock one will pass on it. I found a '63 Mercury hardtop and '63 Buick hardtop started as customs, got them reasonably because both were started as customs and had the scripts and trim removed. As a bonus, the stock bumpers were still like new so those were set aside for convertibles that needed them.

'65 was pretty much the end of the line for the advanced custom parts. The '66 kits' custom versions were for the most part designed so as not to require the use of putty. In some cases the parts would look better molded in, but they could be built without it. The '65 Impalas, with that radical front end treatment, was by far the most ambitious one though. Finding a set of the parts without a kit, or in a started kit, would be one of those lucky deals. I did that awhile back with the '62 Corvette parts, finding the leftovers from a kit that apparently was built stock (and without the engine). All of those parts will fit any of the reissue '62 Corvettes.

You might check the Model Car Garage PE sets for Oldsmobiles. If you get anything, it will be the spoke section and possibly the horn button emblem. You'd be on your own for a steering wheel rim and hub.

The side panel of the original box lists working front suspension, but the kit did not have it, only the steering. The chassis is modified from the MPC '64 chassis (exhaust detail removed). MPC tooled a new chassis for the '65 kit to add the working suspension. '65 and '66 annuals used molded styrene coil springs. Jo-Han did the same with their Chrysler Turbine Car around that time also. '67 annual used the metal springs, as did the '68-'75 annual kits. In the mid-Seventies MPC started to replace the springs with solid ones, losing the working suspension in the process. The '67 MPC chassis with the metal springs was last used in the Cosma Ray custom, in the late Sixties. It was probably easier to remove the exhaust from the '64 chassis than change the '67 chassis to eliminate the metal springs.

Pretty sure that four spoke steering wheel was an Olds only deal. That's back when GM still made some effort to differentiate between brands.

For those who are interested, I noticed that the Alumilite resin casting materials are heavily discounted. That would seem to indicate that HL won't be carrying those items much longer.

How much space does the 1/8 scale kit's box take up in a shipping container, versus a 1/25 scale kit that retails in the $30-40 range? Also, how many molding machines does it tie up in production versus that same 1/25 scale kit? That right there would explain the price difference...

If the tacky glue doesn't work, you might use extremely small drops of super glue. It won't dissolve the plastic, and once the pieces are separated it can be scraped and/or sanded off.

I've seen that "metal" one; it might be resin with aluminum powder in it, similar to the "all metal" 1:1 auto body fillers out there. I'd be extra cautious sanding or grinding that stuff. I've got another '60 pickup, that I fished out of a junk box at a toy show. Someone cut the thing in half with a wood burning pencil. I only have the front half, thankfully the hood was still with it!

Ertl did a halfway decent 1/25 scale diecast '60 pickup. Unfortunately they chose to do it as a 4 x 4, and included the typical junk cast as part of the bed floor. I've got one, might use the cab to build a ramp truck or a stepside.

The Model King drag team set (the first reappearance of the MPC Cougar funny car) used the AMT Ford Bronco as the tow vehicle. From what I had heard back then, the '63 Ford pickup would have been first choice, but was long gone. We've got to remember, this stuff was moved around several times, sometimes stored in poor conditions, and on occasion junked because someone didn't think it had any future potential. I'd bet nobody involved in the creation of any of it thought it would still be around fifty years down the road.

Based on the AMT Grant King sprint car, different body. The AMT sprint isn't as good as the Monogram one, but it is an earlier one and has the potential to be backdated further.