Mark

If the Duplicolor sprays have propellant in them, they can be used. (If not, decanting is an option.) The stuff does settle, so if they have been stored a while they must be remixed. I give them several shakes over time, shaking of course until the agitator rattles. Fully mixed, the little ball inside should glide around the bottom of the can when the can is gently swirled around, for lack of better wording. If it doesn't move freely, you've still got settled solids at the bottom of the can.

The Barris Cruising USA issue does not include stock parts (only those needed to build the car as shown on the box). The AMT/Ertl late Eighties reissue does have stock parts, but is molded in yellow, also every one of those I have ever seen had bad plating. I'd chalk those two up as ones to avoid.

It's an ugly (for a car) shade of green as I recall. I have seen '64 Petty Plymouth kits in that green also. I do remember them being solid and opaque with no swirling, which would be about the only redeeming factor.

That's why it would fall at the low end of the price scale versus other kits in similar condition. It ain't easy being green...

I ran the business office for a community of Catholic Sisters for fifteen years. I could probably count on my fingers the number of times I saw any of them wearing a habit as pictured. And those instances were always at fund raising events, where there were older benefactors present who had attended Catholic school and were used to seeing the Sisters dressed in that way. Most of them didn't even have one anymore.

You can try mineral spirits applied to the joint, or soak the body as though you were removing paint. But in cases where the parts are fused together like that, the solution usually involves sacrificing one part (glass) to save the other part (body). If that is the MPC kit, it is 1/16 scale.

Is there anywhere you can cut that part of the pipe, remove it, and then rework it to fit? A small photoetch saw blade that fits into an X-Acto or similar knife handle is what I'm thinking...

I haven't seen one of the Revell 1970 Sox & Martin kits lately, but I have heard of those selling for stupid money. Of course, not having one, all of a sudden I've got one eye open looking for one...not that I "need" one...

The green one will be a later one, so for an unbuilt one it will be at the lower end of the price range (though $65-75 wouldn't surprise me these days). An early one, in white plastic, with decent decals, wire axles, and one-piece tires ought to cross over into three-digit territory. I'm glad I got what I got when I got it...

Lindberg got into the 1/20 scale stuff because the guy who was running Lindberg had gotten MPC into 1/20 scale in the late Sixties.

"Place" the engine on the stand...with a heaping helping of cement to keep it there...

The Dyno Don pro stock Pinto was a '74. There was also a Gapp & Roush '75 Pinto pro stock kit.

Front part of the body may differ in some way also. I actually have an original issue of this one, so I'll be passing on the reissue even though it will have a way better decal sheet included.

The AC version is much like the '68 annual. But there were a number of revisions for another, later issue: the Greenwood GT from the mid-Seventies. The hood was altered, wheels changed, molded-in exhaust detail removed, interior altered, and fender flares added to the body. The Greenwood version body has only three vents per side on the front fenders where the earlier versions had four. So this issue will differ from the ACcellerator in several ways.

It's the AMT dragster chassis, same one as in the wedge body kits.

The styling of the Challenger's front end (forward of the wheels) might be workable on the Gremlin body, but not the parts themselves...that would come off as bad as those newer Corvettes with '53 headlights and grilles adapted to them.

Someone probably put those helper springs on rather than re-arch or replace the springs as should have been done.

That AMX/Gremlin was a pushmobile, never a running car. Not sure of the dimensions, but I'd guess the width was close to the stock AMX (Javelin used the same front end sheet metal). The width of the Gremlin and Hornet might be a bit deceiving. The fender flares on those cars do add quite a bit to the overall width. I owned a Spirit (basically a hatchback Gremlin; in fact it was first shown as a Gremlin concept, the G-II) and the fender flares, particularly the rears, were quite wide. The interior was roomy (in front, anyway!) but not what I'd call super wide. Great car, I'd buy another if the right one came along...

Local store owners (any store, not just hobby shops) will throw stories like that around, hoping you will buy what they have in stock instead of wanting something else. They can't sell what they don't have.

If you want only this version, that narrows your choices considerably. If you just want a '40 sedan delivery, other issues are available, and one of those would be cheaper. A couple of years ago, I bought two first-issue, molded in yellow delivery kits, shipping included, for just under the retail price of two new kits. The sealed one goes on the shelf, opened one might get built. The cost of "just any" issue kit can vary wildly depending on the options available to you. You might find one unbuilt, in a bag, under the table at an IPMS meet for five bucks, or a sealed first issue at NNL East with the guy asking $100 for it. You pays your money and takes your choice.

For 1/25 scale buildings or building fronts, could you use project board? (Thin glossy cardstock on one side, slightly dull on the other side, and foam board in between.) I use it to beef up the cardboard display bases in Round 2 reissue kits, and have used it under color copies of displays not reissued. I've wanted to create a display of my own design, but haven't figured one out yet. The stuff cuts with an X-Acto knife (long straight cuts made with a sharp box cutter and steel ruler), glues together with white glue or rubber cement.

I bought one when it was a currently available item, probably paid mid-twenties for it. Retail was probably about $30, so an out of production item is likely to go higher.

If you want it, and can afford it, then it's worth it. You can spend $40 on a couple of bad dinners.

Even if you want that particular box art, one can be found for less. On the flip side, a lot of people bashed the Stooges kits as being just a marketing thing, but try finding the last one ('25 T double kit) now...

Don't overlook eBay for styrene sheets and shapes. There are a lot of sellers offering that stuff. I bought some .020" sheet for vacuum forming after the local place closed. I have since found out that they were bought out, the local place is further away but still within reach for me.