Mark

The Pinto kit has a more modern vending machine, molded in styrene.

The Infini-T was issued only once way back when, in that packaging. So any nostalgic reissues would logically be in that same packaging. It might be one of those deals where the people at Round 2 figure the kit will sell X number of pieces, no more/no less, regardless of what box it is in. So why do new box art? The new issue does have lettered tires, so there is at least some added content. I've already got one from the last release and won't be getting this one, so I didn't pay attention...will this one have a bigger decal sheet or tinted clear parts also?

If you are starting out, just go for a clean build. I'd concentrate on exterior and interior finish, including applying foil to exterior trim. Wiring, photoetch, and other things can come later.

I purchase manufactured styrene stock in smaller sizes, but something as wide as 1/4" would be easy to cut yourself. A good stainless steel ruler with a non-slip backing, and one of those "box cutters" with a nice sharp edge, and you're good to go.

I use mild kitchen cleanser and an extremely soft old toothbrush on areas I don't need/want to sand. Just make sure all of it is cleaned off prior to any painting operation. Mild rubbing compound would work too, again be sure to get all of it cleaned off.

How about using styrene that is the same thickness as the card stock?

I too use PayPal, but with no bank account connected to it, only credit cards. Seller doesn't see credit card info.

I did have a small (under $100) bank account tied in with PayPal, but closed that a couple of years ago. They currently have no information relating to my banking, only credit card info. And they will not get any, nor will anyone else. The day either PayPal or eBay makes such a demand will be the day I close out my remaining (buying only) business with them.

They are expecting offers higher than the opening bid, not lower. It's a case of "what kind of offer would make them think about ending the auction early". But when they've got the item overpriced (based on the opening bid) then the whole thing is messed up.

The whole fender/chassis unit (frame and floorboards are molded with the fenders, as one piece) and stock engine and suspension parts are from the '28 sedan. The sedan had the spare tire at the rear, so it didn't have a tire well in the front fender. The original issues of the woody and pickup did have a welled front fender but it was later removed, and the new issue will probably not have it. So the reissue would be a good source of parts for rebuilding a sedan, or a good base for a resin sedan body.

The accessory parts do look like Chevy stuff. They probably figured that, with the hood sides in place, nobody would notice the rest. The ZZ Top kit is pretty much a curbside for practical purposes, as I recall it has the stock single exhaust detail molded in.

That engine is actually a Pontiac, the basic engine was in the original '34 Ford customizing kit that was the starting point. The ZZ Top Eliminator kit has the same engine.

That's a distinct possibility...if they do, they will very likely make an effort to issue them in order to make use of their investment. The only thing in the way might be licensing.

This kit's origins stretch back to 1955. It was created by Pyro, and was first issued with wheel/tire units made entirely of plastic, and with no plated parts. It was tweaked in the early Seventies to include plating and vinyl tires (probably adapted from another kit). If you keep that in mind, the shortcomings are more acceptable. But it shouldn't have been issued in packaging with only pictures of a 1:1 car, and certainly not at the price of a more modern car kit.

The profit margin isn't there on the little stuff compared to larger items like model kits. When was the last time anyone (LHS, online sellers, even Evergreen or Plastruct themselves) ever discounted any of those items?

NHRA did fold the Modified Sports (and maybe some of the Street Roadster) classes into Gas in the late Sixties, IIRC. I seem to remember seeing pictures of Hugh Tucker's supercharged '28 Chevy bodied car running as a gasser towards the end of its racing career.

The currently available AMT kit was newly tooled in the last twenty years or so, and is a short bed. Not to be confused with the old SMP/AMT longbed kits from 1960-63 (promos 1960-66).

Their '39 sedan delivery kit has a stock hood. For some reason known only to them, neither Revell nor Monogram ever saw fit to include it in the coupe kit.

If you are looking for rectangular tubing, say 2" x 3" in 1/25 scale, just do some math...it would work out to .08" x .12". Then just select the styrene stock closest to the desired size. If there is no exact match, go slightly undersize as the paint thickness will be out of scale. As for calipers, I like digital, even the cheap ones can switch between inch and metric. The calipers are indispensable, you will find all sorts of things to measure like scrap wire, tubing, and sheet plastic you round up from non-hobby sources. The battery will last much longer if you take it out between uses. I've had one for five or six years, still on the first battery.

No problem...with me anyway, I've seldom been able to just join two parts together without having issues with the seam. I've sometimes joined panels together at the panel line itself, but more often than not the join is somewhere that shouldn't look like there is one...for that, there is the filler.

The wheels in the Malibu are nicer than the others. Because those Malibu kits sold so well over the years, often they turn up in built form at toy shows and club swap meets. When they do, I'll snag one provided it isn't a total glue bomb. Lots of good parts in those: wheels, scoops, Lakewood scatter shield, and suspension parts including a nice three-link rear end setup. Unbuilt ones go for stupid money so you don't want to pay that and then part it out, but the built ones can be a gold mine if you can pick them up for cheap.

I don't think anyone is promoting the use of putty to fill whopping huge holes or gaps, just smoothing the transitions from the as-manufactured part into the modified area. It's just the way I do things (not speaking for anyone else) but I do use styrene to fill the huge voids, then rout out slightly the area between, then use epoxy putty to smooth out the transition. Two-part filler is used to finish the area to a greater degree. I generally only use one-part putty for final finishing, filling ejector pin marks, and other minute flaws.

Might not be the actual wheels moving from one kit to another, but the same masters used to cut tooling for several kits. Most, if not all, of the Monogram Early Iron Series kits have similar wheels also.

Thinking about it now, it is kind of surprising that AMT didn't issue the stock sedan instead of the phaeton in 1969. That was right about the time that they converted the Willys double kit to eliminate the sedan and add the pickup conversion parts. It would have been natural for them to piece it into the Victoria kit just as they had done by creating a new phaeton body for the same kit. Then again , look at Rod & Custom issues from around then...Thirties Ford phaetons were hot. A number of bodies and cars were being bought in Australia and shipped in. AMT's kit was supposedly scaled from an Australian body, which did differ in minor ways. Note too, the original issue AMT box art refers to the phaeton as "rarest of the Fords"...not so. The B-400 convertible sedan was produced in fewer numbers, and is rarer than the phaeton.

They're designed to be added after paint. They are thin enough that most paint jobs would bury them.