Mark

I never thought about it, but the ACcellerator paint scheme is similar to that of the Fireball 500 Barracuda. Last winter, I finally got the gumption to shoot that body (with spray cans yet!) and it came out great. Still have to clear coat it, it should be thoroughly gassed out by now...

Minilite wheels and hood scoop point to the mid-Seventies issue Greenwood GT, which was based on the 1968 only annual kit. AMT tooled an entirely new Corvette kit for 1969.

The AMT display drums came in most early Sixties annual kits, but few of the reissues. I found most of mine loose, or as leftovers on parts trees from built kits. There aren't many early Sixties AMT kits that were reissued intact in recent years, I'll see if any of them ('61 Galaxie, '62 Electra) still have (or ever had) that part.

The Scenes Unlimited drums look like modified versions of the "display brake drum" that came in a lot of early Sixties AMT annual kits. I picked up a bag of those at a show some time back, between those and the ones I already had I've probably got a dozen or so matched sets (as well as a couple of pairs of disc brakes). I've wanted to try those on something, just need to pick out some backing plates that match up with them. The display drums look a bit wide, but narrowing them a bit on the back side should make them workable. They're about the same diameter as the Revell Model A rod pieces.

They do seem to try to mix things up, so as to not send a large quantity of only one item to a particular store.

I would fit the floor first, doing whatever is needed to put both the inner rear wheel houses and the firewall in the correct places. After that, stretching the frame behind the transmission crossmember but ahead of any rear suspension attachment points should be simple.

Fitting the kit parts into a '70 GP body... -'67 Impala frame is too wide, would require spreading the rocker panels. A minute amount to be sure, but still should not be necessary. Rear of frame hangs out way too far, rear frame rails (between rear wheels) are on the wide side and could make fitting rear wheels problematic. '70 Monte frame is closer, wheelbase is short however. I would make the stretch somewhere in the side rails, but would fit the Monte floor to the body and then fit the frame.

You sure that's the Grand Prix frame? One of the measurements is labeled as being different for the convertible, but there was no GP convertible after '68.

I wonder where the 2" difference is on the 1:1 cars. Maybe the rear control arms are different, moving the rear axle back? Or is the frame just 2" longer in the middle?

I'd still go with the Monte Carlo, and stretch as needed, in an area where the frame is the widest.

They may have received items produced specifically for them, perhaps to use up already booked production capacity. On the other hand, those cannon and stagecoach kits are definitely old production. I'd bet that if we see them get any Round 2 stuff in the closing months of 2021, it will be leftovers from the previously received stuff. With all those ships waiting to be unloaded, I doubt we'll see anything heavily discounted anytime soon.

eBay doesn't want you doing searches, they want you to look at everything they are dumping into the category, like all the military kits I'm seeing in the automotive section. They seem to be modeling themselves on supermarkets, where the main effort is directed at keeping you in the store longer (thinking, the longer you are in there, the more you will see, and the more you will spend on impulse purchases).

The smaller resin casters not really making money is true too. I did it myself for several years and can vouch for this. By doing it, I did go to more shows that I normally wouldn't have gone to, and met a number of people I wouldn't have run into in my travels otherwise. But the profit was minimal or not there at all, and you do burn out on the whole thing. I pulled the plug before getting to a point where I thought I was doing everybody a favor (sadly, not everyone does that, and continuing under those circumstances wipes out any good will built up in the "good" years). I did know one guy who did builds to order, he was fast and good, and was happy with what he was getting for his work. But even he burned out on it after a few years. I bought his stuff when he quit building altogether, for good.

Paul Hettick does well, but then again he has had to build a reputation over a number of years to reach that point. Some of his builds are based on resin kits that are costly to start with, so sometimes he isn't doing as well on a build as it seems at first glance. Making money at it would require being both good and fast. I built two '60 Fords for Round 2 some years back (quite possibly the least seen two builtups they ever had at any trade show!). I learned a lesson...I can do good work but cannot do it fast. I won't attempt such a thing again.

Sprue, runner, or tree...it's the same plastic that the kit's parts are made of. When possible, I'll use a leftover part, like a custom pan or optional hood for testing.

Should print it on paper, then you'd have a bunch of "boo sheet"...

Testing the paint on sprues or unused parts from the kit being painted won't be good practice for doing the actual spraying, but it will help determine if the paint is compatible with the plastic or not.

Most of the '63 Corvette engine pack was incorporated into the Revell '57 Chevy kit (the old one, that Atlantis now has). With the Chrysler engine being in the Studebaker funny car now, the only "surprise" Revell parts pack engines Atlantis could bring back would be the Buick and custom/fictional turbine engines. The remaining four are the ones Revell reissued twenty years or so ago.

Mother Mopar led the way with stupid wheel bolt patterns...don't forget those Dakotas with 6 on-4-1/2" bolt circle! A lot of fullsize Dodge pickups still had five-lug wheels, I can't figure why they felt the smaller truck needed six lugs...

Where is everyone getting these clear red toothbrush handles? I haven't seen one in many years, have one set aside but I got it out of a very OLD parts box...

Some in the scale modelling community refer to the car guys as "the cheap guys", and I don't doubt that. How many times have we heard (or read) someone complaining about a paint problem...come to find out, they just grabbed the nearest spray can (mostly household or automotive paint) and just started blasting away...no testing for compatibility with whatever is already on the chosen part, no testing period. It still blows me away to hear about someone putting a bunch of work into a project, then trying to cheap out on paint. I can see someone looking for less costly alternatives...but only after thorough testing would they actually try it on something of value...

Don't worry...one day we all stop getting older...

As built out of the box, on the shelf the kit will look correct. There will be some inaccuracies that won't be readily seen (the Hydra-Matic transmission for one, and I'm not certain what rear axle was in the 1:1 car). But 99% of the builders interested in the 1:1 car will have a bunch of parts on hand to make the corrections if they wish to do so. The small-block Chevy engine in the AMT parts pack will have an in/out box to replace the transmission, and if the rear axle is incorrect it will be easy to scrounge the right one. Having to switch a couple of parts shouldn't dim any enthusiasm when you consider that the individual parts packs haven't been generally available since the mid/late Sixties.

Atlantis' representatives have already stated that they did not get the motorcycle packs in the deal with Revell, and at least one piece of info suggested that they no longer exist.

A low temp lacquer reducer will work on primed plastic (as always, test first!). Cheap lacquer thinners tend to be "hotter". The Wal-Mart stuff would be strictly "out" for anything but cleanup IMO.