Brian Austin

There's something wrong with the #12 in that picture. ?

MPC was purchased by General Mills in the 1970s, along with Lionel Corp. Both brands were often marketed together. From Wikipedia: "In the late 1970s, General Mills created a separate identity for its toy and hobby arm, CPG Products Corporation. During this time, MPC kits were marketed as part of CPG's Fundimensions Division. General Mills's ownership lasted until 1985 when it sold off its hobby companies. ..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_Products_Corporation Is there no MPC branding on the Firebird kit?

On the other hand, posting several dozen pictures in at a time here can seem a bit overwhelming. ?

I recommend muting the audio...

?

I heard this on a local radio bluegrass program the other night. "Love Shack" by the Cleverlys

It's been pointed out in the past that all the manufacturers have passed on the JoHan tooling.

FWIW, the kit represents an ambulance built by the coachbuilder Miller-Meteor. They only built on the Cadillac commercial chassis in this era. They did not use other manufacturer's chassis. No Buick, no Chevrolet. People have kitbashed the Ectomobile kits with the Revell '59 Cadillacs. This would give you an engine and drivetrain detail. Note though that the Cadillac passenger cars had coil spring rear suspension while the Commercial Chassis employed leaf springs. The Polar Lights kit does have a stock rear bumper, but note that parts do not swap between the two kits.

3-D printing is also useful for making investment-cast parts in brass. The printed master melts like wax in the mold.

This kit is a modified reissue of the Ectomobile. If they have retooled the interior bucket, then yes it will be very attractive to us who want a stock ambulance/hearse. The old interior bucket had too much Ecto-gear molded in it to make one considering just making a new one from scratch. Superior-bodied versions have been offered in resin.

To me neither the AMT or the PL kit looks "right", but then again, this 1:1 ambulance doesn't quite look right either. The hearse pictured below appears to have softer contours on the rear quarters. (It should be noted the ambulance has been "restored", and includes elements considered inauthentic to the car such as those silly horns.)

Reference

This is an assembled promo that lights up, like most gas station promos.

FWIW, there does exist a B-Model Mack in styrene. This is a petroleum promo model issued by JMT Replicas in the 1990s.

Circus modelers also like Macks. These pictures are from an auction of the Robert MacDougall collection that depicted the various pieces of equipment used by the Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey circus. I'm presuming he used the aforementioned resin cabs for his B and L-Series trucks. Since Mack offered numerous models and variations in their range, how does a prospective model kit manufacturer decide which one to offer? Do modelers complain that their preferred variant wasn't picked? ?

In my art school days I took an architecture class. I thought it was going to be fun making models. My first ones were built using styrene and such. I got strange looks from my classmates wondering what this exotic material was. As it turned out, the professor wanted us to work in foamcore and cardboard. I kinda lost interest in architecture as a career at the end of that course. I learned I was more into old architecture than designing new buildings. As an aside, the professor had a habit of noting scales as fractions of an inch, but in an odd way: 1:48 was "Quarter Scale", 1:96 was "Eighth Scale". Made me wonder what he would call 1:8 scale. In one of my other courses, a movie model maker dropped by. Sadly I don't recall his name. What I remember is his puncturing my awe of his career choice. There was a lot of drudgery involved on a daily basis. Drilling lots of tiny holes and such. From what I've heard, special effects artists work from show to show, and so you have to get your work where you can. You might not get far if you're not driven to pursue those jobs continually. I was told by a friend that there was also a lot of routine drudgery in architectural model building as well. As far as the factory in the video goes, I have a feeling it's not too far off other factory work. Keep cranking out widgets. The manager did seem rather enthusiastic about his company though.

I've heard that '60 Chevy wagon kit's roof is slightly lower that it should have been. One year I saw a box of craftsman kits at a flea market. Unfortunately they were all so badly butchered I could find no use of them. There were one or two green Chevy wagons.

Perhaps, but I was reminded of the old "analog vs. digital" debate raging for years.

Someone already has cloned a JoHan Cadillac (1966). Hasegawa. ?

I corrected the link. Thank you for the notice.

Here's a relevant chapter. While it does discuss building materials and processes, it starts off describing the state of the art of the hobby at the time vs "the good old days", along with the attitudes mentioned earlier. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009816383&seq=155&q1="scratch+building"&view=1up FWIW, you can still buy 0 Scale craftsman kits and parts. https://allnationline.com/WP/?product_cat=cars

You're better off buying a vintage JoHan/X-El model or modern resin reproduction than waiting for new production of these subjects.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031692422&seq=1&view=thumb

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112040260405&seq=7

This book is a fascinating look at the hobby as it was in the middle of the 20th century. While it details the construction of models using a variety of materials, the book also mentions that plastic kits were becoming popular. Apparently some oldtimers used to wood and metal didn't think much of the newer kits. A small point worth mentioning for you 0 Scalers is that the scale standard used in this book for 0 was 17/64" to the foot rather than 1/4". https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009816383&seq=1&q1="scratch+building"&view=thumb