tim boyd

Big, big congrats on bringing this one home. Era correct mods, creative kitbashing parts and sourcing, super-clean assembly, added detail without getting carried away on months-long modifications, and a really sharp result? This is exactly the type of modeling project that I so enjoy reading about and looking at, and that I try to encourage others to try. Judging from the followers on Dennis' work thread elsewhere on this forum, many others also share that view. If I was still writing the old Modeler's Corner in the now-moribund Street Rodder magazine, this is exactly the type of project that would have justified a coverage in a full-featured, standalone column. Thanks, Dennis, for the inspiration and for sharing with us...TIM

Ahh...the stories I could tell. And in the model kit world, I already have, to some degree, in some of the 80 or so (to date) bi-monthly "Classic Kits" columns that have appeared in the other model car magazine/general hobby magazine for the last dozen years or so... But in the auto industry particularly, I have too many friends and associates that might be concerned about some of those stories. And I suppose there are certain confidentiality considerations as well. Oh well....on the plus side, most of it was really good. Like the story I heard about how a certain 1/1 scale Design Studio "chopped" Oscar (the mannequin used for assessing passenger occupancy) to make it appear the rear seat headroom was OK in a certain future car's fastback roofline....smile...TB

Steve...I don't have the two kits handy right now to compare, and I do not have a specific memory about this, but I do believe thinker there may have been a degree of difference between the interior shell of the Tudor and the Phaeton kits. Guess we will be able to confirm one way or the other shortly....TB

The original '32 Sedan Street Rod was a one-time only release in 1975 or thereabouts. It combined the '32 Ford Tudor body from the 1963 Trophy Series '40 Willys/'32 Custom Sedan Double kit with the rest of the original '32 Ford Vicky kit contents. Until now, it was never reissued in that 1975 kit configuration. Interesting story, about 20 years ago (yikes) Roger Harney, VP of kit development at Revell-Monogram, asked to borrow the interior from my AMT '32 Tudor kit (the 1975 release) so they could use it as a reference in developing their own '32 Tudor Sedan kit which came out several years later. Sometime later Roger returned my parts, and when the kit came out, sent me one of the first ones off the line with a message of thanks on the box art. Oh the story this hobby can tell...TB

While some of the original NNLs have ceased after long and outstanding runs, new ones are taking their place. For instance, in Ohio where the NNL Nationals, the one that started it all, concluded after the 2019 show, two successors of sorts have launched - the NNL Undercover near Akron several years ago, and just yesterday, the first ever NNL Gem City in Dayton, both located less than two hours beyond the original NNL Nats in Toledo... And Tom Geiger and the NNL East leadership have always had succession planning on their minds as they organize each year's shows....TB

Hi Ulf...I do not know of such a list off the top of my head. But several of the ones that come to mind are the 1968 Elky stock and street machine, the 1957 Chrysler 300 C stock and custom, and the 1970.5 Camaro Z-28 and Baldwin Motion. I have built all these and consider them among the top kits of the late l1990s/early 2000s. Many here would also probably list others which I have not built personally, but which I think are of similar quality, including the 1966 Riviera stock and Low Rider, and the 1957 Bel Air in its three versions. I also like the 1957 Corvette (stock and street machine) though many think the scallop on the sides is misshapen (I built this kit too and liked it a lot). There were also two kits developed in the mid-1980s that were top notch from this team...the 1966 Nova SS and the 1968 Olds 442/Hurst Olds. The late 1990S 1967 Impala SS kit was also good also, although I sense the body is not quite correct (need to study that more.). Personally, I would not include the 1967 Mustang GT/GT 350, the 1966 Fairlane, and the 1967 Cyclone due to various body inaccuracies; these were tooled in the early 1990s just before the "golden age" of AMT-Ertl kits first described above. And sadly, the new Ala Kart kit and the '58 Belvedere kit were post Mueller/Carlock era kits (after they were let go by Racing Champions) and clearly showed the negatiive impact of the loss of those two and their entire product development team. Other readers here, feel free to add your thoughts on Ulf's question....TB

Interesting comment. That would also seem to be the case from my point of view. But in researching my book Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits, I spoke to several current (as of 2020 when the book was written) and past model company managers, execs, and owners. A fairly common theme was that yes, drag racing kits sell well at first, but then the sales drop off considerably more rapidly than with some other auto kit categories. I was a bit surprised to hear this - I could understand it being the case back in the 1960s and 70s when the 1/1 scale drag racers were evolving so rapidly that a new kit would be out of date technically out of date soon, but not so much today when almost all drag racing kits are replicas of decades old 1/1 subjects that are revered for their livery, design, drivers, et al. Still, that is what I was told by several that I spoke with during this time. What I did learn, also, is that while drag racing themed kit sales drop off more rapidly, at least among the American producers they are still among the top selling categories of 1/1 replicas, ranking just behind pickup and SUV themed kits. Keep in mind, again, this info is over five years old, and may not be reflective of today's market, and of course it excludes kit topics from the overseas manufacturers that seem to be very popular with readers of this forum. TB

Ulf...I presume the "contemporaries" you reference are some of the other mid-to-late 1990s AMT-Ertl kits designed and engineered by John Mueller, Dave Carlock, and the team there. And if so, I 100% agree with you. These really good kits were often hobbled by dreadfully uninspired and uninformative box art. Combine those tools with the skilled box art work of the current Round 2 team, and we have total winners. Hoping that most who missed the first round of these kits are inspired to pick them up this time around. Thx for the comments....TIM

Thanks Doug. Best part is that stance is 100% from the Elky Street Machine kit - no kitbashing of the suspension whatsoever. (As noted, the wheels and tires came from the Revell Chip Foose FD-100 kit and required a bit of tweaking of the mounting bosses to get the right offset, but the suspension and wheel mounting points are 100% unfettered Round 2 styrene!) Best...TB

Hah Bob! Good one! Cheers...TB

David...the vinyl roof engraving is very slight and could be easily sanded away in a few minutes. The C-pillar to fender molding could also be filed and sand away. Personally, I prefer the '68-'70 Elky without the factory vinyl roof, so I'd love to see a kit build with that mod...TB

maybe this? (smile)....TB (These are all exact (or in the case of the Mustang GT, exact except for the F150 Harley Davidson mags) replicas of some of my 1/1s///) TB PPS - now if SOMEONE!!!! would do a full detail S650 Mustang GT convertible with full engine and underhood detail ,I would be adding to the current 1/1 kit builds folder....just sayin').

Here I am presenting my latest kitbashing project. While building the latest Round 2 release of the AMT 1968 El Camino Street Machine for a kit review, I pulled out my started version of the original 1998 AMT-Ertl release of the same kit. I had started building that around 2005 when Testors released their first round of Model Masters muscle car lacquers. I wanted to do a test of the new paints and chose the AMT-Ertl Elky to be painted their new Dodge Viper GTS Viper Blue color. The body was painted, a C-pillar sink mark (btw, mostly gone in the new reissue) was fixed, and the chassis and suspension and interior parts were painted. Then it went in the box. At the time I just didn't have the patience or will to deal with masking and painting the lower black two-tone and vinyl roof. Into my case of partially built models it went, and every few years I would pull it out and look at it, then ... back in the case. Then with the assembly of the kit review reissue underway, I brought back out the earlier project and started to address the paint challenges. The interior parts were paint detailed and assembled. The chassis and suspension were completed. The engine was modified with parts from the factory stock (soap box derby) version of the AMT Elky (fan belt and accessories) and the late 1990s AMT-Ertl 1967 Impala Street Machine kit (early EFI hot rod induction setup). The wheels and tires from the Revell Foose FD-100 kit were added (acknowledging that they may be a little tall for use on a car as opposed to their perfect fit on the '56 F100 as designed by Chip). The two-tone lower body and vinyl roof areas were painted, then final assembly commenced. Photos of the completed project are below. You can check out a series of kit building hints and kitbashing ideas used on this model in a "snapshot" feature over at finescale.com if you wish. Finally, a group photo of the 100% box stock build of the reissued AMT Elky next to the kitbash project. As I have mentioned here previously, the reissued AMT 1968 Elky Street Machine kit is really well done, including a kit suspension that lowers the completed model to just the right stance, and about 25% of the kit content is different than the factory stock (soap box) derby kit of the same car, even to including mini-tubbed pickup box sides and floorboard. Combined with the building hints (be sure to do the top instrument panel mod shown in the building hints) this kit makes a fine model whether you too build it box stock or choose the kitbashing route. Thanks for looking....TB (Mods - since the 1/1 is primarily car-based I posted it in the Cars Under Glass section. If you feel it fits the Light Trucks section better, please feel free to move this post accordingly....thanks! TB) *****

Looking forward to both of these! Thanks Erik...TB

Jim and Craig....me too! TB