tim boyd

Heh Marty...I sure do remember it. It's a "Marty classic", to quote Alex above. Sorry it got damaged....TB

Thanks John...I thought that might be the case but was not where I could check my Derby Car kits, and to be honest, had forgotten about my Fotki site post. Thanks for doing my homework for me!!! Cheers...TB

Steve, with all due respect, my recollection is that the EFI setup was all over the hot rod mags of the day, perhaps more so in advertisements than in car features. but very prominent, nonetheless. I do acknowledge, however, that it did seem to have a very short shelf life. Still, much better in my view to have a scale replica of this unit rather than another simple four-barrel BB engine induction setup. Good point on the stock exhaust manifolds; I will be watching if anyone comes up with an idea for BB headers that would be drop-ins, as those were missing from a number of the John M. era AMT/Ertl street style kit derivatives, again if I am recalling correctly....TB

An image of a 1/1 scale 1935 Ford Panel Delivery in the current issue of the GoodGuys mag (pg. 74) reminded me of my own mid 1930s (1937 in this case) Panel Delivery project in 1/25th scale. This was basically the one-time only release (I think) of a factory stock 1937 Ford Panel from the Revell-Monogram team. I combined it with some of the running gear and engine upgrades found in the later Ravell "2 in 1" version of their 1937 Ford Pickup kit. I set it up with Tamiya purple paint and painted the Revell Midget kit (one of the best kits of recent years, IMHO) to match it. Here are a few views....and thanks for checking it out. TIM

I agree and I have had been privately advocating for this for this reissue for quite some time now. Sure hope Stephens is correct with this info. In addition to the EFI setup which was an exact duplicate of a popular aftermarket EFI system from the mid to late 1990s, this kit has a separate rear pickup bed with mini-tubs (!) and engraved wood strips, and a very nice set of late 1990s (before the Dubs era) 17" style aftermarket mag wheels, tasty "big'n''bigger" tires, and a modestly tweaked (lower) ride height. However, with AMT/Ertl's pathetic and excitement-omitting (sorry but true) box art treatments back then, few knew of all these great features that John M. and his team concealed inside the box for this kit variant. (Hopefully that will be addressed in the new box art treatment.) The only drawback to the original (and to my memory, only) release of this street machine kit was that most of them had a sink mark in the lower c-pillar area, that given the engraved vinyl roof treatment, was difficult to fix. Hopefully that is resolved in the new issue. Great news, Justin! Thanks for sharing...TB

Good point on the Chevy BB induction system...the prototype Round 2 showed at the NNL Motor City last month did not have a blower scoop cutout on the hood, so that would seem to rule out the blower alternative. Here's a photo of he buildup shown there.... As for the bodies of AMT A/FX AEB kits, I always felt that they cut corners by not moving the front axle/wheel well cutouts forward on the bodies, as they did for the rear axles/wheel wells. Also, couldn't agree more with your last statement that we should build what we want and have fun. YESSS!!! Tb

Me too, Craig, me too. However, I am not sure that Round 2 invested the money to retool the Kart Bonneville streamliner body shell, though, when they redid the Kart for the '60 Chevy pickup few years back. Best...TB

I'm not sure this is entirely correct. I vaguely recall seeing 1/1 scale dual Judsons on an American OHV V8 engine in one of the hot rod mags, but I have no idea specifically which issue or title. You may be entirely correct on this, but let's keep the subject just cracked slightly open (as opposed to slammed shut) in case one of us runs across printed proof of what I think I saw in print back in the day. Completely agree with you on the Webers, as I also recall seeing (in the same issue???) that the Webers were mounted perpendicular to the ground, not at a 45degree angle as in the AMT annual kit. As for the Streaker kit, it shares the Chevy Big Block that is in the AMT 1965 Chevelle AWB/AFX kit. Thanks...TIM

Alan, no worries, and I certainly didn't read that into your comment. And thanks for the feedback on that article! Cheers....TB

Alan, I believe you are referring to the article i did for Scale Auto with the working title "Ertl before AMT". It did appear within the last couple of years of Scale Auto although I don't have the issue data in front of me now. It covered all the styrene kits that Ertl produced before they purchased the AMT/Lesney assets in the early 1980s. IIRC there were about 40 separate kit numbers, including some that are not at all well known. I do not recall, however, addressing the status of the John Deere tooling in detail in that article. I do have the Ertl John Deere farm tractor (not the backhoe) tentatively set aside for a future "Classic Kits" column for FineScale Modeler (the column that appears in every issue of the last page of the mag where I cover mostly unknown or unusual model car//truck kits from our past). So, this discussion of where the tooling lies and under what ownership is of considerable interest... thank you all for your contributions on this subject....TB .

A few months back I completed a fairly involved kitbash of the 1963 AMT Unibody kit (my build originated with the original 1963 release, not the new kit....gGGRRRR!...); it has been submitted to one of the model magazines and presumably will appear in print sometime later next year....TB

Very sharp build of one of the best kits of the 2010s IMHO. Thanks for sharing! TB

No insider knowledge on the kit sales, but sounds like (from what little I have heard) the '60 has done somewhat higher volume. Keep in mind that the '68 reissue of the '63 unibody annual kit was just that - a reissue of an old and otherwise unused tool that originally doubled as a dealership promo -to generate some fresh sales revenue. Not well known but AMT was not all that financially healthy by 1968, and they were trying all sorts of low-investment reissues to generate some fresh sales volume. Also not well known is that the unibody cab included a unique door design vs. the flareside (stepside) and cab and chassis 1l1s - so a proper conversion would have really been pretty much an all-new kit for AMT at a time they could not afford to do that for a relatively lower volume kit offering. For me personally the '63 unibody lwb was the perfect choice for an early 60s pickup kit, but as a number of you have reasoned in posts above, other configurations would have also been popular - especially with today's hobby kit buyers....TB

Very, very tasty! TB

Dennis, repeating what everyone else has said, this is great work. Also, I commend you on showing how the Moebius Chevy II gasser can be a great source of parts for kitbashing Gasser projects. I've pondered a similar project myself, though nowhere near to the level of detail and execution you are showing us here, with either a Revell l1962 Lancer GT or an AMT 1963 Valant (my donor for that is even in the same color as yours). Anyway, thanks for showing us your step by step and big congrats from this corner on finishing this project! Cheers...TIM

Not sure if anyone is really interested at this late date, but I found this photo in my historical model car files this evening. It's all the participants in the first ever NNL Nats back in 1980, photographed here 17 years later at the NNL Nats in 1997. Upper row from the left...Chuck Helppie, I, Gary Dale, Andy Martin....lower row from the left....Tom Woodruff....Karen Woodruff...Bob Bost. Thanks for checking it out...TIM

Thanks Bosco! I may have that issue in my CC library...I'll go take a look. Best regards...TIM

Thanks, Dave, for all that you and your team do to keep this terrific messaging and sharing site alive for us all....TIM

Jim...lookin' really, really good! Cheers////TB

If anyone reading this thread has not already viewed Dennis' build thread, you need to check it out now! TB

Dennis...that came out great! Yours is way more ambitious than my final product, and I salute you for your ambitious plans fully delivered. That one picture of the radiator with the hoses attached is just primo. Love the choice of the Cross Boss manifold for the engine, too. Big congrats on actually getting it finished, too. Best....Tim

Dennis....fascinating. When I had the Foose F100 chassis out trying to make it fit the AMT unibody F100, I also had the Foose Caddy chassis out for trial fits under early 1950s GM cars like the Revell '50 Olds. But I never thought of trying the Foose Caddy chassis under the Uniside body. Will be really, really interested in seeing your yours turns out! Cheers...TIM

Thanks much for the response and added info. I'll pull out my Dec. ;65 Rod and Custom and check out those areas specifically. If I had to pick the best overall factory stock 426 Hemi I'd choose the Revell unit in the '67 Charger, '67 Coronet R/T and '67 GTX kits. As for blown 426 Hemis I presume you are referring to the Revell series of super-accurate "Revell Drag Team" kits 1972 and later. That's an excellent suggestion; thanks for that too. TB

Sounds like that calls for someone to build a comparo - the two engines (the Hemi Hunter/Hemmi Under Glass kit engine and a blown 426 Hemi from a trusted kit source) side by side and confirm...beyond the distributor location; presumably there should still be some visible differences between a first gen 392 engine and an 2nd gen 426....even in 1/25th scale. Presuming Jesse is correct and the AMT kit is indeed a 426 Heim with the distributor in the prior gen location, this could make building a scale replica of the 1/1 McEwen car an easier project...(and simplifies the process if Round 2 ever decides to do the McEwen car as a derivative of the new Barracuda tool...) TB

Beyond the engine info described above and the different graphics/livery, can you describe those differences in any more detail? I presume you are referring to and comparing the 1/1 scale Tom McEwen car and the AMT HUG/Hemi Hunter kit? Always anxious to learn more...thanks in advance...TB