tim boyd

Jim....your memory is right on the money. The how-to was in the other model car magazine, around 2007 or so...it was inspired in part by one of the Mark Morton era "Hop UP Annuals".....his car was a '25T and more traditional in flavor (as you'd expect from him), but very inspirational. More photos of that one here...(scroll down to images #100-105)...TB

Tom...that sounds like a great project. Which boat were you thinking of pairing up with this? TB

Hah! Ray, right you are! Imagine that boat and trailer would have that '27T wandering all over the road.....TB

Heh guys...thanks for the comments....and thanks to those of you who posted your similar model projects. Glad to know I'm not the only one out there in modelcarville who thinks this kit has potential. ************** Rodney....I've had the '33/'34 Ford on my hit list for Revell projects ever since the late 1980's when they did the 1/16th scale kits, which I tried very hard - unsuccessfully - to convince them at the time that doing them in 1/16th would be the kiss of death...and it was. Also suggested several years later that they use the wood masters for that project and pantograph the design down to 1/24th (or 1/25th)....later on they agreed that would have been a good idea but the wood patterns were history by then. Then around 2007 or so, they asked for my top ten kit ideas again, and the '33/'34 Ford was near the top of that list (most of that list has been kitted by now, but some of those kits came from Moebius instead of Revell!) They always had the '33/'34 on their project list, but it never made it high enough on the list to cut metal. Not likely at all now given the overseas ownership of the company. Thus, the focus on the AMT-Ertl 5W as the best full detail alternative.... Thanks again everyone....TIM

Randy....saw your project post today. Good luck with it, and make sure to keep us up to date on progress as it occurs....TIM

Thank you Mr. Woodruff!!!! TB PS - for the rest of you, more than any other person on the face of this earth, Tom is responsible for my 50 years of hot rod/street rod style model car projects....thanks guy!!!! TB

Mark...one of the east coast model clubs has pictured many of the Replicas and Miniatures products on their club web site; can't recall which one exactly but I bet somebody on this forum knows.... Also, Norm has a catalog with a pretty good description of products, and some photos. It's not a professionally laid out catalog, but gets the job done. Norm priortizes his efforts on his products rather than merchandising of same; seems to work for him as he has been crazy busy for years now taking care of orders.... TIM PS - thx for the comments on the project!

Heh Alan....surprisingly close guess, my friend. The rear tires are planned to be the '41 Lincoln kit whitewalls, the fronts the showroom stock whitewalls from the most recent AMT-Ertl '34 Ford Five Window Coupe kit. But haven't zeroed in on the right set of wheels for those, so may switch down the road. But never was a fan of Baby Moons, so one ain't gonna happen! And yes to the '32 Ford grille; the shell was painted at the same time as the main body..... Best....TIM

https://public.fotki.com/funman1712/tim-boyd-on-line-mo/tim-boyd-on-line-ho-7/hot-rod-hints-1/ This is a somewhat simplified execution....if you want to all the way, check out Fred Farrand's images of his wood roof bows from his '30 A Five Window project posts from a couple of years ago in the On the Bench section of the forum....TIM

Here's that c.1963 Revell Parts Pack Harley Chopper, built up and assembled. It is 1/25th, and the only two domestic releases ever were the original Parts Pack version, and the 1982 "Grease" issue shown above. Over the years I have seen images of several different releases of this kit for overseas markets, though. The Harley Parts Pack kit, both in the original and Grease releases, can bring anywhere from $50 to $150 in the collector market here in the States these days.....TIM

Back...way back in the day when Ertl had bought the AMT tooling bank and brand.....after settling in and getting the existing catalog in shape, they began to introduce newly tooled kits starting around 1985 or so. One of the new kits was a 1934 Ford Tudor, in both stock/trad hot rod and contemporary mod street rod forms, the latter with a 1933 grille shell and hood sides, too. The kits were quickly trashed in the model car world, heavily criticized for unrealistic body proportions, and to a lesser extent, also the out of scale front suspension A-arms in the street rod version. Roughly ten years later, AMT-Ertl tried again, this time with a much greater degree of success, with their 1934 Ford Five Window Coupe kit. AMT'-Ertl's product development staff greatly benefitted from the real car of the same vintage and build style sitting in the home garage of one of their top kit development engineers, and the results were much, much better. But the kit seemed at the time to be - and remains to this day - under the radar screen of most model car enthusiasts. Truth be known, the highly mediocre kit box art, so typical of AMT-Ertl back then, certainly did not help, and most reissues to date have just reiterated versions of the same box appearance. When the kit came out, I immediately built a couple of versions, including the one here. This is mostly the street rod version, modified with more aggressive rubber and wheels, and paired with some killer flame decals from (IIRC) one of the street machine kit reissues of Monogram's 1/24th scale 1971 Hemi 'cuda street machine. And yes, I also ash-canned the oh-so-generic SBC for an SEFI 5.0L Ford from one of the many kit sources of same these days (and back then, too), and added the "Super-Trapp" exhaust pipes and front and rear nerfs from the AMT 1936 Ford kits. The out of scale A-Arms persisted from the mid 1980's chassis tooling, but other than that, I think this was a very presentable kit that really comes alive with some modest kitbashing modsl. I'll bet you can find copies of this kit and its reissues available at all the usual old kit sources, for a very reasonable price today. Just sayin'....and thanks for looking. TIM

This was mostly a box stock buildup, but painted with real Harley 2001 Concord Purple paint. The main change was cutting away the engine from the frame pieces and assembling it as a stand-alone component. Super easy to do and made a big difference in the appearance. This bike model was included with the Revell Ford 150/Harley Anniversary edition combo kit....these were pricey when new, but last I checked they were pretty affordable as old kit purchases....and the pickup itself is a pretty nice kit, too. This buildup was featured in Model Cars magazine back around 2007 or so.....thx for looking....TIM PS - I tried to get Revell to later reissue the bike as a stand-alone kit, and they reportedly liked the idea, but it never made it to the market. Perhaps the licensing costs made it an unaffordable business proposition, but that's just my guess; no facts to back it up.

Claude...thx for the comments! I need to dig that issue out RJ and look at it. Little, hardly known fact: One of Revell's top executives pushed very hard for a 1/25th scale Chris Craft barrel-back boat model; it was to have been marketed with the Revell 1948 Ford Woody kit. Others at Revell were not too supportive, and the idea died. Not too sure it would have been a great seller for them, but boy would it have been a cool model kit! Best....TIM

Enough warm weather still awaits to hook up your favorite scale tow vehicle and drive your drag and ski boats to the lake, reservoir, river, or whatever. Unload 'em, start 'em up, and put the (boat) pedal to the metal and stir up some water! And on your way home, maybe it's time to put the pedal to the metal of your tow vehicle, too! Several tow vehicle/boat combos below....many more pix here..... and thanks for looking! TIM

All good comments; thanks everyone. I've never built the AMT-Ertl Edsel kit so I can't comment on how it goes together, but looking at the kit in the box, it certainly impressed me. I have heard some criticisms of certain exterior elements from some on the MCM Forum here, but I did not notice them myself. But whether a kit is good or not does not always relate to how it sells; the topic of the kit (and other items, such as the box art) all contribute to the overall sales. Regrettably, the Edsel didn't have them all, and the sales result was underwhelming, at least from what I have been told. As far as the 1966 Nova kit, there's a different story line out their on how the kit occurred than what is related above. We all know that it was widely campaigned as an idea, among kit collectors/builders and in the model car media, going all the way back to 1970 when Hank Borger began publicly advocating for it. But the internal AMT story is somewhat different; it's too long to recap here but those of you who have a copy of my muscle car kits book can find the info in the sidebar on pg. 121 in Chapter Ten. Probably both factors influenced the ultimate success of the kit, however. Best...TIM PS/Full Disclosure - though I have advised those in the domestic model car industry at various times since the mid 1970's; I've never been officially employed by any of them. And the only work I've ever been paid for was during 1975-77 when I did box art and sales meeting models for AMT, and in February of 2014 when Revell hired me to do a detailed buildup and report of all assembly issues with the first round test shots of the 1929 Model A Roadster/1930 Model A Five Window Coupe tooling. TB

If you go back and look at the polls that were done every year in the other magazine, much of what ended up as top ranked wishes eventually came to the market. From a manufacturer point of view it was a bit of a mixed blessing. Many of the poll winners sold well, but some were bombs....1958 Edsel, I'm thinking of you! On the positive side, I would have never in a million years chosen a Hudson as a kit topic, but it ranked high in those polls IIRC, and apparently sold well for Moebius when it eventually became a kit series. So I too would like to see a consolidated poll on future kit topics along the line of what Randy is suggesting. But with the proviso that it would be helpful information, but not a 100% certainty as a source of good selling future kit topics for the kit manufacturers. As part of the research I did for my new book on drag racing model kits, I once again talked to all the current and past kit industry executives that I know (at all the domestic kitmakers and Dave Burkett as well) and from their point of view, the best sellers these days are topics geared toward the 1960's and 1970's, especially pickups, but also muscle cars and historical racing topics. That's the domestic hobby kit market speaking, folks. As much as I pine for a current full detail S550 Mustang kit, and others I am sure feel the same way about a C8 Corvette, a full detail F150 pickup, and the like, the current best selling kits, at least in the American market, are in the above mentioned genres. As far as future car kits go, I would forecast that we will continue to see both new kits of cars that were never kitted in the past (such as Moebius' 1965 Comet and 1965 Belvedere series), and all new interpretations of subjects that currently existing only in 1960's/early 1970's annual kit type tooling (thus the new Revell 1971 Mustang kit). But beyond that, I'd bet we'll see even more activity in 1960's/early 1970's pickups and possibly even drag and circle track racing topics. And, if we are lucky, a few kits of all-new, current auto industry subjects as well. As usual with these sore of prognostications, only time will tell for sure. . TIM

With Claude's '36 3 window killer kitbash posted below....made me want to share my project with a similar theme....mine's a little more toward the traditional side, but you can definitely see some similar approaches to the challenge of coming up with an attractive fenderless theme for post-1934 Ford hot rods. One area where Claude's effort totally blows mine away is in the chassis/frame area; my project was intended to be a relatively simple kitbash, so I just adapted the AMT 1936 Ford frame to allow the correct ride height; while Claude went the full boat route with a killer adaptation of the chassis in the Testors Smoothster/'38 Ford/Delivery kit series. The Olds mill in my project came pretty much right from the box of Revell's Roth Outlaw kit; it's a very cool retro treatment even down to the ribbed surfaces on the carb intake manifold sitting atop the 4-71 blower. Mine also uses the grille/radiator shell from the Revell 1937 Ford pickup kit. Paint is (IIRC) 1955 Ford Regency Purple Metallic from MCW Automotive Finishes. Full build details of this were covered in a how to article in the other mag, around 2015 or 2016 or so. In case you missed Claude's project, check out his post and images here. Thanks for looking! TIM

Claude...now THAT is what I call a proper kitbash project. Really, really well done. Big congrats from this end....TIM

The project is very much a "go" for Revell. While there are plenty of model car experts here on this Forum who would prefer a more, shall we say, eccentric or specialized kit topic, Mustang kits have always been best sellers for the model car companies (just like putting Mustangs on the cover of buff books always guarantees a top selling newstand issue). Plus, let's face it, the existing '71/'72 Mustang kit choices are essentially five decades old in their quality and content. Plus, the '71/'72 Mustang 351 Cleveland and '71 Mach 1 429 Cobra Jets are now rapidly gaining interest (finally!) in the collector car market, which is a good sign for potential kit sales. And, we've never had a full detail Boss 351 kit done correctly, ever. This is a very big hole in the model car marketplace, and it's great that someone is finally stepping up to fill it with a model kit built to contemporary market expectations. I have heard this kit subject was on Revell's future kit topics list, even going back as far as 15 years ago or so, and it certainly moved up in priority during this last decade. Glad to see it finally underway, and even gladder to hear that they are doing it right by scanning the exterior body proportions and design language. Let's hope the final execution lives up to our expectations! TIM

OK Guys....turns out Revell could use your help in producing this all-new kit tool. To ensure the very best execution of the full-detail engines in these kits, they are looking for 1/1 scale Boss 351 Cleveland and 1971 Cobra Jet 429 engines that are currently out of the engine compartment and on an engine stand (or similar), so they can do a measuring and photography session for both. These need to be 100% factory stock engines. If any of you know of someone or a restoration business currently working on either of these engines, please send me a private email using the mail function here at the Forum, with the name and contact information of the owner or builder, and I will pass that on to the product development team at Revell. They're looking for solid leads only here, and time is of the essence, I am told. I'm sure the Revell team would highly appreciate any help on this that you could provide. Best Regards....TIM

The 1969 Charger pickup was built during late 1969 and early 1970 when I was in 10th grade, as part of a three-car set (pickup, trailer, and funny car) that was eventually finished in the spring of 1972 and went on to win Best of Show at the 1972 Washington DC MPC Customizing Contest. It was inspired by a rumor in one of the car mags (probably Motor Trend) that Dodge was working on an El-Camino type pickup. (Although over the last five decades we've seen extensive historical photography of Chrysler Design Studio concepts and design workouts, no such image(s) of a car-pickup have ever appeared, to the best of my knowledge.) The model included a highly detailed (for the time) 426 Hemi built to replicaate the factory stock engine, even including secondary electrical harness wiring in the engine compartment. During the build, the interior was updated with 1970 Charger R/T seats and steering wheel from the 1970 MPC annual kit. Paint was Testors Gloss Orange with Pactra Clearcoat, wheels were American 200-S five-spokes from the MPC 1970 Challenger annual kit. . The 1970 Coronet Super Bee pickup was started in the early 1990's, and later finished sometime in the 2000's. Again, the engine was fully detailed, and the paint was 1970 Mopar "Go-Mango". The build process for this one was submitted to Model Cars magazine as a two-parter around 2005 or so, but somewhere between the US postal service and the Editor's desk, the article was lost (as an aside, having written and published over 500 lifetime articles, this is the only one that ever got lost!) I pieced together a new article and sent it to Harry P.; he formatted it and it appeared as a two-parter in MCM around 2013 or so. Many more pictures of it there. Finally, here's a picture of the Coronet pickup along with a kitbashed gas turbine powered drag boat, circa early 1970's, as constructed in recent years as part of my 1/25th scale drag racing and ski boat model collection. Thanks for looking! TIM

AMEN!!!!! TIm

George....the kit has been issued multiple times over the last five decades, under both MPC and AMT-Ertl branding But the only versions with the Indian Ace bicycle are the original 1966 release and the new one pictured above. Beyond the new clear shot parts tree, I don't believe any other updates were required to the tooling. The gangster figures and bank vault were missing from some of the earlier reissue, but I believe those parts were reopened on the tooling prior to this latest release. Best.....TIM we the rthe ope

Alan....sure liking this one just as you built it. Especially putting the steering wheel and column on the right...errr.....correct side! Excellent idea to take out the roof insert, too. Just perfect. Cheers....TIM

Model Cave definitely yes; I presume Pasteiner's will as well....TIM