tim boyd

Same here Dan...TB PS - Especially if the kit includes full and complete engine and underbody detail....TB

Bob...terrific! Big congrats....and you are yet another model car builder who we can add to the list of very successful 1/1 scale automotive builders...very, very cool...TB

Bob...I do not do this one on the regular rotation, but the turnout this time was, at least by the time we left at 11am Saturday, equal to the last time I attended which I think was 2015ish or so. In any case, hope you can make it again at some point in the future....TIM

Luc...sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this...been super-busy here at the Boyd ranch and just now getting caught up. I never paid much attention to the Polar Lights Coronet, because even though it was a very innovative design and merchandising effort, the body treatment was just completely wrong to my eye - the shoulder below the belt line sagged as it traversed across the body side, while the real car has an ever so slightly upward arc instead. (That '64 Polara sheet metal that carried over the the '65 Coronet was actually a very complex set of surface developments. I know firsthand that Dave M. and his associates spent a great deal of time working on their project to accurately capture the real car's contours and dimensions.) But today I drug out the Polar Lights kit and took a look. On my example the pre assembled plated grille with engraved headlamps would not release from the body. But comparing the Moebius grille anyway, it is smaller than the PL grille, particularly in overall width, and the ends of the Moebius grille have a different contour than the PL grille opening. To be honest, I don't see a viable way to swap the Moebius Grille into the PL body and have it look right. I don't know in detail the future plans for this Moebius tooling set, but myself I would wait on the possibility that they might do a showroom stock Coronet 500 hardtop spinoff at some point in the future, rather than attempt to build the Polar Lights kit in any way. Just my view, though... Best.///TB

2024 NSRA Nats North 9-24 I just attended the NSRA Nats North in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the first time since the early 2010s. This is an interesting show...it reminds me of the NSRA Nats events back in the 1980s in Columbus, St. Paul, Oklahoma City, et al. The vehicles here are primarily built by their owners, as opposed to, for instance, the GoodGuys Nats in Columbus where pro-built cars are far more prevalent. Another key difference here is that at this event, most of the cars fit the old definition of "street rods", i.e. 1948 or earlier bodystyles, while the GoodGuys event tilts a bit toward post-1948 subjects. (Remember that the NSRA was years later in welcoming post-1948 cars than GoodGuys...) Here, many cars are clearly from a build genre dated 10, 20. or even 30 years ago, yet these same cars look very clean, contemporary, and present themselves very well even in today's context. Just one example? Look at the prevalence of 15" mags here vs. the 18s, 19x, and 20s et al at the GoodGuys events. Saturday of the show started out with heavy fog, lending a somewhat surrealistic tone to many of the images here. But I enjoyed the event nonetheless, as a trip back to and a tribute to the world of street and hot rods back when it was primarily a do-it-yourself hobby. Very, very cool. 182 images posted at this link in large, high-res .jpg files. Thanks for looking....TIM I just attended the NSRA Nats North in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the first time since the early 2010s. This is an interesting show...it reminds me of the NSRA Nats events back in the 1980s in Columbus, St. Paul, Oklahoma City, et al. The vehicles here are primarily built by their owners, as opposed to, for instance, the GoodGuys Nats in Columbus where pro-built cars are far more prevalent. Another key difference here is that at this event, most of the cars fit the old definition of "street rods", i.e. 1948 or earlier bodystyles, while the GoodGuys event tilts a bit toward post-1948 subjects. (Remember that the NSRA was years later in welcoming post-1948 cars than GoodGuys...) Here, many cars are clearly from a build genre dated 10, 20. or even 30 years ago, yet these same cars look very clean, contemporary, and present themselves very well even in today's context. Just one example? Look at the prevalence of 15" mags here vs. the 18s, 19x, and 20s et al at the GoodGuys events. Saturday of the show started out with heavy fog, lending a somewhat surrealistic tone to many of the images here. But I enjoyed the event nonetheless, as a trip back to and a tribute to the world of street and hot rods back when it was primarily a do-it-yourself hobby. Very, very cool. Thanks for looking....TIM

Back in the mid-late 1970s I was doing some commission work for AMT from time to time (along with going to college working part time, and building my own MPC contest models). One of the projects they assigned to me was to build the 1/16th scale (I think) Japanese (Entex...?) kit of the Mustang II Mach 1 fastback. AMT wanted it to show at their annual Sales Rep Meeting as a representation of the size and features of their upcoming series of 1/16th scale kits (1955-57 Chevy Bel Air/Nomad et al, T-Bird, 64.5 Mustang). I painted it Testors Brown with a tan interior and i recall it being a fairly good kit other than that the tires appeared (to my eyes at least) to be undersized....TB

Mike and Matt...glad to hear you liked it, and thanks for posting your feedback! Cheers....TIM

I tried to find what I recall was a 1965-sih Southern California Dodge Dealers Advertising TV spot showing the Little Old Lady driving a "brand new Super Stock Dodge", as I thought the TV campaign was inspired by, and came after, the Jan & Dean song, and such ad pictured a 1965 A990. Instead, according to this source https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2022/the-little-old-lady-from-pasadena-1960s-dodge-advertising the song came after, and in fact was inspired by, the TV campaign. Oh well, the internet is always right, heh! TB

For the 1/1 scale A990 Dodge and Plymouths that form the basis of these kits had identical seats and interior door/quarter panels, so the respective kits are indeed correct in that regard. Having said that, I still understand your disappointment that the kits cannot be built in exact 1/1 scale showroom stock base series configurations. However, if you look at Moebius' current business model (how many derivatives of the F=Series bumpside kits have now been introduced???), I would not be completely surprised if such a model kit might appear at some point in the future. (For the record, though, from what I know there are a number of pretty cool projects underway at Moebius, but a showroom stock Coronet is not among them at this time). Best...TB

I believe that almost of us here thoroughly respect Steve and take what he says at full face value, but for any who might not do so, just let me confirm his statement that Round 2 consideration and subsequent work on this project began well before the 1/1 scale Bronco program content was publicly finalized. Also, FWIW, I do not recall being specifically asked about the 2-door vs. 4-soor decision, but had I been I would have strongly voted for the two-door both from my perspective as a 35-year auto industry marketing/sales/product/design veteran, my experience as a modeler since the 1960s and as an observer of the model car kit business since the mid 1970s. I suspect that some of us see this 2-door vs. 4-door question very differently than I do, and I acknowledge and respect those views as well. Best...TB

Heard from Dave Metzler yesterday; for those of you who do not know Dave, he is one of the key movers and shakers in the Moebius outfit and played a very key role in the development of the new Coronet kits. Dave mentioned that the intent of the red car box art was to revisit the "Little Old Lady In Pasadena" story as depicted in the 45rpm single from Jan and Dean, and later on in the Southern California Dodge Dealers Association ads that ran on TV back in 1965. Note the car, the old garage in the background, et al. This visual reference totally escaped me, but having heard the intent, I think it is totally cool and shows the effort and spirit the Moebius team puts into their products.... Best...TB

Good point here that I had not considered. My thinking may have been affected by feedback I received from the manufacturers I interviewed while writing the "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits" book in late 2019. There seemed to be a rough consensus that the hottest topics for new kits were mid-late century pickups (no surprise there) and 1960s/1970s drag racing themed kits. But there was also a caution voiced by some that those drag racing kits tended to sell well when first introduced, but did not have the ongoing "staying sales power" of more mainstream themed kit topics - instead the demand dropped off rather quickly. Broad generalizations here, so take this info accordingly.... Thanks all for your comments....TB

Go Paul!!! TB

Very interesting to me...this kit was the first of the three Moebius kits to be covered in depth here, yet it has half the number of views as my later post on the other two "street friendly" versions of the kit. I would have guessed the exact opposite to be true. Of course, I was also the guy questioning (behind the scenes) Round 2's choice of the '63 Nova wagon as the possible subject for their first "cloning" kit subject, and that turned out to be a big seller for them. Shows how much I (don't) know about the hobby these days (smile). TB

Yeah, it would be wrong...note that the model kit is missing the 1/1's lower bodyside molding which was a key feature of the Deluxe trim level that year vs. the base (non-Deluxe) Coronet two door sedan. Actually, the Moebius kit is really an A990 Coronet (factory drag racer) that has been mildly tweaked for street duty. Note the A990 interior door trim panels and front buckets, for instance. The A990 did not have a rear seat, but the kit does, an example of how the model represents a mildly "streetified" piece. Having said that, using this kit as the basis for a fully correct Deluxe two-door sedan as you have pictured in your post would not be too difficult - the inside door/quarter trim panels and the front seat being the biggest challenges, and the Lindberg 1964 B-Body slant six engine would be a natural under the hood. Wonder who will be the first one to attempt a project like that? Thanks for the post.... TB

Project mentioned above is just about done, but not without some strange twists and turns....a planned 20 hour project is now at 39.5 hours and still not quite finished....and thanks Dave for updating your Fotki album on the kit...TB

Appreciate the heads-up on that, Erik. And big congrats to you, Dave, and the team for getting these kits finished and on the market! Cheers...TIM

Yes they are part of the plated parts trees in all three kits. That's a real plus for me as I've found it difficult to get a good result applying thinned flat black to the Belvedere Grille due the shallow engraving (which is actually correct as the 1/1 scale grille has very shallow depth). Having these extra grilles will allow me to do that to several griles and pick the best result for use on the model. Wish I had had that opportunity when I built my first A990 project six or seven years ago now....TB

At this link is posted an album with 58 images of the contents of both of these new kits. Here's a closer look inside Moebius Models' 1965 Dodge Coronet A990 Two door sedan, and a derivative "Street Sleeper" (my description) kits. This derivative kit is best described as mostly the A990 kit contents with some new parts and and also some parts deletions (vs. the A990). The new parts are designed for a street use adaptation, and include a rear bench seat, a set of street/drag tires, and 426-S Wedge RB engine with factory four barrel and prior year Max Wedge street induction options. (The A990 kit, of course, has the 426 Hemi). Both kits have a number of extra parts, particularly notable in the chrome tree shots. The photos show the entire contents of the A990 kit, followed by only the parts trees that differ for the Street Sleeper kit. The entire instruction manuals for both kits are included, so that you can go through and see al the differences between the two. For this review I am letting the pictures do all the talking rather than adding captions as I usually do in new kit "look inside the box" recaps. Thanks for looking...TIM

Believe it or not, I got mine in the mail today. Excellent issue. TB

Thanks John, for the clarification. The other two kits off this tool, the A990 sedan and "street fighter" (my description) still use the 8.75 diff in back...my presumption (subject to correction, of course), was that at least some of the AWB cars were upgraded to the Dana by their owners if not equipped that way during their original construction....TB

The long awaited kit is finally here. Click this link for 51 images and captions that show the kit contents in detail along with a complete walk-through of the assembly manual. Thanks for looking! TIM

I am really, really happy to read that both the new tool Revell '71 Mustangs and the '68 R/T HT are doing well. I lobbied for both of these behind the scenes as well as publicly (in the "Collecting Muscle Car Kits" book, here, and elsewhere), particularly so the '71 Mustang Boss 351. Thanks Justin and Steve for your candid feedback on this topic! Cheers...TIM

Following up on an earlier promise (sorry it took so long) here are photos of the funny car chassis from the Nitro Charger kit (which came out in 1971-is, and was also the chassis for a 1971 Torino, Nova, and first-gen Camaro funny car kits) and the MoPower (which was based on tooling that came out 1974-5 ish for the licensed Mustang funny car kit and was then re-employed for a series of kits with Corvette, Pinto/Bobcat, Monza, Vega/Astre, and Road Runner bodies, all of which were slightly exaggerated beyond normal (then) funny car proportions. According to a then-AMT insider, they wore generic graphics because AMT's then-president, Tom Gannon, did not want to pay licensing fees to 1/1 scale drag racing teams. (More info on both these kit tools is in my book on Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits). Nitro-Charger: MoPower: More images of both at this link (see images 180-198): Boyd Funny Cars Models - The Complete Collection album | Funman1712 | Fotki.com, photo and video sharing made easy. Best...TB

What Larry said = my reaction after seeing this build thread for the first time. Can't wait to see what you do for paint, Dennis, and love the switch to the Caddy V8! TB