tim boyd

Guys.....the AMT Piranha kit has a great first gen/392 Hemi ….. that would be even better if built with the rubber blower drive belt and pulleys from the AMT "Checkered Flag" tool Garlits kit.. TIM

….or Classic Truck Modeler magazine..... TIM

...coverage of the 2019 Detroit Autorama in the 1/1 scale reference pics section of this forum...... tons of cool kit building ideas and inspiration there.....TIM

James....you make good points.... and you clearly (from this and many of your prior posts) understand both the business world and the model car kit industry in particular. As you and others may know, I have also spent 40+ years in the business world and have done work (some paid, mostly unpaid) for most of the domestic kit makers (but not the Japanese) at various times over the last 45 years. And you are 1000% correct in pointing out that there are always tradeoffs that must be managed in a kit development effort. Having been retired at Ford for five years, I am no longer privy to their future Mustang cycle plans, but I can say with a certain degree of certainty that if it were properly planned in advance, there would be a number of kit derivatives Tamiya could develop based on the current Mustang product range. Whether those derivatives could offset the added costs of an accurate engine I do not know, but my sense is "yes" and including the engines would help with the differentiation/justification to purchase all the kit derivatives rather than just the first tool cut. Fundamentally it comes down to this one consideration - I have always believed that a model car is at the most important, a precise scale replica of the real thing. And of course, the real thing has a real, stand alone engine and powertrain. Any kit that omits this is in my view a short cut, and especially a short cut at the price Tamiya charges for their kits. I also realize that this may be a consideration that is generationally linked - i.e. those that started building models in the 1960's are more likely to share my view, while those that began building models in the 1970s or 1980's or later (when Japanese kits became widely available) developed a different point of view. I've stated mine, you've stated yours; good conversation and I thank you for that. TIM

Yes...it was in the '68 kit as well, with "U-Haul-It" graphics on the decal sheet, too....TIM

Yep, you're gonna here it from me this time and again in the future when applicable.... Tamiya needs to include full engines in kits that replicate cars that exist in part because they have great engines powering them. And particularly so in kits that replicate cars that are primarily sold in North America. And yes, they need to be included at the existing Tamiya price point. I realized that many (maybe even most on this board) disagree with me, but this is my perspective and I'm sticking to it. Best Regards....TIM

Over 400 pictures from the first two hours of the 2019 Detroit Cobo Autorama, generally considered one of the two most important indoor car shows in the US each year. Includes all the "Great 8" Ridler Award finalists.... Great modeling ideas abound.... Check it out here.... Best Regards....TIM

A new Mustang GT from Tamiya would be terrific. If it is a showroom car (as opposed to a race car) It better have a full, stand alone engine as part of the kit content. (The "engine" in their Ford GT kit is an epic failure in my view). Here's hoping....TIM

Chris....sorry for the delay in responding.....yep, they're the Buttera kit series saddle tanks....thx for the comments, too.....TIM

Guys....the Street Rodder Modeler's Corner columns on this car (April/May/June 1995) say that the front tires were from the old Monogram Pro-Street and Pro-Modified kits. That jives with my memory of same (now there's a surprise...). Anyway, I agree with several of you, those tires do seem a near-perfect fit for the fenders and definitely help to contribute to the stance you've commented on....TIM

Smile....I didn't feel guilty at all! Cool color, though...….and Testors and Pactra paint from that era lasts forever.....even today, if someone can find a bottle that hasn't been opened, the paint inside may still be good to go! Best.....TIM ;'

JJ....I think they may have been from the AMT-Ertl 1970 Dodge SuperBee Pro-Street kit.....TIM

Wanna Race? ...Bet you'd lose! Cheers....TIM PS - still about 15 more pictures at the link in my original post at the beginning of this thread....

Me as well....I tried to update a title of one of my threads yesterday and the option was gone. I thought it was just my lousy laptop acting up... Yes Dave, see if you can do something about this if possible...thanks.....Tim

Over the next year I plan to post pictures of all the Hot Rod sedans I have built over the last 45 years. I've started with probably my most ambitious hot rod sedan, a project that started with a Street Rodder magazine Modeler's Corner column on chopping tops that appeared in the October, 1978 issue, and finishing with a three-part how to series in the April, May, and June 1995 in Street Rodder, just shortly before I gave up the column due to a new job assignment heading up the SVT performance sub-brand of my long time employer Ford Motor Company. The Revell Model A Sedan Delivery body was modified to reflect the original Tudor Sedan format, requiring some detail bodywork and molding. The top was then chopped a scale 5". The Logghe style frame came straight from the late 1960's funny car chassis found in MPC and (in slightly different guise) JoHan kits. The engine was based on the Boss 429 in the AMT/Lesney 1969 Cougar Street Machine kit released around 1979. The narrowed rear differential/suspension was from the street machine version of the AMT-Ertl 1972 Corvette Coupe kit, while the front suspension was mostly Monogram ZZ-Top kit components. The interior was mostly scratchbuilt, including a six-point roll cage with integral cowl brace. The paint scheme was inspired by the old Pete Eastwood Hot Rod magazine cover car, complimented by driveline components in Testors then-just-introduced Boyd Coddington Sunburst Orange paint. A close inspection of the following photos will show that although the project began in 1978, the finished product clearly showed the "billet era" influence of the mid-1990's in such components as the instrument panel, tailamps, and air cleaners. I've posted 20 additional photos, including many detail shots, at this link for your viewing. I'm not sure if this car has ever appeared in a magazine in color form, and I don't recall having posted photography of it myself in the past. So this is the first time most of you have seen it in full size color pictures, and I hope it lives up to whatever memory you have of the original project. Finally, I want to tip the old Boyd model building hat to Dennis Lacy, one of the most talented model hot rod builders I've run across in many a year. Dennis gently nudged me - several times if I recall correctly - to get this car photographed and onto my Fotki site. If you like this one, you'll love to look at Dennis' many hot rod projects that reflect the contemporary hot rod design themes and quality model building techniques now in play as we approach the third decade of the new millennium....such as this chopped 1928 Model A Sedan drag sedan project currently underway on his modeling desk.... Thanks for your interest, and enjoy.....TIM

This one was yet another Street Rodder magazine Modeler's Corner how-to, focusing on kitbashing a "phantom" Model A SuperCab DRW fifth wheel trailer towing rig. The orange graphics came from yet another Revell kit decal sheet designed by the late Brian Bordon, while the charcoal gray paint was from the Testors Car Colors paint rack and those deeply tinted (actually, opaque) windows were unexposed camera film. This one was never finished in that there's no engine or interior (yet) and the chassis, derived from a 1/32 scale semi-tractor kit, was a bit crude in its design. I was also never fully pleased with the paint, but I didn't want to redo it, nor bury it in a bunch of clearcoat. Will it be finished? Given that it has existed in this state for just about exactly 30 years now, probably not, but never say never....meanwhile, thanks for checkin' her out! TIM

This is how it looks in a built-up form. This was a glue-bomb resto with a couple of minor deviations but I also had an unbuilt kit beside me to guide me as I went along. The roundel at the front was for the NNL Nats "Vintage Beach Racing" cult theme a couple of years ago... For comparison purposes, here are photos of a similar 1/1 1930 Indian Ace Four taken at the Concours of the Americas at St. John's in Plymouth Mi, last summer.

...X2, Dennis. Looking really great. I guess you've finally shamed me into digging out my chopped '30A Sedan you've been wanting to see, I'll try to get those pictures taken and posted in the next few days. Will be great to see this one take final shape and come together.....TIM

Great thread suggestion, Tom. ********** For those of you who do not know Tom other than reading his many posts here, just let me see that his appreciation for the human spirit is just as strong as his talent for building great model cars. Tom is among my very few lifelong friends (all the way back to the 1971 MPC Dayton show) and I count my blessings that I met him and his family back then, and that we have remained friends all these years. He and his wife Karen have influenced me for the better a whole number of times in my life.... This thread is just one example of how Tom is genuinely interested in people in general, and particularly those who still pound plastic after all these years. ********** Oh...and as for my own screen name....well the answer is obvious. Guess I left the creativity on hold for this one.....Cheers....TIM

UPDATE - 6pm 18 February....three additional hot rod pickup models are now posted at the "Pickups/Light Commercial/Vans" Under Glass Section in the Truck portion of the board.........TIM

This was a late 1990's kitbash project that was a nod to the then-emerging "traditional hot rod" design ethos. It was a cover story project for Car Modeler Annual magazine. The cab from the then-Lindberg '34 Ford pickup kit was chopped and converted to replicate 1932 Ford sheet metal, then placed atop the highboy chassis from Revell's then-new 1932 Ford street rod series kits. Those tall'n'taller skinny whitewalls came from the old Revell Parts Pack kits, along with the chromed reverse wheels as well. The engine was the MEL V8 from the original AMT 1925 T Double kit. The paint was airbrushed from the last two bottles I had of a 1960's Pactra paint color that was sort of a blue-gray-teal mix. More pictures including detail shots here.....thanks for looking....TIM

There have been detailed discussions elsewhere on the MCM forum on this subject....but to summarize....there were just a few kits that were developed under the original AMT/MPC agreement. In each case, the kits were designed and manufactured by MPC, but first sold, for one time only under the AMT label. The list includes the aforementioned '28A Tudor, the 1965 Dodge Coronet 500, the "Wild Dream/King T" Trophy Series Double kit, and the Car Craft Dream Rod. There may have been one or two others that escape my memory at the moment. But there was no sharing of Corvette annual kits. The '67 et al C10 kits and the '67 et al Barracudas were an entirely different story. These kits and tools were originally engineered and manufactured by AMT (with the '67 'cuda being derived from the '65/'66 'cuda tool), then these tools migrated to MPC at a later point for some reason. They were not part of the original AMT/MPC/George Toteff arrangement. One other point. In talking with industry experts back in the day as part of the research for my recent book, I was told that the AMT/MPC teams were not the mortal enemies we all presumed they were. There was more behind the scenes cooperation and communication than we might have expected. Which seems a bit odd to me, as MPC pretty much cleaned AMT's clock in the late 1960's and this was one of several factors that put AMT in financial distress as the 1970;s decade approached....Best....TIM

Scott....just in case you didn't know.....check this '67 Comet 202 from Motor City Resin....I still plan to build this one with the 427 Wedge from the AMT-Ertl 1966 Fairlane 427 kit, which supposedly was factory ordered in 1967 by a few very savvy 1/1 scale racers.....TIM

Lovin' it. Great color....and excellent choice for your wheels, too......Congrats,.....TIM

Thanks Guys....I'm knee deep right now in restoring a 51 year old model that was mostly destroyed soon after it was completed, so I have not had time to post pictures of the rest of my hot rod closed cab pickup collection, but hopefully will do so soon. As mentioned elsewhere, the remainder of those models, when posted, will appear in the Pickups/Light Commercial/Vans "Under Glass" section rather than here...….TIM