tim boyd

Here's a few Touring bodied T's.....TIM

Haven't taken the time to go through this entire thread again, but there are two "Ghost Kits" shown in the "Classic Kits" column in the February 2019 issue of the other model car magazine, that I do not recall being mentioned previously in this thread. Apologizing in advance if they were. In that case, there is still probably "new news' regarding the origin and fate of these two kits that were announced but never produced...... TIM

Richard....I tried to send you a PM on this but it says you are not able to receive PM's. If you can PM me back with your private email address, I will send it to you the message that way….thanks! TIM

Jim....hopefully I caught most of them already from my own re-read and comments from others. But please send me what you have...when you have it ready.....and thanks in advance! TIM

Good 'Ol Bob always has something to say, and often I find his insights in his Road and Track column parallel mine.... to varied degrees. In this case, I thought his description was pretty accurate of some CEO's, not certainly not all of them. In the case of Mr. Ghosn, I don't believe we've come close to learning all the pieces of the situation, both from his and Nissan's perspective. TIM

OK guys....got a note from the Publisher a couple of days ago saying that they have decided to go into reprint immediately and they needed my corrections later that day (instead of the 21st as previously requested). I told them I could have the changes completed over the weekend and they agreed to that. I was able to get virtually all your corrections into the recommended changes list (because of the text layout, I had to leave one minor recommendation for added content on the cutting table). If they do all the recommended tweaks, I'll be a very happy camper. Thanks to all of you, once again, for your interest and feedback, and for taking the time to let me know of errors and possible revisions.....TIM

Making me smile....yours sure had all the right pieces for a "Road Bird" as I called mine. Speaking of those fixed rear quarter windows (which mine had also), I was surprised to learn years later that, had I ordered the power windows option, it would have added opening rear quarter windows. Since I had avoided ordering A/C (due to cost, complexity, and added weight) I needed all the interior ventilation possible, and having those rear windows open would have been a big improvement (you'll note I ordered the upper level interior vent strato ventilation, which turned out to be totally worthless when it came to getting cool, fresh air into the upper interior on those hot Michgan summers)....but I digress. TIM

Pat...my strong recollection is that the '73-'74 Road Runner graphic and letters on the upper rear quarter panels were used alone anytime the side and roof stripes were deleted, or superceded by a vinyl rool application. So without seeing your car in person, I'd say they were factory applied. I was going to guess that maybe your car was a Satellite Sebring Plus (owing to your mention of pinstripes) with a prior owner adding the Road Runner logo, but you said yours was 340 powered, and the 340/360 E58 powertrains were restricted to just the Road Runner; N/A on the Sebring/Sebring Plus. So I still think the RR graphics and lettering on yours they were factory applied. Your stance adjustments sound pretty darn cool, too!. TIM

Spike...I'm with you all the way on this! TIM

Hmmm.....me too! TIM

Pat....great idea on the cowl/top swap. I'm adding your idea to my future build file for my '74 E58 360. Here's a picture of mine. Fellow former Model Cars writer Bill Coulter also had a black '74; both his and mine were ordered new. I kept mine for 16 years/140,00 miles (until the body disintegrated); Bill kept his off the roads in winter and sold it about a decade ago in pristine original condition. A few months after taking delivery in early spring, 1974.... Summer, 1977....after adding BF Goodrich T/A tires and complimentary wheels as my prize for 2nd Nationwide in the 1976 MPC National Model Car Championship, along with other added factory parts like the rocker moldings, luggage rack, lowered front end (bless those T=Bar adjusting bolts), etc. The window sticker....with the "sold car" line at the bottom, instructing the dealership that this car was a specific customer order.... So long live '73/'74 Road Runners in black! Glad to know you are a charter member of the club....Cheers Pat...TIM .

Mike....your tweaks do so much to increase the appeal of the model, which otherwise is one of AMT's best efforts from that era. Congrats....TIM

Eric....great build and very inventive adds and tweaks. Plus your engine looks so sanitary! A kit that is near and dear to my heart, and you absolutely nailed it! Congrats....TIM

Dennis....what everybody else said, great job. Your work is always so clean, era correct, and reflects great kitbashing ideas and execution. Sigh.....keep it up, Brother! TIM

Richard is exactly right. The three barrel was on the real Baldwin Motion, and you can find the correct 1/1 scale Z-28 carb in the Baldwin Motion kit. These two kits were introduced not long after the RC Champion layoff of the AMT-Ertl model development staff and in my mind this incorrect carb switcharoo was symptomatic of the product errors that followed that decision, which only increased in frequency of occurence and severity until the Round 2 era began. .Good luck with your build. If you have a stash of the other Model Car Magazine, there are how-to/buildup articles on this kit both as a late 1970 1/2 Z-28 (with 1/1 scale late availability paint and front/rear spoiler changes) and later as a 1970 1/2 SS396. I think both magazine issues are still available in their back issue dept. Good luck with your build....lookin' good so far! TIM

X2 Steve.... a terrific choice topic for a build, and love the extra effort you are putting into the interior. And the exterior badging work is, well to my mind at least, simply exceptional. Good luck wrapping this project....TIM

Jason....thanks for asking that question! I never had a clue about on this.... I just looked in my stash where I have two new (old) first issue AMT '36 Fords. One cast in gray, the other in black. And lo and behold....both have the Artillery wheels. I didn't see any overt tool damage on them, but they were not the clean castings we expect today, either. These are both pristine, unused kits and I don't want to part them out....but somewhere I have a box of gluebomb AMT '36 Ford first issue parts......if I can find it, and if one of those parts is the Artillery wheel, and it looks in good condition, maybe I (we) could talk Norm into casting some? TIM

Thanks Alan.....TIM

Thanks Dave for posting the original issue decal sheet. The new Round 2 kit sheet has the same scallops, "buggy" graphic, and Ford Sales and Service decals, plus a few new sponsor decals and 7 new instrument panel gauge decals. The colors are slightly different; the scallops have a more maroon (vs. dark violet) tint to them, and as I mentioned earlier, the Ford Sales/Service decals share the same maroon background color vs.. the original dark blue color as seen in Dave's image. TIM PS - my original issue kit, purchased in early 1964, was molded in medium gray. TB

What Mark said. Not to mention Dave's example! TB

The timeline engine and kit development timeline detailed above means....yes.....in this case the AMT Art Department got a little carried away in their side panel box art for the Surf Van kit. Many on the AMT staff at the time were hardcore car nuts. Accordingly, they were normally pretty good about accuracy of the kit features, but at times got a little carried away...….(probably with some "encouragement" from the Sales department)….this apparently was one of those times, as the kit's engine always was a 289. TIM

When I was shown the '68 Chevelle SS396 test shot buildup, over a year ago, I asked about a '69 derivative. There was no acknowledgement of such a plan at the time. That doesn't mean it wasn't planned, but.... On the other hand, the configuration of the rear fender caps would certainly suggest it was designed with a '69 derivative as a future possibility. As far as scanning, I do not know if the '68 Chevelle tool was the result of a digital scan of a real car, although the results are certainly consistent with that assumption. I do know that that there was at least one, and probably several other recent Revell kits that were scanned in the development process beyond the two Foose models mentioned earlier in this thread. Lastly, there are a number of outside companies that offer scanning services to the automotive industry. Nearly ten years ago I gave a list of three such companies to Revell when I was encouraging them at the time to use one of those scanning services to improve their body proportions for kit topics where factory OEM scan data was not available. Even then the costs were much lower than many would assume, but I was told that the (much smaller) kit development budgets these days precluded even such a modest expenditure. One other point, which I neglected to include in my communications to Revell on this subject, was the additional costs to a kit manufacturer of taking the scan data and adapting/processing it to the creation of 1/25th scale kit tools. Still, my view at the time, and one that remains today, is that the incremental spend for scanning and data processing would be more than returned via incremental lifetime sales of tools developed with the level of body accuracy enabled by scanning, as well as avoiding the incremental time and spend resulting from reworks of kits not developed with scanning as an enabler. Ummm….one more point.....at this time the even more important issue here is the first sentence in Chuck's replay above. That is, will the new owners even make any investment at all in the Revell lineup targeted at their customer base in North America? TIM

This Surf Van uses the AMT Surf Woody kit chassis and engine. At the time the 1/1 scale Surf Woody was engineered and built by the Barris enterprise, which is generally considered to be the year 1964, there was no such thing as a 351 V8. The model kit debuted in 1965. Conversely, the 351 Windsor debuted in the 1969 model year; the 351 Cleveland for the 1970 model year. Therefore, the engine in the Surf Van kit with certainty was a 289, not a 351. Without checking my library, I am still certain that magazine articles about the Surf Woody will verify the 289 engine usage. Just wanna make sure we keep the facts straight.....:) TIM .

Thanks everyone for your updated info and comments. Rob and Rex....there are indeed many instances where model kits reflect "planned but not delivered" elements of 1/1 vehicle designs, and I too suspect that was exactly the case with the hood vents. In fact, I did a whole story on this phenomenon (with details and images) on the other model car magazine about 3-4 years ago. Tommy, I'm pretty sure the Publisher would kill me if I divulged the print run info...but let's just say that all books these days have initial print runs that are a fraction of what was typical 15-20 years ago. The internet has largely replaced much of the book trade. Of course, as many authors and publishers point out, the quality/reliability of info provided on the internet is, shall we say, of "variable" quality....:) It is kind of at the point now where writing a book is no longer a viable source of income....which is why some of the car book trade's best authors have pretty much left the business..... David....thanks for the info...I try to keep up to a degree with the book inventory/sales situation, but was not aware of the info you provided.... Best Regards all....TIM

Dennis....just confirming Casey's reply below, only one set of "clear glass" this time.....Best Regards....TIM