tim boyd

What Mark said.....really good points all, and even more-so about being the only accurate kit source of a Ford 385 series (429/460) engine. TIM

Good points all and good discussion. * My comments were intended to apply to newly tooled modern generation kits, not kits of the past. * My point about building the kits certainly applies to fit and finish, but equally to judging proportions, and judging the overall accuracy and lifelike appearance of a kit. * Relying upon photography alone to make a valid determination of a kit's accuracy is risky practice. In some cases photography can and will mislead you. * I generally prefer not to talk about my work life experiences when I am discussing our hobby, but I am going to make an exception here. During the last 1/3rd of my professional career I worked alongside some of the auto industry's most talented design executives in a business/organizational support role, and during the last five years, I took over responsibility for my former employer's three global advanced design studios. What I experienced during this 11 year period personally and from my colleagues was the following: I can say with certainty that trying to judge a car's appearance (or a model car's accuracy) from photography alone is not a valid way to make a complete determination. The only way to do that is to see something in person, in 3D presentation. I experienced this time and time again both in my professional career and my hobby. In the case of a model car, that means a built and painted, complete model car. ***** The Revelll 1967 Camaro kit is a good example of a kit where the photography does reveal some flaws; particularly the lack of the two horizontal bars in the grille engraving, and the undersized wheels. The overly emphasized rear fender edge sloping inward toward the ground was less obvious to me but some of you picked it out as well. However, no kit is perfect, and to form an overall, educated conclusion you need to build the entire kit, then assess the finished appearance along with the ease of assembly, fit and finish, parts choice, overall accuracy, etc. I still maintain that's the only way to come to a completely educated conclusion. I have not built that kit myself, Based on what I have observed, it strikes me as an OK but somewhat flawed effort; not among Revell's best kits of the last five years. But unless and until I build it, my conclusion remains incomplete and somewhat ill-informed. BTW, I have personally seen a completed built up sample of the new 1968 Chevelle kit. It was not painted which is a strike against making an educated conclusion, and I was only able to observe and handle it for a very short period of time. As a result, my take on the kit is lacking an informed judgment in a number of areas. What I can say is that I did not see any major alarm bells and the overall impression was favorable. But until a number of us actually build the kit and show the results, my point remains that we will not have a totally informed and fully educated point of view on the kit. Take all this for what it's worth. I doubt I will convince anyone who sees this differently, but at least you hopefully might understand why I would take this position. Best to you all! TIM

Guys.....finally got the time to visit the storage unit and do some more research on this. I don't have complete info but the following is based on the original issue kits, partially built kits, box art, instruction sheets and reissues I do have. 1. The powertrains (both the 426 Hemi and Slant Six) originated in the AMT-designed and tooled 1965 Barracuda kit and carried over essentially intact through the AMT 1966 and 1967 Barracuda and 1968 MPC Barracuda kits (I don't have an original issue MPC 1969 but presume this applies to that kit as well). 2. The promo style chassis plate with engraved single exhaust was (given the degree of info I have) carried through the entire production run of the above kits as well. 3 The promo style chassis plate from the Barris Fireball 500 is identical the one in the Barracuda kits other than that the single exhaust engraving was removed for this kit run. 4. The six or so kits that were tooled by MPC and sold for their first production run under the AMT label all shared the following unique points. (a)... They had MPC-style box art even though they had AMT branding for the first run. (b)... They had MPC style "stick" instruction sheet drawings vs. the beautifully conceived AMT art department instruction sheet illustrations and (c) they were released only once, during the 1964 to 1965 period under AMT labels and all subsequent runs of the toolings wore MPC labels. The original AMT 1965-67 Barracuda annual kits show none of the above traits. From the above, my conclusion remains that the original Barracuda tooling was developed by AMT (not MPC) and it was not until 1968 (for reasons still unexplained) that it migrated to MPC. Hope that helps......don't hesitate to post if you have different info.....TIM

Looking at the pictures, this appears to be the revised Revell 1970 Torino GT kit released a couple of years back. While not mentioned in either of the model car magazine reviews of this updated kit, this issue included a highly important revision to the body casting that corrected the incorrect lower rear quarter panels in the original kit. It also included corrected front bucket seats. This was always a good kit, and with the corrections that much better yet. A great buy at that price above.... TIM

Like Chuck in his consistency on this subject, I will also restate my consistent view on this. The ONLY truly valuable critique on a kit comes from those who have purchased the kit AND actually built it. Since the kit is not on the market yet, no comments to date reflect that level of personal critique and knowledge. I actually think this thread has been fairly tame and fair compared to some other kit critique threads. And like many others I find comments on the accuracy of future, unleased kits to be entertaining and, at times, also informative. But they are no substitute from the posted feedback from those who have actually built the kit, and the more such posts, the more helpful the information becomes for the rest of us. TIM

This was one of those AMT kits from the corporate dark days of the late 1970's. I built it soon after it came out, kitbashing the turbo engine with the styleside version with the pickup bed top that made it look like a van, and a black with candy blue/green/purple graphics. My recollection is that it was a pretty painless build and a very good kit for its era. This tool and its variations does seem like a good candidate for future reissues,,,,,,I'll mention to John G. at Round 2 when we next talk.....TIM t

Dave....nicely done! Those fixed rear quarters do a great job of showing this kit for its true potential. Also, looking at the slightly nose up front stance and the front suspension, looks like you did some serious kitbashing there...….are those the springs from the AMT '37 Chevy Gasser version and a straight tube axle from aluminum tubing? Whatever it is, it really adds to the overall impact.....TIM

Guys, double check me on this one as I do not have my reference material at hand right now, but my recollection is that unlike some of the MPC tooled kits initially sold under the AMT label, the 1967-69 Barracuda tool was an evolution of the earlier 1965-66 AMT kit, meaning in this case it was AMT-originated tooling that migrated to MPC for the 1968-69 updates. My book has the full story on this IIRC. TIM

Jason.....I do not. Steve returned from his successful assignment supporting the Lincoln Navigator launch at the end of last year, and he is continuing to build models of various topics with his usual high-detail standards, but I am not clear on what is happening or not with Calnaga Castings. Recommend you email him and ask directly (PM me if you need his email addy)…...TIM

The blower scoop looks like a Steve Perry/Calnaga Castings part, and I know Steve spent a lot of time doing a more accurate master for the SOHC valve covers, so maybe that is a Calnaga part as well....??? TIM

That "''72" El Camino photo is much closer to actual production than most of the other design studies shown here. How do I know that? First, the GM "A-Body" program was originally scheduled for the 1972 model year, not 1973 as actually occurred. Various explanations for the delay include a UAW strike early in the program development, and another more recent explanation that escapes my memory bank at the moment. Second, well into the 1972 A-Body program, the federal bureaucracy inserted itself into the automotive design world with their declaration that all 1973 cars would have to have 5mph front bumpers. The 1972 (now 1973) GM A-bodies had to be redesigned, relatively late in the development process, to accommodate the 5mph front bumpers. Some of the cars (the Buick Century Regal and particularly the Olds Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme) managed the transition to the bigger bumpers well. The other two, the Chevelle/Malibu/ElCamino, and the Pontiac LeMans/GTO (other than the Grand Am) suffered greatly. This mage gives us a hint of what the Chevelle/Malibu front end might have looked like without the 5pmh bumper change. Not the most beautiful design, but infinitely more commercially acceptable than the final 1973 production design that resulted. Thanks guys for posting all these GM Design Studio photos.....TIM

Paul....really good job making that Lindberg boat look presentable....but the real killer for me is that DeSoto wagon. What a superb effort! Congrats....TIM

As has been mentioned on other threads on this subject, the front end is new, and based on the built-up test shot I saw nearly a year ago, looks much, much better. I did not have time to study it closely, so this was my first impression only. Like many of you, I'm anxious to get my hands on one and check it out more closely...TIM

Hey Gary...… Bob had an SVT Focus I believe.....in fact he may still have it, I just can't recall for sure. If he had an SVT Mustang I don't recall him saying so. Wouldn't put it past him, though, he as you and I both know he was, and still is a very big fast Ford car fanatic. TIM

Several interesting topics and updates posted there....including this presentation of 370 images from the IDIDIT car show in Tecumseh, Michigan...... Just one of the very cool cars there to whet your interest.....! TIM

For many years I have been wanting to attend the annual IDIDIT car show in Tecumseh, Michigan. I finally was able to do so this year.Tecumseh is a small Midwestern town in SE Michigan, just across the Michigan/Ohio state line. IDIDIT, famous for their newly manufactured steering columns for street rods, hot rods, street machines, and customs, hosts the even at their showroom and factory on the SE side of downtown Tecumseh.Along the way there I pulled out onto M-50 behind the awesome, eye-catching customized Ford Transit Connect "Tourneo" of Greg and Debbie Tufford, and enjoyed chatting with them as we parked. As we walked around the corner of offsite spectator parking, the extent of the event quickly revealed itself. It was HUGE! The announcer/DJ was welcoming car clubs from as far away as Battle Creek, Michigan, and Findlay, Ohio. It quickly became obvious this was no local show. As you'll see from the approximately 370 photos below, there was a little bit of everything car-centered at the event.IDIDIT welcomed attendees to come inside their recently built 1950's style showroom as well as their impressively large and well equipped factory next door. Several food trucks feed the hungry, weather was decent, and a fun time seemed to be underway for all.I was surprised at the exceedingly wide range of cars and trucks on display there. This was far more than the relatively local hot rod show I was expecting.I wrapped up with a stop at J-Bar Hobbies, a locally owned downtown Tecumseh double store-front that dates back many decades. Coverage of hot rods, muscle cars, pickups, antiques, and much more starts at this link A quick reminder to use the "Roll View" feature at the above link to rapidly scroll through the pictures in full size frame view, and view my occasional color commentary as well.Enjoy.....TIM

Wow....Dennis, that bad boy just screams cool! Great job with the swap and with the other build details....TIM .

Guys.....last I spoke with Revell personnel (pre-Hobbico bankruptcy) , they had done a deep dive into whether a Ranchero version of the '57 Ford tool was a viable project. The conclusion was that to do the project with the level of accuracy demanded by today's adult kit marketplace, the project would have cost too much relative to the potential kit sales. Or stated another way, the same amount of investment toward a different new kit or new variant of an existing kit would yield better sales and revenue (thus leading to the funds available for yet more new kits....). These are the trade-offs any effective product manager must confront and decide. Bottom line, don't expect to see a Ranchero kit any time soon, unless the new management team concludes differently than the former team. At this point, my bigger question is whether we will see ANY new investment by Blitz/Revell Germany in kit topics that are primarily geared at the domestic United States market. (Keep in mind that everything announced so far was done or nearly done with development before the bankruptcy.) Or even a full detail kit of an American car (like the current generation Mustang) which has also been the top selling sports car worldwide for the last three years.... TIM

Entirely new from the ground up tool. The project was mostly complete about a year ago, but the Hobbico bankruptcy intervened. A quick look at a completed test shot buildup at that time looked very promising. TB

Jeremy.....very cool story! Thanks.....TIM

Chris.....it fits the '60 Chevy bed just fine.....it sits on two slats that fit to the top of the bed sides, just as on the original pickup. Based on a picture I saw, the shortbed '60 modern era tool doesn't seem to present a problem ......TIM

I believe the guys at Round 2 have been looking into this; I do not know the outcome.....TIM \\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The Go Kart with the '60 Chevrolet Pickup is a "go", even though it has not been formally announced as correctly pointed out by Craig. It is a combination restoration of the original tooling/reproduction of the unit in the original '63 Apache kit. TB

Thanks everyone for your positive feedback and kudos. Really, really glad to hear you are all enjoying it. All the Best....TIM

Hah! Made me smile, Casey......TIM