tim boyd

Kurt....no worries and thanks for the correction.....I looked for more details earlier in this thread but assumed incorrectly that you were referencing the original wheelcovers.. I sure remember the 1/1 scale 240'z in my part of the country having five slot mags and I thought the original Revell kit box art also showed them, but your built kit is pretty clear in that regards. Still want to find my original issue kit and see what's inside......TIM

Sorry to further contribute to us getting off topic, but the original Revell Datsun 240Z kit release in the US reflected exactly the way nearly all 240Z's were being sold by Datsun dealers in the US market. That is, the Revell kit simply reflected the reality of the US marketplace in that many, perhaps even most 240Z's left the showroom floor with those tasty (for the time) five hole slot mags as seen in the kit There were two reasons for this 1) the JDM Fairlady wheel covers were carried over to the US market and they were beyond hokey in their design; undermining the beautiful design execution of the rest of the car from a US market buyer perspective and 2) 240Z's were mega-hot in the marketplace, so dealers were doing all they could to add "extras" to bump the selling price and dealer margins, and those five-hole slot mages were a great step in that direction. I'm not enough of an authority to know if the five slot mags were a Datsun-supported accessory or whether this was primarily a distributor or dealer driven initiative. Anybody else know? But at the time, there were few cars on the road with the visual appeal of the 240Z with those mags, not to mention at the selling price point (even after all those Added Dealer Markup accessories.) As for the wheels on the Monogram Bugatti kit, at the time the kit was first introduced in the mid 1960's, it was lauded as a superb example of a kit replicating the real car. At the time and even now, I never knew the wheels were not OEM spec, and I suspect few other kit purchasers did either. Funny how time changes perspectives, huh? TIM

Here's mine.....built from the IMC L-700 kit when it was first released back in 1969. I remember being blown away by the level of detailing and engraving on this kit. Built over the summer of 1969 with the Phil Jensen "Tale of Two Trucks" article in Car Model in the background..... PS - great work on those LTL 1000 models, you guys. Wow....they look just like the real thing. Same on the full size and cab forward conventionals.....TIM

The Story behind my new book "Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits" Nearly two years ago now, I was alerted by the then-Editor of Scale Auto magazine that the car book publisher CarTech wanted to talk to me about a new book project they were considering. This was interesting, but truth be known, I had no intentions of writing any more books about model cars. I was disappointed with how my first book, "Collecting Model Car and Truck Kits" was marketed upon its debut in 2001, and while the book sales were OK, they were not sufficient enough to justify a second or third print run. CarTech had recently published Scotty Gessen's title "Show Rod Model Kits" and they were happy enough with the sales to want to do a follow-up, this time featuring muscle car kits. Having seen my model kit history articles in Scale Auto magazine, they were convinced I was the guy to write this new book. Discussions followed, and the CarTech guys shared my strong belief that any such new model car book needed to be sold in the "Transportation" (Car) section of major booksellers, not the "Hobby" section where my first book landed with books on Needlepointing, Dollhouses....and, well, you get the point. Eventually I gave in and agreed to write and photograph the new book, to be called "Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits". I developed a simple book proposal with an outline and chapter heading list. Here is what it looked like: Introduction Chapter 1: In the Beginning: The Origins of the Model Car Kit Hobby Chapter 2: The Four Waves of Model Car Kit Evolution and the Envy Factor Chapter 3: Laying the Groundwork for Muscle Cars: The Pre–Supercar Era Chapter 4: The Supercar Is Born, Part 1: Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick Chapter 5: The Supercar Is Born, Part 2: Chevelle and El Camino Chapter 6: Dearborn Responds: Ford and Mercury Performance Intermediates Chapter 7: It’s All about the Packaging: Chrysler and AMC Supercar Intermediates Chapter 8: The Pony Car Brigade, Part 1: Mustang and Camaro Chapter 9: The Pony Car Brigade, Part 2: Everything Else Chapter 10: Smaller in Stature, but . . . the Story of Junior Supercars Chapter 11: Flash, Space, and Grace: The Family Supercar Chapter 12: The Domestic Sports Car Chapter 13: Today We Call Them Tuners Chapter 14: The Model Car Kit Collector Chapter 15: Afterword The outline was promptly approved by the CarTech team. The book contract was signed in December, 2016. What happened then? The next task was to prepare a sample chapter. In this case, it became Chapter 7, on Mopar B-Body intermediate muscle cars. The entire chapter was researched, written, photographed, and submitted by early February, 2017. The CarTech guys loved it. Full speed ahead! How was the research done? Much of the research and chapter content came from some early work I had done on a different book proposal in 2002/3 called "The Golden Age of American Autos in Miniature 1949-1974". By the time two different publishers eventually rejected the proposal, I had already assembled a series of notebooks with the needed reference material. The new CarTech book content paralleled much of the earlier stillborn book’s content, so that was an important head start. Next, I made a list of all the key original issue kits of the cars that would be covered in each chapter. Days spent in my reference library called out the necessary detail on the actual full-sized cars, and research in my kit collection revealed how the cars were translated into kits. Then each chapter was written in rough draft form, and the photography (all done in my home studio, with exceptions as noted below) was completed. From literally several thousand images, I chose just over 400 all-color, high-res photos for the book, and prepared captions for each photo. At this point, I had invested nine months, and thousands of hours in the project. The final transmission to CarTech took place in August, 2017, and then they began desiging and building the final book look and layout. A rough layout review followed late in 2017, followed by a final edit around February of 2018. I got a first look at the final project on my 64th birthday. Personally, I think the CarTech team did a fantastic job with the design, layout, and photo processing of the final product. Are there any Special Features in the Book? Glad you asked. First, for most chapters in the book, at the end of each section I've created a "Missing In Action" sidebar, which is a listing of all the great muscle cars that have never been kitted, or else desperately need a modern era kit to be developed. Second, with the help of Mike Hanson of Arizona, a full-size car restorer who also builds model cars to client specifications, and several other well-known modelers like Dean Milano and Bill Coulter, I assembled a "Scale Showroom" section showing how built versions of the kits in each chapter look when assembled and painted by experts. More special features are Sidebars resulting from interviews with model kit development engineers John Mueller (AMT/MPC/AMT-Ertl) and Bob Johnson (Revell and Monogram). In both cases revealed are new, never-before-known facts about several of our most cherished model car kits. Other sidebars touch on recap “Model Car Kit Fun Facts”, a brief History of Model Car Kitmaker Lineage, and “What about Import Sports Car Kits?” OK, so how do you know all this information is correct and accurate? Two huge assists here were the reference book “The Directory of Model Car Kits, Seventh Edition” from Bob Shelton and Bill Coulter, and kit expert extraordinaire Mark Budniewski (a frequent poster on this Forum) who meticulously reviewed each chapter upon completion for content and accuracy. Without these sources, the book could not have been completed. Any final thoughts? You bet. I set out to make this the most complete, informative, and interesting book on model car kits ever published. With over 95,000 words and 400+ color photographs, this is a book that will entertain you for many days to come. As some of the early book reviewers have pointed out, the book really is about the entire model car kit industry from the late 1950’s through today, answering many questions like “Why has this annual kit from the 1960’s never been reissued” to “Why did the kitmakers move away from those fantastic kit box illustrations of the 1960’s and early 1970’s”? The book is available for $29.95 retail plus shipping from Car Tech Books, Amazon, Model Roundup, AutoWorldStore.com, and local retailers like The Model Cave in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and Pasteiner's in Birmingham, Michigan. Click in this link for the exact web order addresses from these retailers, as well as a number of pictures from the book: https://public.fotki.com/funman1712/the-story-behind-my/the-story-behind-my/ Heads-up… The book publishing business today is much different than in the past. Books typically have short lifecycles and often do not go into a follow-up print run. Those that missed my prior book are now looking at prices of up to or over $100 (which I think is crazy!) to get it from old book sellers. Bottom line? 1. If you are thinking about buying the book, do it now! Do not wait! 2. If this book sells well, the publisher has expressed an interest in doing at least one or maybe even two follow-up titles. That all depends on whether you all buy this book and find it to be of value to you now and in the future. Finally, it is my fondest hope that you will find the book to be a fun and enjoyable read, and a valuable reference, for and years months to come. Best Regards and THANKS! for your interest...TIM

Mark's statement above is exactly what I have experienced as well. Most test shots that migrate to parties outside the company that developed them are fairly refined; the result of several previous rounds of revisions. But first round test shots can be, very rough and not something that could be commercially produced at that stage of development. TIM

Recently moved my model workshop from an upstairs bedroom to a new location in the basement....been going through my old files as everything got moved to the new location. So.....look what I found! It's the invitation that was sent to west coast model builders in advance of the NNL West #2 in Millbrae, California (near San Francisco) back in January of 1983. Yes, 1983. How time flies when you are having fun. This event was a blast....great attendance from all over the west coast, a few midwest modelers to boot, and even Pat Ganahl when he was doing the Hot Rod mag gig. I later ran coverage of the event, though I do not recall exactly where (may have been Custom Rodder magazine when it was part of the McMullen publishing empire). Best of all....check out the definition of what the NNL was all about. For the most part, the original vision holds true almost 40 years later (who would have dreamed that would be the case? We sure didn't!) What's equally amazing is that four of the five event organizers (lower right corner) are still very active in the hobby today. (Just talked to Rich night before last....). I think that at least a few of you may have been there. What do you guys remember about it? Cheers.....TIM

I agree...….TIM

In the case of the Go-Kart, it is a combination of portions of the original tooling, and a several newly tooled parts that were not found in Round 2's current tooling inventory (despite looking in depth for these parts). If you study the original 1963 F100 kit parts trees, you can see that some of the Go Kart parts were with the pickup parts trees, and some of the parts were on their own parts trees (I don't remember the specifics at this point, but they were investigated when this particular project began several years ago). As the pickup tooling itself is (apparently) long gone, so were those missing Go Kart parts. In any case, this project has been in the works for several years, and in my opinion it is going to be super-cool to have the Go Kart back! TIM

AMT commissioned me to build this model that they photographed for this box art, sometime around early 1977 or so. I recall this being a really fun, though fairly simplified, kit build. Testors Gloss Yellow paint (back when it dried quickly and had excellent gloss without a clearcoat), although it appears a little dark in this aribrushed/touched up image. I'd like to do another one some day, but with the dual quads engine option and some type of period-correct aftermraket mags and tires......TIM un,

I was visiting Chip in his Huntington Beach shop for business purposes when I saw this car at the point where he had mostly finished boxing in the basic proportions (as shown around the 1:15 minute mark in the video). It was sitting against the far wall at the back of the shop, and; it was absolutely stunning even then. I've lost track of the exact timing, but this was probably 3 or 4 years before the finished product was revealed....in fact I was wondering what had happened to the effort. But well worth the wait....it blew away everything when it was revealed at Cobo years later..... Thanks for posting.....TIM

FWIW, I agree 100% with Mark on his take about these kits and their market appeal. The majority of the core audience here at the MCM forum would no doubt prefer stock-bodied kits, but Revell as we know sells (or at least was selling) to a much broader audience, and the Foose name and design expertise guaranteed a far broader immediate acceptance/appeal for a kit series with that link. As to whether these two kit tools will enjoy a long, productive life, that remains an open question. On the other hand, who would have thought that Revell's 1960's era Roth kits would have seen production runs for five decades onward? Also FWIW, I recall hearing (though not the exact source) that Revell was long considering an all-new 1956 F100 pickup tool in stock form.....but that was at least 5-10 years ago. Having read the rest of the comments on this thread, I believe that there is a market for both Foose-type and stock bodied kits. But the likely target for development of kits of stock bodied cars, especially those with a more targeted appeal such as late 1940's/early 1950's Cadillacs, would be appropriate be Moebius than Revell. . TIM

I too think it is unlikely we'll see the window sweep fixed. On the other hand, getting 80% of the way to the correct sweep is about a five-ten minute exercise with a file so this is not a job stopper in my view. Plus the new box art is gorgeous! Way to go, Tom, John, and Round 2! TIM

Bingo.....aka it's not a typo. TIM

Ken....there should be an article in the other model car magazine next issue, debuting in the next few weeks, which shows some of these very mods to the kit........TIM

What Steve said....the B/FX version has been in the works for several years already. It has quite a bit of differentiation from the A/FX kit, too. TIM

May be mentioned elsewhere here, but I recall hearing, and then later comparing myself, that this kit shared much of its overall design with the Monogram 1/8th scale Corvette. I agree that it was one of MPC's finest efforts. If I ever decided to build a 1/16th scale kit, this one would be near or at the top of the list of candidates....TIM

Guys......Bob Downie followed up on this a couple of days ago, and he reported back as follows. (I believe there is more info on Bob's Facebook Page)... "This is a chance for anyone who enjoyed Lee and his models to get some of his history; there are his built models, diecast, books and magazines galore, tools, artwork...all well preserved. Here's the link, the official sale is Saturday and Sunday." https://www.estatesales.net/TN/Chattanooga/37412/1960593 Let's make sure Lee's legacy gets distributed to those who understand his modeling legacy.....TIM

It's the MPC '67 1/2 to '69 Firebird kit Pontiac OHC Six mated to the Oldsmobile Toronado kit transaxle.....TIM

Sweet...… Also,,,,,Revell was working on an AAR off the new for 2013 Hemi-Cuda kit…...who knows what will happen (if anything) now......TIM

Richard....point taken. When I think of first gen funny cars, I think of the flip tops starting with the 1966 Comet of Don Nicholson.....and I think of those prior to that car as AWB or A/FX but not "funny cars" per se. But now that you mention it, I'm sure many view this as you do. Hmm.....maybe I should change the title of this thread..... Best Regards......TIM

That and so much more.... Another year of great weather greeted exhibitors, staff, and spectators at the 2018 edition of the Concours of the Americas at St. John's, the successor event to the old Meadowbrook Concours.A number of spectacular displays featured themes such as the first generation flip-top funny cars, Bugattis, racing Porsches, early Indian and Harley motorcycles, the "class of 1958", the Plymouth marque, 300SL's, and so forth.I recommend you use the "Roll" feature quickly view all photos in full screen mode. Enjoy, and thanks for looking....TIM 2018 Concours of the Americas at St. John's PS - two of my favorites from the event....TB 1935 Duesenberg J Victoria Convertible ...and this 1939 Packard Super 8 Convertible Victoria...

A GTO Street Freak and a T-Bird Street Freak/ Modern Era "Gasser".....TIM

It has also been my experience that Revell primarily used that gray color for most of their test shots, but I have also seen Revell test shots in lime green and terra cotta colors as well.....TIM

Michael, that is one of the nicest scale flame layouts I have ever seen on a model car. Wow. Combined with your workmanship, that model is quite impressive. Congrats....TIM

Pat's model car article in Street Rodder, circa 1975 IIRC, was a '29 Model A Roadster on '32 Rails. It was the article that first inspired me to build all those '29 on '32 Rails Roadsters in my collection......as of last month, he still had it in his built model car collection, too! TIM