tim boyd

James...thanks for the update....I saw that paragraph but initially I read it with a different understanding; upon revisiting it, I think your interpretation is correct. TIM

James.... 1) perhaps I have misunderstood the filings, but my understanding was that the Revell Global Lot was all of Revell except Revell Germany, and that Revell Germany was a separate "lot". For instance, the following sentence in one of the other court docket items in the last couple of days.... PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on April 11, 2018, the Debtors filed Notice of Auction Date, Sale Hearing, and Certain Related Deadlines Related to the Global Revell Lot, the Revell Germany Lot and Any Non-Conforming Lots or Remnant Assets (D.I. 346). 2) Great research on the makeup of Blitz....! TIM

According to a document posted today in the Bankruptcy Court Docket, there was a successful bidder for the Revell Global Lot at the auction today, listed as "Blitz 18-313 GMBH" and later identified as a German Limited Liability Company incorporated and existing under the laws of Germany and registered in Grunwald (a district of Munich). No info on the auction of the Revell Germany Lot. TB

Dave....that is just a WAY, WAY cool modeling project! This is the type of creativity that is so often missing from the current modeling scene. Had this been entered in the old MPC National Modeling Contest series, it would have been a hands-down "Best Originality" trophy winner Well done,... As for the rest of this thread, a really impressive series of informational nuggets.....this is a great example of a forum thread at its finest. Kudos to all involved.. TIM

From today's updates at the court docket.... * On April 12, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time), the Debtors will resume the Auction with respect to the Global Revell Lot, the Revell Germany Lot, and any non-conforming Lots or remnant assets remaining for sale. * A hearing to approve the Sale (the “Sale Hearing”), including the assumption and assignment of Designated Contracts, will be held on April 13, 2018 at 12:30 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time) before the Court. ****** An earlier transcript of the auction results of the earlier Hobbico and other "lots" was posted at the court docket at the end of the same day as that auction, IIRC. If the same timeline holds true, a transcript of the auction tomorrow might be available by the end of the day. ***** Needless to say, I'm hoping for the best, not only for the modeling community but for the team at Revell.... TIM

Tim....that is an exceptionally well done project....looks super-realistic, too. Congrats....TIM

A docket entry on Friday (April 6) reaffirmed the Revell and Revell of Germany Auctions hearing on April 10th at 10am.....TIM

Mark.....I first got the stand in the MPC 1965 Monaco kit...and no, I was never able to get it to work...not even close. Of course, at the time, I blamed myself.....TIM .

Smart move on Dave's part to add those big graphics reminding everyone that these are early stage development models.....TIM PS - thanks Steve for the pix..TB

When I researched Corvette colors for my Scale Auto articles on the pre-catalyst C3 Corvettes and GM's most colorful paint colors in the early 1970-'s, I recall seeing a bunch of conflicting info on the 1970 1/2 metallic orange paint specs, with different respected sources offering up to three "definitive" alternatives for the final 1970 1/2 production color. The post at the Corvette action center seems to ring a familiar bell. Under any circumstance, I say build it as a 1970 with the Ontario Orange paint if that is your preference; the auto industry has a history of running pull-ahead colors in small volumes on earlier model year cars. For example, some late model year 1970 1/2 Camaros were painted with 1971 model year Sunflower Yellow solid.. (Some day I'll spill on when Ford did this on a late model year run of 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupes.....) TIM

Like many of you, I am very concerned about the fate of Revell, Inc as part of the Hobbico Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and accordingly I have been following closely the bankruptcy court docket on this case. What follows should be taken with a certain degree of caution, as I am not an attorney nor am I familiar with the processes used in bankruptcy proceedings...... Within the last 24 hours the Court Docket on the bankruptcy has added a new document which is a transcript of the Hobbico Bankruptcy Auction that took place on March 28. From quick scan of the transcript, and if I am interpreting it correctly, it appears that as expected, the "stalking horse" bidders for the two main lots (neither of which contained Revell or Revell Germany lots) were apparently declared winners of those auctions. It also appears that there were bids for at least some of the other parts of the Hobbico bankruptcy, but no winners were declared for those lots at this time. There was no specific mention of the identity of those lots, which means no specific info on whether there were bids for Revell or Revell Germany, and if so, who those bidders were. What caught my attention was the notation in the auction transcript that there were several questions posed during the auction process by a member of a firm representing an entity called "Round 3 LLC". I have absolutely no insider info on what this means, but similarity of the name of this entity to the present company we know as Round 2, LLC, certainly caught my attention. My quick read of the transcript suggested that there would be more news forthcoming regarding the outcomes of the bids on the other lots. One hopes this pending update might include some clarity on the future course of Revell and Revell Germany. TIM

There are many factors involved here, several of which are touched on above. What most people do not know is that a great deal of the design and content of all automobiles these days is driven by governmental regulation, as well as the lobbying efforts of the many insurance, safety, and environmental lobbies. And for many vehicles, these laws vary from country to country, making all of us pay for compliance with all the laws even though many (such as the European/now Asian Pedestrian Impact Laws) are not required in some markets where the vehicles are sold. The laws and restrictions they advocate have varied levels of effectiveness, but what they all do is add immensely to the cost of new vehicles sold today. Personally, I suspect that the true cost to consumers of these regulations is far higher than has been quoted in the media or claimed by those who lobby in favor of them. Some of these laws - such as those about vehicle stability controls and braking/collision avoidance are highly useful, others much less so. One of the very worst laws has been the CAFE/Corporate Average Fuel Economy laws in the US, which have over 40 years greatly distorted the automotive marketplace in numerous ways and continue to do so today. Ironically, the result of government and NGO-driven automotive legislation is to increase the cost of new vehicles to the point that some people stay out of the new car market, which ironically drives down the overall safety/environmental/etc. effectiveness of the entire automotive fleet as people who would prefer to buy new instead hold on to older, less safe, less efficient vehicles. I don't have a solution other than to suggest that everyone investigate very carefully the voting records of those you vote for in national and state elections...... TIM

As I alluded to earlier in this thread (I think it was here), Round 2 was investigating this version as the primary plan for this kit, if the test shots played out as hoped. Looks like that might very well be what happened....TIM

Joseph....thanks a bunch. I never even thought to look at Dave's website.....should have been an obvious thing to do. Best regards.....TIM

I have generally kept my thoughts on NASCAR in check because of my career with one of the major auto manufacturers. Now retired, I can be a little more open. Historically, NASCAR has multiple lines of consumer appeal, of which the top two were manufacturer preferences, and driver/race team preferences. When the manufacturers more or less dropped out of NASCAR in the early 1970's, NASCAR moved to focus on just the drivers/race teams. This was certainly understandable and a smart move at the time. But like many things in our world, over time the pendulum swung too far in the other direction. The brands that the drivers race are now treated as second or third hand news; for example media coverage does not even mention the makes of the winning cars, even in the last sentence of the last paragraph. Concurrently, the cars have evolved so far away from their production counterparts that any connection between the race and the showroom is not evident for most fans. To get NASCAR back on track, they need to (1) refocus with a dual emphasis on the race teams AND the Brands being raced, thus providing two distinct avenues of consumer appeal. And (2) they need to change the cars back to something that is MUCH closer to their production equivalents (I'm thinking the last time they had this racecar/production quotient right was with the 1983-1986 Thunderbirds). And for those of you who do not read the www.autoextremist.com website, the author Peter DeLorenzo is highly outspoken on the subject of NASCAR and what is needed to right the ship. Not saying I agree with all his thoughts, but it is an interesting read to get a well-rounded view of the subject. TIM

Steven....the 365hp 426-S Wedge was the top powertrain option in the 1965 Fury lineup. If I were doing this project, I'd use the box stock engine in the Moebius 1965 Satellite kit, which replicates the same engine in 1/1 scale. (As you may be aware, the one downside of this well detailed engine is the non-stock, finned TorqueFlite transmission pan).....TIM

Mark...that is come very cool work so far. That method for drilling out carb intakes and exhaust is brilliant - thanks for sharing. Not clear if you are using the 289 Paxton Supercharged or the Ardun, but either one is a very inspired choice. Your linkage work on the 289 is superb Many years ago I build a chopped '31A Tudor myself, starting it around 1978 and finishing it in 1994-ish. Mine was more of a race-themed execution (inspired in part by the Pete Eastwood rust primer '32 Tudor on the cover of Hot Rod back then), combined with a 429 Boss mill, a Logghe-style tube chassis, and Pro-Street style rear end). Still one of my favorite builds. Best of luck with your continued work on this one....it is shaping up to be very, very cool. TIM

Thanks again guys. I'm most interested in what would be available now or in the near future for those that would be building the new Moebius A990 kits. This subject was never really on my radar screen in the past as to build a really accurate A!990 would have been a very involved and expensive project prior to the Moebius kit breaking cover. BTW, if you haven't seen it yet, his kit is really, really well done. Best regards TIM PS - I checked with Jack Smith at Top End Decals, who had done some very wicked good decal sheets for 1960's drag racing topics, including some pretty obscure (but cool) cars. Jack said that he's been really busy lately and unable to find the time to develop new offerings, but I look forward to the possibility of future developments here.....TB

I agree Greg. I referenced this book (and pictured it too IIRC) in my article in MCM #203 on building a 1929 HIghboy Roadster on Model A (not '32) rails...similar in several ways (other than powertrain and lack of hub covers) to the cover art on the above Vern Tardel title. TIM

Thanks Wayne.....TIM

Is anyone producing aftermarket decals for some of the A990 Belvederes that ran in NHRA SuperStock from 1965 through 1969? Thanks in advance....TIM

The 1972 Montego GT was by far one of the coolest cars on offer that year. Yours is a great looking example, and that model is also a very impressive effort! TIM

Yep..this is the old AMT headquarters building on Maple Road just west of I-75 and Stephenson Highway in Troy, just north of Detroit. Building is still there today, although it looks much different now..... As for the Blueprinter, it was a whole series of articles over a number of issues, on the history of all the brands owned by AMT-Ertl from the late 1980's onward. As for an AMT book or history, at least one name most of you would recognize has thought about a project like this from time to time. No firm plans yet (at least that I know of). In the meantime I have a book coming out later this year from CarTech Publishing with the working title "Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits". It will show many AMT kits from the "Golden Years" along with some tidbits about the company itself, but it is not in any way a comprehensive history of AMT alone. TIM

It's not entirely clear how to me how prevalent some of these issues are (relative to the entire production run of each kit), but I recall making the exact same argument as Bill notes here to the AMT staff when I was doing work for them in the mid 1970's. Some of their kits back then were truly bad in these very areas. And as AMT then declined in the late 1970's, I personally wondered how much of it was attributable to the quality problems in their kits at the time and the dissatisfaction and resulting lack of repeat purchases that Bill cites above. TIM

Further to Bill's comments above, here's proof that the AMT '36 can be built in a fenderless form with relatively few modifications - as shown in this cover story of the February, 2016 issue of the other model car magazine (apologies in advance for linking to "the competition" on this this website, although I personally believe the two mags as far more complimentary to each other than being competitors). http://www.scaleautomag.com/issues/2016/february-2016 While this one was built as a coupe, same steps would apply using the Roadster parts in the same kit....TIM