tim boyd

Thanks Scott.....here's the link for those who are interested............

From what I understand, there is at least one idea in this thread that is under consideration and if it materialized I suspect it would be an excellent seller. As for me personally, I'd love to see the '61-'63 F100 Unibody, such as the one Jesse posted above, but I doubt that one is going to surface as a new kit from any of the makers.... TIM

First I've ever heard of this. Sounds unlikely to me; by the late 1960's luxury branded annual kits (Lincoln, Cadillac, T-Bird) were not selling very well, and development capital was tight, particularly at AMT. But as we all know, never say never......TIM

Andy.....great thing about the NNL is that we are all on the same pedestal. The thing we all share is our interest in model cars and building model cars. That makes us all equals. Doesn't matter one wit who's won awards and who hasn't won them. Nor whose work has appeared in the mags and whose hasn't. Or which models have hundreds of hours of minute detail vs. which ones are just clever ideas assembled for fun. We're just a bunch of really good friends trying to get together for a few hours of friendship and sharing the hobby we all love. That's the vibe that we always got from a visit with Tom and Karen at their Ohio model kingdom, and it's what we've tried to maintain even though NNL's now draw hundreds and hundreds of people to each event. That's also one of the reasons why Tom, Chuck, and I have always skewed towards a preference of "no awards" at NNL' s (while pragmatically agreeing to requests from event organizers the idea of a few "people's choice" awards voted on by the participants). TIM

See full coverage (297 photos) of day 1 at the 2017 Cobo Autorama, gerenally considered one of the two most important inside Hot Rod Shows in the world....see link/message posted in the "1/1 Reference Photos" section below...TIM

For your viewing enjoyment and as inspiration for current of future modeling projects....300 photos from Cobo's Detroit Autorama, Autorama Extreme, and the Great 8 Finalists...Enjoy...>TIM 1962 Kellison racing coupe....

I did a two-part article in Model Cars a couple of years ago with a C800 race car transporter and trailer like this. It does require some kitbashing to pull off. Recommend you check out the back issues department for the articles if you are considering a project like this............TIM

I can't speak for whomever has $100 to spend on any single model car kit purchase,. On the other hand, this one (despite some minor inaccuracies) is a truly outstanding kit that replicates the single hottest topic in the 1/1 scale hot rod world right now. TIM

I'd grab any you see on the shelves right now, Charlie. TIM

Gary....here you go.. These are missing some header extensions that were added before the car was photo'd for the article that is ???? .

If anyone wants to try this conversion, you may find these photo albums (which were set up for this purpose) helpful......TIM http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/correcting-or-kitba/192829-model-a-coupe/ http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/correcting-or-kitba/193031-model-a-coupe-1/

Replicas and Miniatures still makes a '30 Model A Coupe body. It is excellent in its own right, and includes a couple of cool features - a louvered decklid and a windshield visor with holes, that are not in the Revell Model A Coupe. Ironically, I sent an article to Model Cars in late 2015 showing how to use that R&M of MD body, and the extra floorboard that was included in the '29A Roadster kit by mistake, to make a '30 A Coupe model....this was about 9 months before the Revell '30 A Coupe kit became (briefly) available. Harry immediately formatted the article for issue #204, but as we know given the switchover and associated issues, we have yet to see either that issue or the one before it. Here's a leftover shot of the completed project. TB

Terry....I thought I had photos of this in one of my Fotki albums but I couldn't find them. I had taken photos of this build along with the earlier AMT Nitro Charger for an article, but it never got published. The photos are hiding somewhere on my current desktop after the folder structure I had used for organizing (Nikon Picture Perfect) did not transfer over from my old to my new desktop when I purchased it c. 2013 or so. Curses! TB

As I mentioned in an earlier post above, there were also Pontiac Astre and a fictitious "Peanut 1" kits based off this tool. And yet another one I had forgotten, a "Ford Pinto/Mercury Bobcat" kit that had body inserts for both makes. How cool is that? There may have been a companion dual Vega/Astre kit as well, but I can't recall for sure. TB

Thanks Mark....knew you would chime in if needed......and yes, the "Beer" kits were an attempt by AMT management to wholesale more kits (the funny cars, the various semi-truck kits, the Model T Delivery, et al) using the Beer liveries as a way to convince the hobby trade these were "new" kits they had to order. I was doing work for AMT at the time....I remember grousing at the working level about much that was going on there but don't recall much being said - good or bad - about the success - or lack thereof - with the Beer kits. TIM

Guys.....Steve has a very big assignment in his full time career right now and he is doing the right thing by not trying to run his business on the side during this period...this hiatus has been planned for months and I am sure Steve is completing all existing orders.....and I am equally sure he will reinstate Calnaga when the current career assignment is completed. He has been working on some very cool additions to his product line for when the time comes......Cheers....TIM

Interesting comments. This tool dates from an era at AMT (around 1974-76) where a good deal of new styrene (kits) were introduced, but many were clearly sub-par in terms of fit and finish. Lack of alignment tabs, as Chris rightly points out, was a problem with many of these kits. My understanding was that the Trojan Horse was the first issue from this tool. It was followed by a whole series of derivative kits using the same chassis and powertrain, but different bodies. Top of mind: Monza, Corvette, Astre, Vega, '74 Satellite, and others I probably can't recall at the moment. And lest we forget, the infamous "Peanut One" kit. I always thought the Mustang body was pretty well done as a replica of the real 1/1 scale car, but some of the other bodies were pretty outlandish in terms of proportion or style. The engine was called out as a 417 Donovan on at least one of the various box arts, and if I am recalling correctly, the engine block had vertical ribbing that was not on stock 392 Hemis and similar in appearance to what I recall was in at least a few shots of the 417 Donovan from the magazines back then. I built this kit few years back with the Satellite body ( the body somewhat modified to make it a bit more stock-like/less outrageous). 0ther than the front and rear end caps issue that Chris also noted, it was a fairly OK kit for the era But not at the level of execution of the Revell funny car kits, the JoHan Mustang/Pinto, or in some ways, even the prior AMT funny car trio (NitroCharger andn the Torino and Nova(?) spinoffs. TIM

They are not exactly identical kits. Close, but there area few elements unique to each kit. Conversely, the top hat parts are identical to both kits. Check out the original review I posted at the beginning of this thread for exact details....thanks...TIM

Hot Rod Hints #2 is now available for your review......Thanks for looking.....TIM

Robert and Jeff....thanks for the feedback; much appreciated...TIM

John....I have not done this direct comparison but any Flathead Ford should fit in a '32 Ford frame (after all, the original frame was designed for that engine). As for more specialized comparisons like the one you attempted, I can't say with any degree of precision. I thought the Tweedy Pie kit was based on a shortened '32 Ford frame (saying this without digging the actual kit out of storage, so take this with a very big grain of salt), so in theory the Flathead should have fit there. However, as many have noted on this forum, things that work together in 1/1 scale don't always transform to models; in particular, some engines seem to be scaled slightly bigger (or in a few cases, smaller) that 1/25th scale. I realize that you probably already know all of the above Sorry I can't provide a more definitive answer......TIM

I talked to Don Emmons about this at GSL two years ago. You will recall that he was doing good deal of work with AMT at the time. He didn't know the answer as to why it was cancelled. But he speculated that the MB 300SL Trophy Series kit had proven a tough sell at the hobby shop level, and that there might have been a fear that a 911 would receive the same reaction. (Remember, at that point the 911 was only 3 years old and it was pretty much cult favorite at that time vs. the huge popularity in enjoys today.) Still, I can see that 1/10th wood buck sitting on a table in the engineering section of the second floor at AMT headquarters just as plain as day. I'm not a 911 fan myself, but darn that looked good!!!! TIM

Hot Rod Hints #2: Converting to a Flathead Ford V8 Most of the scale hot rod kits you can buy include OHV V-8’s from the postwar to early 1960’s era. Alternatively, in the 1/1 scale word many hot rods employ hopped-up versions of the venerable 1932-1953 Ford Flathead V8. Swapping a Flathead V8 into 1/25th scale 1920’s and 1930’s hot rod models is not as hard as you might expect This tutorial has 11 images and captions for each photo - use the "roll view" feature to quickly review each step. Here's the link.... We are blessed with some really premier scale hot rod builders on this Forum. If that's you, I doubt you'll learn anything new here....but for the rest of you who are either less experienced model hot rod builders, haven't done much kitbashing, or just prefer simpler model projects, this one's for you. Enjoy, and be watching for Hot Rod Hints #3 and #4, which will be available for viewing in early and mid March, respectively. TIM

John....you are correct on all counts.....TIM

I still have my two sheets (though they are starting to get pretty picked over).....cool stuff....thanks for sharing for those of us that remember (and those that are seeing them for the first time...) TIM