tim boyd

Charlie....is the '65 880 just a Polara (without the woodgrain sides) or a Custom 880 (with the woodgrain)? If a Custom 880, what color? Sounds really interesting... You're not the only one who sees the appeal of the Buick Estate Wagons. Street rodding author/contributor Dave Hill, who famously designed the 1/25th scale Phantom '48 Ford Roadster Pickup that was later duplicated in 1/1 scale (right down to the same color), and did one of the first "patina" models with his '83 Mustang GT convertible model featured in SAE, has just picked up his own circa '84 Estate Wagon. It's in great shape and looks superb. He plans a mild lowering and mag wheels.... Best regards///TIM

Bill....terrific work and explanations so far....best wishes for continued progress and enjoyment! TIM

My comments on Scott's post added in bold italic underline....

More pictures Scroll down to the third row of images at this link below, far right of row, to see one of these setup with mags and slightly lowered... https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=768&q=1965+dodge+custom+880+station+wagon&oq=1965+Dodge+Custom&gs_l=img.1.4.0l2j0i24l5.1267.4414.0.7460.17.8.0.9.9.0.150.586.5j3.8.0....0...1ac.1.51.img..0.17.811.WTSUS8j8qNY#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=iNlyuTmgsLZydM%253A%3BTRTVjdFfstz6GM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fassets.hemmings.com%252Fstory_image%252F207741-1000-0.jpg%253Frev%253D2%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.hemmings.com%252Fhcc%252Fstories%252F2010%252F08%252F01%252Fhmn_feature4.html%3B1000%3B420

This one is the 1965 Dodge Custom 880 wagon. If you look closely at images of drag racing events back in the day, you'll see a surprising number of this exact design being used as push cars by some pretty famous Mopar-based drag teams of the era. Makes me think it was probably part of their sponsorship packages (they were usually setup with Cragar mags and narrow whitewalls. While I could do without the whitewall, the mags made a HUGE difference in the visual appeal of the '65 Custom 880 wagon...) TSB

* 1969 Chrysler Town and Country Wagon....(yes, our family had one...in the exact color of this illustration (F8 Jade Green Metallic - the image is incorrectly identified as to paint color...Avocado Metallic as a much lighter Green)....by 1972 (after I graduated HS) I had it setup with Rocket mags (the poor man's Cragar S/S) with H70/J70 blackwalls and a minor adjustment of the front torsion bars to lower it just a little...it looked terrific! But any of the '69-'71 Plymouth Sport Suburbans and Dodge Monaco wagons (which used the same basic body shell) would be cool. ( Never, ever gonna actually happen, but would be cool!) I'm much less a fan of the '70/'71 Town and Country, which lost its "lean and mean" imagery due to trim and grill changes.... TSB

On a more upbeat note, this Jeep kit (and its various derivatives/predecessors) is one of the best "unsung" kits on the market. Check it out....for a kit originally tooled by Monogram circa 1978, this one (and I am speaking of all the variations, not just the Mork and Mindy versions) was head and shoulders above their other new kits of the era in accuracy, proportions, and building variations, and it stands up well versus the newer kits of today. TIM

When the Revell team finally unveiled the first round of test shots of the '70 'cuda tool (at the 2012 NNL Nationals), we went to dinner with them after the event. As we waited for our tables (the group was pretty large!!!), I remember talking to Revell personnel about future plans for the 'cuda tool. It's been nearly two years now and so the memory is not quite as clear as it was back then, and I have to be careful not to unintentionally divulge anything that they would consider to be confidential information, but the jest of the conversation I can share was that they had not taken any firm plans on what might come next from the tool (which was originally designed to incorporate both of the versions that are now on the market). But they were aware that a 'cuda AAR (restored stock) would be a fairly simple addition to the kit tool (but less so, an authentic AAR Trans Am racer). The upshot of the conversation was, additional variants of the 'cuda tool could be within the realm of the possible, if the first two kits sold well, just as they continued to develop derivatives of the '32 Ford Street Rod series over the life of that tool. Personally, I would like to see them incorporate further fine tuning of the body casting to address some of the minor errors, as part of engineering any additional variants of the kit in the future. Best regards...TIM

Here's a couple of pictures I took of the second place winner at the International Model Car Museum circa 2011.... Best regards....TIM

Check out the fourth place winner. ' Rumor is that he may attempt to restore the car and take it to GSL next spring to display next to the first and second place winners which already reside there.... TIM

Cliff...appreciate the comments and perspective. My direct experience with the kit manufacturers dates from current back through the mid 1970's, and it is (as you suspect) primarily U>S> market focused, so it's not too surprising we have different view on this. But personally, I'm sticking with my thoughts on the subject. My thoughts are also tempered by the fact that we as the "in deep" side of the hobby have it pretty good right now (with new kits, and retoolings of old kits to return them to their original versions) And more, much more, is in the works. With that part of the market being covered reasonably well, it makes sense (and here I'm speaking as a Marketing Executive, not as a model car builder) for the domestic kit manufacturers to invest some resources in the entry level portion of the hobby marketplace. . I might be more where you are coming out if our side of the hobby was being neglected as it has been, at times, in the past. Time will tell, I guess. In the meantime, please pass along "cheers" to all my Australian mates down under! TIM

Yes...Steve is correct....best selling kits reportedly included the Monkeemobile (over 7 million sold), Ala Kart & original AMT '57 Bel Air Trophy Series (more than 5 million each), and the Dukes of Hazzard kit (listed by some sources as reportedly the best selling kit of all time at 11 million units IIRC. Other sources add the Revell Charlies Angels Van (!), the original AMT '32 Ford Roadster Trophy Series, and the various MPC "Blackbird" Trans Ams (several million apiece). So count me firmly in the camp that the new DoH snapper will prove to be an outstanding investment for Round 2. And as Steve points out above, if just a tiny fraction of the youngsters out there give it a try, it will be one of many contributing factors to the coming "third golden age of model car building". TIM

The '71 Demon used Dodge Dart front fenders, and the wheel lips were contoured differently than the Duster/Valiant wheel lips. The MPC '71 Demon kit did not catch this difference, instead using the Duster front wheel lips. I have always given this a "pass", as the 1/1 scale Demon should have had front wheel well openings that matched the Duster wheel lips used in the rear quarter panels. E>G> the kit is actually what the 1.1 scale car should have been. (If you look closely at a 1/1 scale Demon, the difference between the front and rear wheel wells is pretty obvious) There isn't really a good Dart kit to transfer the front wheel well castings from - * The original MPC '70 Dart Swinger funny car with Ramchargers markings is probably closest, but the wheel wells are moved forward as on many funny car bodies in the day, so it's not an exact match/swap. * This MPC body casting was later modified to the Wild Bill Shrewsbury wheelstander kti and the wheel wells were relocated TOO far rearward to match the shorter wheelbase (on A-body Barracudas) that was already engineered into the MPC Hemi Under Glass kit that was used as the basis for the Will Bill Shrewberry chassis. * The Revell '68/'69 Dart GTS wheel well openings only (the fenders are different) could be used, but those aren't a 100% correct pattern in my opinion. My recommendation - use the body as is. If I ever do a Demon Pro Stock, that's what I'll do. Best...TB ,

Thanks Bernard. All makes sense! TIM

Finally indeed! Thanks for the update, Bernard. Question for you...when I built the '27 T Roadster pickup using the Tim's Resin Rods body, I found that I had to narrow the Revell '32 Ford frame so that it would align properly under the '27 T body. From what I've read, this also needs to be done in 1/1 scale when using a '26/'27 T body on a '32 Ford frame. If you covered this in a previous photo and I've subsequently forgotten it, apologies in advance...but did you end up narrowing your '32 Ford frame or did everything fit without this step? As for the choice of a Y-Block Ford, RIGHT ON brother!!!!! Best regards...Tim

Phil - Very, very clever! Thanks for sharing....TIM

This is the one I was thinking of in my post above....TIM

Don't think it hasn't been suggested....because it has. Several times. Still....the appeal of this one, probably, is pretty narrowly focused. We'd love it but would it sell to a broader audience? That is more than a bit questionable. TB PS - that looks like Pete's dad's T...a car I have enjoyed looking at for nearly 40 years now....but I don't recall having seen it with whitewalls before. It definitely looks like Pete driving it, though. TB

I'd love to see both of them done as hot rods just like they did with the '32 Ford series....TIM PS - the versions you chose Greg to illustrate for your vote would be a great starting point if I were the one investigating this new kit idea....TB

Here are direct links to the last two 1.1 scale photo albums I've posted links to in the subject folder, as referenced in my note at the start of this thread: *,2014 Goodguys PPG Nationals, Columbus, OHIO, July 10-13, 2014 http://www.modelcars...showtopic=91512 * 2014 Concours d'Elegance of the Americas at St. Johns, July 27, 2014 : http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=92034 Best Regards....TB....

mistake....sorry.

Skip....yes...the front fender would be a good reference. It appeared to be the same color as the other Crème-esque Cord I photographed, and the same color of others I've seen in the past. This car won an award of some type, because when I came back later in the day it was gone (which means it was in the cue for driving past the spectator stands and getting an award). This was a VERY competitive class, so it was a real outstanding piece. Best Regards...TIM

Just a call out to everyone that if you don't already do so, you need to regularly check out the 1/1.scale reference picture folders at the bottom of the car and truck sections of this forum. The number of people checking out these sections suggests that most of you do not look at these areas. You are missing out on some great reference photography no matter what your specific area of automotive interest might be. In my own case, I just posted a link to 400 pictures from this weekend's Concours d'Elegance of the Americas, arguably among the top Concours events in the country (after Pebble Beach and Amelia Island). There were some extraordinarily cool cars there this year. A few weeks back I posted a link to pictures of the Goodguys Columbus Nationals. I had over 70,000 (!) individual page visits from around the world the first day I posted the coverage, but virtually none of those views came from readers of this forum. I think many of you would have enjoyed them if you'd looked at them. Of course, this also applies for many other topics in these two forum folders where others have posted reference pictures and links there...particularly some of the large truck/tractor reference pictures. In all cases, these two folders have both great reference pictures for those who have a specific project in mind, as well as super-inspiring ideas for those who don't have a clear plan in mind for their next model project. Just a suggestion....TIM

See details at the attached link: http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/11-scale-automotive/2014-concours-deleg/ Here's a description of what took place...and what kind of images are at the link: ******************************************************** In 2011....the event formerly known as the Meadowbrook Concours relocated to the Inn at St. John's in Plymouth Township, Michigan, making this year's event the fourth at the new location. There was a spectacular display of Duesenberg Roadsters and Phaetons this year, along with another "circle" of Auburns and Cords right next door. Plenty of exotic European sports cars of the 50's and 60's including some extraordinarily rare cars and one offs. Other features included finned car (the cars of Chrysler Designer Virgil Exner) and Aero/Winged Cars (SuperBirds, Daytonas, Charger 500's, Talledega Torinos, and Mercury Cyclones) were impressive compilations of these designs. Other themes included modern American pickups, drag bikes (!), including two dual-engine Triumphs and two Chevy V8 sidewinders, and Lamborghinis. The 50th anniversary of GTO's and Mustangs were honored as well, with perhaps the only disappointment of the show being only three vintage Mustangs on offer, offset by a 2015 GT Convertible and an 2015 Coupe on display (the latter cars attracting a great deal of attention from the crowd). The often unpredictable Michigan weather, forecasted to be Thunderstorms all day long, held off 'till well past the closing time of the event, making this yet another very successful event at the new location. Please enjoy the 398 event pictures here. And thanks for looking...TIM