tim boyd

To add some additional info and support for Mark's explanation, I was doing some work for AMT from 1975-78, and I was hoping to get hired at AMT when I graduated college in early 1978. I recall at the time being told by some of the longer-term AMT staff that the company had been through several periods of financial challenges, during the late 1960's and again a couple of times in the early 70's. AMT's executive team did scrap some of the older molds during this time, for the tax/depreciation benefits which helped the financial situation. AMT went through another period of difficulties in 1978 (one reason they did not hire me at the time), including a strike by the factory workers at the Troy facility (they were represented by the UAW). The leadership team never settled with the UAW, instead they packed up the factory and sent everything to their second assembly facility in Baltimore, which had been setup a few years earlier during the semi-truck kit boon. Much was lost during that move. Both of these events could help to explain why some of the tools were "lost". They were, in effect, actually scrapped. Too bad...like several of you, I'd love to see that '63 Unibody F100 back, not to mention the Kart and the Triumph Bonneville that was in the Chevy pickup kit! . On the other hand, it also appears much we thought was "lost" still actually exists in one form or another. I understand that former AMT staffer John Mueller was retained by Round 2 to go through all the old tools and run test shots with the runners opened up He knows those like the back of his hand. If something exists and is usable, John would have included it in his inventory. TIM

It was plenty cool enough for me when I drove that '69 T&C each day to Pioneer High back in 1971....of course I would have preferred to have a '71 Charger SE....but then, it wouldn't have had all that room for my friends! TB

(smile)....I was responding to Keyser's post above, as well as Joe Handley's comments that followed.....TB

Keyser (and Joe)...really interesting!!! Will be interesting to watch and see how this turns out...TIM

Those Canadian B-Body Pontiacs are way cool, Scott! TIM

John....excellent post and photos....really well done. ***** AC....not to take issue with your comments, but to make a blanket statement like that about all Revell kits just doesn't correspond to my view of Revell, or any of the the model car manufacturers. For instance: - Revell '32 Ford Street Rod Series - Revell '50 Olds Custom - Revell '57 Ford Custom All three are examples of what results when Revell does their homework and gets it right. Each of these are - by a wide margin - the best of their respective breed (e.g. kits of those topics). What Revell (and the other manufacturers - every last one of them, in my book), need to work on, is getting a level of consistent excellency/accuracy on their new tooled kits. A level of execution that meets the standard they've set with the best of their prior kit introductions. What is evident is that Revell, and again, a number of the other guys, really need to concentrate on developing a kit creation method/protocal that provides consistently good body casting results on model topics where OEM factory CAD info on the body proportions is not available. This seems to be a particular challenge right now for Revell, but others often face the same issue (it's just that some of you haven't really found their errors yet). Just my view... Cheers...TIM

Chuck...how do I go about ordering this conversion kit? Thanks...TIM

A quick work-around to avoid the A/C fan belt setup in the optional AAR-style induction setup in the AMT-Ertl '71 Duster 340, is to use the fan belt/accessory drive in the companion AMT-Ertl '71 Duster Street Machine kit (blue car on box art). It replicates a non-AC Mopar 340 setup. TIM

Thank Scott....best regards...>TIM

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