tim boyd

I've been slowly going through my built models and posting them at my fotki site. In doing so, I had forgotten the level of detail I'd invested in this project. It dates back from 1984 or 1985, just after Monogram released their NASCAR kits. It might even have been built from one of the test shots Monogram sent me, and I recall it being the subject of a column in Popular Cars magazine (a Car Craft mag from the publishers of Street Rodder). I don't believe it has even been seen in color outside of my house until now.... Highlights include the really neat blown Boss 429 from the Monogram "Vandal" and "Vanbulance" custom van kits and a graphic layout from a series of 1/144th scale airline decals that I bought from the legendary San Antonio Hobby Shop (IIRC) near San Jose, CA back in the day. A few minor adaptations for the street included head and taillamps and a license plate. At the time my 1/1 scale rides were a 1983 Heritage T-Bird with the TRX package, followed by a 1984 T-Bird Turbo Coupe. As there was never a factory stock kit of either of these, this model was the closet I could get there in scale. And to think now I built it nearly 40 years ago...how time flies. Thanks for looking...TIM

Hi Chris....that's the way the kit came. Interesting observation, now I need to dig out all my old magazines with drag and ski boat articles and see what the norm was back in the 60's when this kit was first engineered.....thanks for asking. TIM

No insider info here, but I would bet there are many other potential kit cloning ideas that would rank higher than a reboot of the 1963 Rayson Craft kit. Apparently boat kits in 1/25th have never been particularly strong sales subjects, which is why there have been so few original tools built, and so few reissues over the ensuing decades. Not that I wouldn't love to see the Rayson Craft kit come back some day, but sadly my guess is it would never happen.... Good news, if there is any on this one, is that you can piece toether a Rayson Craft model by buying a glue bomb and restoring it by using some of the parts that were shared with the Kindsvater kit that is being reissued now. That's exactly how I built both of these IIRC.... TB

AMT has created 2 1/2 boat tools...#1 - the original 1960 Trophy Series 3 in 1 with stock, custom, and race versions, which has been reissued a number of times, #2 - the 1963 Rayson Craft Trophy Series kit, which sadly has never been reissued, and #2 1/2 - the 1968 "Hull Raiser" which was a major modification/update of the Rayson Craft kit with an all-new Kindsvater boat hull and the engine converted from an FE to a SOHC V-8, with reduced build options vs. the Rayson Craft. This later version included reissues with a 1968 Firebird custom-only tow vehicle in 1968, the original Aqua Rod with the Chevy Van around 1975, the Model King reissue with the MPC 1970 Bonneville convertible tow vehicle around 2005, and this updated Aqua Rod reissue in 2023. If I m recalling correctly, all these AMT boat kits were illustrated and discussed in my boat kit article in Model Cars mag around 2005 or so....TB

Some interesting comments on the Aqua Rod kit.... * The new, second graphic treatment is derived from the original c. 1975 or so AMT kit catalog announcement illustration of the kit. That graphic treatment never made the very abbreviated decal sheet that actually appeared in the original Aqua Rod kit. I suggested they look at adding the catalog graphic treatment for the decal sheet for this reissue and they actually did it! Bravo to John G, Steve G. and the Round 2 team. * In an article on 1/25th scale drag and ski boars in Model Cars mag about 15 or so years ago, I revealed that the boat hull was a dead ringer for the 1/1 scale Kindsvater boat of the mid to late 1960's. But it was never referenced as such until this new kit release, which actually confirms the Kindsvater connection (see the side panel art in the December Round 2 video). (Prior kit releases did not specify the brand of the boat hull). * In preparing for this release, John G. had all the gates opened in the boat tool to see what if any of the original 1963 Rayson Craft Trophy Series kit content might still be present. Answer - virtually nothing except the parts that carried over for the 1968 "Hull Raiser" kit and its subsequent combo kit releases. Don't know about you guys, but I am sure looking forward to this one....TIM

Further to James' point, to the best of my knowledge, Dave Metzner himself builds the Moebius box art models. Dave is a really, really busy man with all the Moebius projects he is currently overseeing, of which some underway are not known to most of the hobby yet. I am sure he invests the best amount of available time to build his box art models in combination with all the other responsibilities and activities that account for his time. Think of it this way - would you rather see that molding painted in, or know that the same amount of time was being invested in bringing the next Moebius car or truck replica tool to the market a little quicker or with a little more refinement? In that context, I think we can forgive a lack of painting in a window molding. That's my view, but I acknowledge that others will see this differently, and that is fine, too. TB

What James said. That's the way it was in the 1970's when I did box art and national annual sales meeting display models for AMT, and pretty much the same today from what I hear. Dave Darby can probably add further insight on this. Plus, the pay (as an hourly rate) is very minimal, too. TB

Jim...the 340 stayed for the whole model year 1973. The E58 360 was 1974 and later. I ordered mine in early October, it was built in Windsor and delivered in early December, 1973. I think it was one of the first 360's down the production line. Generally Mopars with buckets and automatics had a column shift unless a console was ordered. My '73 Duster 340 that I traded in on the RR had buckets, no console, and a column shift. I really didn't like that very much, which was a contributing factor (though not the only one) in my decision to order the RR one year later... The thng I liked best about the '73/'74 SSP was the moldings that went all around the DLO (daylight opening) of the side glass....the Sebring (notSSP) didn't have that feature. TB

Correct amundo back at 'ya. In fact I would have ordered the power windows had I known they made the rear windows operable instead of fixed. Not only would that have made my RR a true hardtop, but being able to roll down the rear windows in conjunction with the "Strato air vent" option (or whatever they called it, which was otherwise useless) it would have made for a poor-man's A/C (yes, I passed on that option on my car. I did, however, order the tach, tuff steering wheel, console/shifter, speed control, and radio delete (as referenced above). I didn;t learn about the power window factoid until many years later, BTW. TB PS- yep, that was Bill Coulter. Went on to write many articles for SAE and Model Cars Mag, plus a number of books on modeling too.

The Satellite Sebring Plus was available in 1973 and 1974; it was a very sharp piece. In fact, I would have preferred it over my RR, but you could not get the E58 360 4bbl in the SSP, which was a "fatal flaw" for me. Plus a RR with the interior Decor Group was almost the same as the SSP, and the price was noticeably lower. TB

Thanks John for posting the 1974 data. I ordered the Exterior Decor Group on my '74 RR which apparently was also the source of the trim ring upgrade. I recall that many of the 1/1'73 and '74 RR's out there had the Exterior Decor Group, but some did not and still had the trim rings. As you said, maybe a dealer upgrade, maybe assembly line mistakes, but I clearly recall this as I thought the lack of trim rings on the 1969 GTO Judge was a really dumb move on their part, and that view carried over to other manufacturers who did the same thing later, including mother Mopar on the Duster Twister and Dart Demon/Sport equivalents.... TB PS - Bill Coulter - yes that Bill Coulter - also owned a factory ordered '74 RR 318 with factory duals (as I recall, the 318 duals was rated at 170 net hp vs. 150 for the single exhaust non-RR 318)....Bill's was an automatic, also black with both exterior and interior decor groups like mine but with white stripes; quite a show in Tom Woodruff's Jackson Center OH driveway when we both met there for models meets prior to the start of the NNLs...you can just get a glimpse of his RR in the background of the middle picture here... PPS = my '74 RR E58 about six months after I took delivery in December of 1973....and just before the first of several sets of mags ...

Never ever did I see a 1973 or 1974 RR with Rallye Wheels but no trim rings. The reference for '73 cited above by John is legit Mopar literature; I need to research 1974 and see if it changed for that year. And in case there is any doubt, to the best of my knowledge there was no way to factory order a '73 or '74 RR with hub caps or wheel covers. For '73 yor could get as an option 14x6 Road Wheels (e.g. Magnum 500 lookalikes) or 15x7 Rallye wheels, for 1974 you could get 14x6 Road Wheels or different 15 x 6 (I think) C-Body Road Wheel exclusively paired with radial tires that year. I do not believe the Mopar wire wheel covers were an option those two years, but need to verrify that. Thanks all....TB

Interesting comments, Jim. Back then, many of us bought cars with the cheapest wheels and cheapest radio (or even better, no radio), as once we got a few monthly payments under our belt, we went to Gratiot Auto Supply or Discount Tire and bought white letter 60's or '70's, along with the cheapest aftermarket wheels we could find, and then went to the local stereo store to buy a Pioneer underdash stereo/tape deck and Utah 6x9 co-axial/bass reflex speakers for the package tray. What I found amusing was that the husband of one of my Adminstrative Assistants had a 'primo '73 Road Runner 340 that was a near visual twin to my '74 E58/360, and he was running (as of about ten years ago), steel wheels with Mopar hubcaps. It did look sharp, except that '73/'74 Road Runners came standard from the factory with 14x6 Mopar Rallye Wheels with trim rings. Pie pans and steelies were not even available on those models at all! Still, I'm on board with Steve's decision to go with the hub caps on the GTO....viva la difference, I guess...TB TB

What Bill said. If you did not look at my coverage of the NNL Motor City (link posted under "Contests and Shows" section of forum), you probably missed this 1972 Dodge Polara Custom station wagon built by Jeff Bloomhuff from what he told me is a commercially available supplier of 3D printed bodies. Jeff had to smooth out the surfaces (as is common with 3D printing), provide the interior and chassis (primarily kitbashed from Mopar b-Body kits) and vacuum form the windshield from a buck provided by the 3D supplier. For those that do not know Jeff, he is a really talented modeler and rising star in our world - very creative and terrific attention to detail. As someone who briefly entertained buying a new 1972 Polara Custom wagon (yes, really...I ended up buying a '73 Duster 340 with the space pak instead), I would say that the body is about 90% or better true to the original car, and more accurate than some commercially tooled kits in the last 15 years. Jeff reports that there are more Mopar C-bodies available from the printer, and he showed me a few images of another C-body he built that is intended to appear in print at some point in the future....cool stuff!

Thanks Charlie....that explains it. Best....TB

I surely cannot speak for the owner. But from having talked with him several times and meeting him for lunch one time, I think he was very cautious about wanting to deal what he saw as a large company, he did not want to really let the 1/10th masters out of his hands, even just for a loan and to be returned, and he may have been a little skeptical about the financials as I am not sure he fully internalized the kit market today as a mere fraction of what it was in the late 1970's when the masters were created. I know Round 2 had several discussions with him but not much of the details. But I do want to emphasize that he was a really sincere person, and he was not looking to get rich out of the deal. In the end, things worked out for the best as the new kit is far beyond what it would have been if the original masters had been scanned and tooled, as was pointed out above., and he was able to hold on to his archival material as well Best...TIM

Mine works fine on Windows 10. Copied it to the hard drive of my prior desktop, for the new desktop I just insert the disc and play it from there. Good to hear it works on Windows 11 as it looks as though at some point, I will have to succumb to doing that upgrade....TB

Great reputation in the hobby. Not only good service, but incredibly prompt delivery from what I hear and have observed myself. Last weekend at the NNL Motor City, Matt (the new owner) and I talked at some length about the business since he and Dawn took over the business from Tom Carter a couple of years back. They have done very well since then and are expanding the business, step by step, with even bigger plans for the future. Based on my own experience and that of many, many others, you can order from them without worries. TIM

Charlie, help me on this one as I don't really follow Mopar muscle after 1974.... For those that are not aware, that "E58" code is golden to us old Mopar boys...in fact I ordered one myself for my 1974 Road Runner and it was a great all-around performer. Much of the automotive media at the time dismissed it as nothing more than the pedestrian 360 2bbl with a new intake and carb, which was completely false. In fact, it carried over a good deal of the old 340 innards and while it didn't wind out on the top like my previous Duster 340, it had low and mid-range torque the 340 could only dream about. It trated at 245 net hp that year, which translated to about 310-320 hp under the prior "gross hp" rating approach, and it was among the most powerful engines in the industry that year, in fact outranking several much larger displacement engines from other manufacturers. After its 1974 debut, it went on the power Mopar Police Cars and the 'Little Red Wagon" muscle pickups in 1978/79. In the last 10-20 years, seems the auto media has become much more aware of the 1970's E58 its significance, along with two other late first gen muscle car engines, the 1971 Boss 351 Cleveland and the 1971-72 Pontiac 455 HO. So, my question is, has Chrysler re-used the "E58" nomenclature on one of its many late model Charger variations, and if so, what is the application and its contents? Thanks....TB

The '68 Coronet R/T was on the consideration list at Round 2 during virtually the entire time these comments were appearing on this board, if I am remembering correctly. They were aware of the interest, but there was no way to affordably and realistically change the existing 1970 tooling set back to 1968 form and get a quality outcome. Plus, the 1970 kit has proven to be a reliably good seller during multiple rounds of reissues, so they would not have wanted to remove the possibility of more releases in the 1970 form. It was only when the "cloning" approach was worked out and "productionalized", if you will, did it become realistic to pursue a 1968 Coronet as a future kit release. Once that happened the work on this R/T quickly began. As I stated on the NNL Motor City Round 2 thread, Steve and the team have been working diligently on this project for over a year now, and what we are getting will be notably better in several areas than just a complete retread of the original annual kit. TB

So clean, so clever, so spectacular.....TB

I believe there will be new headers as neither the factory stock nor the Gasser kit headers match up to the custom exhaust system in the stock version hardtop kit...TB

Whoa....wait a second on this. I can assure you that the Revell team was aware of the importance of the 351 Cleveland in developing this kit. Like many of you, I would be thoroughly disappointed if the engine turned out to be anything less than 100% Cleveland... Qiuck internet search includes this info: THREE EASY VISUAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE 351W AND 351C/351M. Radiator Hose. On a Cleveland/Modified engine, the radiator hose (and thermostat housing) sticks vertically right out of the top of the engine block. Windsor engines have the radiator hose and thermostat installed into the intake manifold, where it exits from the front of the engine. Valve Covers. Windsor valve covers use 6-bolt covers, whereas the Cleveland/Modified uses 8-bolt covers. Timing Chain. Cleveland/Modified engines have the timing chain recessed into the front of the block itself, and its timing cover is essentially just a flat piece of metal. The Windsor’s timing chain attaches to the front of the engine and has an external timing cover typically made of cast aluminum. It is a little difficult to see from the box art side panel image, but it sure looks to me like the radiator hose sticks out of the front portion of the engine block, just as it should on a Cleveland. My point here is "let's be careful not to jump to definitive conclusions until we have the kit's engine parts in our hot grubby hands". Then let the you-know-what hit the fan in the radiator shroud if applicable.... TB

I don't have any insider info on this, but I suspect Round 2 has at least made this option a consideration in putting together their Bronco product range. Because the 4 door has a longer wheelbase, this would be a major lift to put into a new kit as it affects the chassis, driveline, exhaust system, interior, and exterior. All would need new parts. Becomes mostly a new tool rather than just a mod of the original tool. On the other hand, 4-door versions of the Bronco and Wrangler are the best sellers, so if the 1/1 scale market affects what model builders would buy, presumably there would be a market for a 4-door Bronco kit. Although, I must say I am impressed at how well the 1/1 scale 2-door Bronco has been doing so far, and, if there could be only one kit, I applaud Round 2 for choosing the 2-door version....TB