tim boyd

Sigh....! TB

For all you c-body fans, the best underbody by far is in the MPC 1965 Dodge Monaco HT and Custom 880 convertible, 1966 Monaco 500 HT and Polara 500 Cnovertible, and the "Magnum II MPC custom bodied spinoff kit. This basic C-body floorpan/chassis/suspension design was introduced in 1965 and ran mostly without changes, to my understanding, through the end of Chrysler C-Body production in 1978. While nobody is going to tag a modeler on this, the B-Body chassis/underbody was very different then; unlike the B-body, the C-body used a separate subframe that did not incorporate the "K frame' engine mount and suspension cradle of the B-body that you see in the best B-Body kits (thinking Revell 1968-70 Chargers and AMT-Ertl 1971 Chare R/T her)e. The MPC kit chassis mentioned above, with just the addition of accurate front suspension components, is about the best you'll get for an accurate C-body underside. Here are two images of that MPC underbody, albeit not with the aforementioned front suspension details....

Let's see what, if any, they unveil at the DAAM show in Detroit in a few weeks. Betting man would hold some money to place on that event....just sayini'....TB

Really interesting concept, and love your pristine, super clean fabrication and finishes. Also, the interior detail (door panels and rear quatrer panels, for instance)....lotsa terrific craftsmanship there too. Great job Claude! ..TB

Micheal is spot on here...I should have included Model Car Garage in my original reply....I've used their parts in a number of my Flathead Ford V8projects....TB

Great thread, guys! Keep it going. I suspect you all know how the Revell Midgets (c. 2010) look when built up, but if not, let me know and I will post some pics here. Best...TIM

Hi Mike....thanks for your interest. The color is Ford 1970 Grabber Orange from MCW Automoitve Finishes. The body and track roadster nose is from the old and soon to be reissued Revell 1929 Ford Roadster/Closed Cab pickup. The frame/suspension/5.0L Ford V8 are all from the Revell 1932 Ford hot rod kits. The car was a cover story buildup back in around 1998 in Scale Auto Enthusiast. Here is a link to some more pictures starting at #118 (bottom left hand corner) and continuing with 15 more pictures on the next page of the Fotki album. ....TIM

Thanks Marcus! As an author there is nothing better than to hear that you've brought interest and fun to a fellow scale modeler! Very best...TIM PS - I hear that there's a possibility that that B.T. Sherwood guy might reappear in a future issue of MCM...

I heard a number of different stories from inside and outside of Revell. Don't believe we will ever hear a definitive story and I believe that may be intentional. But if you compare the first and second round kits you will note that about half the parts trees in the second round kits were new tooling....mostly on square section (vs. round on the original kits) parts trees. Further, some of the inside surfaces on the second round frame rails were not properly finished (you can see EDM marks that should have been polished away) and revised parts feed locations on the Deuce frames were prone to causing warping on the second round kits. Nevertheless, it is in my mind a major miracle that between the Hobbico bankruptcy, Covid, and the like, we still eventually got back these kits. Major Kudos to the Revell and Revell Germany teams for making this happen! TB

Correct, and the V8-60 in the Midget kit is resized accordingly. Its smaller size was just the ticket for Midget racing, though the Offys won most of the races it seems. Revell's Midget V8-60 engine is just about begging to go into a Belly Tanker project if you ask me...TB

Just received notification from MCM that Forum member "bubba1975" had pressed the "like" button on ti351 Cleveland 1929 Model A Stake bed build from back on 2021. I had forgotten about this post, so I just scanned back through it and I see that somewhere along the way, my Fotki photo sharing site has substituted some photos from my other street rod roadster pickup projects in place of the original stake bed project photography. I'm not going to go back and redo the photos, but at least some of you are aware that a full build article on this project later on appeared as a cover article in a recent issue of Model Cars magazine, and i refer you to that article if you want to see more on how this model came together. Thanks in advance for your interest. TIM

Bob, if memory is serving me correctly, the entire engine with blower assembly and those headers came from the relatively little known Revell #C1107 '63 Corvette Sting Ray V8 Engine Parts Pack. This was among the last of the Revell Parts Pack offerings to be introduced, and it was not included in Revell-Monogram's somewhat ill-fated reissue of the old Revell Parts Pack in the late 1990s (that series did include the 283 Chevy V8 Parts Pack, which was entirely different than this Sting Ray based engine tool). Most of the components in the Sting Ray parts pack later resurfaced in the 1968-ish modified reissue of Revell's 1957 Chevy Bel Air kit. For those who want more info on this, I recall covering it in more detail in my "Collecting Drag Racing Mode Kits" book from CarTech. Cheers...TIM

If anyone has a stash of old Scale Autos, I did two articles showing most of the 1/24-25th scale Flathead Ford hot rod engines. I think the original one was around 2005 or so and called "Flathead Fever" and the second one followed around a year later and may have been called "More Flathead Fever" or something similar. My favorite of all is the one in the Revell 1948 Ford Custom Chopped Coupe kit. One more I don't think was mentioned above (I did not re-read the thread) was the Race Flathead V8-60 in Revell's superb Edelbrock Quarter Midget kit released in 2010. As for Aftermarket, I've used Norm's Replicas and Miniatures Flathead parts for decades now, and more recently, the "Flathead Speed Shop" from VCG Resins by Reese has some way cool parts tool. Have fun everyone! TB

This one was also painted Orbitron Blue. Like Mike, I recall it being very thin and translucent and somewhat trickly to apply. I think I may have applied it over Testors Base Silver. Both Orbitron Blue and Mysterion Yellow were dropped from the Testors paint line in the US around 1966 or so, but they remained in the Testors paint line in Canada through at least the early 1980s. I picked up my cans of both at a store in Windsor, Canada, when I was working at the Renaissance Center in Detroit and you could actually go to Windsor for lunch (via the tunnel next door) and be back in time for the afternoon work schedule. Never ever a chance of that these days. Here's the car....and Mike,,,,sharp looking one on your end too! TB

Thx for the update Dave....TB

Here is the "predecessor" project I referenced above (see the bottom of #226 cover below...). Thanks to you all for your interest...TIM

Here's one of the early 1960s originals that I built up maybe around 20 years ago or so. Looking forward to the new release! TB This is an early 1960's Fuel Altered built almost entirely from the old Revell Parts Packs. It is also essentially identical to the "Sanitary T Bucket" in the uber-rare Revell Sanitary T/Mooneyes Dragster Double kit released only once in 1963. It uses the T frame parts pack with the rectangular section frame rails, the Blown Chevy parts pack V8, the suspension parts from that also very rare parts pack, and the '23T Cal Automotive body parts pack. I commissioned the custom decals from Steve A. in California, and are my way of honoring my long time modeling buddies Tom Woodruff and the late Chuck Helppie. A few more pix follow....

Model is done, photos complete, captions and text written; some final editing to come. Not sure if or when or where it might run. But I think I can say that the predecessor project that mostly inspired this one is cued up for issue #226, if all goes well. Hoping we all see that issue soon. Best...TB.

Sure was/is Carl. This one enjoyed a second reprint run, so there are still a reasonable number in stock. Not a huge number but enough to sustain sales for a while longer. For others reading this thread, the book Carl is referring to is titled "Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits". Those who are interested can get it from the same sources listed above. Cheers...TIM

I am probably going to be accused of self-promotion with this post, and perhaps rightly so. (Mods, please feel free to delete this post if you deem it inappropriate). But I want to alert anyone who has been thinking about buying the "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits" book that the remaining supply of the book at the publisher is down to 150 copies as of earlier this week. At this point the book sounds unlikely to get a second printing, so now might be the time to pounce before it is entirely sold out. The book can be purchased directly at www.cartechbooks.com, through trusted online kit retailers like Model Roundup and Spotlight Hobbies, or through Amazon.com. Best Regards, and thanks to any of you who have previously purchased and read the book! TIM ********** (For those unfamiliar with the book, it was published in late 2020 and features 350 full color images and 175 pages of text covering the vast world of styrene assembly kits of drag racing cars. Twelve chapters are arranged by kit subject (Super Stocks, Gassers, Funny Cars, et al). There's also a bonus chapter showing built up drag racing models from experts like Guy Beaudette, Steve Perry, the late Bud LeFevre, Bill Coulter, Don Emmons, and others. The book is rated at 4.8 out of 5 stars at Amazon.com. If interested, you can read more about the book here.)

Great news Wick! Big congrats. Perhaps there is still life for the printed word! Cheers...TIM

Speaking of which, the Publisher advised me today that they are nearly sold out of the "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits" book. As I indicated above, it is unlikely to see a new print run, and as Tony noted at the start of this thread, the "on demand" copies of out-of-print books are not of the format you typically expect from a CarTech publication. All of which is to say, if you want a copy of the Drag Racing kits book for yourself, now would be a really good time to order it from CarTech, Amazon, or your other favorite book retailer. As for the companion "Collecting Muscle Car Model Kits" book, CarTech did a second print run of that one, so the inventory of that title is still sufficient, at least for now. Best...TB

Folks, Wick's experience is not unusual for auto authors these days. Between the collapse of two major book selling chains a while back and the third one teetering for a good while, then the Covid debacle, and the now-ubiquity of the internet as a source to provide historical info (although sometimes of dubious accuracy), the auto book publishing world has suffered a near=mortal blow, and my sense is that it is still really struggling these days. The only things that really sell these days, apparently, are the modern engine how-to books. Car-Tech made it through, somehow, and also seems to be to be becoming a bit more aggressive in promoting their books (good!). My publisher for both books was also Bob Wilson, and I found him to be a straight shooter and excellent business associate. I also give him and the CarTech team kudos as supporters of the model car hobby (they approached me with a request to do both my books, not the other way around). Not sure how relevant this info is to all of you beyond Wick and I, but I'm sharing it anyway....TB

Here's what the Bonneville version looked like when built. And I also echo the advice about the doors and dual blower Bonneville engine. And for those of you with a collection of Scale Auto back issues, I did a buildup article sometime back in the 2000s.... Good luck with your build! TB