tim boyd

This is an in-depth build thread of the Gasser kit in near final test shot form. It is representative of the final kit except for decals and last-minute changes made to the DLO to more accurately reflect the greenhouse of the real car......hope this can stand in until others here start building and posting the final kit results...TIM

Thx Casey for the photo....TB

Excellent progress, Craig! TIM

Dennis....what an inspired build you have going here. Terrific paint detailing, too! Looking very much forward to seeing this one done....TIM

If any of you joined this thread in progress (and did not see my original pos in this thread) and if you are also awaiting the delivery of your orders, here's a look inside the box. Great model car building fun and kitbashing is just around the corner for you....TIM

Scott...truthfully, the '74-'78 were my least favorite Mustangs. But from the broader perspective of a business person, they were the right cars at the right time. The Ghia with the opera roof windows was a very good execution of that genre. The Mustang IIs sold very well for the period and were very popular with those who bought them. Most importantly, from my perspective, is that they continued the Mustang legacy and nameplate through a very difficult period in the auto industry and paved the way for the immensely successful 1979-2004 Fox based Mustangs! TIM

Scott...the '71/'72 (but not '73) were always among my own most favorite 1st gen Mustangs. I never thought they got the respect they deserved from the automotive worlds. I can't speak for my former Ford colleagues, but the impression I had was that these were not all that well liked in general, but that the appreciation grew as we designed to current gen (2015 and on) Mustang themes. My own other fave early Mustangs would have to be the 1967 with Pony package, and the 1969, particularly the Boss 302. Thanks for asking....TIM

Scott....my understanding, from the stage when the 1/1 scale research for kit development was underway, is that a Mach 1 with the 385 series 429 engine was being planned as a follow-up release off the initial Boss 351 tooling. This info is over a year old, now, so plans might possibly have changed, but my nickel would be on a Mach 1 spinoff coming down the pike a year or so after the Boss 351 kit debuts. As always, time will tell! Best...TIM.

Bill....that color looks mega-cool to my eyes. And congrats on the paint save. Sometimes my biggest respect goes to modelers who encounter problems along the way (in reality, we all do) and somehow find a way to persist and bring the project to completion. Way to go...! TIM

Good to hear, thanks Steve! TIM

Whew.....good to hear. For any of you who have a subscription to the magazine that (sort of) replaced your Scale Auto sub, there is now a fully detailed kit review/assembly hints on this kit posted at their website....TB

Personally, I like all of the Ford muscle era greens, especially the original Grabber Green. I chose it for my own replica stock 1970 Boss 302 project, which some of you may recall was a two-part cover story in Scale Auto about 22 years or so ago....TB

It is with great sadness that I report that the hobby has lost one of its longtime influential leaders. Chuck Helppie passed away earlier this week after a long battle with several serious health issues. Chuck is probably best known in the model car hobby as one of the three original visionaries and organizers of the NNL (National Nameless Luminaries) non-competitive model car show movement, and as the National Grand Champion of the 1977 MPC National Customizing Contest series. Chuck also won 1976 Third Place Nationwide and the 1979 National Quality Workmanship Award in the yearly MPC National Customizing Contest series. Chuck won several “Best of Show” awards at the Detroit Cobo Autorama Model Car Contest during the mid-late 1970’s, which at the time was the world’s single largest single model contest event. More recently, Chuck was the visionary lead organizer, event Chairman, and Master of Ceremonies at the 40th NNL Reunion Banquet and Model Display conduced in October, 2019 in Toledo, OH. Chuck took a relatively low profile in the model car world over the last several decades, but his model building and design skills easily ranked among the best in this hobby. Among Chuck’s most favorite model car topics were Formula 1 kits and both resin and white metal 1/43rd scale kits. Over the years, Chuck also greatly enjoyed the initial stages of piecing together wildly styled and proportioned hot rod themed models. Chuck was a high achiever in other walks of life as well, including being an organizer and longtime participant in the yearly Detroit Tigers Fantasy Camp event in Lakeland, Florida, and a stockbroker who worked in that trade for over four decades and eventually owned his own brokerage, Echelon Wealth. Chuck was also a nationally known expert about the events surrounding the 1963 President Kennedy assassination and wrote and published the historical fiction novel "Kennedy Must Be Killed". On a more personal note, Chuck was one of the most important influences in most of my own adult life, and I counted him among my closest lifetime friends. Chuck was married to his lifelong best friend and wife Vali and they were planning to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary this summer. The family is not planning a funeral service. TIM BOYD

Rex is exactly right on those colors. Grabber Green ended its run at the end of the 1970 model year. Grabber Green Metallic was a 1971 color, as was Grabber Lime. TB

Grabber Lime and Grabber Green Metallic were both new in 1971 colors and would look great on a scale 1971 Mustang build. In fact, I have an original issue AMT 1971 Mach 1 partially completed in Grabber Lime color...TB

My understanding is that there will be a 429 Mach 1 of some sort as a second release off this tool. Great news for those of us (like me) who consider the 1971-72 Mustang to be one of the highlights of the 58 year Mustang family tree..... TIM

Craig....great start on your project, and thanks for sharing it with us here. Will be watching as this bad-boy comes together.....TIM PS - if anyone needs more 1/1 scale inspiration for kitbashing '30 A Five Window Coupe Traditional Hot Rods, you can see some photos here - TB

What Tim (Slesak) said about Doug and his video series....spot on! Thx Tim! When Doug and his team were doing the video interviews at NNL Nats #40, he told me that this YouTube series or something like it had long been a dream of his, and with the assistance and encouragement of family members with Video-editing capabilities and the last-ever NNL Nats taking place, it was time to finally act. For the sake and history of our hobby, so glad he did....TB Thx Tim....TB

Thanks Kevin! TB

Thanks to David Dale for the heads-up, and to Doug Whyte for the initiative and production, for the latest release in this series. It is about model car mag writers, and includes interviews/comments from Rick Hanmore, Bill Coulter, and myself. I'm not You-Tube savvy, so maybe someone else can post a link. I gather it was just released by Doug. TIM

For those interested in more on this subject, see the section on this kit series in my 2021 book "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits" (CarTech Publishing). It includes additional info on what really happened to the Racing Scenes tooling when it arrived at Monogram headquarters in Morton Grove, per a source who was there when it happened.... TB

Chris....yep....still have your sheet of license plates to this day (I think). I used those on several of my model projects over the years. Not sure if I ever got a chance to say "Thanks" so I'm doing that now. A very big "THANKS"! Best....TIM

I beg to differ a bit .... I have personally observed that Round 2 has some very knowledgeable and capable people on the Marketing side. What they also have is what any successful business has, a priority on investing their financial and human resources on projects that will deliver the maximum return on their investment. Round 2 has many different product categories, and their new tooling investments must support them all. Generally speaking, model car kits - unfortunately - don't always generate the same return as some of their other product categories, both when it comes to new tooling and to modified reissues. My observation is that Round 2 is pretty savvy about keeping their ear to the ground in terms of what the market (i.e. kit buyers) is looking for. It's not that they don't have good ideas or are not aware of good ideas from their kit buyers (and btw there are many good ones in this thread), it's simply that their available resources limit how many of those ideas can be placed into development and production. Supposedly the new Round 2 owners/investors are going to bring increased financial resources for new kit development; presumably some of this will impact car and truck kits, and we may see the fruits of that sooner than later (if the end of the Feb. 2022 video statement can be taken at face value.). None of this is to shortchange Moebius, who has developed a very successful kit strategy and is playing it out very well. Not very familiar with JR Salvino's business model nor its principles, but they too seem to be be increasingly aggressive on new auto model kit topics. Good for them all! TB

OK you guys shamed me enough that I finally undertook a journey to the deep, dark cauldrons that hold my box art collection. Surprise....(to me, at least)....both the AMT 1964 Vette annual kits had the trailer.... #6924-200 Sting Ray Sports Hardtop Advanced Customizing Kit and #6914-200 Sting Ray Convertible Advanced Customizing Kit. Both show the trailer on the side panel. The same illustration is used for both kits, other than that the top portion of the body (above the beltline) is personalized to each kit's content, along with the difference in the side pipes leading to the sidemount mulfflers (2 per side in the hardtop,, 4 per side with the convertible). The colors are the same on both illustrations and even the AA/P 24" roundel livery is the same for both kits. Interestingly, the Vette box art illustrations omit the unique center mounted license plate with rectangular light below that is in the kits and shown in the instructions....parts that are found in the Vette kits but apparently not in the reissued versions, at least the Fireball and Piranha Combo kits I just looked at. As to the fenders and the vertical stops at the front of the trailer on my build pictured above, I have no idea where they came from. But they are not in the Vette kit(s) contents, nor the above referenced reissues. Also, just compared an original 1964 Vette kit and Fireball 500 parts tree that has the basic trailer part (not the trees with leaf springs and other parts). These Vette and Fireball parts are clearly from the same tool origin. Each tree includes the main trailer and two fairly large wheel chucks. The parts feed/trees are also identical, other than that the the forward edge of the Fireball tree (by the trailer hitch) was reconfigured slightly and there was no longer a feed point at the very tip of the forward trailer hitch. Awaiting Chris' photos which will hopefully confirm what I've relayed above....or not! Still much to learn here... Best....TIM

Yes, of course. Post corrected....TB