tim boyd

Just a brief memo that having been long interested in the model car kit industry not only as a builder/writer but also as a business person, I was surprised to hear yesterday the same story from from various aftermarket vendors, the one kitmaker directly represented there, several kit sellers/hobby shop owners, and the organizers of the NNL Motor City. All saying basically the same thing. The hobby kit industry (particularly here for us, the car/truck kit segment) is on fire - in a good way. Sales are apparently very strong and staying that way, not retracting as some had suspected after life started to get back to some degree of normalcy. I see this positively affecting our hobby for the future, and I was very excited to hear it. Accordingly, wanted to share it here, too. Best....TIM

Pete...welcome your view on this. But to be clear, I did not deflect or ignore comments on the body "being off" (I read every one of them), but many of the comments were simply not factually correct. I did not feel it was my obligation to respond to those. Whether that was the correct response or not is, I suppose, justifiably open to debate. I also simply was asking people to wait until they could see the final result, then form their own opinion, as I believed any possible issues would become much more obvious upon viewing the completed model. Which again, could be open to debate. And to your own comments (apologies in advance if I am not remembering those correctly), I did not have access to a real car to do any measurements to compare with the kit body. Finally, I did not, and do not, ever feel any obligation to defend a certain model kit; feeling that it will stand or fall on its own merits. In this case I thought the kit was an outstanding effort, one undoubtedly made even better by the recent revisions. But ultimately the modeling community, not I, will make the final call on that verdict. Having said all this, should I ever decide to do such a online buildup/preview again here in the future, I will probably approach it in a very different manner. Best...TB

Yep....that pretty much sums up my understanding here. Unfortunately, guys, the tonality of some of the forum comments and the view of some that the roof was chopped when Moebius clearly knew it was correct tended to undermine the influence of forum comments here. Instead, from my understanding, after seeing my buildup images with the incorrect upper door trim molding blacked out, Dave went back to look again at their references. The correspondence that followed showed me that he had a real desire to dig and determine what was at play here and how the body could be made even more accurate. He was also able to reference precise dimensions from a real car owned by another industry figure who works for a different model company to verify, in part, my theory that the issue causing the appearance was the height of the DLO - industry jargon for the side window daylight opening. (BTW, the original "measuring session" of a real car took place many months ago, and that car presumably was not available for follow-up measurements). While the aforementioned incorrect door top trim was the major issue, Dave determined that there were also other refinements that would help the DLO accuracy, including the vertical height of the window frame at the top of the door, and the vertical height of the roof drip molding. With these refinements, he was able to get the model dimension to then reflect almost perfectly the real car DLO vertical height. Fortunately, due to the configuration of the side body tool, all those changes could be affected without having to mod the top body tool as well. However, and is so often the case with these type of last minute changes, these refinements would require changes to the vent and quarter windows, and possibly other parts too. And then the changes would have to be verified in a test shot build, and then the body and window tooling re-polished once again, as the tooling at that point was already essentially finished and ready for production - and as you can imagine, the prospect of these changes did not go over so well with the tooling vendor. Once the refinements were researched and refined, Moebius had to determine the costs and timing impact. Discussions took place with Dave's boss and the company owner, and in spite of the timing, workload, and incremental costs, apparently they decided to go ahead as we saw the revised tool yesterday at the show. So what was the deciding factor in making the changes? I wasn't there for the discussions, but based on my observations I think it was a burning desire by Dave and his team, as well as the company's owner, to get the kit as right as it could be. I think that says a great deal about Moebius and their ambitions for the future. Best all....TIM

I understood Dave to say that all the Moebius model car and truck tooling, other than the licensed racing properties, is still in active use. When the existing supply is used up, the company's owner orders another round of production.....that is certainly very good news.....TIM

Did a topic search and could not locate the existing thread on this kit, so here is a new one with the latest images on this kit project from the NNL Motor City on November 14, 2021. Mods, please feel free to join this with the existing thread if it does indeed exist....TIM This is the cover of the assembly manual... The instrument panel gauges (#1 below) will be separated into three separate decals to enhance assembly in the final production kit run.... Thanks for sharing with us, Dave! TB

OK...so that explains it. I was thinking I must have missed a key point in the thread here. Kit....takes real guts to hand off a project to someone else but will be great for you (and us) to see it finished. Paul....best wishes and best of luck bringing this awesome project home to completion! TIM

Complete with a scale gun rack inside the cab... Thanks for looking....if I understood correctly, a container with some of these new F-Series kits is expected to arrive sometime at Moebius Headquarters sometime in late January....TB

A few images of the updated body with the mods to achieve a taller side window DLO (overall greenhouse did not change is it was already correct as previously noted)....from the Moebius display at today's NNL Motor City.... For comparison, the prior version was also on display... TB

Full coverage = 2021 NNL Motor City Thanks for looking...TIM

Ray's decals are on the pricey side, no doubt about that, and the overseas shipping just adds to that. But the quality and extensive details of these sheets do make it worth every dollar, at least in my judgment. TIM

Jesse is right and I am wrong :(. I just checked my MoonEyes Double Dragster kit and yes, my kit's decal looks just like the one Jesse posted, not the somewhat simplified one in the new Moebius kit, and it is printed with the correct ""H" kit number on the back side. So I am presuming it was in all the original c.1963 kits that Revell produced. Thx for correcting us, Jesse! TIM

Congrats, Dennis! Very well deserved, for sure! TIM

Got a shipping notice that my Model Car Roundup order was shipped today....TB

Very cool updates, guys. TIM

Mark is correct (as usual). The original Double Kit release also had what was essentially the same, very small decal sheet. And as mentioned in my "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits" book, of the entire 3-series Revell Double Kit release in 1963, only the Mooneyes Dragster had any decal sheet at all...TIM

Yep, Larry nailed it. This is the basis for the box art on the upcoming "Ala Impala" '58 Chev kit....TB

As of this morning, the Revell '30A Model A Five Window Coupe hot rod is in stock and available for order from Spotlight Hobbies. I ordered mine this morning! TIM

Looks like Dave M. will be showing the latest status of this kit at the Motor City NNL this weekend. If you are going to the show, be sure to stop by the Moebius table.....you won't want to miss it! Trust me on this....TIM

Per the online "DragZine" drag racing magazine.... (As background, for years - decades, actually - I have been a fierce critic at how racing organizations (NHRA and NASCAR in particular) have allowed their racers to distort and disfigure their cars to the point where they no longer resemble in any way their intended factory equivalents. (Historically, I had decided to temper my public comments on the subject because I was employed by a major supporter of those racing venues.) Now it appears that the NHRA might actually be coming to its senses....at least as it is discussed below. While these would not be Pro Stock racers as we now know them, they WOULD be very true to the original intent of the Pro Stock racing class (see my book "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits" for more on that subject). In particular, note the restrictions on changes to factory stock body contours as proposed in the text below (which I highlighted as bold/italic/underlined text for added emphasis.).. This is potentially great news....let's hope it materializes as discussed below). TB *********************** A New Pro Stock On The Horizon? NHRA Reveals A/FX Exhibition Class By ANDREW WOLF NOVEMBER 05, 2021 The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) quietly revealed today the rules package for a new exhibition category for the 2022 season, known as A/Factory Experimental (or A/FX), that will feature modified, lightweight Factory Stock Showdown-style (FSS) production cars. The class, which follows the formula many journalists (this one included) and countless racing fans have been clamoring for, will utilize the 2020 Chevrolet COPO Camaro and its Magnuson-supercharged 350, the 2021 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak with a Whipple-supercharged 354, and the 2019 Ford Mustang Cobra Jet with the Whipple-supercharged 327 combination. The significant difference, however, will be the 2,650-pound weight minimum, nearly 1,000-pounds lighter than a Factory Stock Showdown car. This will be accomplished through the allowance of composite doors and noses of factory dimension, polycarbonate windows, and aluminum or composite floors on the passenger side, among other concessions. As well, manual transmissions up to five forward speeds and clutches up to three discs are mandatory — no automatics as in FSS. In another departure, 14-inch wings with a wicker bill will be required, and drive tires will grow from 9-inches in FSS to a 33×10.5. Dragzine has reached out to the NHRA for comment and will update this story as more information becomes available. Needless to say, however, it deserves kudos for blending the formula of the existing Pro Stock category with that of Factory Stock Showdown, creating a package that should run near the 6-second zone at about 200 mph. It should be noted that chopping, channeling, and alteration of the factory body lines is prohibited, as is any lengthening of the wheelbase over stock, and so the final product will be the factory-appearing car that Pro Stock nayayers have longed for — similar to those found in outlaw-style and NMCA/NMRA categories — with performances more in line with Pro Stock. And should it take off, factory support could carry over from FSS by Dodge and Chevrolet. Regardless, cars and engines exist from all three makers to build these cars, which simply cannot be said for the all but exclusively GM-powered Pro Stock class. You can view the rules for A/FX on NHRARacer.com, beginning on page 48. **** Thanks to Dragzine magazine for the article/info! Drag Racing fans who frequent this forum can subscribe to the Dragzine online newsletter for no charge.... https://www.dragzine.com/

I also recall that it was Mike's Miniature Motors who did the resin rebop. Personally I have seen two of these.....one owned by Dennis Doty and the other by Tom Woodruff. Tom also had (and may still have) a 1962 Chevrolet Dealer Sales contest award placque that had both the 1911 and 1962 Impala hardtop as built-up promotionals under a clear dome of sorts....I photographed Tom's version and if I am recalling correctly, included a sidebar about and photo of the unassembled kit in my 2001 book "Collecting Model Car and Truck Kits" under the MBI/Motorbooks inprint. TIM

Hah! I thought it was actually pretty cool..... Anyway, good to have this one back after so many years....TIM

I got the package from Atlantis last night and took a look.....they did a really nice job with this project. Each unplated parts tree is individually sealed, chrome looks excellent (eons better than the original kit), parts appear to be in good condition and not negatively affected by the tool being out of production/in storage for....let's see.....1963 to 2021....58 years????? The all-new drag slicks are excellent; the material they used avoids the "shiny rubber look" seen in many older kits and the width is to my eye :"just right" for an early-mid 1960's drag racing project. The instruction sheet is a rebop of the original Revell Double Kit (without the second car info), and the diminutive decal sheet is similar to the small sheet in the original kit. Lots and lots...err....a bonanza of period-correct extra parts, as noted by others above. One minor drawback is that the outer rims of the wheels still each have the three styrene feed points aka knockout pins (as the original kits did), although these appear minimized to a good degree vs. the original kit, and probably most builders will leave them as is rather than file them flush and refinish the wheels in a non-plated form. Also, on the engine parts tree, the width of the tubing of the headers appears a little on the narrow side; given the simple configuration of the MoonEyes dragster's real parts, more husky headers could easily be constructed from aluminum or styrene tubing for those that are bothered. And as noted above, the tranny would not be seen in a real rail dragster application - again easily remedied by a reasonably complete parts box substitute. In all....I think it's an excellent effort from Atlantis and a very promising lead-in for the other kits that will follow as noted in the various posts from the IPMS nationals a couple of months ago....and it becomes an invaluable source of period-correct parts for anyone who is building/kitbashing a 1960's style drag racing project or traditional hot rod themed model....TIM

HI Alan. Peter V. is going to send me a kit (I presume this is because I assisted him with a very small behind the scenes request in bringing the kit to market, and have offered him some thoughts in response to several general questions about the hobby kit market that he has directed my way). Of course, I also intend on buying a couple when they show up at my favorite local hobby store (Model Cave in Ypsi, MI) and/or at Spotlight Hobbies and Model Roundup. I do have another project underway that would prevent me from doing a timely full buildup on this kit. Having said that, it appears to me that several others on this board and elsewhere are very well equipped to do just as you suggest. I can attempt to answer any questions that might still be unanswered after those efforts are complete. Thanks for the vote of confidence and thinking of my for your request, Alan. Very, very much appreciated. TIM

Lee....you really, really nailed it! Congrats on a killer model. TIM

Some of what is in this parts pack found its way to the Revell Miss Deal kit. Not sure if that meant this tooling was revamped to deliver those parts, or just that Revell used their wood masters to pantagraph new parts. Don't have access to a Miss Deal kit right now to look at the sprue layout... Anyway, check your Miss Deal kits for the headers (I think....?), dropped front axle, radius rods, Moon tank, etc. TIM