tim boyd

Great discussion....I could probably comment on this subject for hours (including my time decades ago as a Ford zone rep allocating/selling wholesale to my dealers as referenced by Dan's experience) but i won't bore all of you with that. Thanks, Justin, for taking the time to compile and share this info with us, and the rest of you for your comments/reactions. Also good to see the Moebius '65 Nova Gasser so high on the list...IMHO one of the better, somewhat unsung kits of the last several years. Just fascinating...will be following this thread for sure. Cheers....TIM

Creating Scenic Backdrops That Make Your Model Cars and Trucks Look as Though They Are Real Today the subject for your consideration is setting up backdrops for model cars that you are photographing. I am not talking about dioramas, as those are permanent displays and involve a much greater degree of preparation and work. Instead, this is about arranging temporary settings behind the model you are photographing that make it look as though it is a real 1.1 scale car. Not only is this a fun and creative activity, but you may soon find that it can build a whole new level of enjoyment to our model car hobby. This is a story I've been wanting to share with modelers for decades now (see the image above showing folder of reference work I've been keeping on this subject over the years). I've approached every magazine Editor I've worked with for the last two decades about a feature story on this subject, and every single one has respectfully declined to run it. The general view I think could be summed up as a judgment that most model car magazine readers just aren't all that interested in an article about photographing their work in a semi-professional setting, and certainly not in a background that makes it look like a real car rather than a scale replica. In fairness to my Editorial colleagues, there was also some concern about the timeliness of the content, as some of the photographic scenes in the article date back as far as the 1980s. I trust these guys and accept their conclusion, but I also think that at least a few of you would still be interested in the subject and enjoy reading about it. So, I've posted the entire (unpublished) article at my Fotki site, and if the subject interests you I encourage you to check it out at this link. Use the "Roll View" feature to easily scroll through the images and read the photo captions/view the pix at your leisure (no password needed). Whether your resulting photography of model cars and trucks in a scenic background ends up as the lead image in a model magazine article (some of you may recognize the photo outtake below from an article in one of the early issues of Model Cars Magazine), or shared with your friends on your favorite social media site, or even just kept for your own personal use, I'm guessing you'll have a good deal of fun creating your own lifelike scenes - and isn't that what auto modeling is supposed to be about? Thanks for looking, and best wishes for a fantastic 2025 to you all and your families!

Last time I visited the Gilmore Museum near Kalamazoo, MI, there was an entire showroom setup for Model As, including extensive displays on factory color and trim selections (of which there were many). If you are building the ICM or Monogram Model A kit in factory stock form and live near or are traveling in SW Michigan, recommend you check it out....TB

Believe it or not, a 1967 Mustang notchback was under consideration as a possible all-new tool by one of the model companies about 8 or so years ago. Obviously, it never made the final cut. Do not know why for sure but probably related to financial considerations (money available for new tooling, headcount needed to deliver the total plan, etc., etc). TB

Seems to me like an unlikely candidate for a kit cloning. But with Round 2 these days, "never say never" seems to be the operative word. So.....my view would be ...."hold that thought...". As always, I guess, time will tell....TB

Lee....thanks very much for the outstanding and comprehensive kit history on the AMT 1/43rd Peterbilts. Like some of you, I was also unaware of the Heller reissues. For those who want even more on this series of kit, a few years ago I did a full-page article on the T-785 release in my "Classic Kits" column that appears on the back page of the general interest modeling magazine that sometimes includes model car/truck content in addition to military/planes/ships/sci-fi et al. The column included the "inside info" on how AMT decided to do the 1/43rd kits, as well as the details of the Holmes Twin Boom Wrecker which was in part a response by AMT to the widespread disappointment over their earlier 1/25th scale Peterbilt with a much-simplified wrecker body. Let me know if any of you need the specific issue info and I'll look it up. Thanks again, Lee. TIM

Hi Michael....it was featured on the cover of the August/September 2014 (#188) and October 2014 (#189) issues of Model Cars Magazine. The trailer was the Revell "Race Car Tranporter"k kit; the same trailer was also in a Combo Kit with the Old Monogram Chevy Van. I cut up sheet styrene and used some parts box pieces to make the side panels and tire carrier, patterned to match (but on a smaller size) the AMT LN kit transporter body. Details of the trailer are in part 2 of the article. Hope that helps...TIM

The Stranger Things Blazer, to my understanding, is complete and ready for distribution. Apparently, a sample has been provided to at least one source that does kit reviews (this info is not directly from Revell, just so we are clear, so take it as secondhand info rather than gospel....). TB

MW....I did a two-part How-To article here in Model Cars Mag on a Ford C-800 race car transporter and trailer kitbash about ten years ago. It was a mashup of the AMT C-800, AMT LN Transporter, aftermarket repo of the Ford factory C-series sleeper, and a Monogram Race Car Trailer. It turned out to be more complicated than I had envisioned, but I was pleased with the results. Here's a picture or two of the completed project. Let me know if you need me to look up the specific issues for the article in case you want to track the issues down as an assist for your project. And....good luck! Very best....TIM

Heh Marty...I sure do remember it. It's a "Marty classic", to quote Alex above. Sorry it got damaged....TB

Thanks John...I thought that might be the case but was not where I could check my Derby Car kits, and to be honest, had forgotten about my Fotki site post. Thanks for doing my homework for me!!! Cheers...TB

Steve, with all due respect, my recollection is that the EFI setup was all over the hot rod mags of the day, perhaps more so in advertisements than in car features. but very prominent, nonetheless. I do acknowledge, however, that it did seem to have a very short shelf life. Still, much better in my view to have a scale replica of this unit rather than another simple four-barrel BB engine induction setup. Good point on the stock exhaust manifolds; I will be watching if anyone comes up with an idea for BB headers that would be drop-ins, as those were missing from a number of the John M. era AMT/Ertl street style kit derivatives, again if I am recalling correctly....TB

An image of a 1/1 scale 1935 Ford Panel Delivery in the current issue of the GoodGuys mag (pg. 74) reminded me of my own mid 1930s (1937 in this case) Panel Delivery project in 1/25th scale. This was basically the one-time only release (I think) of a factory stock 1937 Ford Panel from the Revell-Monogram team. I combined it with some of the running gear and engine upgrades found in the later Ravell "2 in 1" version of their 1937 Ford Pickup kit. I set it up with Tamiya purple paint and painted the Revell Midget kit (one of the best kits of recent years, IMHO) to match it. Here are a few views....and thanks for checking it out. TIM

I agree and I have had been privately advocating for this for this reissue for quite some time now. Sure hope Stephens is correct with this info. In addition to the EFI setup which was an exact duplicate of a popular aftermarket EFI system from the mid to late 1990s, this kit has a separate rear pickup bed with mini-tubs (!) and engraved wood strips, and a very nice set of late 1990s (before the Dubs era) 17" style aftermarket mag wheels, tasty "big'n''bigger" tires, and a modestly tweaked (lower) ride height. However, with AMT/Ertl's pathetic and excitement-omitting (sorry but true) box art treatments back then, few knew of all these great features that John M. and his team concealed inside the box for this kit variant. (Hopefully that will be addressed in the new box art treatment.) The only drawback to the original (and to my memory, only) release of this street machine kit was that most of them had a sink mark in the lower c-pillar area, that given the engraved vinyl roof treatment, was difficult to fix. Hopefully that is resolved in the new issue. Great news, Justin! Thanks for sharing...TB

Good point on the Chevy BB induction system...the prototype Round 2 showed at the NNL Motor City last month did not have a blower scoop cutout on the hood, so that would seem to rule out the blower alternative. Here's a photo of he buildup shown there.... As for the bodies of AMT A/FX AEB kits, I always felt that they cut corners by not moving the front axle/wheel well cutouts forward on the bodies, as they did for the rear axles/wheel wells. Also, couldn't agree more with your last statement that we should build what we want and have fun. YESSS!!! Tb

Me too, Craig, me too. However, I am not sure that Round 2 invested the money to retool the Kart Bonneville streamliner body shell, though, when they redid the Kart for the '60 Chevy pickup few years back. Best...TB

I'm not sure this is entirely correct. I vaguely recall seeing 1/1 scale dual Judsons on an American OHV V8 engine in one of the hot rod mags, but I have no idea specifically which issue or title. You may be entirely correct on this, but let's keep the subject just cracked slightly open (as opposed to slammed shut) in case one of us runs across printed proof of what I think I saw in print back in the day. Completely agree with you on the Webers, as I also recall seeing (in the same issue???) that the Webers were mounted perpendicular to the ground, not at a 45degree angle as in the AMT annual kit. As for the Streaker kit, it shares the Chevy Big Block that is in the AMT 1965 Chevelle AWB/AFX kit. Thanks...TIM

Alan, no worries, and I certainly didn't read that into your comment. And thanks for the feedback on that article! Cheers....TB

Alan, I believe you are referring to the article i did for Scale Auto with the working title "Ertl before AMT". It did appear within the last couple of years of Scale Auto although I don't have the issue data in front of me now. It covered all the styrene kits that Ertl produced before they purchased the AMT/Lesney assets in the early 1980s. IIRC there were about 40 separate kit numbers, including some that are not at all well known. I do not recall, however, addressing the status of the John Deere tooling in detail in that article. I do have the Ertl John Deere farm tractor (not the backhoe) tentatively set aside for a future "Classic Kits" column for FineScale Modeler (the column that appears in every issue of the last page of the mag where I cover mostly unknown or unusual model car//truck kits from our past). So, this discussion of where the tooling lies and under what ownership is of considerable interest... thank you all for your contributions on this subject....TB .

A few months back I completed a fairly involved kitbash of the 1963 AMT Unibody kit (my build originated with the original 1963 release, not the new kit....gGGRRRR!...); it has been submitted to one of the model magazines and presumably will appear in print sometime later next year....TB

Very sharp build of one of the best kits of the 2010s IMHO. Thanks for sharing! TB

No insider knowledge on the kit sales, but sounds like (from what little I have heard) the '60 has done somewhat higher volume. Keep in mind that the '68 reissue of the '63 unibody annual kit was just that - a reissue of an old and otherwise unused tool that originally doubled as a dealership promo -to generate some fresh sales revenue. Not well known but AMT was not all that financially healthy by 1968, and they were trying all sorts of low-investment reissues to generate some fresh sales volume. Also not well known is that the unibody cab included a unique door design vs. the flareside (stepside) and cab and chassis 1l1s - so a proper conversion would have really been pretty much an all-new kit for AMT at a time they could not afford to do that for a relatively lower volume kit offering. For me personally the '63 unibody lwb was the perfect choice for an early 60s pickup kit, but as a number of you have reasoned in posts above, other configurations would have also been popular - especially with today's hobby kit buyers....TB

Very, very tasty! TB

Dennis, repeating what everyone else has said, this is great work. Also, I commend you on showing how the Moebius Chevy II gasser can be a great source of parts for kitbashing Gasser projects. I've pondered a similar project myself, though nowhere near to the level of detail and execution you are showing us here, with either a Revell l1962 Lancer GT or an AMT 1963 Valant (my donor for that is even in the same color as yours). Anyway, thanks for showing us your step by step and big congrats from this corner on finishing this project! Cheers...TIM