tim boyd

To all who looked at this, and to all who commented, thanks for checking it out and thanks very much for the commentary. Happy Holidays to all...TIM

Thanks James...that is a neat summary of what I tried to do here. Cheers...>TIM

Yeah Rodney...totally agree. While I think the Rat Roaster kit in totality was a huge miss (because of the 1/1 it replicates), it remains a bank vault of useful parts for kitbashing, and those wheels and tires are right at the top of my personal list therein....TIM

Bob....I too find this to be a more relaxing way to go, and it lets me create and finish more of my scale modeling ideas. That's not to say that I don't partake of more detailed projects (like the '74 Road Runner and super-low channeled '31 A Tudor projects I finished this summer) once in a while. But to me, in most cases, a less detailed but finished model is in many cases a greater buzz personally than is a partially finished super detailed project that lies in a box for years at end. However, in all these years I have learned that everyone of us enjoys model building on different terms. for different reasons, and in different ways. One of my longest running modeling buddies (45 years?) gets his greatest enjoyment from cutting up and mocking up bodies, and super detailing projects like F1 engines and transaxles. I don't believe he's completed a model in many a year, but he enjoys his projects and shows unbelievable talent in what he does. So super-detail or minimal detailing with paint accents alone...I respect any one who does modeling on their own terms and gets enjoyment from it! Cheers....TIM

Nigel....needless to say, I totally agree! TIM

Dennis....needless to say, been waiting expectantly for this update. Excellent idea on using the '26 Tudor interior door panels....and really like the instrument panel idea too. Glad to know you are still chugging away on this one, even as time constrained as you are right now. Cheers and Happy Holidays from the Boyd Ranch....TIM

Cool!!!! Just so cool! Congrats...TIM

What James said. It is helpful to keep in mind that every new tooling investment being made at Round 2 these days is being done with the perspective of how to generate multiple kit releases from the initial tooling investment. They would not have gone ahead if the "Craftsman Plus" kit was the only one that would result from the new tooling. I don't know all the precise details about Round 2's all-new Chevy II Nova Wagon "cycle plan" (as we called it in the auto industry), but I'd bet the cadence James lays out here is pretty accurate and possibly stone cold exactly on the money. TIM

James....you are giving me way too much credit here, but thanks anyway. I tend to trust information the most when it is "triangulated" from people who draw info from multiple and differing sources. We are all very fortunate on this Board that we have people like James and Dave Van (among many others not specifically mentioned here) who can bring info to light that helps us all better understand the business side of the model car hobby. As a Marketer through much of my career, I have always been fascinated with the inner workings of the model car companies from that perspective, as well as my interests as a model car builder and kit collector. Even to this day, I am fascinated with some of the untold stories that are coming out now from those who were there back in the day, some of which I have recently become aware of in doing the former industry executive interviews for my two most recent books. And I am very sure there are more fascinating stories yet to come. Finally, thanks James for the info on the 'cuda kit sales. Very good to hear, particularly given the sources you cited. Best all...TIM

You're welcome, Guido. Cheers...TIM

James....I hadn't heard that about the hemi 'cuda kit, though I am certainly happy to hear that might have been the case as I (and others) had pushed very hard for that kit with the Revell team for years and years prior. Curious to know, if you don't mind sharing, was your info source from inside Revell, or from your industry wholesale/retail contacts, or ? In any case, thanks for sharing that with us....TIM

Steve....great job on your scale replica of the real car. You took an excellent kit and really elevated it to the next level. Also very much enjoyed seeing your "Work in Process" images and dialogue in the other thread you posted a link to above. My own belief is that the 2 Revell Midget kits are certainly the most undersung and underappreciated kits of the last twenty years, and yes, in my view, among the very best 1/24th-1/25th scale kits to come from any kit manufacturer over the last 20 years. Many will see this differently, and they (you) are welcome to your own views here, but if the subject matter interests you, my recommendation is that you should without a doubt find a copy of this kit, and yes, build it! Thanks Steve for bringing this kit front and center once again, for sharing your build, and for the excellent results you achieved! Cheers....TIM

Claude....right you are! As I recall, the incomplete body was used as the demo subject for a one-page sidebar showing how to do two-tone paint on models.....Best....TIM

What Mark said. If anyone doubts the accuracy of what Mark says, check out my full kit contents review which discusses the completely all new tooling (zero carryover parts from the original Craftsman kit) and shows pix of the points Mark describes above. It also includes the parts of the new kit that point to future kit variations coming from this tooling investment. For those that did not see it earlier in the thread, here's the link... (make sure to read the captions that are below each individual picture for all the details.....) TIM

Eric...the chassis/suspension/engine assemblies for both the Wild Dream and King T kits are still around. They've reappeared in various forms countless times under various MPC show rod kits, as well as their "Monster" kits series. The Wild Dream and King T bodies and interiors, however, and to the best of my knowledge, only saw two issues (the original AMT Double Kit in 1965, and the individual two MPC kits that appeared a year later in 1966). As to whether those body inserts still exist, anybody knows, but my guess is probably not. Best....TIM

Here are a few comparo shots, using a model I built back in 1965 from the same basic AMT kit. 55 years, in some ways it seems like they've gone by in a flash! Cheers....TIM

Well Bob, you completely NAILED this one! Even down to the purple Meep=Meep "Voice of the Road Runner" horn. Big congrats....TIM

Completely agree about those carbs.....when you really research these old mega=carb engines, sometimes the owners would fess up that they ended up disconnecting most of them from the carb linkage and ran the car on just two of 'em. Of course, with drag cars like the original Garlits rail (before he added the blowers), he was rebuilding the engines all the time anyway.....but as we all know, if they did it on the drag strip, doing it on the street is mega cool (can you say "Pro Street") even if the actual usability was severely compromised. Of course, us modelers don't have to worry about that! TIM

Interesting observations here. If I had to hazard a guess (and I guess I will do just that) it may have been Monogram's major chain store clients that dictated this layout. rather than Monogram's art department. In the packaged goods industry generally, and more specifically for model car box art, there was often an attempt to depict model cars that were "jumping off the box top" within the typical department store narrow aisleways. MPC's commercial art department began this approach in the late 1960's, but it spread throughout the industry at various stages in the years to come. And the direction to do so often came from the company's higher-ups rather than the Art Department personnel themselves. In talking to the industry's executive teams about the days (years, decades) prior to WalMart dropping all model kits, it is still surprising to me to learn just how much of what we were given as model car builders was dictated by the major retailers rather than the model companies alone. Even when I went to interview with Monogram's President Tom Gannon in 1978, he had little interest in my model car building achievements; it was my school record and work experience that had prompted him to take the time for the interview. When it was all said and done, he told me to go work for K-Mart (the WalMart of the hobby industry back then) for three years and then I'd have a job waiting at Monogram. Another words, learning the retail industry was far more important to him and Monogram than what skills I could bring to Monogram as a accomplished model builder at the national level back then. (FWIW, I had little interest in learning the retail big box store business, so I passed, and went to work for Ford 35 years instead. Ironically, Monogram's Bob Johnson ended up doing much of what I would have advocated had I ended up working there, and he did a great job of it too. So in the end, everything kinda worked out for the best fore everybody....) TIM

Heh Alan...that dude is ready for some serious land speed action.....between yours and mine, we now have both bookends of how mid 1930's Ford Three Window Coupes can be used as Bonneville-style competition machines...and thanks for adding your images to this thread, for sure! Take care, mate. TIM

So....there's been this 1956 Dodge Royal Blue Metallic painted AMT '25 Tall T Coupe sitting in a display case in my work room where all (well, at least some) of my half-completed, stalled projects reside. It kept staring at me, month after month. Alongside was an old flame decal set from the 1980's. (That color, btw, is the exact same color that was used for Norm Grabowski's famous 1/1 scale T-Bucket, and the body was originally painted that color for a very work-intensive, but little known article that I did for Model Cars Magazine on historically correct paint colors for "Traditional Hot Rod" model car projects.) And then there was this crazy blown early Hemi engine from the AMT Boss Nova kit, that actually traced itself back to a kit premium in the 1961 and 1962 AMT Buick Special wagon kits. It was originally assembled about 15 years ago or so for my "Hot Rod V-8s" article series in the other model car mag. And a set of paint-detailed wheels and tires from the Revell 1932 Roadster kit that replicated that rather unusual (I'm tempering my words here...ask me what I really think....no....maybe better that you don't) TV program tie-in promotion from a few years back. They were originally intended for a mag article on how to adapt different bodies to the Revell Model A Roadster/Coupe kit frames. Finally, there was me, pretty much waxed out from several very intense and recently completed modeling projects. Time for a break.... Being build alongside two other more involved Model T hot rod projects now underway, just got this one finished today. The only change from the above was an updated, more realistic appearing set of flame decals from the most recent reissue of the Monogram "Little T" based T-bucket tool. A few minor clean-ups yet to come, and showing no added detail other than spark plug wiring, this is just a fun realization of what was once a "mind-model", and is now a "reality" model. Thanks for looking! And maybe consider digging back into one of your own stillborn modeling projects or two? TIM

They are working on it and making good progress from what I understand. Will be a while before you see a kit, however.....TIM

An early 1980's kitbash of the original AMT 1928 Model A Tudor....

Rodney....personally I really like it when builders post their own projects with similar themes within the threads I post....so no worries in the least! Cheers....TIM

This model is one of only a very few "curbside" (no engine or underbody detail, and interior view blanked off with heavily tinted windows) projects in my collection. The front hood is a '40 Ford, the bodyside and trunk area is from the otherwise discredited AMT 1934 Ford Three Window Coupe kit of the mid 1970's, and the roof and window openings are from the chopped top option in AMT's original 1960's 1936 Ford kit. Mucho bodywork and refinement ensued in mating these disparate components into a single whole. The front suspension is from the Revell 1932 Ford Street Rod kits while the headers are from the Revell Orange Crate. The Moon discs and tires are parts box refugees. The paint is old Pactra Flats red and beige with an overcoat of ancient (dating from the early 1960's) Pactra Pearlustre Gold, with Testors Gloss Enamel clear. The "Woodruff, Helppie, and Boyd" decals honor two lifelong buddies, Chuck Helppie and Tom Woodruff (who also frequently posts on this forum as "misterNNL"). The original body work dates from 1979-80; most of the rest of the work took place during the early to mid 2000's. Thanks for checking it out....TIM