tim boyd

Thanks James for the heads-up. If I was going to buy a 1/1 mid engine sports car, I'd go for a McLaren over a Ferrari in a heartbeat, although the latest "GT" variant is the only one that could even marginally be in the consideration set. But anyway, really great to see a new, full detail McLaren kit! At the risk of incoming arrows/bullets/accusations or worse, I do believe it is worth noting that in reviewing Tamiya's kit pictures, it does appear to have a stand-alone, full detail engine layout. What appears to be a single, combined engine block/heads/intake/turbos casting will probably need a lot of paint detailing to look good. Would have preferred those parts to be separate, but still a much, much better solution. Very much looking forward to buying and groking this kit! \\TIM

Martin....I'd say you nailed the basic proportions and layout. Not easy to do, at all. Big congrats and look forward to watching your project develop....TIM

Interesting....If I am remembering correctly, I was told the NASCAR tooling was still in existence and one or more people took a trip to S. Korea during the time when the relations with N. Korea deteriorated, for the purpose of finding a more secure site to hold the tooling....TIM

That's a much different green color than the original c.1969 issue of the Jolly Green....I guess that is a plus for kit collectors who have the original....thanks for the images, Casey....TIM

Terrific design and execution, yielding a great result, Rodney! Cheers....TIM

This is part, but not all of the story. You'll hear another version - that suggests there was a very real attempt to reissue the Aurora funny car kits after they arrived at Monogram - in my new book "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits".....plus there is list of topics that were planned for a follow-up 1/16th scale Aurora drag racing kit and diorama series if the initial Aurora 1/16th scale kits sold well......Cheers....TIM

Very sharp conversion and a beautiful job finishing your model! Plus, unlike so many well intentioned conversions, this one actually looks real. Congrats!!!!.....TIM

In case anyone doubts John on the 1969 1/2 Plymouth and 1968 1/2 through 1969 Chevrolet Green being the same color, according to my reference sources those two paint listings carried exactly the same Dupont paint source mix code....yet another fascinating factoid of the muscle car era! TIM

The Six Pak, as most of you know, was a mid-year addition to the Coronet Super Bee series, as was the new Dodge Code F6 Bright Green Metallic, which was only available during the spring/summer 1969 production cycle on Dodge Coronets, Chargers, and Darts (please note - the Rallye Green on mid-year 1969 Plymouths was an entirely different color - lots of misinformation out there on this subject!) This Monogram model replicates the car, and MCW Automotive Finishes replicates the paint color. I added a vinyl roof and "Day Two" Keystone Klassic (formerly "Kustomag") wheels with the big'n'bigger Revell 1932 Ford Street Rod Kit series tires and lthe valve covers in the "Day Two" plated form they were found in the kit. The engine compartment was wired; note the factory dual rain drains on the air cleaner pan. N This model was built in the mid 1990's if memory serves correctly, before detailed documentation of correct B-Body chassis/underbody finishes became widely available to model builders. Thanks for looking, and Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all! Cheers, TIM Note that the paint detailing on the underbody shown in the photo below is not even close to being factory correct.....

That came out great! Thanks for posting....TIM

Chris....here you go....not easy to see, but just as you suspected.....Chrysler letters on grille surround..... Really interesting to think that they changed it mid-stream. TIM

Interesting info here on the Jo-Han promos, and the real cars. Never noticed those diffs before. As to promo and annual kit inaccuracies vs. the real cars, a lot of it can be traced to the timelines for the model kit and promo tooling development vs. last minute changes as the full size cars went into production. At the model car companies, the details on annual kits and promos for the next model year were generally locked down based on manufacturer plans as of March each year, so the tools could be sent out (or new tools developed) into the supply base to be ready for production at the model company plants later in the year. But the plans for the real 1/1 scale cars often experienced detail changes right up to and beyond Job #1, generally the following August or September. So there was a 5-6 month period where 1/1 scale cars could change and yet the models and promos were already committed based on the plans as of an earlier date. There are many examples of this in the model kit world, and some of them offer interesting insights into the 1/1 scale manufacturer product plans, that changed at the last minute. This was particularly true during the muscle car years of the late 1960's and early 1970's. I did an entire article on this, with many examples, in the other model car magazine about 5 or 6 years ago. Just one example? Up until the very last minute the 1972 Charger and Challenger performance sub-brand offerings were to continue the "R/T" nomenclature, not the exceedingly generic "Rallye" branding that finally appeared. How do we know this? Because the decal sheet that accompanied the MPC 1972 Charger and Challenger promos included the stillborn "R/T" graphics (and yes, they were different than the 1971 R/T graphics). It happened on non-muscle cars too. The Revell 1962 Newport convertible included a large decklid molding that was entirely consistent with the Exner era ornamentation, but that trim pieces was not found on the 1/1 scale production car. The MPC 1966 Monaco 500 kit had two errors in exterior ornamentation, surely a casualty of Dodge's last minute vacillation on 1/1 series C-body badging/nomenclature and the impact of same on series differential - the MPC body included fendertop moldings that never appeared on the real car, and was missing the lower front bumper to wheel opening trim that did appear on the real car. Hope this helps explain... TIM PS - here's a look at that non-production 1962 Newport trim piece - it surrounds the trunk lock bezel, directly above the license plate....

Cool stuff Howard.....models look sharp! Congrats....TIM

Mostly box stock build of the c. 1993 AMT./Ertl issue of the old MPC 1970 Super Bee body and interior combined with the chassis/suspension/driveline/engine compartment of their 1968 Road Runner/1969 GTX tool. Factory "Top Banana" High Impact paint, with white/black guts and the factory "C" Scat Pack stripe. The tires were the major departure from kit content. The engine compartment was fully plumbed. This model was built sometime in the mid-late 1990s. Sorry about the somewhat shallow depth of field; I had to shoot these images at F/16 (instead of my preferred F/32) due to poor residual lighting.... Thanks for looking! TIM (Yep, put the removeable air cleaner back on backwards when shooting these images, fortunately it can be corrected with a quick lift and replace.....TB)

Ron. I know this will sound trite, but in my mind I was picturing that as a '41, or possibly a '42, rather than a '48, but I wasn't sure enough to write that. I remember it being a way cool model. And thanks for saying thanks on that Modeler's Corner feature; you and all the other modelers our there building great street rod modelers out there made my job doing that monthly column an easy one. So I could just as easily say thanks to you for letting me feature the Vicky or that article. Look forward to seeing your de-Foosed F100; I've mentally toyed with doing something similar and it will be very interesting to see what you come up with...Cheers...TIM

Bruce...best is to purchase it by the web....search for "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits by Tim Boyd". It's immediately available from CarTechBooks.com, the publishers. You can also find it on Amazon.com, though some buyers have told me that they seem to keep having issues keeping it in stock. I also recommend buying it from ModelRoundup.com, AutoWorld.com, Pasteiner's in Birmingham, MI, and from the Kalmbach magazine hobby website. Also, signed copies, if that is important to you, are still available from ModelCave in Ypsilanti, Michigan to the best of my knowledge. It is due to be available, eventually, at Barnes and Noble but due to the pandemic business disruptions, it could be months before that happens. Retail is $36.95 for about 180 pages with nearly 400 color pictures over 13 chapters. Thanks for asking, and if you get the book, hope you enjoy it! Cheers....TIM

Thanks Jesse for posting the box art for the Corvette Gasser kit....Cheers...TIM

Steve....you're very welcome.....Cheers....TIM

Revell-Monogram Pro-Modeler 1969 Charger R/T, built with a kitbashed upgrade to the SE (Special Edition) interior. Careful matching of interior colors to real 1/1 scale interior colors. Exterior airbrushed in 1/1scale correct color using MCW Automotive Finishes materials. Full paint detailing of chassis and engine compartment using latest available (at the time) 1/1 scale restoration research. Built with the standard 440-4bbl Wedge, and the R/T racing stripe delete option (replaced by hard badging on rear quarter panels). A full buildup with kit detailing and correction advice appeared in the other model car magazine in the very late 1990's or very early 2000's. Thanks for looking! Cheers....TIM

Yes. the Borsch model came first. But there's somewhat more that is different between the two kits than it first appears. Top hat, injectors, valve covers, underbody panels (IIRC), grille shells, airfoils, front wheels, firewalls - and the Moon tank on the Borsch car. (And as noted in the new book "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits" the MPC (C3) "Corvette Gasser" kit also used the common, chassis, and engine block parts of the other two kits....). Can't recall if I mentioned earlier, but the butterflies on the Bantam Blast kit operate, too. Here are a couple of comparison shots.... In case anyone is interested, more photos of both are here.... TIM

George....that's a really cool model (and that's from someone who is not particularly a fan of the '55 Chevs....)....and the paint looks really sharp to me. So glad to hear you are revisiting old projects that got disrupted by something that didn't turn out "perfect". To me, personally, a not quite perfect model that is finished and proudly displayed is worth so much more than a half-completed project wasting away sitting in a box somewhere, just because something didn't quite go perfectly during painting or assembly. And "I build to enjoy" is such a right on statement of what this hobby should be, above all else, for all of us. Way to go, my friend. And looking forward to your next blog update....TIM

Hi Ron....thanks for the kudos and glad you enjoyed seeing this one. I do recall meeting you back at the GSL, and I also vaguely recall associating a black woody of some kind with light colored wood....picturing it maybe as a '48 Ford cowl and front???? And I need to go back into those old Street Rodders and find the pix of your '34 Vicky.... Best....TIM

Kenneth, Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but Monogram did a very, very detailed series of 1/32nd scale funny cars in the early 1980s, with updated versions in the early 1990's. More details and pictures are in my new book "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits". I had pretty much forgotten about these and when I opened them back up when I was researching the book, I was quite frankly astounded at the level of detail in the kits. Again, suspect funny car kits is not what you had in mind, but if it is within your interest range, I highly recommend these kits... TIM

Thanks Tim for the followup note....for others with an interest, Tim's full text description, including some WIP images, is poasted in the "Model Cars" Forum section below....TIM

Tim....that is one impressive piece of work, and I love the back story about how it came together. The brass body substructure is one (perhaps the only!) way to get that multi-piece Revell body to behave, and the working piano hinges, in scale no less, are quite an achievement. But amongst it all, I find you adaptation of the chassis/framework to be most interesting of all. Overall....an inspirational achievement. Mega-congrats....TIM