tim boyd

Here are a couple of outtake (unused) photos of the original c. 1963 MoonEyes kit from Revell, from my new book "Collecting Drag Racing Model Kits". More detail on the original kit(s) in the book.... A real surprise, but a great one, to hear this kit is on the way back....TIM

I did a in-depth buildup/how-to article on this Monogram CJ-7 kit, showing both versions of the tool, in the June 2019 issue of the other model car mag. Might find some helpful hints there (or maybe not!) Should be available in their back issue tab at Kalmbach's web site.. Good luck with the project....sounds cool! TIM .TIM

Excellent! Thanks Rodney for the quick response....TIM

What Dennis said, x2! Model building is all about having great fun and expressing your own ideas. Putting together and comparing models from different builders that all started with a common theme (as we do at NNL's) is one of the great joys of this hobby, IMHO. I join Dennis in encouraging anyone who is inspired by his build thread to join in with your own ideas and interpretations. Terrific fun (for you and indeed, for all of us following this thread) await! Cheers....TIM

Rodney,....really impressive work. Wanted to ask what transverse spring you are using for your front suspension....I am doing a very similar layout on my '31A low rider Tudor and was just beginning to look for a spring for my setup. Yours looks really good and if I have the same part available in my stash it might save me a ton of time looking....Thanks TIM

Eric....congrats on building the real car and I really like the tweaks you've already done to the interior. Will be watching with great interest....Cheers....TIM PS - excellent color plan, too!

Those of us who participated in the MPC National Customizing Championship from 1969-79 will remember Tim Slesak, both as a competitor and later on, a judge and contest booth director. Those who attended Chuck Helppie's NNL Nats #40 Reunion banquet a year ago this weekend will also remember Tim's letter about the MPC series that Chuck read to the assembled throng after dinner. Well....TIm and his wife have settled in Vermont after decades in Texas, and Tim is back building some incredible models. He recently sent me the link to his Fotki album, and gave me permission to post some images here. This one is a taste of his talents, building primarily brass 1/25th scale models that are right up there with the best of Richard Carroll and Dave Berry from back in the day. The jewel-like detail he achieves is pretty amazing. While modelers who work in brass almost always create miniature works of contemporary art, a certain automotive realism is often lost in the process. Tim's models instead exploit the brass medium to create even more lifelike miniature replicas, which in my opinion puts his work on a unique pedestal in the model car world. Tim was inspired to build this from that memorable rootbeer candy 1/1 scale hot rod that toured the Autorama shows about...what now....about 15 years ago?Like the other premier craftsman of the hobby back in the 1970's and 80's, Here are some photos of one of his most recent projects..... You can see more of Tim's incredible mostly brass creations here.....and thanks for looking! (the other) TIM

Thanks Ken...I will ask the Publisher what's up. I suspect that I will be told it's another fallout of the messed up book and mag distribution network due to C-19....TIM

Ken....was there any explanation for the cancellation? If so, and depending on what it is, I can forward to the publisher and ask them to get involved.....thanks. TIM

Alan....last I heard (unofficially), the '30A Coupe was planned for a Q1 2021 production run. Let's hope that is still the plan! Cheers....TIM

Congrats Randy on bringing this one home! I can just imagine flooring the go pedal and hanging on! On my end, will be getting back to finishing mine up after having to stop for another high-priority project which I just finished yesterday....I'll make sure to let you know when mine is done. The two (yours and mine) will share the overall proportions but be very different in the details....that's what makes model car building so fun and creative, and why I so like comparing two models based on the same basic kit. Cheers....TIM

Cliff....that gorgeous color just glows! Great pix, too. Congrats on another very fine project completed....TIM

Thanks Mark and Jack....TIM

Meant to mention this when I first saw your post a few weeks ago - very sharp build! Brings to mind one of our SVT Wednesday meetings with Ford Special Vehicle Engineering and Team Mustang members back in the day, when I had invited Roger Harney of Revell-Monogram to sit in and we discussed Revell new doing model kits of both the 1999 SVT Cobra and the 1999 SVT Lightning. Fortunately for all of us, he and they followed through, and about a year and a half later, the kits were on the shelves at the stores. So wish there was a similar level of effort and understanding by today's kitmakers of the adult model car market these days! Anyway, Tim, big Congrats on your model. TIM

Dennis....yeah, I've been waiting for your next update. Great progress. When an author does a how-to like that one in the mag, the hope is that people use it for inspiration and then attempt the same thing on their own. Even better is when they make their own adaptations and revise, personalize, or improve upon what I did in the original article. In that regard, it's really inspiring to me personally to see where you are headed with this project. One other comment - your excellent and numerous pictures do a much better job of conveying what you are doing than is possible in a magazine article. While I still strongly believe this hobby strongly deserves its own, stand-alone model car magazine, I must admit that the online forum format is sure a great addition to the hobby and the ability of an author/builder to convey - and teach - what he or she is doing with a project. TIM PS - that mockup is sure lookin' good! TB

Jim....this was around 35 years ago for me that I took the course....and it was optional - we weren't required to take it. I have no idea whether it is offered to employees today. Personally I found it to be a real asset not only in my work life, but my personal life as well.....Particularly since I retired and now have the time to read books and novels instead of business documents and the like! TIM

Years ago I remember checking this out, and my really vague recollection is that there were just a couple of the hot rod Hemi engine accessory parts that failed to make the transition to the Boss Nova kit. i vaguely recall one of them being an intake manifold for one of the induction options. Can anyone verify this? TIM

This kit is not perfect by any means, but it is a respectable effort that builds into a very sharp model: TIM

x2! TIM

Hemmings has now posted online the story they ran in the latest issue of Hemmings Classic Cars. In it Rick Hanmore relates "How my model car almost wrecked Dad's new Riviera". It's a fun read, and I bet we could all tell a story not too dissimilar from Rick's from back in our early days of modeling. And congrats, Rick, for brining more awareness of our hobby to the full size magazine crowd...TIMI

Would it be too much to hope that the "Big Rig Turbine Engine Pack" PP#29 Parts Pack is the GM Gas Turbine engine that was included in the first issue of the GMC Astro kit? It was dropped from subsequent reissues, and to the best of my knowledge (I'm sure you'll quickly correct me if I'm wrong), it was never reissued in any form. It's a really well detailed piece.... TIM

Dennis....surprised but very pleased that you are applying your touch to this oldie but goodie! I remember railing about that non-dropped front I-beam with non-split wishbones when the kit first came out; other than that bugaboo it was a really fine kit for the time. Love the parts swapping you are doing.....but was surprised to learn the latest issues of the coupe had that lowered rear suspension. Need to go see if I can find one in my stash. One idea for a quick fix of the gap in your exhaust pipe fit - I've done this (seems like hundreds of times) and most always works well. Simply mix up a small blob of 5 minute epoxy and flow it into the gap. As it dries, you may need to "mold" it a bit (with an X-Acto) to more properly match the curvature of the two mating pipes. When dry, touch up with some matching paint on a brush and voila - issue fixed (or at the very least, minimized). One idea here that everyone would benefit from is noting how Dennis paint details all of his engine, chassis, and interior components. I learned this approach from 1960's modeler/journalist Don Emmons, and I've found it adds greatly to a model's appearance, especially when time does not allow the kind of detailing that Dennis has added here. And kudos on the Yellow/Black paint scheme. Eye catching for sure! When this kit first came out, I ended up building three versions - IIRC, one for Street Rodder Modeler's corner (mint green, mostly box stock) and two for Scale Auto (two-tone metallic blue and a second one in full blackout mode). When you get yours done and posted in the "Under Glass" Section, I'll post pix of my three as well for a scale Comparo...keeping in mind that mine were built about three decades(!) ago.... Best wishes as you complete this project....and thanks a bunch for taking the time to photograph and explain how you are putting it together. TIM

Floaters? I've had them since college, and over the years (about 45 since then) they've slowly gotten worse. I'm very near sided and that is apparently one of the conditions that is common with more extreme cases of floaters. Again, been told no real solutions like the rest of you. About 20 years ago some doctors were pushing a process whereby they removed all the gel ("vitreous") inside the eye and then replaced it with Saline solution. Then you had to lay on your tummy for about 20 days while the body made new vitreous. Plus, cataract surgery was typically required soon thereafter. How about....NO! Oh...and then there were the docs trying to sell the idea that they could cause the floaters to disappear by zapping them with a laser. That has pretty much disappeared to. Bottom line, you learn to live with them. HOWEVER, last December when I was pushing to finish the book for a pulled-ahead deadline, I experienced the "flashing lights" in my right eye. I had been told if that ever happened, to get to a hospital with a retinal specialist immediately as it could indicate a retinal separation, which can rapidly lead total blindness. In my case, and after calling the docs, the ophthalmologist saw me a day later. He immediately referred me to a retinal specialist who determined I had a tear in my retina of my right eye. He immediately did laser surgery to "suture" (my words) the tear. Same thing occurred in my left eye 3 1/2 months later, again requiring the laser surgery. I still have the flashing lights occasionally when looking far right or far left, but the repairs are looking OK based on the follow-up exams. Kh,...and no change in the tons of floaters in either eye. Bottom line, if you ever see bright flashes in your eyes, either white or bright colors, call your doc IMMEDIATELY or get to a hospital right away. Your continued vision depends on it. TIM

John...just checked; yes, the G&R and Nicholson Pinto kits included a Lenco and a very beefy rear differential. I cover the MPC Pro Stock kit series in quite a bit of detail in the new book. On a continuum from "least accurate" to "most accurate", I'd place the original Jenkins Vega on the left (least accurate) and the two MPC Pinto Pro Stocks on the far right (most accurate) with the others somewhere in the middle, with the even the ranking of the same tooling (e.g. the MPC Dusters) changing from year to year as MPC slightly enhanced the kits. There were a lot more changes and details to the story than I expected, now all laid bare in the book. BTW, the new MPC Jenkins Vega would move rightward on the continuum, based on the new body, hood scoops, and decals, maybe about a third of the way from the left to the right.... And even though the MPC Pintos were the best of the MPC Pro Stocks, I would say they still might be a bit behind the original Jo-Han S&M 'cuda. Then again, as comparatively good as the MPC Pintos were, not until Monogram's 1984 Pro Stocks, though, did we get a fully accurate Pro Stock kit that once again reflected the rapid advancements and changes of the real cars after 1971-72. TIM

Heh Marcos...managed to miss this one. Really, really like the approach you took and the way you carried through the theme so completely. Big congrats from this corner....TIM