Chuck Kourouklis

Nooo kiddin'. MAJOR omission on the 991s. Maybe now that the 3.0 turbos are out marking the 991.2, we're finally at that obligatory cycle behind and somebody'll get us a good GT3RS before the next all-new 911 debuts. Don't mind the 488 Effo so much, but I'd just as soon wait for the next thang from Modena in plastic.

Yup, just what I was getting at. Word 'round the campfire is the TD is a righteous kick in the pants - but looks-wise? Yeesh. F12 with warts and forced retro cues, not quite up to the cohesiveness of even the LF. Won't kick one off my shelf though. Glad you got your Huracan, Doc! Tickled to influence such a choice, too. Mine's still held up at the Pocher factory (won't fit a 6 anywhere, never you mind a plus), seems all hands are on the Panigale right now. Seen some 'Cans 'round North Bay/Marin in Verde Mantis and Arancio Borealis. Hot, hot, hot. Rags all sez Veyron-quick, too. Still got a case of mad lust for the '3 RS - them front wing vents just DO it for me, somehow... Keep on flogging!

Uglier?? Why Lee, what ever could you possibly mean?

Thanks, Bill, but it's such a rake-stomp that we have to consider the possibility Dan wasn't serious.

Oh, Dan... Do you wanna look up the definition of the word "reign" and try again? Full Definition of reignintransitive verb1 a : to possess or exercise sovereign power : rule b : to hold office as chief of state although possessing little governing power <in England the sovereign reigns but does not rule> 2 : to exercise authority in the manner of a monarch 3 : to be predominant or prevalent <chaos reigned in the classroom> from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reign So, yes, class, I REALLY DID MEAN rain as in precipitating that judgment all over everybody: Full Definition of rainintransitive verb1 : to send down rain 2 : to fall as water in drops from the clouds 3 : to fall like rain <soot and ash rained down> transitive verb1 : to pour down 2 : to give or administer abundantly <rained blows on his head> from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain Were I to use the word reign as you mandate, Dan, I would have said something to the effect of "...high and mighty judgment reigns among all the sniveling puling little pull-up brats", or words to that effect. Seriously, you really making it this easy? If not, Merry Christmas - ya GOT me!

And those trees pictured on the box are pure Italeri, pretty much as borne out by the only scenario that made any kind of sense. Exce-ept - the tires don't look quite so blocky in profile as the standard issue for vintage Italeri subjects. Could there be a swap in rubber? Nearly anything would be an improvement...

Not sure exactly what came before - would love to know the history of this tooling, actually - but the ones I grew up with were the "SuperVette" and then the reissue in silver. Pretty sure the black one in the noisy '80s box was the last reissue. Long-standing goal of mine has been to slap on some AMT vintage Firestone skinnies and do it up as close to NCRS as I could. Main issue I see is that the A-pillars need those chrome fillets to give 'em that '63-only look. I could live with the finned knock-off wheels.

Beggin' your pardon, Brett, but pretty sure the '67 Camaro was a '14 release. August or so? Special Ed 'Cuda was absolutely Nov/Dec '13 as many say. Two years ago.

Lock-step with Casey's assessment here. Good proportions for my money. Another solid from the Mueller/Montgomery period. As mentioned, a nice builder too.

Yup. Somehow squished on devices, okay on big screens. Gorgeous figure, Dave! Too bad Revell's figure supplier couldn't take a cue from that on shading and detail washes; not only does their '72 Olds "Linda Vaughn" more closely resemble Judge Reinhold with a wig, it's made to look as if Judge/Linda had a VERY unfortunate accident all pooled up in the middle of her lap, thanks to a sloppy red wash application.

One way to avoid the letdown, gents: pay attention to Revell's current style in box art, then realize the fake box is nothing like it. Pity, too. The Deuce is nearly all there in current Revell patterns, and I'd bet the belly tanker's at least as safe a bet as the recent midgets.

Uh, well, yeah, that's what I was trying to get at top of page 3, with my use of the same pic (possibly not with the best choice of words). And the reason I'm going to try graphically manipulating and reducing a "Pontiac" script to decal stock is not to put it straight on the grille, but to trim out a little chrome "Pontiac"-shaped platform to put it on. Won't quite match your corrected pieces but it'll beat nuthin', I think. Deleted the 3D file graphic for brevity, but I really love those...

Nice side-step. That you call it a hobby is not what's at issue. That you CAPITALIZE it, and therefore strongly imply there's a certain uniform seriousness with which everybody should take it, and then use that profoundly arbitrary standard as a rationale to judge certain statements as "ridiculous", is what's at issue. And quite clearly.

And here we are with this. Again. You state "this is a HOBBY", as if that's some kind of absolute - as if "hobby" means the same thing to everybody, or as if YOUR way of seeing a hobby is the only valid one. But it's not. And as long as it isn't, you have NO objective basis to make sweeping declarations about what's "ridiculous". Different hobbyists have different expectations, but the one constant is that a model is supposed to match a reference, that one of the very points of a discussion forum like this is to discuss where models don't, and that yes, missing grille scripts and signal lights are pretty obvious to some folks. In my personal scheme of things, one is an easy fix and the other, only a little trickier. But you're not gonna catch me acting like somebody with his pull-ups all in a bunch raining high and mighty judgment all over the grownups who want to discuss these problems frankly, just 'cause I personally have a lock on the problems. If any behavior is objectively wrong in these forums, that kind of conduct comes a lot closer than criticizing kits.

Good show, and thanks.

Well I'm pulling hard for this one, Dave, and I ain't gonna skip it for those omissions by any means. But if I may offer one polite little suggestion here: seems to me both of these issues could be at least partially corrected with a couple additions to the decal sheet...

Yup. Last of Craig's shots:

I'll take one. Gotta find their Renault 4, too.

X2. REALLY good work, Ron. Revell's business model of starting with an over-promising "Special Edition" and then releasing an over-delivering version five or six years later is purest smh material, but damned if it ain't gonna work on me - gotta have it for that 442 grille now.

This'n's just about my favorite from the "Mueller/Montgomery Era". What, a flimsy excuse to get another one? Gosh darn...

Bummer. Got their Focus and GT, liked 'em from the looks. The GT in particular comes across as my kind of headache.

Funny you mention that Bill, 'cause I've also entertained such an idea - though I tend to favor the latest Revell Black Widow/Sedan/Convertible tooling for wheel arch transplants. One thing I'd certainly do is replace AMT's front bumper with the latest Revell piece, which not only looks closer and skips the lateral parting lines, but just about fits the AMT shell.

There are signal light blanks on the corners of the bumper, which maybe you're just presumed to paint white, but yup, no lenses on tree or instruction sheet (actually, translucent strips for these probably wouldn't be bad to include on the decal sheet). And you're absolutely right, Bill. Maybe a black script outline taken from a photo, printed onto clear decal stock and applied over a script-shaped piece of foil, might be an interim solution for thems what cain't hold out for MCG.

Well, have a look at Tim's shot of the front bumper on the tree - and you can see little blank areas for those signal lights. Hard to tell for sure, but it looks like there might be some light detail engraving there. See your point about the headlight bezels; that's one well within my tolerance levels, personally, but maybe not for others. Noticed that body color strip right off, but that may come down to painting. While the hood "brow" trim may be molded a bit thick for scale, the foil job on those areas definitely exaggerates the effect on the boxcover model. I loved that AMT Catalina at first, but I found the body withering a bit under scrutiny, mostly in a certain slab-sided aspect along the flanks, lower belt line to rocker specifically. There's a whiff of that about this Ventura too, but what I think I'm seeing I'm hard-pressed to confirm till I have the actual shell in hand - it certainly seems better overall than the AMT kit.

Thanks for another great overview. Tim - this is the one I really want Moebius to nail, and your pics give me cause to remain hopeful on that front. And as for the ever-pathetic and pitiful stirring of the pot over "rivet-counters" before ANY criticism in this thread - 'cause y'all just gotta have somebody in a bad-guy role, apparently - I've only had your number for what, 2 1/2 years now? (That'd be #9, specifically, in the link below)