Chuck Kourouklis

"The risk of offense is the price of clarity", or so they say - but the squealing has come so close to splitting my eardrums on enough occasions, I'ma just leave this one ambiguous.

'Cuda's okay, certainly better than the Kit That Must Not Be Named - but this one strikes me as likely Revell's runaway best of 2013. Just plays closest to the company's strengths.

You may be in luck, John - it appears the '07 kit's taillights are very close in size, actually a touch smaller. Looks as if they'll go in with some clearance, actually, and the shape is about right: Pardon the rush cellphone pic, but the '07 1/24 lens looks as close to a drop-in fit as anyone can reasonably expect for a 1/25 body developed five years later. Personally, I think a fine-tip red Sharpie will make very short work of the chrome pieces. But if you just gotta have a clear lens, that last attempt at an AAR might at least have this use, anyway.

lol, what, .2%? .3? Low. In my defense, there's some major work in this last one I'm trying to get over the line for the year. And I ain't particularly bothered, 'cause simply examining and admiring the parts is a major part of the draw...

Well and good, Tim, but Rob's black example above looks pretty bad-a$$...

WHAT!! Heresy, H E R E S Y I tell you! You guys are digging' the automotive stuff comin' out - and ya should - just follow the aircraft scene for a while! I dismiss armor outright to keep my head from exploding, but the ICM vehicle kits give you some idea what's going on there. Overwhelmed... and lovin' it.

Oh, and even then ya got some clods who either can't read or take the signs as a challenge...

Fuggeddabouddit. I just lose track. Is the bank balance still positive? Copacetic.

A very interesting prop, Matt; the only question I'd have is if homologating a bleeding-edge F1 V6 is somehow less practical today than it was in the late '60s...

Those look gorgeous. And the Mike Schnur-mastered/Greg Wann-cast body will be worthy of them.

Werd.

Well, whatever that thing is in the ICM 1/35 Stalin/Packard car box is good enough for a scale-up, far as I'm concerned. I'll take that Mercedes 770 too, sil vous plait...

I'll "fourth" Randy's notion. Good plan.

Car and Driver's take on it now: 360 degree view at caranddriver.com...

Getting a JoHan '67 Eldorado in original condition is such a revelation. While JoHan's engraving sharpness can generally be made out in later releases where the molds are more worn, it's almost heartbreaking to see how clean and flash-free the kits once were, and how much more plainly competitive with their contemporaries. Alas, fotki puked out all my other shots. Who knows how much longer this one has, come to think of it...

As I recall, the AMT Edsel mill had FE-looking architecture. Seemed a bit undersized, too.

Cruise is a freak but I've always liked his acting. McConnaughey would be sooo stupid better, though. Good call on that one.

HAH! Where's the "like" button when you really need it...

Everybody understands, btw, that the '57 Black widow/Bel Air sedan is a heavily modified reissue from the '56 Nomad/Del Ray, right? The reason the gas tank insert is separate is because the '56 was planned for Nomad and sedan versions right from the start, and it's also the clearest tell of shared tooling between the '56 and '57 (edit - just as Casey has already observed). It probably used the master patterns developed two years earlier for the '55, which would be why we once again have parts between two Revell kits that are 99% the same but do not come from the same molds. And so, since the '57 shares tooling with the '56 but not the '55, there was nothing for an automatic transfer of the '55's X-brace right over - even though the part may actually fit right into the '56/'57 frame. Now why they couldn't have, y'know, taken a cue from the brace they did for the '55 - well, ya got me.

That's an interesting question, and I'd very much like to know the answer. I will say, though, that all preliminary indications show considerable refinement and advances over the Ferrari kits. The screws in those were somewhat more ham-handed than in the classic line, but they generally fit better into the bosses. For the most part.

Peter, nobody's saying you're not entitled to your opinion. And insofar as your comment applies to the car's mass, your point is undeniable. Ford has wrought some genuine magic in the latest car with its 1650 kg and stick axle to make it the relative F-16 among the American pony car three (far and away the best driver of the four real Mustangs and Camaro I've owned, and I'll just leave the sad-sack Mustang II I was banished to as a teenager out of this), but that job would doubtless have been easier and more effective with less weight thrown about. Looking at the car in a historical context, however, Road and Track had a reaction fairly typical of the day's motoring press at the Mustang's introduction. And they've gone from saying of the original car back in 1965,"...the present suspension is not suitable for any strenuous driving and the brakes are wholly inadequate for anything more serious than normal street use", to offering the current 300hp, 30mpg V6 car with handling package as a viable alternative to the "Toyota 86 or used Porsche Boxter" question. So the current car is far more capable and really not a whole lot more complex in this era than the original car was in 1965.

Lol, ain't that the truth! Any relevant ones are blown clean outta my albums too. Will try to get back on that... *edit* Here's the general idea, but the photo doesn't do it justice:

As an owner of both a '67 hardtop and an '11 GT who's, y'know, actually familiar with both, I'll take your steroidal, bloated M3-baiting statement as a daily driver any day of the week. There's simply no dynamic comparison between the two. However, the old girl's been in the family since new and she is an aching beauty. So as sweet and politely stated as your observations are, she's not getting dumped with anybody. The new car is supposed to drop some 150 kg, btw...

The one car sheet that took the top of my head clean off was the one in the Simil-R Matech Ford GT. Perfect registration, foil-reflective highlights, super-sharp and subtle. Non automotive, I really dig the Aztek-pattern and weathering decals Polar Lights includes in its Star Trek TOS and refit Enterprise kits.

For better or worse, this rendering appears to be the most correct one so far: Side window graphic is reinforced by spy shots of the interior. Lower rear valance and entire front end are dead-on confirmed by unmasked sections of prototypes. Taillight panel is very consistent with fuzzy-focus Ford promotional shots of artists working on the clay, and clinic participants have verified the louvered nature of the taillights themselves.