Casey

MPC-876 1/25 Tiger Shark Show Rod MPC-890 1/25 1978 Dodge Monaco Batman Joker Goon Car

I think this was the first, #8021, molded in orange: Then this one, #8023: Next kit #8024: Then the Scout SSII, #8030: The 2004 AMT/Ertl reissue: And again in 2007: Also from 2007, with slightly different box art: Good info here: http://www.binderblues.com/main/ihstuff.html Here's hoping the new decal sheet on the 2018 reissue is huge, with multiple stripe options.

Well, this is coming along nicely. That paint work, tho...

Life imitating art or vice-versa? Maybe too close to call in this case, but I love 'em both. I think I would just hand paint those (I would think the "real" car would've had hand painted lettering) if it came down to it, but at least the Weiand and Chevy logos are easy to source. There are a very few vintage speed equipment logo decals which I have kept for many years, so I may use one or two of them on the yellow car. It's funny there are three kits with such similar box art, but always a yellow car in the far lane, and always at the Winternationals. Thanks, I have had it for many years, and when you find a part that just looks "right", you keep it for that some day project. I'm actually planning to use the Super Duty 421 Pontiac V8 from the AMT '62 Catalina in the red car, so both cars should have similar power-to-weight ratios, end up in the same Gas class, and run head to head.

Those look like the rear wheels from the Monogram 1/24 Barracuda F/C kits, but I don't think those are Halibrand wheels, as they have no raised edge around the brake cooling vents. These 16" JO-HAN F/C and P/S rear wheels? I would definitely say these are Halibrand wheels:

I acquired one, which is just as well, as it's in great condition:

Not sure if these had a specific name or not, but they are Halibrand are were found in the Revell Fumin' Fiat/Thunder Charger, Scarlet Screamer/Bantam Bomber, and sanitary 'T' bucket/Mooneyes Dragster double kits: Next up is an unknown Halibrand wheel with four brake cooling slots...maybe from an AMT kit due to the axle rod stub on the back? Not from the Revell TV Tommy Ivo Showboat kit:

Apparently the Road Racing Kidney Bean style wheels were available in two different kits, in two different diameters, but I don't know which came in which kit(s). I'm assuming one is from the AMT 289 Cobra kit, but not sure: These 5-slot wheels from the 1/24 (ex-Monogram) Revell '36 Ford Coupe Street Rod kit, but I'm not sure they are in fact Halibrand wheels, so subject to future deletion if not. I honestly think they look more like E-T wheels with the large brake cooling vents:

These don't look ideal, and probably not accurate (Aaron?), but maybe?: ebay link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/GOFER-RACING-U-S-GOVERNMENT-VEHICLES-DECALS-FOR-1-24-and-1-25-SCALE-MODEL-CARS/372221430292?hash=item56aa204a14:g:9cMAAOSwyAJagumO

Ha, my mind skipped right over the '57 Stepside thinking it was the '55 Cameo. Not sure who repsonds on Round2's fb page, so maybe that was a typo? I guess we'll see, but I don't think the '57 Stepside has been available since the RC2 era?

Sounds like the ex-Ertl International Harvester Scout of going to be reissued this year, according to this post on Round'2 facebook page: "Round2 Models we got a 57 Chevy stepside, a 1992 4x4 toyota, and an international scout coming out in the next 6 months..."

Here's my latest new project, which I will loosely describe as an homage to the original issue Revell '55 chevy box art: I acquired a modern era 1/25 Revell '55 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop to build the red car in foreground, but decided to use an AMT '55 Bel Air Sedan to build the yellow car. When you can only see 30% of the car, who's to say it's not a Sedan? I didn't really want to build two of the same kit, and I prefer the Sedan body, so it was an easy decision to start with the yellow car as a Sedan. The AMT Bel Air Sedan has some issues right out of the box, namely the hood is a bit too narrow: Not ideal, but easily corrected by adding some stryene strips to the edges, then sanding everything to the proper contour. The right fender edge (where it meets the hood) isn't straight on the body, either, so a bit of work with a square file helped clean that up a bit. I should've used thicker strips at the hood edges, as the fender-to-hood gap is much improved, but could be better: While I was working on the hood, I knew I wanted to add a small, semi-unique hood scoop, since the yellow box art model wears one. After digging out the vintage scoops in my parts box, I found one I liked, which turned out to be from the Monogram '39 Chevy coupe kit (thanks to Bob Taber for identifying it). The scoop has a small flange at the bottom, which made marking the hood, cutting the hole, and cementing the scoop into place much easier: One of the downfalls of the AMT Sedan is the overly thick/tall front valance/splash shield behind the bumper. If you're using the front bumper it's mostly hidden, so no worries, but running sans front bumper means cutting the excess off, then reshaping the entire panel, in particular the two arched sections directly under the parking lamps. I managed to scribe the upper edge/gap on both sides without messing up, but I still need to scribe two more panel lines, as the valance is actually three pieces bolted together, so not quite done yet, but gettin' there: The red car has radiused rear wheel arches, but the yellow car? I decided it does, too, so I opened those up on the body using my Dremel tool and a carbide straight cutting bit after drawing a 1.25" diameter guideline. I haven't opened them up to the final shape as I need to get the suspension, wheels and slicks all in place to final fitting prior to paint. Still not sure how I'm going to handle the rear quarter panel trim pieces which got cut in the process of radiusing the wheel arches, but I will probably go with a cleaner, no-sections-missing look: I'm using a 1/25 Revell '57 150 Sedan "Black Widow" chassis/floorpan under the AMT body shell, and I have to say, they are an excellent match. The front and rear frame rail ends need to be trimmed a bit, but the width is near perfect. Here's an underneath shot after a lot of cleaning up and a test fit: The underhood area of the AMT Sedan is not great, and really look like hot garbage compare to the more modern Revell kit, so it was determined the owner of the yellow car decided to remove the inner fenders, so I did what I had to do in the name of accuracy. I figure these two cars are still streetable, but trending towards strictly strip use, so a short trip from garage to strip would be tolerable with no inner fenders. Plus, it saved me some work, and I could put that effort toward improving the firewall and radiator support areas. The firewall was fully removed, and a Revell firewall (the '57 kit includes both '55 and '57 firewalls) piece substituted. I'm using the '57 Utility Sedan's interior floor as it's very basic and has no rear seat, again saving me some work. I'll cover the interior work in a later post, but for now, the firewall was cemented to the interior floor piece, reshaped in some areas and filler pieces added in others to get a solid rough shape with no gaps. Still lots of work to do on the firewall and engine compartment, but nothing too complicated. The below shows the progress so far, and also tips off my engine choice (thanks to Paul Gardner for supplying the 409), but more on that later:

Beautiful work, Jason.

You might consider going with some side radiators, like the Dobbertin J-2000 had, as space up front will be tight if you use a V-8. Something non-V-8 would be neat, and different, and allow for more working space, too. Here's the first Pro Street I recall reading about and seeing:

Looks like this'll be the first Round2 kit which includes pad printed Firestone Wide Oval tires.

I don't think I've ever seen that scoop in the flesh, but it looks huge on the box art. Second quarter of 2018, I think.

Does anyone have a picture of these tires they could share? There are a few on eBay, but no good images of the tires themselves. Chuck Most's image from this previous topic is long gone, too. Best image I could find on eBay:

Had no idea Round2 reissued this again in 2016...did anyone notice? Good source for vintage Firestone pie crust slicks, though.

Looks like one of the die-cast soda/pop machines and dolly from the previous '50 Chevy kit might be making a reappearance in this reissue of the AMT '55 Chevy Cameo pickup: I forgot the AMT '55 Cameo was one of Round2's first releases back in 2009, in a builds-stock-only version:

Well, I think it has yet to be stated if the Hurst mag wheels shown on the box top drawing will be included, but fingers crossed Round2 sees fit to tool up an all-new set for this (and other) reissues.

Nice retro box art in the 1969 annual style. Are the Firestone Wide Oval tires new?

I did see you Cincy address on one of the labels. The issues do very much read like How-To articles, but that's not really a bad thing, especially considering how much Ertl must've invested in the entire IH product line.