Casey

Cool. I wonder how much horsepower/torque it puts out.

I was just goofin', and despite the ingenuity put into the Goldenrod and being well known in hot rod circles, the Summers Brothers are unknown to most, and probably 99.99% of model kit buyers.

Name recognition would be my guess. TV Tommy had star power, Mickey was well known, and the Summer Brothers....Dick and Tommy was it? Maybe it was because both Ivo and M/T build many cars, and Ivo's were very eye-catching, while M/T's were very cutting edge, so together in the Revell catalog they worked. I truly believe LSR car are a tough sell, and other than M/T's two Revell kits, there have been very few. The four Hawk kits and not a whole lot else. It's not a spectator friendly sport, the main race course is on the outskirts of a salt basin in Utah, and the drivers are mostly unknown to the average race fan/kit buyer.

Commonly referred to as the "bird bath" hood, since it retains a puddle water on both sides...until you raise the hood and rinse the firewall, including the ICU, starter relay, wiper motor, and ballast resistor. Another great review/history Chris. I am still puzzled why MPC opted to include 1/20 scale tires and wheels for the early off-rad versions. Can anyone confirm which 4x4-option tires and wheels were included in the '73-'75 kits? It appears the 1/20 scale road race tires and eight-lug steel wheels started in the '76 kit, but I can't discern what was used in the earlier kits, due to the box art having only drawings.

Have any of you test fit the Rat Roaster firewall on any of the Revell Deuce body shells?

Just look at the hood latch linkage.

You were expecting a '70 Plymouth Superbird, maybe? Has Pocher's 1/8 scale kit selection pretty much been limited to European vehicles?

Retro Review, Retro Review, Retro Review!!

It depends upon the clutch linkage, the "slack" in the linkage/cable, and the ratio between the clutch fork and clutch pedal linkage. Almost every street driven vehicle has a certain amount of "dead" movement between the position when the pedal is at rest and when the clutch disc starts to grab on the flywheel, so simply resting your foot on the clutch pedal isn't going to hurt anything, unless the clutch disc has already fully engaged with the flywheel. Sometimes most of the "slack" can be adjusted out, and sometimes not. I've replaced and removed ten clutches/pressure plates/throwout bearings in my life, and never have I seen a frozen or failed throwout bearing, but I agree that there are steps you can take to reduce premature wear. Pilot bearings/bushings are another wear item, but hearing of them fail is rare in my experience, especially for a street driven vehicle which sees no hard (towing, drag racing, clutch dumps, etc.) usage. A complete clutch setup (clutch disc, pressure plate, throwout bearing) isn't all that expensive to be honest, at least for the more common applications, and a set of premium ceramic brake pads can run you over $100 if you're not choosy, so brakes may or not be much cheaper. Or the flywheel was not machined/trued when the new clutch (and pressure plate?) was installed. I have heard of people cheaping out and replacing only the clutch disc itself, leaving the worn pressure plate in the vehicle. A few greasy finger prints on the disc facing are never a good thing, either. Labor is where the real expense is when changing a clutch setup, especially compared to changing brake pads/shoes, so if you're not into DIY, use the brakes. If you like DIY and trying to get that snap ring in an A-833 compressed enough to the get mainshaft and gear cluster free from the tailhousing, by all means, downshift to slow down.

Bandit Resins offers a curbside '50 Pontiac coupe(?), too, but it could probably be modified to work with the new '50 Olds. http://www.banditresins.com/1950_pontiac.html

http://www.tocmp.com/ is a great resource, too.

There is a photoetched fret containing interior junk:

I have about 150 late '60s and early '70s Hot Rod, PHR, etc. magazines, but I rarely buy new nor vintage mags anymore. I can almost always find it more easily, more quickly, and of better quality online, and while I do still but books and higher quality magazines for specific reference, it almost always comes from eBay.

That's a fair question. I wanted to see how it would progress, but it seems to have turned into a daily scoreboard, and it never had anything going for it related to scale models, so I'm going to lock it. I give a fair amount of leeway when it comes to automotive related topics, since most people who are into model cars, trucks, and bikes tend to have some interest in the 1:1 vehicles, but hockey, relationship advice, the new toilet seat you got today, and other topics with no connection to scale models are better discussed elsewhere. I understand sometimes people just need to get something off their chest, and they feel like here, among their online friends, is a safe place to do that, but you wouldn't (shouldn't?) go to an NHL forum and start talking about the scale models you build.

"$2.39 in 1971 had the same buying power as $13.55 in 2012." 'bout the same as a set of the Round two parts packs tires. Thanks for the link to those scanned article pages, Dan. It sounds like Richard was quite tech savvy, and a lathe was mentioned in the article, so he was clearly into making things on his own, and making them true-to-scale. I still can't figure out what the forward half of the vehicle pulling the chopper on the trailer is supposed to be, but maybe that's the point. Whatever it is, there's some serious imagination, creativity, and a ton of skill put into his builds.

That's just plain sexy. Nice work, Christian.

I have to agree. This forum probably isn't the best place to find answers, but at least he has plenty of suggestions.

Do you use the clutch instead of the brake to hold the vehicle on inclines? Are you 100% sure the clutch your friend installed was new? Clutch disc and pressure plate? Not sure how the Ford/Mazda 1.9L(?) Four's clutch setup is adjusted, or if it even is adjustable, but if the clutch is cable operated, check it for wear before you single out the clutch disc/PP.

It's amazing how many different kits Revell squeezed out of that Nissan Datsun pickup tooling.

Other than nostalgia and the decals, I'm not seeing any reason to purchase this kit over Revell's '62. The AMT kit's headlights are tiny and chrome plated(!), and the whole nose looks ad if it was stretched vertically. Wait, is this about the hardtop, again?

AF/Xn Scale some seller on eBay who is selling their stuff has them listed. Check your PMs, Bill.

I don't know that anyone here is qualified to give advice about a marriage, myself included, but if "all she wants to do is just sleep sleep and sleep. I can be talking to her and she just doses right off", I would suggest finding out why she can't stay awake first. That's not normal, and it sounds like she may be suffering from narcolepsy?: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/narcolepsy/detail_narcolepsy.htm

This is typical of some kits- they are selling for less now than when they hit the store shelves a year ago. Round2 was even selling some Zingers! and the Royal Rail for $3.00 and $5.00 respectively, so you know those aren't moving.

I didn't know Tom Setzer of Jacksonville, Florida personally, but I followed a few of his build topics, and I'm sure a few of us remember him mentioning he lost his house to a fire a few months ago. While doing some searching tonight I looked at his profile page and noticed this had been posted: Tom Setzer passed away Sunday 12/30/12 at orange park Med Center in Florida. Thank you for talking with him near the end of his illness. We rarely get a chance to put a face to a screen name, but I found this video which showed what a difficult time Tom and his family were going through after the fire: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/onyourside/article/264166/9/Jacksonville-couple-in-dispute-with-insurance-company-over-claim

I don't think Hobby Lobby will be carrying either kit.