Casey

Could be. I tried it seven years ago or so, let it soak overnight, and the next morning I found a semi-soft body in the container. What type of black paint was used, George?

What did Revell do on the '48 Ford Woodie? Decals for the inserts? I want to say the Dan Fink '32 Speedwagon had no decals at all.

The box art looks like a compromise between the 1:1 car and what they could work with model-wise. I don't think it'd be too difficult to create a conversion kit for the Revell/Monogram '71 GTX and AMT '71 Duster for those two cars. The Duster's nose and tail pieces could be much like the custom nose and tail caps AMT included in their Customizing series kits, the headlights, bumpers and grilles to go along with them, and new hoods. The Sonic 'Cuda might be the easiest of the bunch.

The Monogram S-10's 4.3L V6 has an auto trans behind it, and it looks to be a 700R4.

I think the Revell 1/24 '71 GTX would be a better starting point, as it includes the thin rubberized bumper lip thingy (I forget the technical name) which appears to be present on the show car, plus the show car's nose "opening" doesn't look like the stock opening, lacking the raised area along the bottom edge. The kit part is neat, but it's just a custom grille with euro style headlights from what I see, and not all that close to what the Rapid Transit car is wearing.

I found the whole Seville Enterprises story pretty interesting, too, and again, we're left to wonder what might've been if that Cadillac promo made it to production and Jo-Han/Seville actually had a new promo/kit in its lineup.

Yes, the rocker trim is too thick, which I think is a concession to the molding process. Thinning it carefully from the backside should work. Monogram musclecar kits are pretty weak on underhood details, so take a look at similar era Ford musclecars for more detailed (and non molded-in) parts. I'm not sure what the Revell '68 Ford CJ Mustang's brake booster and master cylinder look like (assuming it doesn't have non-power brakes), but it and the Monogram '69 Ford Torino GT and Talledega kits might be good donors. Take a look at the instruction sheets on the Drastic Plastic site to see what the parts look like. For the alternator brackets, I suggest you either scratchbuilt them out of thin aluminum or brass sheet, or find a photoetched fret which contains engine details.

It's from the AMT '67 Chevy Fleetside kit: .$50 is beyond a steal for that. It would've been a steal at $20.00.

No longitudinal version in kit form, but the 1/24 '81 Chevy Citation and 1/24 Monogram Pontiac Fiero kits included variants of the 2.8L 60* V6 engine. All the 4th Gen GM F-body kits had V8 engines. Which trans do you need for behind the engine?

True, but it was at least made available again...for three months or so. I suspect just about every current/modern racing subject is a tough sell, since each car has a unique set of markings and the cars change every year, and sometimes even during the year. Updates to the tooling would be needed every year, and I recall some complaints about the Monogram/Revell Pro Stock kits in the '90s containing the same old '80s chassis, engines, etc. I just don't think there's a profit to be made in kits like this, at least compared to a kit of a Sox & Martin '70 Hemi 'Cuda, which only comes in one version, and won't ever change.

I get the feeling MCG is in the situation of needing to be very careful which kits they should do p/e sets for. They must have a ton of dead stock for kits like the '71 GTX. It's a $15 kit, and how many people are going to spend another $10 on a few metal detail items to detail a decent, but not modern/high-end kit? Not many, I suspect. Most modelers are cheap frugal, myself included, and scoff at paying $29.99 for a kit, so another $12.00 for a p/e set is not going to happen. That leaves MCG targeting the folks who would buy p/e sets regardless of the cost, which is a far smaller number of people, which means it will take a lot longer to sell those 100 frets they had produced in 2003. Maybe someone like Scott(?) from Auto Modeler or similar could chime in an give us an idea of what it costs to make p/e fret, what the minimum order number is, and so on.

I always drew a parallel between Jo-Han and AMC, both being independents, and compared to their much larger competitors, not nearly as well funded. I remember walking into Hobbytown Model Empire for the first time in 1992 or so, seeing some of the X-El '55 Belvedere (maybe it was the '55 Pontiac?) promos with the green tinted "glass", and wondering "Why green?" FWIW, there was someone on ebay selling what looked to be original Jo-Han artwork a few months ago, and the seller was located in Romeo, MI. I think the Comet or Maverick artwork was one of the items, and it was not very expensive...$30 or so. I always wondered if the person had a connection with Jo-Han or not, but never thought to ask then.

Don't use Pine Sol! It will soften the plastic in my experience. What type of paint was used, George? Lacquer, enamel, brand?? I have noticed black paint, both enamel and lacquer, is always left in the nooks and crannies when other colors around or over it have been removed.

I would say those are definitely 1/20 scale tires, and most likely from an MPC kit. Here are two slightly wider 12.50-15 1/20 scale GYBSSS tires for reference:], the first one shown with a 1/20 Corvette wheel inside:

Meter Cheater...in an AHM branded box? I think we're seen some AMT kits in Airfix branded boxes earlier in this thread, though.

Not to prolong the mystery (well, sort of), but if true (and I'm not doubting what Tom said), it's possible (though probably unlikely?) some of the tooling inserts for certain kits still exist, and there may be another complete kit which could be pieced back together. Using that to actually produce a kit is another hill to climb, though. I will admit Jo-Han kits never had much appeal to me, but I find the "little guy" aspect to the Jo-Han story to be very appealing.

I don't see any reason you can't name names (Elaine Benes excluded). Who is the mystery man? I'd love to hear from anyone who worked at/for Jo-Han.

Walgeeens is my go to source for sanding sticks, especially their house brand, the name of which escapes me now. They come in packs of two, and every three months or so they are on sale for "buy one get one half-off". They're usually priced at $1.97 for the two-pack, so they're cheap, and with a Walgreens on just about every corner around here, easy to find.

I just measured some 1/20 scale Firestone tires I have, and the I.D. was 20mm, so I think you're going to need some 1/20 scale wheels. The 1/25 MPC GYBSSS tires I have are considerably smaller, too.

They did reissue the A-M Grand Sport Vette, there was the curbside yellow racing Vette, but Revell seems to release far more drag subjects than road racing type cars. All those early-to-late '80s IMSA cars from Monogram and Revell were probably the zenith as far as road racing variety and numbers are concerned.

Click the "Report Item" at the right hand side, part-way down from the top, then you follow the drop down menu choices.

See post #22

That's exactly what I thought of when I was looking through Hans' album last night. Look at all the different insert pieces, and how some are different heights, and so on. I can now understand how it may have been possible at Jo-Han for them to use the same Hemi engine inserts in multiple kits, while using other inserts specific to the particular car being molded. I have no idea if the actually did that or not, but the size of the inserts makes a strong piece of evidence in support of why these inserts are probably gone for good. I think maybe Art mentioned this once, but I thought I remembered someone saying Jo-Han's molding equipment was WWI era, and would not easily translate to the IM machines AMT, Revell, Monogram, etc. used. I'm now wondering if the "MB 79" and "MB 107" notations indicate which mold base the inserts were to be placed inside of?:

ebay used to charge fees based only on the final value, not including shipping, so sellers used the "high shipping, low item cost" loophole to pay less in fees, yet still get paid the same amount. Now (and for at least a year or so) ebay charges final values based on the item and shipping cost combined, closing the loophole. There's also a feature which you can use to report a seller for excessive shipping costs.

This one?: