Casey

They have blank sidewalls now, and the sidewalls are even a bit recessed, making the tires pretty much useless.

Is that a calculator watch I see? Love the Dodge and the vintage pics, Darin. I'm kind of partial to the '71-'77 Mopar vans, too: http://moparbvans.proboards.com/index.cgi?

We leased an '05 Legacy GT wagon for three years and had zero complaints. The only issue was a headlight bulb which burned out the week we returned the car. Very well laid out interior, great visibility (even better on the Baja with taller ride height), and great performance and fuel economy. I think you'd be happy with a Baja if it fits your needs, but unless you need the open pickup bed, I would chose a wagon instead.

I've been tinkering this off and on for the last few months, and finally got around to de-customizing the body, at least partially. The sidepipe cut-outs in the rocker panels have been filled in, the rocker panels smoothed and flattened, the molded on flares were flattened to appear closer to stock in shape, the front spoiler was shortened/trimmed off, the fuel filler door has been molded in, the porthole window openings are about to be plugged, and the roof vent was replaced with a modified Trans Am shaker hood scoop. I'm planning to use the wheels and tires from the Revell 1/32 Shelby GT500 kit, as pictured below. Ride height has not been finalized, but it will be close to what is pictured. This will be done slammer style, so no interior nor chassis detail- WYSIWYG. This is what I started with, though the built up I bought wasn't quite this clean: Fortunately, the ambulance roof cap is a separate piece and is easily removed, but the Jackman-style wheels are molded off center, so they weren't worth using. The other issue to be resolved are the tail light and grille decals, but I've got some tank track stripes from the Monogram '71 Satellite kit which will serve as grille bars, and I'll figure something out for the tail lights.

It sounds just like what they said- both brands are recognizable and they try to use both names to match the original kit manufacturers. At any rate, this is the lone remaining kit in the Revell lineup with a nice set of 15" deep 'n' deeper 5-slot 'mags', so it has value for those parts alone.

Looks great so far.

I like it, but that interior is going to be lay-down-to-drive shallow.

I believe its last incarnation was the "Ram Tuff" monster truck. IIRC, the '78 Lil Red kit is based on the MPC Utiline kit, which was previously the Warlock 4x4 and other versions. Looking good so far, George.

Revell used to have ads in Hot Rod magazine, as did AMT in the early '70s.

I heart those Hooker-style sidepipes. And Happy belated birthday, Rodney.

As Harry stated, you answered your own question, and considering they have been using tool steel for the better part of 50 years, it stands to reason it was a very good choice. Also consider the heating and cooling cycle a tool goes through- hot molten plastic is injected at high pressure, then coolant is run through passages to cool the molten plastic and harden it, all within a matter of a minute or so. Which other materials would stand up to this requirement alone? I also recall Art mentioning styrene is highly abrasive, so whatever the tooling is made from would need to have high wear resistance, too. Maybe as we see more specialized and lower volume production runs we will see a shift in mold making materials, but for now, I think what is being used is probably the best choice.

I'm liking this build so far. BTW, are you left-handed, Randy?

Sure can. I used it to fill in some headlight bucket recesses with great results. I think it's best used in areas where ultra-fine detail isn't an issue, as a thinner, liquid masking medium would probably be a better choice than white glue.

The Yenko has a big block engine, steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps, and the Yenko stripes/decals. You should be able to get more info at revell.com about each kit, too. There's a multi-page thread in the Reviews section for the Yenko Nova kit: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42420&hl=yenko&fromsearch=1 ...and probably one for the Nova SS version a few pages back in the Reviews section.

In my opinion, the best way to search for current selling prices is to look at completed items on eBay.

Try using acrylic water-based paints for details such as these. That way, you can wipe off the excess with a damp rag and not affect the oil-baed enamel of lacquer paint beneath...assuming you didn't spray the body with a water-based paint. Ditto for the cowl vents. Thinned black water-based paint, built up over a few applications will darked the recesses and allow you to wipe the excess off the high points. These are a notoriously difficult area to detail as the paint fills in the vents quickly. Looking good so far, Lane, I've built this kit a few times when I was younger and always liked it.

Rob or anyone else who bought and opened their kit- do all the kits have this decal error, and has anyone bought it to Round2's attention?

You can raise the spindles, or whatever AMT provided to use as spindles in this kit. It appears there are separate pins (cirlced in red) to be used with the spindles (circled in yellow). I assume there are holes in the spindles through which the pins fit, so you'd need to drill new holes and mount the pins in the new holes.

It depends upon how 'custom' you are going to go. The main limiting factor with van is the front wheel wells, since they are and integral part of the vehicle, they can't simply be removed or moved upwards to allow the tire to sit up higher. As Joe suggested, a moderate (4") or so scale drop is possible with the stock kit parts, but any more severe drop will require more serious mods, and those mods will affect other areas of the van- interior, engine compartment, etc.

Because the original Monogram Challenger T/A kit was tooled up in the early '80s, and was pretty much state of the art then.

The exhaust system piece is the same in both the AAR and T/A kits, regardless of what was used in the real cars, as are most of the kit's other pieces. The 'Cuda patterned interior tub and seats are still included in the current 1/24 Challenger T/A kit. I think the AAR kit included some extra under hood details- heater hoses, separate battery, and maybe a different air cleaner assembly.

The AAR 'Cuda kit was based on the existing 1/24 Monogram '70 Challenger T/A kit, so Revell decided to share many of the parts between the two kits...which lead to many inaccuracies. Revell tooled up some new 'Cuda specific parts, left some of the old Challenger parts, and irreversibly modified some parts (interior tub and seats) to make the AAR kit.

I suspect they are trying to determine just how to effectively use both the Revell and Monogram names, since both have pretty good reputations and are recognizable with the public. It seems they were keeping Monogram originated kits in Monogram labelled boxes, but the "Car Show" category seems to be all jumbled up now. I like the "Classic Cruiser" category, which seems to indicate and kit which is based on older tooling, yet still gives you a solid, basic kit. I think as time goes one, we will see more defined labeling and branding, and hopefully some vintage box art (and by that I don't mean the '70s "generic" Monogram box art) to go along with some reissues.

Art (or anyone else), have you tried mixing in some Tamiya clear red or orange to use for side marker lenses or similar?