VRM

You should really post a link. jt-graphics.com still very under construction and pretty much useless. http://www.paragrafix.biz/product_detail.asp?PPartNum=pgx192 You have some sort of redirect on the link you originally posted. Are the decals available by themselves? Steve

Hey Tom, good news...Kevin at Missing Link has the wheel covers you are looking for. They are really good. Incidentally, you will have to get bumpers from Modelhaus for whatever year you need. Those guards changed slightly every year I think.

These will be available from Historic Racing Miniatures. I cant comment on the price. I would suggest getting an order in at your favourite reseller. He sometimes gets a bit backed up with orders. We are trying to keep the parts count down in order to make casting go a bit quicker.

I screwed up the #6 stripes - they are at Cartograf right now. Hopefully by the NNL. Along with Mod Tops, 250 GTO, and 250TR.

Bill, good catch - looking at some pics I would say that the whole vent window is beefier than the one in the kit. We might leave that one for Harold to decide as we have to consider fragility in the casting process also. He did not do anything to the grille area because there are a number of problems with the original AMT. The hood ends up too far forward, the angle of the front clip is off, and the height of the grille is off. Redoing the grille would mean re-chroming bumpers and things like that. It also means a fairly extensive redo of the entire front, and would also increase the parts count and cost. Vic and I discussed the front, and there was just nothing good that was involved with any of it. He did end up scribing the front clip, but even there it is still not right because of the total goofiness of the original. He did remove the grille part from the bumper, so it could be painted body colour. Rex, unfortunately, no work was done to the engine bay. It is still the open hole as in the original kit. There are a number of options to change that, but those all include chassis/suspension rework, interior tub, firewall, etc. All of that increases parts count and cost, and we didnt really think it would make it all that marketable. There are plenty of kits out there that could be used to modify the existing setup. Who knows...if it sells well enough it might get a small block, a better chassis and engine bay, and a decal run.

Unfortunately, the original kits (I have '72-74) were a little lacking as well. The dishing should be more pronounced, and more squared off. Vics grille is better than the original 72-74 kits IMHO.

AMT '68 Shelby. Unfortunately, the really nice AMT '67 would require a significant overhaul for the interior tub and other parts.

Hey Plastic Whackers, Just wanted to show you a ''68 Shelby convertible transkit that should be available soon. The master is finally done and will be shipped for casting (if it has not already). Historic Racing Miniatures has wanted to do this one for a long time (he owned a real one), and he wants to have some ready for sale for the NNL East. Additionally, the photos do not show the more accurate front seats and console that will also be included in the transkit. The AMT seats seem to have been designed for a person about as wide as my leg. Feel free to offer any comments, suggestions, criticism, etc. Steve D.

Yes, Bill, the new version has a bit more of a pronounced 'bowl' to it with the headlight itself being at the bottom. It is a tough shape to capture, but painting the inner part of the bowl with your favourite Oraganisol black, and then hitting the outer rim of the bowl with chrome paint or marker should go a long way to giving it more of the right look and depth. Steve

Ok - he has updated the grille part so that there is more of a barrier between the headlight and the grille centre. Its not 100%, but, it definitely has more of the correct look than before. He is shipping them off to one of the top-tier resin people (if he has not already), and hopefully they will be able to put them into production fairly soon. Steve

Yep, he just said he finished up all of the Barracuda conversions. He did some more work on the headlight area of the '72 to make it more recessed into the cone. We are all getting clobbered here in NE with snow, so not sure when he will be shipping them off for casting. Incidentally, I tried simulating that recess on one of the '74 snap kits with a taper. It did not work all that bad, but I also did not want to spend a lot of time on it. I will see if I can get pics and will post them (or will have him do so). Steve

I've seen that Resin Realm does a copy of the old annual, but I would rather work with the AMT. Mark, it might be possible to graft the tail of your crushed one to the main body of an AMT version. Do you have the interior bits also? Steve

Hi All, Does anybody know if any resin company ever made a convertible transkit for the AMT 67 Impala? thanks, Steve D

I finally got a refund - it was not 100%. I think I paid him $107, and I got back something like $100. And he refunded me by Paypal, so I had to pay fees as well. Still - I'm not complaining - I got the bulk of it back, but I will never order through his website again. Caveat emptor... Steve

I'm thinking it might be good to make a slight tweak to the headlight area, but otherwise it is ready to be cast. I put the guy who did the masterwork in touch with a resin guy - we will see, but I'm hoping it does not take too long. Steve

The headlights buckets are from the '70, so they should sit at the same point. I think it will be just a bit inside the grille edge. They are not recessed into the grille section, but they will look pretty close.

Here are the '71 parts to convert the Revell Cuda. He said there is still about a weeks worth of work left to finish. Feel free to comment or suggest... Steve

Here are the '72-74 updates for the Revell Cuda. Not sure if the bumper updates are needed, but they might be helpful. Feel free to comment or suggest. '71 Cuda up after this... Steve

He was almost done 3 weeks ago. I will see if I can get my friend to send me some pics of his progress, and also find out when he plans to finish the masters. Steve

A friend of mine is working on a conversion of the '70 Cuda to '72-'74. For the grille he is changing the '70 to add the split and mesh of the later years. It will not be exact, but after going to Carlisle and looking at both I think the only people who will worry about it in scale are the ones who would need to redesign the kit anyway. And yes, he is doing the front valence, tail, and seats. He has offered it (and a '71 conversion) to Kevin at Missing Link. The masters should be finished shortly. Steve

Well, what options would you want in an AAR? Here are mine: Proper AAR exhaust, Proper AAR hood Proper AAR front winglets Proper AAR grille (they are different from Cuda) Proper AAR lights Proper AAR 340 6 Bbl Proper AAR big and littles Rear window louvers Bonus parts for a 'Street Sleeper' 2 in 1. Ok - so, maybe some of my options are too sleepy, but they would add a lot of variety... Steel wheels with hubcaps and trim ring flat hood Go Wing for extra go Single carb manifold with air cleaner and carb stock exhaust - below the rear body This would allow Revell to sell a lot of them, because we would all mix and match options to make a lot of different cars. Send them an email and tell them what you want in a kit, and it would probably help to know how many kits you would buy. The licensing and tooling cost is too prohibitive to do a real Trans Am car. Same with the '67 Camaro.

Actually, its not... Start with a Comet. I'm already working on it myself. In fact...I bought a Comet kit from Kevin at the NNL East with the express purpose of doing this car.

There is a radiator, but it is not close to the nose opening. See here: http://www.hotrod.com/hotroddeluxe/1305_bill_thomas_ford_cheetah/photo_06.html Historic Racing Miniatures makes a full detail Cheetah with the correct engine parts. The Revell '62 Vette is a good source for some parts. Cheetahs ran a few different intake setups too. Hope that helps... Steve D.

Dont forget the Cartograf-printed Cheetah decals from those wonderful folks at Vintage Racing Miniatures! BTW - most of the Cheetahs did not have those louvers on the hood or behind the side windows. Most race cars had them as just open holes. The rubber in the Revell 427 Cobra is probably the best match for a Cheetah. Steve D.

I scored the last '72 spoiler. Thanks for the heads up about it being available! I was going to do a '72 in gold, but the MCW paint did not really seem all that metallic and it looked kind of blah. I'm now going with orange, honeycombs, and a white interior. Have to reconfigure the exhaust to exit the rear sides, but otherwise it should be a fairly low effort build. Steve