Art Anderson

Given that K&S brass tubing is sized in English measure, it's far easier to use .040" to equal one inch in 1/25 scale. From there, it's very simple arithmetic to come up with scale tubing sizes in that brand of metal tubing. Art

I've always used Devcon 5-minute epoxy.

Vacation time all lined up, hotel room reserved, airline tix bought.

The concept of a "chase kit" is a long standing Tom Lowe thing, actually. He started that early on with Playing Mantis, and his reintroducing the Johnny Lightning brand of 1/64 scale diecasts. Called "White Lightings", those chase cars had a minimum of 3 characteristics done in white or pearl white as opposed to the standard colors used in the particular release. WL's did have quite an effect: JL collectors would hound stores for the latest "program" of JL's (subjects like Willys Gassers, Classic Gold, Thunderbirds, Corvettes and the like) to catch the newest releases out on the pegs, scour through them for White Lightnings. That certainly did help drive sales of JL cars. However, with Polar Lights plastic kits, the idea wasn't nearly as successful, and I doubt today that it has any effect to speak of with AMT kits either. Art

All those trophies, telephones, TV's, tape recorders, stuffed animals were very much a part of the custom car scene in the late 50's/early 60's, and were reflected in those early 3in1 and trophy series model car kits for that very reason. It might be hard to imagine today, what will all the cell phone/smart phone technology, but "radio-telephones" were very much available back then, if expensive to own and operate (the user came on the air, to a dispatcher/operator at the local telephone company offices, gave her the number to be called, and once a connection was obtained, could carry on a fairly normal conversation--sort of a wireless version of the old hand-cranked wall phones of the early 20th century). It was very much the thing with full customs to have a built-in television (a few were working TV's, most probably not though), black & white only. JC Whitney/Warshawski's prominently featured stuffed animals wired with small red lights to be placed in the back window of a car, wired to taillights/brakes and turnsignals. Campy as those might seem today, they were pretty popular back 50-60 years ago. Some other cool accessories from those old AMT, JoHan, MPC kits: AMT's 3in1 '53 Ford F-100 (the good kit, not that flipnose version) came with gas and water cans (5-gallon--some AMT 3in1 kits came with one gallon tin gas cans--plated too!), and a full set of hand tools on the chrome parts tree (those were highly sought after back then as well!). Trophies were found in all the original Trophy Series kits, and in some 3in1 kits as well, and they were outlandish in size, as were many car show trophies of the age (AMBR trophy is very representative of that!). Also included in some kits were car show stanchions (you supplied the cording to connect them) and plated jack stands for displaying your show car with one wheel unbolted, to show off the chrome plated brake drum that some customizing kits contained. Also found were floor jacks (both scissors types which were aftermarket in the day of the horrid bumper jacks; and the roll-around shop floor jacks). Another "accessory" that showed up from time to time was the classic Bell Helmet (before full face helmets) Go-Karts in several styles showed up, as well as the Rupp Minibike, even a Schwinn Stingray bicycle (parts scattered between multiple kits--encouraging you to buy each of them!) There was even a series of tuck-n-roll naugahyde covered spare tires for the trunk in your custom car at one time, prolly several. Perhaps the largest trophy ever included in any model car kits back then was the very large Gold Cup trophy originally included in the JoHan "Gold Cup" series of high end model car kits (1931 Cadillacs, 1935 Mercedes-Benz, 1966 Cadillac Hearse and Ambulance, even the early issues of the Chrysler Turbine Car. So lots of Gim Cracks and Gee-Gaws in those old model car kits! Art

No more rare than the MPC 1988 Chevy C-1500 Silverado "Licensed by Ford Motor Company" I don't think. Misprinted box art happens from time to time, often the misprint doesn't turn up until the kits are already in the pipeline. Art

Welcome to the World of Tom Lowe! Lowe has been a proponent of the "chase car" (Johnny Lightning "White Lightning") and "chase kits" (those Polar Lights kits that were done in a different color, clear, even plated plastic, in VERY limited numbers--his idea being to get buyers to chase down the rare pieces--with JL cars it certainly worked! Art

My Pace Peacemaker draws all paint overspray, AND fumes OUT of the model room (solid particulates captured by the filter, fumes go outdoors), but it does not pull so much air as to bring lint or dust to the painted surface. Living in an apartment in a house with Central HVAC, I feel a real need to make sure that no smells spread into the HVAC, so I leave the blower on the booth run for at least 30 minutes after I am done painting. Gives real meaning to the name "Peacemaker" IMHO! Art

I painted this Gunze Triumph TR-2 with Tamiya Dark Green waterborne acrylic back in 1987, as a display piece for my hobby shop. The first go-round of the paint, I failed to pay attention to Tamiya's thinning instructions for their waterborne acrylics, and the paintjob literally SLID OFF THE SIDES OF THE Body! After stripping it, I did it again, this time reading the cotton-pickin' instructions from Tamiya, and it came out great (British Racing Green back then was a HARD color to duplicate in miniature) Art

For starters, Franklin Mint, as with most diecast manufacturers, does most (if not all) their detailing with Tampo Printing" which is called in the trade "pad printing". Too complicated to describe here, but they definitely are not puter printed. Art

Check me if I'm wrong here, but isn't the '72 Cutlass Supreme HT a physically longer wheelbase car than the regular Cutlass fastback? Art

While I took Driver's Ed the second semester 1960 (great way to learn winter driving), DE cars in the US never really did have dual steering wheels that I ever saw. Our DE car, a '59 Chevy 6-cyl 4dr, had a 6 with 3spd, and a second clutch and brake pedal for the teacher. Beginning with 1961-62 school year, they went to automatic transmissions, so only a second brake pedal. In a lot of the country, AAA sponsored Driver's Ed in high schools, automakers, through their local dealers, provided the car, AAA provided the extra pedal setups. Art

The Leo Levine book, "Ford, the Dust And The Glory" which was published in the 1960's makes little if any mention of Lee Iacocca in regard to racing. Levine writes of the impetus for Ford going all out in racing in the 1960's came from none other than the man in the penthouse offce: Henry Ford II. of course, somebody had to trigger that passion, and by most accounts, the person was none other than Dan Gurney, who brought Colin Chapman together with Ford Motor Company, to provide engines for Lotus for that first effort at Indianapolis in 1963 (of course, Ford had already begun the "Total Performance" push, with Falcons entered in the Monte Carlo Rally, and a return of full sized Fords to Nascar and the dragstrips). At the time, Lee Iacocca was a sales/marketing guy, who was about to spring the ultimate stealth surprise on the others in the Big Three, the Mustang, which was aimed squarely at the leading edge of the Baby Boom Generation, who were reaching 18 in 1964, and as a group, were amazingly flush with money to buy at least a low-priced new car. It was in 1962-1963 that Ford Motor Company, at the behest of HFII (then the President and Chairman of Fomoco (Ford Family, then as now, held the controlling interest in the company Henry The Deuce's grandfather started), and when they were rebuffed, HF-II set in motion the process that resulted in a string of Ford-GT's, and back-to-back victories at LeMans 1966 and 1967 for Ford Motor Company, all the while backing to some extent, Shelby American, Holman & Moody, Bud Moore and a huge assault on Indianapolis and the USAC Championship Trail. Art

Not a sprint car, but Foyt's full-sized USAC Championhip Dirt Car (Indy legal car, but designed for running dirt. No USAC sprint cars that I ever heard of ran the 4-cam Ford back then, given that USAC's engine formula specified just 220cid for an overhead cam racing engine. Parnelli Jones also ran a USAC Dirt Champ car powered by the 4-cam Ford V8. This chassis has a USAC Champ Car required 96" wheelbase, where a USAC (and in the era of this car, USAC was the dominant Sprint Car sanctioning body, being the only truly nationwide series in those days) Sprint Car used an 84" (seven feet) wheelbase (to put this in perspective, the Kurtis Midget as released by Revell, was built on a 72" --six feet-- wheelbase in those years). This particular car was an AJ Watson design, with other similar cars, also powered by Ford being driven by Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti and several others. By the 1960's, USAC's dirt tracks were fewer and fewer, people seemed to want (as did a lot of car owners) more races on paved ovals, and most of the formerly dirt mile oval tracks on USAC's circuit got paved over. By the late 1960's, only the Indiana State Fairgrounds track, and similar mile tracks at DuQuoin and Springfield IL remained on the circuit--in fact, this very car, in Sheraton-Thompson colors and Offenhauser power, won the 1965 Duquoin 100 miler, then due to a road accident that prevented Foyt's then-new Lotus Ford from arriving in Milwaukee for the Labor Day 100 miler, got set up with pavement tires, went out, won the pole, and lead virtually the entire race until a rear tire blistered, requiring a last minute pit stop. The Ford 4cam was installed I believe, in 1968. Art

Hugh, every Team Lotus car (save for the star-crossed 1968 Lotus 56 wedge-bodied STP turbine powered cars) entered at Indianapolis was Ford-powered, from the 1963 Lotus 29 which ran a 255cid Ford small block to Mario Andretti's ill-fated 1969 STP Gas Treatment Lotus 4wd. From 1964 (Lotus 34) to the 1965-66 Lotus 38, the chassis were designed around the 4-cam 255cid Ford V8 engine. The 1967 STP Lotus entries were to have been powered by a 255cid version of the BRM H-16 (essentially two "Flat-Eight" engines mounted one atop the other, and geared together into a 16-cyl powerplant). However, the BRM engines never materialized, and 2 of the 3 cars entered were hastily modified to accept the 4-cam Ford V8, which combination was not even remotely successful. In addition to the Lotus cars, 4-cam Fords powered numerous other cars in the 1964 Indianapolis 500, including the Halibrand Shrike and the Mickey Thompson Harvey Aluminum cars in which Eddie Sachs and Dave McDonald lost their lives that race day. For 1965, 4-cam Fords powered fully half the field at Indianapolis, even a Watson Roadster was fitted with one, but was unable to reach qualifying speeds. Mario Andretti began his IMS career running 4-cam Fords; as did Al Unser Sr. Art

Edsel Ford died in 1943.

Casey, For Indianapolis and the USAC Championship Trail in 1968, Dan Gurney's All American Racers campaigned two cars, one with 255cid Ford 4-cam power, and for Dan "Stock it to 'em Dan" Gurney, a more conventional pushrod block with with Weslake heads (not to be confused with the 1966-67 Gurney Weslake V12 F1 engines. For the 1968 Indianapolis 500, Dan Gurney drove the Ford Weslake powered Eagle shown on your box art, New Zealander Denis Hulme drove the 4-cam Ford powered car. Both cars were sponsored by Oswald "Ozzie" Olson, principal owner of Olsonite, maker of plastic composite toilet seats (Olsonite Eagle, the fastest toilet seats in the World!), along with Jorgensen Steel and a couple of specialty aluminum companies. One of the associate sponsors (very small decal on the side of the tub, not depicted in the MPC kit)? None other than Mattel Hot Wheels! Art

The Ford DOHC V8 you are talking about was based on the 260cid small block V8 that first appeared in the 1962 Ford Fairlane, as a 221cid OHV engine. It was modified, yet still an overhead valve pushrod engine, poked out to 255cid (4.2 liter) for use at Indianapolis in 1963, powering 3 cars from Lotus Cars of England--two cars, one each for 1962 World F1 Champion Jim Clark and noted American Driver Dan Gurney (who convinced first Colin Chapman of Lotus to build cars for Indianapolis (Gurney drove the first modern rear engine race car to qualify for Indy, the 1962 Johh Croswaith Buick-powered car campaigned there by Mickey Thompson), and who also persuaded Ford Motor Company to provide racing V8 engines for the project. These Lotus Fords were depicted, sort of, in model kit form by both IMC (Industro-Motive Corporation) and AMT Corporation, both race cars released in May 1964. In 1963, Clark qualified on Pole Day, while Gurney was caught by a gust of wind and hit the wall in the South Short Chute (the short straightway-660 ft, between turns one and two at IMS), so had to wait until Sunday the 2nd day of qualifications while the "Mule" or practice car was prepared with full racing setups, including the severely offset suspension system). In the 1963 Indianapolis 500, Clark finished a somewhat distant second place to Parnelli Jones (whose car was kitted by AMT for 1964) driving a conventional Watson roadster powered by a 255cid Offenhauser; in what is one of the most controversial finishes in all of Indianapolis 500 mile race history. For 1964, Ford engineers created a race engine specific block, still based on the 221/260/289/302 block, but with 7 oil pumps and a pair of dual overhead cam cylinder heads, with centerline intakes for a custom-designed Hilborn Fuel Injection system. For this effort, Ford's engineers reached all the way back to 1932, and a Harry A Miller 4-cam V8 having that same basic induction setup (in fact, FOMOCO rented one of the 3 existing Miller V8 engines that resides in a museum in Frankfort Indiana for study!). This became the legendary 4-cam Ford Indy V8, which ran wild in 1965-67, with Clark winning the 500 in 1965, rookie Mario Andretti setting the racing world on its ear that year--and setting 1 and 4 lap records for the pole in 1966; Graham Hill winning in 1966, and AJ Foyt in 1967. For 1968 and all the way out to 1977, the Ford 4-cam was reduced to first 168cid for turbocharging, finally winding up at 151cid when AJ Foyt won his record-setting 4th Indianapolis 500 in 1977. At the end of the 1969 USAC season, Ford decided to back out of direct manufacture of Indy engines, and sold the engine, all rights and tooling to Foyt, and the engines thereafter became known as Foyt 4 cam V8 engines. The first Ford GT-40's of 1964 were designed around this engine, but quickly the pushrod version came back, ultimately replaced by Holman & Moody-built 427 Nascar style engines by 1966 and 67 for LeMans and other long distance endurance races. to hear one of these 4-cam engines run at full song is to hear fine music for the ears--a shrill scream from the exhaust horns is a sound to be treasured as they reached nearly 10,000rpm by the end of the backstretch at Indiananapos (5/8 mile straight). Art

circa 1900 to about 1960.

One of my pet peeves for years has been scripts and badges that while they may have been engraved to scale depth (height as they "stand out" from the sheet metal surface) to the point that they disappear under a coat of paint (Of course, I learned to airbrush colors on model car bodies, years ago, thinly enough so as to not bury such details in so much paint that they could neither be painted nor foiled). I, along with a few other modelers have consistently lobbied model kit mfr's to consider this issue when tooling a new kit, and to some extent it as worked; although it will still continue to be a problem, certainly with modelers who use rattle cans as opposed to mastering the finer arts of airbrushing (for whatever of the multitude of reasons. I owned, for about 10 years, both a 1958 Chevy Sedan Delivery, and a 1959 Chevy Biscayne sedan. Both cars had diecast chrome-plated scripts denoting their model series (Delray for the Sedel, Biscayne for the sedan). Now those scripts were at best only about 1/4" thick (high, as in relief, or how they stood out from the sheet metal), which translates into just .010" on a 1/25 scale model. it's been a bit of a fight over the years to convince model companies to make those scripts stand out a lot farther, even though that means they will be much higher relief than in scale, the concept here being that today, relatively few modelers ever build a model car without painting it, and there is that "need" among builders to pick out such details, be that with 1146 Chrome Silver, or Bare Metal Foil--either way, we want to see those scripts after a paint job. Frankly, for my money, decal scripts don't cut it--those scripts in real life are shiny, sparkling chrome, not dull metallic silver paint. PE scripts, for all their fiddly nature, are at least shiny and bright, but still they have very flat surfaces (go look at ANY Impala, Bel Air, Biscayne or Delray script on a REAL car--they are anything BUT just flat, bland diecastings--no, they STAND OUT). But, some things from real life are pretty much unobtainable in miniature, so compromises must be accepted and are. Years back, in my resin casting career, I investigated the possibility of having self-adhesive real chromium scripts made, ala those found in some higher end Tamiya kits of the era. The costs were scary, enough so that I backed off (don't remember the name of the process by which those were made anymore). They were real electroplated chromium, on a self-adhesive backing, and while not perfect, were the best thing since store-bought teeth when compared to PE, certainly decals. In the meantime, one of the last things insisted on with the Moebius '55 Chrysler C300 is that the very delicate "C-300" scripts on the rear fenders, and the CHRYSLER lettering across the front fascia, that those very thin letters and numbers be increased by I think, 200% in depth (height, or standout from the body surfaces) from the last test shots, in order for them to be able to be foiled when built. Of course, I would be sure that someone such as MCG will come out with a PE set in pretty short order for this kit. Art

My take on this is that the reasons why more kits don't have figures in them is multifold: Yes, early plastic model car kits had figures, and not just those from Revell in the multipiece body era; Best Plastics/Aurora's "Famous Race Cars" models of Indianapolis winners had driver figures, as did many of the early Monogram model car (even boat!) kits of the 1950's. AMT's 1974 Indianapolis Eagle Model 6 and McLaren M-16C kits, along with their Grant King Sprint Car kit all had driver figures. However, my memory is telling me that for the most part (for whatever reasons) the driver figure was the least-often used part(s) in all those model car kits. There has almost always been a problem trying to fit a correctly sized model figure of a human being into a model car interior. Unless the model company involved is willing to spring for a second seat that is compressed under the weight of a driver in addition to a seat like we have come to expect in any model car kit, well, that driver figure isn't going to fit very well behind the steering wheel, at least not and still appear to be "in scale" with the rest of the interior. Of course, to do something like this would have demanded that model car interiors be full depth, unlike the one-piece "tub interiors" which dominated model car tooling from the earliest days of AMT kits until the 1980's. Some of us can remember such kits as the Revell '57 Ford Country Squire (and it's butcher-result '57 Ranchero), and similar Revell kits circa 1957-59 which were among the very first model car kits to feature interiors that built up on a floor pan, not some "tub" that popped into the body shell, with as much as a scale foot between the floor of that "tub" and the true floor as depicted by even those early plastic pan-style chassis. To have had seated figures to go in such off-scale interiors would have endeared the model companies to ADA advocates with their distinct ignoring of legroom. Someone mentioned tooling costs--yeah, that would be a consideration, but what about the inevitable lawyers who would circle around any model company today who dared to put some even faintly recognizable figure in a model car kit (consider that in 1/25/1/24 scale, facial features on a model figure can be quite recognizable!) had best be prepared to pay somebody a royalty or at least an up-front fee in order to use the likeness of a living person as a figure in a model kit. Back almost 15 years ago now, Chris Etzel, resin caster of some legendary Indianapolis cars, included a standing driver figure in at least a short run of one of his kits. The figure was recognizable, memory wants to say to me that it was of George Souders, winner of the 1927 Indianapolis 500, Now, being a lifelong resident of Greater Lafayette IN, I don't believe that the late George Souders has any living relatives today, certainly no descendants, as he had no known children. But that may not always be the case. Revell, in their iconic (and rather rare today) 1957 Ford Country Squire kit, included a figurine of a perhaps-8yr old boy in a typical 1950's cowboy suit. Now either Revell's pattern makers used their own memories of kids they knew, or some modeling agency provided them with "stock photographs", or they drew from the likes of LIFE magazine, but in any event, the facial features of that figurine are quite realistic for the times, and I would bet a dollar to a doughnut that some enterprising gold-digger would be able to provide his own childhood portrait and say "Revell made that figure off of pics of ME!"--only the statutes of limitations would stand in the way of that, seeing as how Revell was tooling that kit 55 years ago. But surely anyone can see the potential problems there--which would translate into $$ of expense up-front. But all this said, I would maintain that my first reason given here, that figures tended to be the least-completed part of any of those early model car kits are the reason that more figures were not included in model car kits down through the years. Over on the "warmonger" side of things, if one thinks about it, go to an IPMS Convention, see how relatively few fighter plane builds actually have a pilot seated in the cockpit! Not that often, most modelers there seem to prefer the empty seat as opposed to a plastic pilot imprisoned there in perpetuity, on the tarmac, in a plane that will never take off and fly. So, all these things seem, or at least it appears to me anyway, to come together to "conspire" that except for the occasional limited run of a model car kit anymore, or certainly the rather vast aftermarket that feeds our model car addiction, figurines are, and will remain, a rather minor part of our hobby, and our building. Art

No solid-back front seat?

Harry is right, starting with Ford with the Model A for 1930, stainless steel began replacing chrome, particularly for body trim (although from 1930 onward through the 1940's, Ford radiator shells then grille bars were stainless steel). With the beginnings of body trim spears, Ford used stainless steel exclusively from 1938 on. GM also began using stainless steel by the late 1930's, and certainly in the early 1950's, when Chromium was declared a "strategic metal" for defense purposes, about the only chrome plating was on diecast parts and bumpers. Anodized aluminum started creeping in about 1957, first with grille mesh, then side spears on the likes of Impala's in '58. Of course, neither metal rusts, in fact, stainless really doesn't even dull that much over time and exposure to the elements. Oh, and when chrome spears are removed, on 50's/60's cars, yes there are clips, but remove a clip, and you have a hole in the sheet metal. Art

In the 30's, Cadillac, pretty much like all other luxury carmakers, used black walnut, in either straight grain, or "burled" (the curly grained wood found at the base of the tree) for dashboards and the sills at the top of doors. For this, I would use a medium brown (check the Modelmaster or Humbrol paint racks for this, in flat finish, can be either enamel or acrylic), and then "dry brush" Testors/Modelmaster "rubber (which is a brown black color, flat finish) over that to give that hint of wood grain. When this is all dry, brush on some clear of your choice, and you should have a close approximation of black walnut. Art

With weathering (something I have done only on rare occasions), your camera and your eyes are your very best research tools. Pay attention, especially if going for that subtle, slightly used, dirty but serviceable look to how dust and road splash accumulate on a car body. Unless the car or truck has been out in a mudhole, literally, there will be definite patterns to how this all happens. For example, in the winter, there will be salt stains down the sides of a car, and probably all over the back if it's snowy, slushy weather, and you should notice that the rear of the car will have more than the sides, definitely more than on the front. The windshield likely will have at least some salt/grime on the glass OUTSIDE of the wiper paths. Side windows will have at least some as well, but the roof, and top of the decklid? Likely little if any. Again, take lots of pics of real cars, from all angles--digital pics are virtually free except for the paper and printer ink/toner if you make prints, you know. Art