Art Anderson

Like I've saying all along folks! This kit is one for the ages (all ages too). My thanks and congrats to Dave and the Moebius Crew for sticking it out with the Chrysler--it's just plain SCHWEEET! Art

Just hadda wait until Dave gave the go-ahead. Art

Yeah, every pretense at "stock" cars in NASCAR ended with the demise of the "Dark Side" era. Art

Vistors to the Hall Of Fame Museum at Indianapolis Motor Speedway can see one of the very earliest "Hemi" engines, in the 1903 Premier race car, built by Premier for competition in the Gordon Bennett Cup (the car was too large and heavy to meet the specs, all attempts at reducing its weight notwithstanding). A Belgian car, the Pipe, featured a hemispherical cylinder head design in 1905. However, it was more likely that Peugeot, whose team of engineers "Les Charlatans", created the "father" of most all pure racing engines, a DOHC Hemispherical combustion chamber inline 4cyl racing engine, the 1913 Peugeot GP car. One of these cars, with Jules Goux driving, ran away with the 1913 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, it was this engine that popularized the DOHC Hemispherical combustion chamber in motorsports, most famously in the engines of Harry A Miller (Miller 300, Miller 183, Miller 122 and Miller 91), Fred Offenhauser, Miller's successor (Offenhauser racing engines, from 274cid down to the Offenhauser Midget engine--91-120cid, with a pair of 75cid turbocharged engines built in the middle 1970's), Nearly all DOHC ehgines use hemispherical combustion chambers, for their cross-flow gas movement to this day. Chrysler's V16 aero engine began development in 1940, but serious problems involving the large and complex aluminum crankcase (Alcoa strruggled to find an aluminum alloy strong enough) delayed this engine until finally, in 1945, it flew successfully in a pair of highly modified P-47 Thunderbolt airframes. Curtiss Airplane Company developed a new fighter during WW-II, the XP-60 to use this engine, rated at 2,700hp, but finally settled on a more conventional Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp, which offered no significant improvement over the widely built P-47. At any rate, the V16 came too late to see service in WW-II, and with the jet age already in full development, work stopped with the end of the war. Fred Zeder and his team at Chrysler turned their attention to adapting the hemi head to automobile engines, and by 1947, had a running example mounted on a Plymouth flathead inline 6 block. The rest, as they say, is history. Art

Actually, there was a rather large quantity of the Johnny Lightning HHR produced! I was part of the JL Product Development crew at Playing Mantis 2002-to the end of PM in late 2004. Tony Karamitsos (who does the development of HO slot cars for Round2) did the product development work on the HHR, as an exclusive for GM, who ordered 30,000 to be used as promotional pieces starting with the introduction of the HHR. I got into that project a little bit, was neat seeing how something could be developed from CAD files. The Johnny Lighting HHR promo was done in dark metallic blue, and was released by GM at the Los Angeles Auto Show in early 2004, JL's own version went on sale in stores in late February 2004. Several releases of the JL HHR were produced throughout 2004, both from Playing Mantis, and later from RC2. Art

Whale, NOT guessing! I know the designer of the Galaxie '48 Chevy kits pretty well (and he was the designer of the legendary Aurora Racing Scenes in the 1970's, and then headed up product development at MPC from 1977 until MPC was sold to Ertl in 1986, then opening his own design firm mostly devoted to high-end diecast models, including NHRA Top Fuel dragsters and dragracing motorcycles. He's been supplying me with tidbits of info on the Galaxie Chevy coupe for better than a year now--and the guy is most credible. Art

Bradley, Chrysler Corporation actually created the Desoto make themselves, as of August 4, 1928 for introduction later for 1929. Shortly after the DeSoto announcement, Chrysler Corporation bought up Dodge from the widows of John & Horace Dodge. With the creation of Plymouth in 1928 as their low-priced marque, Chrysler became in the "model" of GM, a multi-line company. Imperial was never anything more than the top of the line Chrysler (in fact, they were "Chrysler Imperials" until the 1957 model year when Chrysler set up Imperial as its own Division within the company--and Imperial received its own exclusive body and styling (even the legendary Chrysler Airflow of 1934-37 was sold in three levels: Chrysler Airflow, DeSoto Airflow, and Chrysler Imperial Airflow). Walter Percy Chrysler was arguably the last "self made man" to found a successful automobile company: Born in Hutchinson Kansas, he left school at age 12 (roughly the then-equivalent of the sixth grade) to become an apprentice machinist in the shops of the Union Pacific Railroad. By age 19, Chrysler was the shop foreman. In his early 20's, he moved to Colorado, as the superintendent of the shops of the Colorado Midland Railroad, then moved to Oelwein Iowa to become the Superintendent of Motive Power for the Chicago Great Western Railroad. There he bought his first automobile, and after disassembling and reassembling that car several times over a couple of years (to learn everthing he could about it, he drove it as his first family car). About 1911, Chrysler was hired as the Superintendent of American Locomotive Company (Alco), a position that today would probably be called "Chief Operating Officer" of ALCO, then the largest manufacturer of steam railway locomotives in the World. After being very successful at reorganizing ALCO's production operations, he was tapped by William Crapo Durant to take over the reins at Buick, then a pretty moribund operation at GM, turned it around, setting Buick on the road to long-term success. In the early 1920's, Chrysler was lured away from GM by the Chalmers-Detroit Automobile Company, then a money-losing operation, where he struck a deal to receive the sum of $1,000,000 if he not only returned that company to profitability, but to a a reported $5,000,000 annual profit. He did, and they paid him for it. Chalmers-Detroit then merged with Maxwell (yeah, the make of car that was comedian Jack Benny's favorite!) and in 1924, the company became Maxwell-Chalmers--and within a year, The Chrysler Corporation. The first Chrysler had a rather potent flathead inline 6, and was the second company to adopt the then-exotic Lockheed hydraulic brake system, which up to that time had only been used by Duesenberg Inc. Along the way, Walter Chrysler picked up several top-flight engineers, most notably one Fred Zeder, who was the principal engine designer for Chrysler Corporation for the next 30 years. During WW-II, Chrysler designed a super-potent aircraft engine, examples of which were installed in a couple of Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, the XP-47H, as the Chrysler XIV-2220, a V16 liquid-cooled engine, which pioneered the Chrysler Hemispherical cylinder head (design headed up by Fred Zeder). As soon as peace returned to the US, Zeder and his team began exploring high-output V8 engines, based around the pushrod Hemi head. In late 1947, the first experimental Hemi cylinder head was bolted onto a Chrysler straight 6 flathead block (I have several books with pics of that engine--what a potent six that thing must have been), finally gaining approval from Kaufman Thoma Keller, the president of Chrysler 1935-50 to go to production, which happened in late 1951 for the 1952 model year. Zeder stayed around to head up Hemi development, culminating in the legendary 1955 Chrysler C300. But, all this started with a guy who quit school after 6 yrs of primary school, but had a knack for learning, a penchant for self-taught, and a personal "drive" not often seen. Art

I've known about the forthcoming coupe from Galaxie Ltd for months now. Yes, it is coming. Art

In 1957, Dodge brought out the D-501, which used left over 354cid Hemi's from 1956 Chryslers. Arnie Beswick used one as one of his very first drag stockers. Art

Plymouth didn't get a Hemi until 1964.

Randy, and his late wife Cassie, were part of the group which began NNL-West perhaps 25 yrs ago. They were both also fixtures at early GSL contests--both great people to have known. Art

Three things: First of all, really FRESH masking tape! And along the same line, go right past the cheap stuff, go with good quality tape, such as 3M. It also helps if you buy the masking tape at a paint store, or a store specializing in professional autobody supplies. From all appearances, your masking tape did not stick down tightly, letting "overspray" underneath (bleed-under doesn't look fuzzy like that). Second, a clean, sharp edge to the tape. I always start by laying masking tape down on a clean piece of glass, then using a stainless steel rule and a NEW #11 Xacto blade, I cut a straight edge on the tape, then cut a strip about 1/8" wide, which I then use to mask the edge between the two colors. I then simply mask the remaining area to be protected with more tape. Third, I burnish the edge of the mask down tightly (this is where good quality masking tape that is fresh (not setting on the shelf someplace for months) makes it. I find my best tool for this is a fingernail, as I can control just where I need the pressure. Masking tapes are all made pretty much like crepe paper, slightly wrinkled, so they will smooth down enough for the adhesive to stick, make a tight seal against the surface. If you feel it necessary to "seal" that edge with some clear, which I have done, I use a small detail brush, and brush some clear (which I decant from the rattle can into the can lid) and brush a thin line of that onto the edge of the masking tape, and let it dry (only takes a few minutes. Art

Lesney Corporation bought AMT just ahead of the bankruptcy lawyers in the summer of 1979, only to lose out in March 1982 when they themselves had to file for bankruptcy and were essentially liquidated. Also, don't forget that the Ertl Company, as a subsidiary of Kidde Corporation, created their own line of plastic model kits 1973-76, International Transtars, S-series Internationals, and the Scout II kits, along with a series of John Deere, International Harvester and Massey-Ferguson farm tractors and implements. In addition, in 1976 or thereabouts, Ertl bought the Mack R, D and DM series truck and trailer tooling from MPC, and went on to market those themselves. Art

Hemi: 331cid in 1955, 354cid in 1956, 392cid 1957-58 Art Every bit as nice.

I doubt that many on these boards remember buying model car kits 30, 40 or even 50 years ago. The cost of developing and tooling a model car kit in the 1960's was tremendously costly for those days--well in excess of $100,000 and that was in 1960's dollars. Model companies could afford it back then, given that a new model car kit could be counted on to sell, at minimum, 100,000 copies or more in any given year (although some of those kits were dismal financial failures, for sure). In the mid-1960's, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the Depression-Era "Fair Trade" laws in every state in the US, laws that gave manufacturers the power to set the retail price for their goods, from clothing to electronics, to hardware, you name it, even including plastic model kits and the supplies to go along with them. Those laws were put in place in the early 1930's to try and halt the "deflation" of money, by forbidding "discounting", although most major retailers were able to get by with at least a small discounted price structure. I was privileged to be a little bit "on the inside" of AMT Corporation from 1975 through their selling out to Lesney (the Matchbox Toy company) in 1979, and remained so until Lesney went bankrupt in March 1982 at the depths of the recession in the US at that time. By "on the inside", I mean that I was one of the guys who built box art models, models for trade show displays, and for presentation to licensors of AMT and other persons they felt a need to present builtups to. In addition, I used to do informal surveys of local mass retailers (back then, it was KMart, Ayr-Way (bought up by Target Stores about 1983 or so), Woolco, and a series of discount store tenants whose names I've forgotten in the intervening years), tracking quietly the "sell through" of AMT products (how rapidly did a stock of any particular model car kit move off the shelves in say, the first month of their existence). Also, I got consulted on proposed new subjects from time-to-time, as were other modelers at the time. Fast forward to the 1990's if we can please: Walmart replaced KMart at the top of the mass retailer heap by 1990, and they still are today. Now, bear in mind, Walmart started out in small towns, NOT in major cities as was the case with all the other Big Box type stores. It was not until about 1990 that Wally made the move to major city markets, and they did that with a vengeance. Along the way, Walmart grew so large, so powerful that they could (and still do) dictate the price point of any lines of merchandise they offer on a full-year basis. Model kit development costs rose rapidly in the decade of the 1970's--for those of us old enough to remember, the 1970's were years of some pretty serious inflation, often just under 10% annually, and by the late 70's inflation was at double digit levels. That meant that by the time a model kit went to tooling, more than not the tooling costs were higher than they were at the outset of the development of a particular kit. At the same time, model car kit sales dropped dramatically, as other model kit subject areas grew in importance and popularity, while being much less costly to tool up (for example, the tooling for a plastic model airplane kit is far less expensive than tooling for a model car kit, given that airplane wings and fuselages can (and almost have to be) tooled in at least two parts per assembly, left and right sides of the fuselage, for example, where a model car kit body is expected to be molded in one piece, which means a mold with at least SIX sliding tools (inside, top, left side, right side, front end, rear end), calling for a tremendous precision if the company wants to get a reasonably clean body shell, free of as much mold misalignment as possible (and that's pretty costly to do--the more precision demanded, the more costly the tooling to do it). But, when Walmart arrived, became the by far dominant retail company on the map--they were in a position to dictate what a particular product in their stores would cost them, so they could sell it at the price they deemed right: Only this time, instead of forcing a higher price, Walmart went the other way, low price. Now low prices are fine, we all love to get stuff inexpensively, but that does come at a cost ultimately, to the consumer. Either lower quality, lower durability, or in the case of model car kits, fewer parts, fewer options, unless something could be done to lower the costs of new tooling, and even more importantly, the costs of manufacturing; and ultimately, less variety. Walmart essentially forced a $10 price point (MSRP) on model car kit companies through the 1990's and into the early 2000's, but at what cost? Well for starters, by the late 90's, fewer and fewer new subjects got developed and put in production. While most of those were very nice, even Walmart didn't put them in all their stores, preferring to dictate from Bentonville AR which stores, which markets, got which product. But, with the disappointing toy department sales in 2002/2003 holiday seasons, Walmart, just as with the other mass retailers, seriously reduced their toy departments (where they stocked model kits), to make room for other lines of merchandise that they could move faster, make more $$ doing so. And if one thinks about it, anything hanging on a pegboard hook takes less space than the footprint of a single model car kit, so more of them can be merchandised in the same space. All this said, and I know this is a long-winded post, my favorite places to look for model car kits are hobby shops, even if that means I have to drive 65-70 miles to Indianapolis--so I make the trips count. Art

Just got my set of final test shots on this one--talk about nice? I think it's pretty fantastic! It's a bit late, I know, but better late than wrong, certainly better than never. Pics will follow as soon as Dave says I can post some up. Art

Rock tumblers work by using a mix of water, a series of abrasive grits, and the action of small stones rolling and "tumbling" against one another, in the process losing all their sharp edges, points and corners. I can't see this working with a model car body alone in the tumbler, regardless of how much grit is used, and equally, regardless of the length of time you leave the machine running. I would bet though, that the action would pretty quickly round off the fins on a '59 Chevy body though. Art

The late Mike Watgen of Mike's Miniature Motors managed to cabbage onto the rare AMT kit of the 1911 Prototype Chevrolet Touring car (the 50th Anniversary 1911 Chevrolet Promo was this kit, factory assembled). Those kits and promo's were available ONLY from Chevrolet Dealers in 1961, and once the production run was completed for Chevy, their representatives audited the destruction of the tooling. Mike cast the kit parts in resin, sold them as parts, or as a partial kit (Street Rod version) or as the full stock '11 Chevy prototype kit. Mike died, tragically, early in the morning of the first Sunday in May 1994, as he was loading his van with product, to attend the Hoosier Model Car Association's annual swap meet and contest in Indianapolis IN. Modelhaus did acquire a few masters from Mike's widow; Jimmy Flintstone acquired Mike's excellent 1966 Chevy II 2dr sedan transkit masters. Art

For 1/8 scale, I WOULD DEFINITELY use brass tubing, for its stiffness--styrene, for such a large model will be awfully flexible, and the glue joints won't be all that sturdy as well, due to both size, and the sheer weight of the model. Just my .02 cents worth. Art

Yup! Masking tape applied to paint that is not completely cured will do that. Art

From what Dave M told me 24hrs ago--I should see a final test shot of the '55 Chrysler either tomorrow or Saturday. I've got most of the approved parts here already, only the body had some stuff to be corrected--I think this is gonna be a kit for the ages! Chrysler advertised their 1955 line as the "Million Dollar Look"--and they were the first completely new Mopars since the late 1930's--and I am pretty certain I am gonna be blown away once more. Art

Geez, I am so 20th Century I guess! Still using good ol' 3M Masking Tape (you know, the cream colored stuff). Where did I go wrong anyway? Art

But not as long as you might think.

Actually, it depends as much on how the model kit body/fenders are done as it does on the color. Given that the AMT '50 Chevy pickup has its front fenders molded in unit with the cab, and that the fenders are a convex curve where they meet the cab, it would be a LOT easier to paint the fenders, THEN mask them off right at the joint line between fender and cab, to do the second (cab) color. As for the rear fenders, no problem, as they are separate parts. Art

My favorite tool, for decades now, for putty work is a simple artist's palette knive (you know, the thingie that painters use to mix colors on the palette, somefimes even apply oils or acrylics to canvas). These are stainless steel, very springy--in fact the good ones are actually milled or ground to be thinner at their tips than at the shank leading to the handle. They are shaped like a masonry trowel, but in miniiature--I use the smallest one I could find, the blade on it is only about an inch long. The tip is radiused, about 1/16" diameter, makes a perfect tool for putting little dollops of whatever putty (lacquer based or catalysed, it doesn't much matter). The long handles on these make them a bit awkward at first, but you can get used to that, I did. And, they aren't expensive either--the one I have now was less than $10, and being stainless steel, it's gonna last me to the end of my model building days. Art