Art Anderson

Modelhaus has '59 Chevy dog-dish hubcaps in plated resin. Art

1940 was the last model year that Ford pickups used exactly the same chassis & suspension as their passenger cars--so yes, the gas tank should mount in the same place as on a coupe or sedan. Art

Well, considering all your encouragement and advice on my '13 T, Eric--the least I could do! Art

Google Image Search is the best friend I have ever had online, for reference pics!

Thanks for the memories! I snagged one of those in early '63, at Mrs. Abbott's little hobby shop in Fairfield IA, where I was a freshman in college (Parsons College)! Loved the kit, built a couple more of it over the next 6 months or so. Art

Digitally colorized for sure. I'll bet a dollar to a donut that what appears to be wet pavement is indeed ice, as in ice storm. Art

The basic lines, however, do appear similar enough that such a conversion should be very possible. Roofs, just as with any panel on a model car, can be stretched, and rear window shapes can be altered. Perhaps not a quickie swap, but I suspect it would be perhaps the only starting point. It's great to have good 3/4 pictures, but a straight-on side view of each car would sure come in handy! Art

NEAT! Will we see this at Detroit NNL? (Please say yes!) Art

I would wonder if they even sold very well when they were first issued in late 1985 though. I was in the hobby retail business then, and had some of those on the shelves for months--it could well have been the rather unattractive box art at the time. However, a really good indicator of whether to reissue a model car kit is the sales experience the first time around. Art

It's pretty hard to not like 1932: "The year that every US automaker pulled out all the stops for styling". Many automotive historians consider that year to have been the year that no ugly cars were built. As for me personally--1956. Save for American Motors, the Big Three (and even Studebaker) had great looking cars, nothing overly gaudy, no over-width, over-length cars--just crisp clean styling, every one seemed to be perfect in my then 11-12 yr old eyes. Art

My advice would be to do a Google Image Search for the '70 Bonneville hardtop (this will get you pictures of both 2- and 4dr hardtops, and print off the best, most nearly side-on views that you can find (there are a bunch of them out there, I just looked). The Buick Wildcat is the same basic body shell (don't be fooled by the lower body sheet metal--that's just a "suit of clothes with different "pleats and wrinkles"), but look at as many pics of a Wildcat as you can find. I've just done this, and to my eyes, the roof shape is the same, both for Buick Wildcat 2-and 4dr hardtops, and Pontiac Bonneville 2-and-4dr hardtops in 1970. This is very consistent with GM practice of the time, body sharing between divisions which went all the way back to the middle 1930's. It's called "research", something you'll find necessary, and I hope satisfying. When considering factory stock conversions it's part of the game. Now, the only question would be: In model form, will the AMT Wildcat roof fit easily on the MPC Bonneville? That I do not know--both companies were working in 1/25 scale, but there might be some differences in dimensions (that often happened back in the days before CAD), but with some study, perhaps a bit of cutting and correcting, the conversion should be very doable. Art

Not with BSI Accelerator! I have simply "spritzed" it on CA glue joints for a good 30 years, with NEVER any damage to plastic, paint, decals or chrome. Other brands/types of CA accelerators may well not have this result, but BSI certainly does. The stuff comes in transparent brown push-pump bottles in hobby shops (with the shop's name on a small brushed silver label on the bottle, along with the white printed information and brand name. It's also available online from Tower Hobbies--both the smaller push-pump bottle and a large, 4oz bulk bottle for refilling the smaller spray bottle. Art

Real car.

Since the late 1980's, Goldberg SuperJet medium-viscosity CA glue has been my choice--now using Tower Hobbies house brand. As for accelerator, for my money, NOTHING beats BSI (Bob Smith Industries) CA glue accelerator, on many counts: It absolutely does not affect styrene plastic in any way whatsoever, including clear and chrome parts. It has no effect whatsoever on any paint we are likely to use on a model car, enamel, lacquer, waterborne acrylics, flat, semi-gloss or gloss. And, perhaps it's most important advantage? BSI CA glue accelerator has eliminated all "fogging" around glue joints, period. Art

I simply shaved down the top of the carburetor. Seeing as how the stock air cleaner completely hides the carb, that posed no problems at all. I had no problems whatsoever with the fit of the grille into the body though. Art

The thing that is missing from this body shell is what was called, by Ford, the "Hood Shelf". which was an extension of the cowl and front quarter panels. The hood shelf area was slightly channel shaped, to hold a strip of webbing which provided an "anti-rattling" cushion between the underside of the rear of the 4 sheet metal hood panels and the hood shelf itself. Pretty easily made from some Evergreen strip styrene too. Art

Or any "Tacky" white glue, which can be thinned with water, brushed onto the details of the model you want to foil. Frankly, while I use BMF Foil Adhesive, it's really nothing more than thinned Tacky White Glue, which is available in craft stores under a variety of brands. Art

A much better way of doing this would be to glue the halves, mating edge down, onto a piece of thick sheet styrene, at least .080" thick. Then build up a mold box from either sheet styrene or even Lego's, deep enough to allow for at least 1/4" of RTV between the highest point of the pieces being molded, and what will become the bottom of the resulting molds (when placed on your bench for pouring), and at least 1/4" on all sides between the sides and ends of the "masters". Next, make another mold box the same length and width, but with just the smooth sheet styrene surface in the bottom of it, and the sides of the box at least 1/2" high. Pour rubber into all three mold boxes (right side of the transmission master, left side of the transmission master, and the plain box, filling each of the mold boxes full, but not spilling over. Once cured, remove the plain rubber block, and pour a second one, same as the first. Once these are all cured, and you've removed the masters from them you can pour resin into each of the molds for the transmission halves, allowing excess resin to flow over the tops of those molds; and gently press the smooth "blocs" (with their precisely flat sides down!) on top of the cavity molds--pressing the smooth blocks down AROUND THE EDGES ONLY (don't just press them in place in the middle of the mold, as they will tend to spring back flat, sucking air into what will be the mating surfaces of your transmission halves. Once the resin is cured, simply remove the castings, and take the flashing off around the edges--with a bit of practice on this, you should have almost micro-thin flash that will simply tear away, and two halves of a transmission that will fit tightly together with no sanding or filing needed to make them mate cleanly! I did this for years with such parts, so I know it works! Art Anderson (formerly All American Models)

Very early 1/24 scale Monogram kit, dates from around 1958-59 IIRC. Not all that accurate, the wheels and tires were Indy roadster sized, 16" front, 18" rear, which was the standard USAC Championship car sizing for that era. Art

There were two distinct markets, by perhaps 1951-52 for those promotional models: First the new car dealerships, and second, the toy trade. In order to make their promotional model car business truly profitable (and the story of say, AMT Corporation is, they bumped along, trying to eke out enough profit just to stay alive in their years before they hit on the 3in1 kit concept), AMT began pitching their promotional model cars to toy wholesalers. It's hard to believe today, but 60 years ago, the bulk of the toy business was in the hands of not the big chains, but independently owned toy stores, who bought most of their merchandise from wholesalers, just as the vast majority of LHS's do today. In order to give some variety to their rather small assortment of available product, AMT molded those in a variety of colors, and to give them more play value, added flywheel (AKA "friction") motors to their chassis, most generally at the front axles. When JoHan came along in 1955, they did the same, as had Product Miniatures Company about 1953. By 1954, all three companies were dabbling in giving those toy store flywheel cars two-tone color schemes, keyed to actual colors used on the real cars. Product Miniatures went the other two a big step farther though: They hit on the idea of doing (for such brands of cars where interest could be generated), doing their promotional models up in a wide variety of colors, which had a dual effect: In the 1950's, a large new car dealership might have 40-50 new cars on the lot, most were smaller, perhaps 10-15--now how best to show off the ever wider range of colors, and paint schemes available? PMC did complete assortments for car dealerships that wanted them, of say, all the colors your new '54 Chevy could be had in, even two-tone color schemes. All three companies did that, to some extent, in the assortments they marketed to toy stores & hobby shops (I spent many an allowance on flywheel models up through early 1958, before I discovered the new 3in1 Customizing Kits!). Of course, by the middle 60's, two tone paint schemes were pretty much a thing of the past, as were the "spray-masked" two color interiors on promo's) so yes, there was a lot of variety there, body one color--interior another shade. However, one thing I do remember: Toy store "flywheel" model cars faded away in most places when model car kits of the same subjects came about. Art

Actually Tom, New annual series kits were never introduced in September of any year that I can remember, simply because "New Car" introductions, in the 1960's and early 70's didn't happen until early October extending to perhaps the first week in November, every year. Even the dealer promotional models generally didn't show up for at least a few weeks after the new models were in showrooms (my experience). In addition, through most of the 1960's (the heyday of what we call "Annual Series Kits" now), generally speaking, and for whatever reason, if there was a convertible kit to be released, invariably that came first, before the hardtop (again speaking from personal experience, haunting as I did our large LHS back in the late 50's/early 60's, then working there from 1964-73). In truth, nearly every year (the 1958 kits from AMT--who started all of this--did not start hitting hobby shop shelves until April or May, convertibles first, hardtops about 3-4 weeks later) of annual kits through the 1960's did not start hitting the stores until late December or into January (on occasion, an annual kit might not have made it to stores until February). Also, Revell's 1962 Chrysler Corp. model kits weren't really "Annual Kits", as they were done independently by Revell, not seeing store shelf-space until very late summer of 1962, and were not derived from promotional models as was the case with AMT, JoHan and later, MPC--they were "free standing" kits. As for "regrinding" existing tooling to make "next year's model", that really didn't happen, except in cases where the only styling changes were in the form of say, a few bits of different chrome trim, new scripts etc. That's simply because injection molding tooling for such mass runs was then, and generally still is, steel which when finally approved as a model kit die is hardened. To weld up any major portion of a tool section for regrinding into a seriously different shape is at best risky. That's where tool planning came in: Lay out the tool base with cavities for accepting smaller inserts, which could be put in place for production, then removed, and an updated insert installed--that still happens in plastic model kit tooling and production. Art

Harry, your question is a difficult one to answer easily, as the so-called "Annual" kits came from three different manufacturers: SMP 1958-61, AMT 1958 to at least 1976, and MPC 1965-1985-86, Each model company had it's own set of kit characteristics (as you might imagine) even though SMP and AMT were closely related, AMT finallly absorbing the tooling done by/for SMP by about 1961 or so. MPC had some relationship early on with AMT Corporation, a few of their earliest model car kits having actually run and marketed by AMT as AMT kits (their '65 Dodge Coronet 500 being one example of this. JoHan also at least let AMT Corporation package a few of their kits under AMT's label, which likely was done given AMT's vastly greater market penetration back then. Some common characteristics of "Annual Series" model car kits: The "so-called" (by most of us) Annual Series model car kits were almost always produced as "3in1 Customizing Kits, regardless of the brand name: Parts for the stock version, plus an assortment of racing parts (roll bars, seat belts, open steel wheels (early on, those were in addition of chromed wheel covers molded as part of the stock wheels, later on, separate stock wheel covers to be glued to those open steelies), perhaps a few racing goodies for the engine, and race car decals on the decal sheet(, and "customizing parts" (stuff such as custom front and rear ends, often designed by the professional customizers of the era when the model kit was first issued, some custom interior goodies, some cars had "lakes pipes", almost always some custom wheel treatments, custom fender skirts, continental spare tire units, swept-back antenna's, accessory spotlights, lowering blocks for hammering the car down low (you could even make 'taildraggers" or give your model car a "California Rake", and custom paint treatment graphics decals). For most of the years of Annual Series model car kits, chassis were assembled into the body shells by means of 2 or 4 steeply threaded self-tapping screws that you threaded into molded, hollow posts, two at the front, two at the rear--exactly the same way that promo's were assembled in model companies' factories. Originally, the Annual Series Customizing model kits had no opening hoods, no engines in the engine bay either. AMT & JoHan both did that, as their Annual kits were little more than the promotional model, but with added parts for building any one of three versions as noted above. However, beginning in 1960, AMT added engine detail and opening hoods to their Thunderbird & Corvette kits, extending that feature across all their Annual series kits by 1962, with the exception of Corvairs--even though they were still largely promo-based. Given that the Annual model car kits were almost always based on the tooling for dealer promotional models, the companies did engrave the year of the car on the license plates, which could be molded onto the plated bumpers or molded as part of the body shell, depending on where the automaker(s) placed the license plates on the real car. As promo's were created to meet the demands of automakers, if the particular automobile manufacturer decided to forego a "next year's model" promotional, the model company who'd done that car (or pickup truck) might still produce the model for a year or more. AMT did that with their 1963 Ford F100 Annual Kit, in 1964 : As there was to be no 1964 promo of that truck, AMT's people simply smoothed out the license plate detail, thus eliminating the "year", molded more of them, sold them as a "New Ford Pickup"! Back then (the 1960's), the market for 1/25 scale 3in1 model kits was HOT. Model kits of this year's new cars were eagerly anticipated, but with only a few exceptions, there was almost no market for "last year's model". However, AMT did reissue some older promotional models as simple screwdriver assembly models for younger hands, a notable kit series having been the AMT "Craftsman Jr." Series--and in that series, there were at least a couple of subjects that had been done as promo's, but never as a glue-together 3in1 kit (the Craftsman Jr. 1960 Chevrolet Impala Nomad station wagon comes to mind here). But, as a general rule, back then, once the promotional model and 3in1 Annual Series kit production runs were finished for a particular year, the tooling was set aside, some apparently scrapped or allowed to deteriorate (rust damage). In the 1980's, though, AMT/Ertl did bring back a few of those old annuals, often no longer having custom or racing parts, just as the stock versions--still assembled in pretty much the same way, with the exception of having raised "nubs" on the upper (inside) surfaces of the chassis plates, where the screw holes had been, for simply gluing the chassis into place (after all, we kids and teenagers from teh 1960's had grown up by 1987!). That reissuing of older 60's and 70's annual series kits was also done by JoHan, who also reissued a number of 50's and 60's promotional models from old, existing tooling, under their X-EL brand, and a series of reissued screw-driver kits of 60's-late 70's promo-based kits (with no customizing options) as "USA Oldies". But along the way, Monogram (now Revell) and AMT/Ertl tooled up some new kits of 60's and 70's cars, but as completely modern, more "state of today's art" kits, with little or nothing in the way of optional parts in the kit boxes. That can add to confusion, of course. Art

You mean the 1/24 scale kit, right? It's really quite nicely done, very typical of newly-tooled model car kits from Monogram in the 1980's. Art

Of course, I have no clear answer as to why, but I can surmise though: In the summer of '64, as I turned 20, I was working in a large local hobby shop (where I continued to work while completing my college degree), I couldn't help but notice that younger modelers seemed not to be much interested in the then-new Chevelle. Perhaps it was that Chevelle's may have seemed more than just a little "bland" at the time, especially when compared to the new and exciting GTO from Pontiac and the lesser-seen but still exciting Cutlass 442--and then there was that upstart from Ford--Mustang. Chevelle's Z16 was still approximately a year away, came and went before most teenaged model car builders ever heard of it, even had there been a kit. I've pointed out that convertible model kits never did seem to sell all that well--AMT and others ran them, as they had the tooling--they did bulk up the numbers--but convertible 3in1 customizing kits tended to be fodder for annual summer "sidewalk sales"--often at fire sale prices. El Camino and the station wagon, for whatever reason, spoke volumes to AMT's sales people--they could mix those with a trailer and and have the basics of a race team--but by themselves, models of contemporary station wagons seemed to turn off kids---their fathers bought station wagons as family cars, when their sons dreamed of hardtops. In addition, at least for us at Weber's, slot car racing seemed to have dulled the keen edge of interest in static model car kits--yeah they were still selling, but the real passion among kids with allowance or paper route money in their pockets were slot cars, certainly by 1964 (although but 1967, slot racing, at least around here had settled down to the much less costly Aurora Model Motoring scene as both slot racing centers closed that spring). In short, I think there were any number of factors which lead to model companies to do what they did, produce and promote what they did, sell what they sold. Some seem to have been natural forces at the point of sale, others by nameless marketing people. Art

"In the old days", most model car kits, certainly those of then-new cars, were based on promotional models that companies produced for the auto industry. In that, hardtops and convertibles were common, simply because until hardtops became more fastback looking, they were literally convertible bodies with tops welded onto them. Models of contemporary station wagons were really pretty scarce though--only a handful of "annual series" station wagons were ever kitted back in the day. It all has to do with how the model kit in question is planned, from the get-go, as the tooling really needs to be planned in such a way that alternative tooling sections can be made up, then changed into the larger mold base in order to come up with that different version. To do so afterward isn't necessarily all that easy--in many cases it would be cheaper to simply start an all new tool for that model, as a complete, self-standing unit. Today, though, "one hit wonder" model kits don't often get made, certainly in the model car world, UNLESS the model in question can truly be projected to sell quite well, due to the fairly high "break-even" point of any newly tooled model kit. Thus, most every kit you've seen newly released in the past perhaps 20 years has been planned for multiple versions from the outset. Art