Art Anderson

I'll go along with that!! If nothing else, just for the Desoto & the Merc! Steve I suspect some would, most probably would not. One of the literal givens with model car kits, at least in this country is that, save perhaps for Corvettes, probably pony cars as well, convertible kits have NEVER sold nearly as well as their hardtop stablemates. Art

That wood-grain is exquisite! Decal or really good painting? Charlie Larkin In actual factory practice, Ford painted all wooden floorboards black, on both sides.

Not much, considering they are two ENTIRELY different vehicles in ever way besides the FORD name, and 4 tires on the pavement. Art

I've cut strips of BMF the full length of the sheet with nary a snag! Key is, a fresh, BRAND NEW #11 blade (which BTW is exactly what Bare Metal Foil Company has always strongly recommended!) Art I'm sure of it, but how many strips can you cut? It's always that 1/8" more that you push your tool than what it can handle and BAM! You wish you never pushed it lol No need to "push" the blade whatsoever! I use it at a very shallow angle to the foil, both when cutting on the sheet, and when trimming on the model. Where the freshness of the blade comes in is in cutting--the shallower the angle in relation to the work allows the weight of the knife itself to do the cutting, and virtually eliminates all tearing--several hundred model car projects over the years I've been using the stuff has taught me that! Art

I've cut strips of BMF the full length of the sheet with nary a snag! Key is, a fresh, BRAND NEW #11 blade (which BTW is exactly what Bare Metal Foil Company has always strongly recommended!) Art

MORE than most modelers would imagine. Art

For starters, READ the very simple instructions on the back of the package--they are very informative. Second, ALWAYS use a fresh, brand-new #11 blade in your Xacto (or equivalent) knife--even a slightly used blade can "catch" in the foil, create a 3-cornered tear. And 3rd--equally important--the weight of the knife itself is enough, almost always, to cut the foil, no need to bear down on it! Beyond that, patience, and a willingness to peel off a mistake, and try again work wonders with this stuff--I've been using it since it was introduced about 45 years ago, and have never looked back! Art

While any Kaiser in a model kit would be joyously welcomed by some modelers, there's absolutely no guarrantee that enough modelers would jump on it in numbers that would make it a valid gamble. Trouble with any model company tooling up a Kaiser, any year Kaiser is--other then the factory stock version, they really weren't raced, seldom ever customized into anything really important. Also, in the real, 1:1 world, they are close to being forgotten by all except the most diehard 40's/mid 50's enthusiasts. Just not enough there to warrant the serious money to tool up a plastic kit, I'm afraid. Art

The vast majority of plastic model kits get assembled with plastic cement, formulated for this purpose. Virtually all plastic cements made for use on polystyrene plastic (which is what most model car kits are molded in) work by actually dissolving the mating surfaces which allows the parts to "weld" together. So-called "Tube Glues" (think Testors in the orange tube here) have a thickening agent in them (most often cellulose) to give them some "body" , keep them from just running all over the place. If your intent is to disassemble a built model with minimal damage, the old trick of placing the model in a plastic bag, then putting water into that bag, finally putting it in the freezer does work--water as it freezes, expands in all directions--which can force the parts apart. However, if what you are wanting to do is to remove the glue "residue" from the surfaces of polystyrene plastic model parts--anything that will dissolve the dried tube glue will also dissolve the plastic underneath or surrounding it. Consequently, about the only way to "remove" those residues is with files and sandpaper--which can be done (I've done it several times over the years), takes time, and will require painting to hide the inevitable marks that remain. Art

The Rolls Royce in the Untouchables double kit is a 1931 Springfield Rolls Royce, with a Brewster Sport Phaetion body. For those who don't know, Rolls Royce built cars in Springfield MA for about 10 years, starting in the very early 1920's--pretty much identical to those built in the UK, except for the obvious left-hand drive setup. This kit is a Phantom I, same series Rolls as the Henley Roadster first released about 1966 by Monogram, the Sport Phaeton kit coming out in the mid-1970's. Art

Gee, every Ford Indianapolis 4-cam DOHC Indianapolis engine was a crate motor, before crate motors were cool! (So was every Offenhauser 4-banger ever built!). Art

I understand this car built by Mickey Thompson for the '62 Indy 500 and driven by Dan Gurney was powered by the aluminum Olds 215. Yea I don't have a Johan Olds F85 either but the pictures I have found of the engine from that kit don't look very promising. Mickey Thompson's 1962 Indianapolis 500 entry you have pictured used the small Buick V8, not the Olds (Even Hot Rod Magazine noted that with their August 1962 Issue, which covered that year's Indianapolis 500 Mile Race: "32 Offies & One Buick". Art

I'm still surprised that Revell hasn't done A '40 Ford Station Wagon off their excellent 1940 Ford coupe/convertible tooling! Art

I believe the Olds 215cid V8 went to Australia (Holden perhaps?). I do remember that it became the starting point for the Australian Repco racing V8, which powered Jack Brabham's Indianapolis 500 entries in 1969. Art

That is an American Bantam, but much newer than 1932. American Bantam grew out of the dormant remains of the American Austin Company, Butler PA, which started up about 1930 building the Austin Seven under license. American Austin shut down, bankrupt, about 1935-36, but was "rescued" by the fairly successful Austin dealer in Florida. He reorganized the company as American Bantam in 1937-38, with a quick facelift to the front clip and fenders, but otherwise pretty much retaining the original body shells, which modernized the original American Austin bodies, and began production anew. The problem with these cars was simple, and raised its head with every new compact car of the 40's into the early 60's. In the US, we very much used to equate size with value--bigger was expensive, smaller was expected to be cheaper--and the American Austin had to sell at a price only marginally lower than a Model A Ford--so the impression of "cheap" at a higher-than-expected pricetag was a real drawback, particularly with the Great Depression settling in on the country. Postwar, the Nash Rambler, Kaiser Henry J, Willys Aero all face that very same objection--"too little car for the money!" In short, the Austin, just as with the later Bantam, just wasn't seen as anything more than a curiosity, a car for either the eccentric or perhaps as an inexpensive plaything. Of course, American Bantam went on to one last roll of the dice--creating what became the Jeep (Bantam Reconnaisance Car or BRC), but after producing a few hundred of them in 1941, Bantam was relegated to building the 1/4 ton military trailers for towing behind the Willys MB and Ford GP Jeeps. Bantam continued making light 2-wheel cargo trailers after WW-II, surviving until 1954.

Jericho, Welcome to perhaps the most fun hobby on this planet! I've been building model cars for now more than 60 years, but still remember being 13! (I turned 71 just a week ago). You more than likely come at this with the normal limitations of money and experience--we ALL did that, trust me--virtually every one who posts on these forums have been there, done that, got the tee shirt. Don't let any of our drivel scare you, we don't bite! Feel more than free to ask questions--hopefully nobody here will denigrate you for that. Art Anderson (who's built hundreds of model cars since he was 13!)

Except that technically, Cord's "Phaeton" was that in name only. It's full name is "Convertible Phaeton". Real phaetons had folding cloth tops, of course, but never had roll-up side windows (those made it a "convertible sedan"). Minor technicality, I know, but that's the difference. Art

For the sake of argument, a very common wheelbase for such cars, even USAC dirt track Champ cars through the 70's, was 8', or 96 inches, which translates out to 96mm in 1/25 scale. Art

LIndberg had a flash of intelligence with this kit, as well as their Bugatti Royale kit (first model kit of any Royale, BTW). Both are pretty much late 1960's model car kit design, as laid out by AMT, MPC and such. While it has great detail, the only real drawback are the one-piece wire wheels--they are pretty much correct, but Lindberg chose to do them with a solid backing, which means some shadowing work in order to get them to really stand out. All in all, a pretty nice kit, moved the bar considerably for Lindberg back in the day--but Paul Lindberg was far more interested, apparently, in making cheap model kits for the chain store trade. Art

There was also the 1914 Model T Touring Car model kit from Tonka Toys (Yes, a 1/25 scale plastic model kit, complete with a diorama--in printed card stock AND a clear plastic display kit. Actually, Tonka did this series of kits in two versions: For mass merchandisers (back then that was KMart) the display case was all plastic, but for the hobby shop market, the display case was wood framed, with real single-strength GLASS). Hard to find now, eBay territory, but I have one of each in my stash. Art Also, don't forget the excellent Monogram 1930 Packard Model 734 Speedster Phaeton: And the Monogram 1932 Cadillac Model 452 V16 Phaeton. Over at JoHan, their 1931 Cadillac Model 452 V16 Sport Phaeton, and the fairly rare Monogram metal-bodied plastic-everything-else 1931 Packard Model 845 Dual Cowl Phaeton. Monogram also did a Brewster sport phaeton version of their 1931 Rolls Royce Phantom I (both of Monogram's Rolls Royce Phantom I's are "Springfield Rolls Royce" cars, stemming from the near decade when Rolls produced cars in Springfield MA. MPC's first "Gangbusters" model car kit was a 1928 Locke-bodied Lincoln V8. Art The real TV "My Mother The Car" was what became of Norm "Woo-Woo" Grabowski's 1921 Model T Touring Car street rod, which graced the pages of Hot Rod and Rod & Custom magazines back over 50 years ago. Barris did the awful conversion on what was a really neat T Touring street rod. Art

Rich, that is a Hudelson-Whitebone Connie kit--H-W is credited with being the aftermarket company who kicked off the Continental Spare Tire craze back in the 1950's!

If virtually all of us here will remember accurately, correctly; our first model car builds were most likely very crudely done, at least by our now "adult" standards and status. But we were proud as heck of them, happy as clams to have at least tried to build a model kit. One very real problem modern kids seem to have is, they (as a group) just aren't allowed to try stuff, and (gasp!) fail! Gosh, isn't that how we learned? After all, Thomas Edison clearly stated that invention to him was 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. Every time I am in say, Michael's or Hobby Lobby, and I hear some parent tell their kid "You can't build that!" I cringe, wish I dared step up and correct them: "How do you know that Ma'am? He will never know until he tries it!" Fortunately, I had a pair of parents who, while probably grinding their teeth in private, never told me that, looked at least appreciative of whatever I turned my hands and mind to as a boy--something I will forever be thankful of. Art

At the time the Red Baron was a new release, several IPMS types ID'd the engine as a WW-I Mercedes aircraft powerplant. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Art, it's similar, but not accurate...AND, it's about 1/32 scale in a 1/24 kit. I've done considerable research into this, having wanted to use the engine in a fantasy between-wars LSR car. No dice. True, it is quite undersized, and not all that accurate, but still, it could be made to look good in a fantasy car. In the years up to WW-I there were all sorts of seemingly crazy engine designs tried (most failed, of course, to catch on), but I could see this one, with some added details, being the powerplant of a fun project. Art

This one has a Continental spare tire setup that just begs to be modeled--not because it's beautiful, but because it's so outrageous! 'Nuff said. Art

Actually, none. The engine represented in the kit doesn't exist in reality. It's a liberally interpreted, much scaled-down version of an old aircraft engine. At the time the Red Baron was a new release, several IPMS types ID'd the engine as a WW-I Mercedes aircraft powerplant. If only Tom Daniels would tell where he got the inspiration for it. In any event, I've got a couple of those engines, been toying (for years now) of making a phantom V-12 out of them