Art Anderson

About the only way I know to do that would be a thorough washing with a mild detergent. Art

The problem with that Monogram "Yellow Jacket" was that Monogram's marketing people called it a "roadster" which it is not, never has been (NOBODY has yet done a 1/24-1/25 scale '30-'31 Model A roadster!), but a modified reissue of their 1930 Model A Cabriolet. Art

BSI InstaSet to the rescue here! That accelerator absolutely does NOT attack any of the plastics used in model kits! It won't even harm paint or decals--been using the stuff since it first came out in 1985. BSI: Bob Smith Industries. Stocked in many hobby shops that carry CA glues, and work with Great Planes Distributors (Hobbico). Or, you can get it direct from Tower Hobbies. I won't use any other accelerator. Art

Actually, I think it was pretty simple wny those frames were molded as they were, indeed the chassis for all those Annual Series 3in1 kits! For those of us who have now reached "Seasoned Citizen" status, we were KIDS back then--some of us were teenagers by 1960 (Your's Truly included), but behind us were a number of years of much younger hands coming into this hobby, and they weren't all that ready, nor enamored with such as "every single part should be a separate piece" mindset we have as adults. So,model kits of all sorts back then, if they were going to sell in large numbers, develop a popularity for their manufacturers, simply were "simplified" to meet the primary age group then building. It's one of those things where, if you are under say, age 50 or so, you might not really quite grasp that. Art

More than likely someone at Ertl (before they took on Racing Champions, and well before RC2 bought them out) just let their skimmer leak. Art

Only if you HAVE to have one. There are numerous, quite visible detail differences between the 28-29 and 30-31 Model A Fords. Art

The MPC/Ertl 1989 Chevrolet C-1500 Pickup Truck "Produced Under License From Ford Motor Company". Art

Well, considering that MPC was started by a team who had been at AMT, knew what was going on, product development-wise, not much doubt there--although the two Model A Ford kits in question here do each have different features. Art

Or, at least measured "the same"!

The only 1:25 scale '56 Lincoln Continental ever produced was a promo from AMT. Beyond that, Ideal Toy Corporation made a pretty nice 1:12 scale kit of one, complete with opening hood and doors--about the time frame that the real car was available--scarcer than hens' teeth now! Art

Actually, the "AMT" '28 Model A Tudor was the very first release (and once only!) done off the tooling that became the MPC '29 Model A Station Wagon/Roadster Pickup--because the Tudor was tooled up by MPC but produced by AMT in 1964. On my MPC Tooling inventory sheets (given me in the short 6 months that I was an RC2 employee back in 2004), the '28 Tudor tooling sections ARE listed in it. Art

Basically, the only accurate rendition of ANY car will an original, REAL one. No replica, in any scale, either larger or smaller, will EVER be a perfectly exact replica of the original. Art

The wire wheels offered by Kelsey Hayes for Chrysler 300 letter cars 1955-57 or 58 were very similar in spoke pattern to what K-H offers today, but they ARE much different than the Ford "Welded Steel Wheels" used from 1932-35, in three different rim diameters. The old gnarly AMT '32 Ford wire wheels do have a correct spoke pattern, for that era car, even though they are 3 scale inches too small in diameter for a stock Deuce--AMT used 15" tires on all their V8 Ford kits back in the day (still there), while the actual wheel for a Deuce is 18". Art

Yes

As others have stated, the '65 Pontiac Catalina series was considerably shorter than the Bonneville, and on a shorter wheelbase: Catalina 2+2 -- Overall length 217.6", wheelbase 121" (for all intents and purposes, 6" shorter than the Bonneville, wheelbase is 3" shorter than a Bonneville.) Bonneville -- Overall length 221.7", wheelbase 124" The front clips and body structures are identical, the difference in length is all in the truck, from the leading edge of the trunklid rearward. I did the AAM Catalina 2+2 conversion on my own. I shortened the trunk 6 scale inches (.240" or 6mm, you can take your choice there, as the difference in metric and english measure isn't much more than the thickness of a razor saw cut!), cutting the rear of the car across just behind the rear wheel arches, and then cut each wheel arch away from the quarter panels as a rectangular piece, setting that aside. I then cut the necessary .240" section from the forward portion of the first saw cut. Next, I lengthened the rectangular opening where the wheel arch/fender skirt portions were removed, forward by .120", which is 3" in 1/25 scale. I did cut a filler section from a second AMT 2+2 body shell, at the same point of the rearmost vertical cut I made when removing the wheel arch sections, for use as a filler panel to close in the gap after the kit body was glued back together. Once the rear deck was back in place, now correctly shortened, I dressed down the part of that shape with some flat file work (carefully so as not to damage the trailing edge of that pseudo-fastback roof which came very close to correcting the area to the proper slope (Thank Heaven for those old, thick 3in1 Annual Series model car body shells!), only a slight bit of putty and block-sanding was required to finish this area, along with the tops of the rear quarters. Last, I made the needed "patch panels" cut from the second body, which put those in the correct position for a Catalina, added the necessary patch panels to the rear of this work--take care to make certain that the prominent "character line" on the body sides, and patch panel line up though! As I used gap-filling CA glue to join all the pieces back together only minimal putty was needed. The toughest part of the whole thing would be the taillight panel, as the taillights on a Catalina are much shorter, side-to-side than those of the Bonneville, meaning I used the corresponding fluted panel from each kit to stretch that panel to its longer dimension. A friend of mine managed to create PONTIAC raised lettering and glued those letters in place on that panel. Other than that, shortening the taillight lenses was the simplest part of the whole thing. ( have NO idea whatsoever as to where he found the letters to spell out P-O-N-T-I-A-C though!) The last thing I did was to "correct" the offending left side rear quarter window area, to at least make it match the right side, which to my eyes is pretty close to correct (the left side has too much of a "curved arc" to it). When it was all done, I was more than happy to see that the reworked body fit to the Grand Prix chassis like a glove! Hope this helps! Art

Definitely NOT from the AMT '25 Double T kits, as those kits have a very correct '25 Roadster body, with a clearly engraved recessed door line and hinges on the right hand side, with the same "raised" rib door "outline" on the left. Art

Actually, a '26-'27 T is perhaps only a 100lbs heavier than its predecessors, given that it's still the same size car, same track, same wheelbase, and pretty much the same sheetmetal over wood structure composite body construction. The roadster body is nothing at all comparable to the coupe, all shapes are different, nothing interchangeable save for the firewall. Art

Simply compare the front half of an AMT '27 T Touring body with a '25 Roadster, you'll see there are no panels even close to looking the same. Art

Scott, the entire body of every '26-'27 Model T was newly styled for 1926--there were no carryover sheet metal panels whatsoever. Art

Not even close! Body shapes and dimensions of the '25 are considerably different from the '26-'27. It can be done, however, by using the forward half of either Revell's '26 T Touring, or AMT's '27 (AMT's is more accurately done, BTW), as the rear panel of the front seat of the touring car is virtually the same as the back panel of the '26-'27 T roadster. That leaves only the "Turtledeck" trunk, which can be fabricated from sheet and strip styrene (I've done it as a resin master back over 20 yrs ago (several people who read these boards have that resin body shell). But still, I've been lobbying for a '27 T roadster/coupe kit done along the lines of AMT's '25 Double Kit (Did you know that AMT Corporation orginally advertised a '27 T Roadster/Coupe Double Kit before it wound up as the Touring Car/XR-6? This was on their first "Sell Sheet" when they announced a '27 T!) Art Art

My dad owned a '54 Hornet 4dr Sedan from 1955 through 1960--we went on many trips in this car, including a 3-week sojourn to SE Arizona in December 1957 to visit my-then favorite aunt and uncle. I was in the 8th grade then, and I helped Dad make a pseudo-Pullman berth, wide enough for two adults to sleep on air mattresses, that mounted on top of the back of both front and rear seats, with one bed "frame" (actually a sheet of 1" plywood) that could be slid under the one next to the left side of the interior when nobody was using it. As I was in my growth spurt (age 13 1/2) I got to sleep up there, and either Mom or Dad would take the middle berth when they weren't driving (we did that trip without any motel stays!). My two younger sisters (then aged 11 and 9) were still small enought that Dad made a plywood platform that laid across the rear floor, for a level surface, older sister slept on that, younger one on the back seat. (Air mattresses were used on all three plywood berths). Lots of great, almost legendary stories from that trip, most notably when Mom almost missed a red light in the middle of Little Rock, Arkansas in the middle of the night--stomped on the brakes, and I slid, so very ungracefully, forward, head-first, down over the back of the front seat, across the cushion, down onto the floor, woke up staring at the heater! As our parents took us out of school 2 weeks before Christmas vacation, my teachers gave me "special assignments": For Math class (8th grade) I was to calculate the miles traveled, gasoline used (gas mileage--we averaged 20mpg for the trip!), cost of everything, and driving times (all of this predicted beforehand, then compared to actual results), for History Class, a written report on historical sites along the way, 3 per week--had fun with that one! And for English Class, a set of themes about what that trip meant to me (it provided topics for themes all the way through High School!). For Science Class, a report (which turned out to be 6 pages, with photo's I took, of stuff all along the way, mostly in the deserts and mountain regions). I had already been "tapped" as the "Navigator" for all family road trips (Dad never was any good at following road maps!), so with the aid of Rand-McNally, I laid out the trip, both outbound and return--Dad missed but one turn. All the way, save for a generator problem, that '54 Hudson Hornet sedan performed flawlessly, I also truly learned to drive in it (more so than the '59 Chevy Biscayne in Driver's Ed Class), even took my Driver's Road Test in it for my license in August of 1960. When the kit gets into production, WATCH me turn it into a full fledged Hornet 4dr sedan! Art

I have a test shot of the Club Sedan on the workbench right now--body is nearly ready for paint. Pics later. Art

I got the '11 Touring Car about 2 weeks ago, from Squadron, along with the figure set. It's as nicely molded as the '13 Runabout (perhaps I can build it up avoiding all the pitfalls and aggravation I went through with the '13? (We shall see if I am still capable of learning by experience, huh? The figure set is simply exquisitely done. While I don't recognize the man with the homberg hat and double-breasted suit, nor the workman, the figure of Henry Ford is INSTANTLY recognizable as the man himself! The figures are multi-piece, which will make repositioning arms, legs, etc. pretty easy to do. Now all I have to do is take a crash course in figure painting! Art

No longer possible. I used several of the master parts for other projects in later years. FWIW, this is a list of the stock parts I cast up: Directly reproduced from an orginal kit;; Stock intake manifold.carburetor and air cleaner Stock instrument panel, stock steering wheel 5 stock wheels with tires mounted 4 stock hubcaps (spare wheel did not get one--has just 3 lug bolts for securing to the spare tire mount Spare Tire mount Original left rear fender, with dimple for clearance for the spare wheel & tire Stock tailgate (no louvers and FORD script) Stock front axle ************************************** Modified parts included (these parts were ALWAYS custom parts, Monogram did not mold these in stock form, ever!) Stock hood (removed the louvers from the later reissues) Stock seat--block-sanded down the diamond-tufted custom upholstery, then laid thin sheet styrene over that, edged with fine styrene rod stock for the "piping" Stock interior door panels, sanded the custom ones down, laid thin styrene over the diamond-tufted custom upholstery panels, added door handles and window cranks. I used, in 2003-2004, the mastering for the stock seat and stock interior door panels when I built up a stock 1938 Ford 1 1/2 ton stake truck from the excellently executed Yatming 1938 Ford fire truck. In resin, this stock parts set only sold approximately 40 transkit sets, not enough to pay for the time and effort, nor the rubber molds. Art

Many times, when bumper guards were not ordered, factories simply filled the previously punched hole with a chrome plated round headed bolt--used to see that a lot back in the day. Art