Brett Barrow

The kit wasn't originally designed as a 2 in 1 so they have to run some sprues twice with different inserts. As a result you end up with enough parts for two engines, both are FE's I forget the cubes. One is a 3 x 2, the other's a 4bbl, This was the box art from the last time it was done. It was one of the first kits Round 2 did.

I have them, they're great. Use a different clipper to snip the parts off the sprue, leaving a bit of extra sprue on the part, then use these to clean up the nub. The single edge cutters are too weak to use for heavy sprue gates, you'll break them. I have a pair of GodHand single edge cutters, too, they're even better but more expensive (~$50). The amount of time you save vs. slicing sprue nubs off with an X-acto makes the single-edge cutters worth every penny IMO. If you build un-painted Gundams like I do they're great because they don't leave white stress marks in the colored plastic. They might not be worth it to someone who's going to be filing and sanding the sprue gates and painting over them, they're kind of overkill for that. Tamiya makes really good normal double-edge clippers for general-purpose work.

I don't think so, this stuff is pretty unique and they say they developed it (Molotow is part of Chartpak and they make a bunch of inks and other graphics products). I think if there was something else out there like this stuff we would have found it by now.

The refill doesn't actually exist anywhere (yet). They're working on packaging right now, should be available around May or June.

They did:

Aircraft builders are also aware of the fine work AMK and the stillborn Aviation Art (the Su-33 eventually released by Kinetic) are doing with Chinese (techincally Macau) tooling. I know it's popular in the West to bash the "Chi-coms" but like I said, they're pretty good at it and I suspect even if production were to move back to the US it'd still be done with Chinese or Macau-cut tooling. Airfix is moving some production back to the UK but it'll still be done with Chinese tooling. Eduard's machinery is state-of-the-art but rather small, I don't know they could handle one-piece car bodies in what they've got. From Revell:

I suspect you probably meant half kidding but believe it or not, I had exactly 5 to 1 Coupe vs Roadster orders when I checked this morning. We switched software a while back so the archive doesn't go all the way back to when the roadster was brand-new so I don't think it was that lopsided overall but there was definitely more demand for the coupe. To put it in perspective only the Hurst Olds and Bronco sold better in the same timeframe.

Knowing Stevens as well as I do (I worked there for 12 years) I suspect they marked it discontinued to hide it so they'd stop fielding questions about it. I'll try to find out more when I'm back to work Monday. Well, a new tool could have been cut or is being cut. It takes months to cut a tool and bring it to production, the place that makes the tooling and the place that actually molds the kits are rarely in the same place. So you have to cut the tool and check and test it several times, then move the tool to the production facility and that means you're back at the end of the line and have to wait for all the jobs in front of you to get done. They could move the tool to the US (and it's possible they are), they have the machinery here to mold. The tooling is cut in China because, believe it or not, they're pretty good at it. It's been gone from the US for a generation, there's not very many people here that know how to do it properly.

Stevens was the source that told me 2nd qtr :-( Maybe they're getting new stock #'s so the old ones were disco'd? I hope...

That's what I said, too. 72 should have been the 4x4. Now whatever 4x4 they do will be a year they've already done as I don't think the 67 and 68 were in the plan.

The 71 has done alright and still does alright, it's the 72 that's hard to move.

My dad's 69 Elco had a vinyl top (Red with white top when new but had been redone black/black by the time I came along) I think it plays up the "car" aspect of the El Camino and kinda classes it up a little.

Prime it first then sand until all the primer disappears. That way you know you've gotten all the texture. Sometimes it's easier to sand off the drip rails and replace with Evergreen than it is to work around them.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that just because there might be a hundred guys willing to pay $200 for one on eBay doesn't mean there's thousands willing to pay $42.95. They go for big bucks because they're rare, they're rare because they didn't make many, and they didn't make many because they didn't sell well. Would one with all the typical Round 2 fixin's do better than, say, a Model King from 10 years ago? Sure, but we know how poorly it did then and we know how much of an effect the Round 2 treatment has now. Now, maybe they'll do more like this Elky with small add-ons but I doubt they'll give the race teams another shot.

Yep, 100% correct. Those Walmart combos were the kind of stuff wives and grandmothers bought for Christmas presents and I'd just about guarantee they were made up from existing (old) stock. I'm going to let you in on an industry secret -- there's no such thing as a limited edition. They make just as many of a "limited" edition as they do the regular stuff, 5,000 pieces a run is pretty much the norm now. Selling 5,000 of each component is hard enough these days and finding 5,000 people that want all 3 (tow vehicle, racecar, trailer) in one box is nearly impossible.

Combo kits don't sell very well, at least not in the 15 years I've been in the business.

Would have been nice to get the factory SS stripes and maybe a bit less putrid yellow on the bot top but I guess that's keeping with the spirit of the original. The original yellow from '68, Butternut Yellow (with stripe):

They weren't that fast as drag cars go, they just did well in their particular junior stock class, which were determined by weight and advertised horsepower . It was in one of the slowest classes, L/Stock if I remember correctly. You ran against the class record ET. Sort of the forerunner of bracket racing but if you went faster you weren't DQ'd you were the new record holder.

Nice! The (supposed to be Americans) mag wheels make even better Astro Supremes for the lowrider crowd.

this is what the new acryl rack looks like since Testors went to the common modular rack design a couple years ago. Notice it's one level taller than the one next to it.

2nd quarter next year.

#1959 in a can? I think it's being relabeled as "satin" so it's possible it didn't show up under a search for semigloss. We have it (and also the tamiya) if you can't find it on Tower. https://www.megahobby.com/products/semi-gloss-lacquer-clear-coat-testors.html

Saying Testors killed Floquil and Polly Scale is a bit like saying Chevrolet killed Pontiac and Oldsmobile. It was RPM and they had owned them for years, longer than they owned Testors IIRC. The rise and subsequent market domination of pre-painted and/or ready-to-run model railroad locos and rolling stock (and general decline of model railroading overall) killed Floquil/Polly Scale as fewer modelers needed to paint kits. And honestly (and speaking personally as a modeler not as an industry guy), Testors is going to be lucky to survive as it is. My hope for the brand is they get sold and bought by a hobby-focused company like Hobbico. RPM did sell off Pactra's dope line to Midwest and I believe the new Hobbico lexan paint is the old Pactra formula. A few of the Polly Scale colors are now in the Acryl lineup TES-4874 Aged White Flat TES-4875 Aged Concrete Flat TES-4876 Concrete Flat TES-4877 Earth Flat TES-4878 Depot Buff Flat TES-4879 Reefer Yellow Flat TES-4880 Caboose Red Flat TES-4881 Boxcar Red Flat TES-4882 Oxide Red Flat TES-4883 Signal Green Flat TES-4884 Roof Brown Flat TES-4885 Railroad Tie Brown Flat TES-4886 Reefer Grey Flat TES-4887 Grimy Black Flat TES-4888 Engine Black Flat

If you want to see other motorcycles or go carts in the Parts Pack line, get out there and buy the dirt bike one they have out now. Sales haven't been great, but not too bad. Still better than the engine parts packs, those haven't done jack.

Is the Foose '56 just the old '56 with donk wheels? Why didn't they make it stock!?!?