Brett Barrow

Pretty sure this is the current label. I haven't bought any since it was still just plain "Future", then it was "Pledge with Future shine", now just "Pledge". But as Harry pointed out, it was never labeled as "wax", that was just a generic term applied like the way we call nitro R/C cars "Gas" cars.

I was probably the one to write that. Honestly, I don't know that they will even use numbers for the new system, that's just how they're referring to them in the trade - "New Skill Level 1". The boxes don't say Skill Level 1 on them anywhere, just "Build and Play". An Audi R8 will be the next in the series and there are more planned (no idea what). The upcoming pre-paint Camaro and Challenger are being referred to as "New Skill Level 3", I don't know how they'll actually be labeled. This is a big thing at Revell, there's a new person in charge (name escapes me) and this is his big idea. I heard about the new skill level thing second hand, I could be wrong about how it will affect the existing kits. I meant to ask Ed Sexton about it at NNL East, but forgot. I'll try to get more info.

Oh yeah, the roof was jacked, right?* Forgot about that. I hope they don't delay this one, I've been getting at least one call a day from customers who preordered asking when it's going to be out! *Or was that the 56 300B test shot? I seem to remember threads on both.

Good points, Scott. The Finns were first and foremost fighting against the Soviet Union until late 1944. They were co-belligerents with the Germans, not allies. They were not part of the Axis Powers, they never signed the Tripartite Act. They never persecuted Jews in Finland, they actually helped shelter hundreds of Jewish refugees. The Finnish Army allowed Jews to fight and even had field synagogues. The Finnish story of WWII is very interesting. My grandad was a WWII vet who fought in Normandy just after D-Day against troops under Rommel's command. He told me about the respect Rommel had among the US Army, he was seen as a good honorable military man, nothing like the feared SS men. He told me once that the only WWII movie he's ever watched, still to this day, is The Desert Fox.

I was just throwing an idea out there about the waviness in the top edge. Take from someone who's seen test shots from Chinese manufacturers, you see all sorts of weirdness going on that doesn't end up on production kits. Anyway, it's all just speculation since none of us has an actual production kit in our hands yet. It may have been caught and fixed, or maybe not. The good news is, if the frames are too small, it's a matter of removing material from the mold to make them thicker, so it's something that could be fixed without having to cut an entire new side mold.

Since this is a model car board... We all know (or should know) that's the famous Chili Catallo "Little Deuce Coupe" made famous by the Beach Boys' song and album cover. Look close. Real close. And what is the one thing more All-American than hot rods? Coca-Cola... (bottle opener from the 20's)

And even the Finnish national marking gets the PC treatment sometimes: The Finns got it from Swedish Count Eric von Rosen, who used it as his personal crest and had it painted on the wings of his Thuilin Type D which was donated to the Finns during their fight for independence in the wake of the Russian Revolution. They adopted the insignia and would use it until after WWII when they changed it to a simple roundel to distance themselves from the Nazis.

In 13 years of selling hobbies I have never, not once, had anyone show offense to a swastika on a model. But the offense shown when they are left out as on most European kits? Off the charts. Believe me Revell would have taken waaaaaaaay more heat for leaving the swastika out of the redone Rommel's Rod, especially since they include them in their aircraft kits. Revell US is one of the few companies that still show the swastika on the box top, most others leave them off the box art even if the decals are in the kit. Some companies print them on the margin of the sheet so they can be chopped off for sale in Europe, or break them into two parts so they don't appear to be swastikas at first glance. Revell Germany, of course, by law cannot have them in any form in their kits, even the split ones.

If anybody feels like branching out, for an actual Rommel Rod to put next to your Tom Daniel, there is AFV Club's awesome Dorchester (Passion Models makes a decal sheet for Max and Mortiz), and Greif has been done several times by different manufacturers.

Hope everyone realizes Rommel wasn't a Nazi and was put to death after being implicated in an assassination attempt on Hitler. There was only one swastika in the kit, the DAK palm tree decal and it was never shown on the outer box art, even the original. Rommel's other African ride, "Mortiz" an AEC Dorchester captured from the British 8th Army.

12B, IIRC. No, MPC and AMT were not the same company at the time. Ivo kit is from a couple years later, one of the last FEDs. Longer wheelbase than the Ramchargers and AMT Garlits. Similar wheelbase and timeframe as MPC Garlits and Young American. *edit* Here's a shot I found on teh interwebz showing the difference in wheelbase. The two outer kits are based on the MPC Ramchargers kit you have, the two longer ones are based on the MPC Wynnscharger/Young American chassis. They're the Cosmic Charger (right) and Railrod (left) I mentioned above.

None of those kits are the one being discussed: The Young American is modified from this tool (along with the unseen "Cosmic Charger" and "Railrod" MPC kits) The rest are unrelated, other than the Ramchargers, Graffiti, and Jawbreaker being also made by MPC (and I believe, related tooling to each other), the AMT Garlits kit also being a Garlits kit, and the Ivo dragster also being a dragster... Don't know what those photos were meant to accomplish. Without any accompanying text it's rather confusing.

Having been around quite a few test shots (and the occasional tooling mockup) from my days at Stevens Intl when they were Trumpeter's sole US importer and were doing exclusive AMT reissues I can tell you that the difference between test shot and production kit can be night and day. Test shots are usually shot on old worn out injection machines using whatever dregs of plastic they have laying around the tooling shop (often not even styrene). The best ones are the ones from reissues that have swirls of cosmoline mixed into the plastic.

Silvester was speaking to patent law, not copyright law. Patent law covers inventions, not artistic creations. Patent law as it applies to making scale models would have more to do with the processes of making the molds, shooting the plastic, ways the parts fit/lock together, the machines that make boxes, decal printing, etc... China has plenty of problems when it comes to IP laws, no doubt. Most of it stems from lack of enforcement of the laws they have, but I think the major factor is that the Chinese were never taught about copyright and patent law until only very recently. It's a western concept and every Asian country has had to learn it as they modernize, the exact same thing happened in Japan and Korea post-war. China (the country) respects those laws, but the average Chinese person doesn't even know they exist, it's an entirely foreign concept to them.

Test shot could be short shot inside the side window opening, leading to the thinness and the wonkiness and what appears to be a poor fitting vent glass. Test shots are shot at lower than normal pressure and are more prone to short shots than production kits.

What was the initial email? You can PM it to me.

Seems like, if the stories are true, that Buttercup is legit and is selling actual already-cast stock that the hubby left behind, while the other names are the scamming hubby probably taking money up front for stuff that isn't cast (or that he doesn't intend to cast).

Yeeouch... Was that the first reply, or had there been an exchange? What did the email(s) you sent them say? That was Moebius? Shocked... As someone who does customer service, that is appalling. I just called BS based on the fact that I've been exchanging emails with folks inside this business for years and I've never gotten an email from anyone at any of the companies that wasn't formatted with a signature with name, email, phone #, address, etc... Could have been someone from Doll & Hobby, Frank's wife's Barbie Doll business that handles their distribution. (yep, checked, I've got some anonymous doll-hobby.com emails). Anyway, would have been better to just not respond, or respond with a generic "thanks for your interest in our products" type response. I'd like to see the other side of that if possible, just to see how I would have handled it.

While you're at it put 'em into black bags so the mailman thinks it's porn. Probably make them think we're a little more like normal people.

The Corvair discussion is kinda cool and interesting, just better suited to the General board. Would get way more reads there anyway. Here on the Kit reviews board it just ends up being 2 guys going back and forth. Start a Corvair thread in General, I know you'd get a lot of responses from the guys who like to talk auto history.

Yeah, that's why I tried to nip it back in post 12, I knew where it would lead.... The Hemi Under Glass has more relevance to this thread, as that where the chassis is apparently sourced from.

Sorry, calling BS on that one.

Do they have Dollar Tree stores in Canada? Because they have a store-brand product called "LA's Totally Awesome Mop & Shine" that's reportedly real close. I haven't tried it yet because I still have a healthy supply of Future, but next time I need some I'm going to give it a shot.

And UP and other railroads started painting locos in throwback "heritage" schemes so as to show they still use those trademarks and prevent them from falling into the public domain.

What issues (other than the Hudson's incorrect rear wheel skirt location lines and the buggy 55 Chrysler headlights being much better once they were molded into the 56's body) have Moebius fixed once a kit has made it into production? It's one the things (maybe the thing) that bugs me the most about this board, we take Revell to task for things because we think they're not reading (they are) but we blow smoke up Moebius' backside because they have an active presence on the board? I don't get it. Is there a bit of a double standard there, or is it just me?