Brett Barrow

Nah, it's typical these days to make your first run a little short, that way if you have an unseen problem pop up in production you don't get stuck with a ton of unsalable kits. Let them get into consumers' hands and if you're not getting calls and emails about missing parts, bad chrome, etc... (or if it turns out to be a total sales dog) you greenlight the 2nd run. Or, what is more typical these days, is to airfreight over a case or two of actual production kits and get them into select hands for evaluation while the main shipment is riding the container ship from China. That would be one of the kits that Tim Boyd has, it's not a "test shot", it's an actual production kit pulled from the line and sent in advance. That gives you about 4-6 weeks head start. Normally the 2nd run will be coming in right about time the first run is selling out and it's all rather seamless to the consumer. So there you go, a little Inside Baseball look at the workings of the model biz.

I agree 110%. The Revell 'cuda is like that. It looks funky in pictures, but for some reason it looks much better in person (the rear haunches aren't "haunchy" enough, that's my biggest gripe with it). I look at pictures taken of my own model and can't believe the thing I'm seeing on my screen is the same thing I'm holding in my hand.

The first run has already sold out at the wholesale level. Round2 had sold through them before they ever reached their warehouse, in fact. They'll make more, but it might be a couple months.

Very Autoblopnik with the name jokes. Ought to submit that to them.

This was designed from the start to be a giveaway at Auto Shows during the roll out of the new Mustang. Chassis pan was left flat and smooth so they could print the shows' logo and sponsors' information on the bottom. We were able to get some for a make and take event last month. I emailed Ed Sexton at Revell to let him know of much of a hit they were he told me they were intentionally kept simple because they knew kids would be building them there on the spot at the shows without access to tools or Mom & Dad's assistance instead of waiting to take them home to build. They're perfect in that regard. We let the kids just dig in and go at them. They're the start of a new simpler (and cheaper) "Build & Play" line from Revell. Next up will be the Audi R8 and there are already others planned. I have one on my work desk and I'm rolling it around and making vrooom vrooom sounds as I type this...

Yeah... and the hand brakes!

You know, they can scan your head and 3D print out a head for a 1/6th action figure body. All it needs is a scale Harry to ride it!

And I believe that option package (Exterior Decor Group) also included the scooped out hood. Bill's are "Day 2" items

Yeah, the B-pillar is the one thing that's stood out to me from the beginning. It looks good from the back, but too thick from the front. I'm thinking they don't angle inwards at the right angle so you're seeing more of it from the front view. Could be a molding compromise so the different moving parts of the cab mold that have to reliably come back together thousands of time over the life of the mold are broken down on a (relatively) straight line. Here's the tooling mock up, I'm assuming that the mold breaks right where the highlight is shining. I haven't seen a test shot in person yet to study how the mold lines fall (the first thing I do to a new kit, I'm weird like that...)

3D printed cage masts for 1/700 Pearl Harbor Battleships... Can't make accurate versions from rolled PE because they have an hourglass shape. In 1/700 these would be about the diameter of a ball-point pen. http://www.modelwarships.com/reviews/misc/Blue-Ridge-Models/700-CageMast/BRM-review.html

Good thing this kit has a solid axle.

Looks great and is a major improvement over the kit piece. But don't call it a tunnel ram... The purists will cringe. The preferred nomenclature is "Individual runner".

Hard to find pictures of the 1:1 that are near the same perspective as the model shot, as the photographer would need to be up on a ladder. Did manage to find a fairly close shot of one on a wrecker...

Love those spark plug boots. Seen that technique illustrated before but I don't remember ever seeing it photographed. I think a lot of the trim issues stem from the shared tooling between the GT and Shelby versions. Have you ever tried Tenax? I can't tell it and Ambroid apart. MEK is very similar in its working properties, too, but the fumes are much stronger than the hobby brands.

But a roadster ain't a cabriolet (convertible). Biggest difference (only difference?) is the cabriolet's fixed windshield. I don't know of any resin conversions and it looks like a lot of work reshaping the 3-window cowl/windshield to resemble it if you just gotta have it in 25th.

Proabably. That and 35th scale military guys aren't real picky about brands, so why even bother with the trouble and expense of licensing? They just want something with the right look. Meng also did the same with their 1/35th scale "Toyotas".

If I'm doing a snapper I would have made it one of Polar Lights' Snap Draggins.

I'd agree, but it probably had several SKU #'s over that span, each one of them counted separately. The General Lee could possibly be the top selling unique SKU#.

The H&M is totally cool in my book, and I'd be all over a plastic kit like a monkey on a... well, you get the idea... But there's literally nothing left stock on the H&M. Top's chopped, wheelbase is altered, frame is shortened, rearend is a narrowed 4-link, interior is totally gutted, body is slid forward on the frame... Would take 2 separate kits or a dedicated H&M kit to do it properly. And who wants a stodgy ol' Plymouth business coupe, anyway? Give me one of the fastback sedan or the pre-war 5 windows (AMT already did that one) if you want to do a 40's Plymouth.

TV/Movie kits (and show cars, too) are sort of the model equivalent of the clean-up hitter. They swing for the fences, and boy, when they connect... but there's a lot of swing-and-misses mixed in there too... I've often heard a survey Testors did back in the 90's cited that said that the MPC Dukes of Hazard General Lee was the #1 car kit of all time. I've also seen several references (on the internet, so you know it's true) say that AMT's Red Alert Chevelle was the #1 AMT model kit of all-time, but I find that really hard to believe. But it is one of those "hey I had that as a kid" kits where every one seems to have had one. the Knight Rider KITT is probably up there too. I gotta think the Monogram Big T is in the mix, that's also one of those "I had that!" kits. If you expand to "automotive" kits then #1 has to be the ex-Renwal 1/4 Visible V-8. You'll go 11 months without selling one, but come Christmas... Those things move!!! Probably been like that every Christmas it came out, has there ever been a time it wasn't available?

I don't think the MK version of this kit is going to hang around shelves long like the NASCARs do... I think it's going to be the hot one!

My grandad used to have a flathead Ford V-8 powered portable welder, but I believe it was built contemporary to the flattie's production.

I did build a couple of the Lindberg 1/20th pickup trucks when they came out in the 90's (George Toteff era) and I really liked them. They didn't look out of place alongside 24th/25th stuff on the shelf, my eyes and brain knew they were bigger scale models, not bigger 1:1's. I've also built several 1/20 Formula One cars. Today's model car landscape would be much different if 1/20th had caught on as the mainstream scale. So, yeah I understand the appeal of the scale, I just don't understand Toteff's desire to make it the new mainstream. That's what I meant, my post was a little unclear.

Those have separate water pumps, but the front cover is molded with the block. The 283 in the new-tool Revell Tri-Fives (shown below) has a separate front cover and water pump. And AMT's soon-to-reissued Parts Pack 283 has a chromed front cover, but lacks a water pump.

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