Force

Nice Slump Buster. A better choise for front wheels are the ones from the old Jo-Han 71 'Cuda, if you don't have any Competition Resins have them, they are also sold by Slixx.

It's funny with the Skip Hess Revell Kit car, the car was sponsored by Revell Inc. but as far as I know they never did a model kit of it.

Yup, this tooling is very out of date and needs a lot of correcting to get to modern standards, a lot has happened since the last version of the tooling 1997 as the updates Revell did to the tooling then was too little and too late to get up to the specs even for the time they were done. The funny thing is...not much has happened hardware wise on the real cars since Revell stopped releasing "new updated" Funny Cars and Top Fuelers in the early 2000's. The latest of the modern era Top Fuel Dragster kits from Revell was the Bernstein Bud King and the Schumacher Army cars released back in 2002 and they are the most updated version of that tooling, not enough to be up to the specs for the time tho'...but IF Revell had done all necessary updating to the TF kits back then the tooling would still have worked very well today 12 years later as a current Top Fuel Dragster still looks pretty much like they did back in 2002 and the kit would have needed very little to be up to current status. The same with the Funny Cars, except for the bodies, wheels and cage around the driver they haven't changed that much since 2002 either. Many FC and TF teams started to use the set-back blower that everyone uses today around 2002-3 and many of the other things we see on the cars today came before that so after 2002-3 not much has been done to the cars that are that visible. So needed updates to get the TF and FC kits closer to today's standard are: The engines in both the TF and FC kits needs new intake manifold and set-back 14-71 blower with bag and hold down straps, a larger carbon fibre injector hat (wich the 2002 TF kits had), MSD Pro Mag 44 magnetos with boxes and coils, titanium valve covers with covers for the spark plugs, a slightly larger titanium bell housing for the 5-disc clutch (the TF one isn't that bad but the FC needs a totally new one), the fuel management systems also needs some updating with Sid Waterman Mega Bertha Fuel pumps and feed tubes and the mandatory slide valve that all use now, some barrel valves, shut off valves and some other maybe for optional use would also have been nice to have. The chassis also need some updating, the roll cage around the driver is wider with more padding (especially in a FC), has more bars and a titanium shield to protect the drivers head from flying debris, they need the oildown protection belly pans and the larger blow by oil scavenge tanks, Funny Cars needs a new fuel tank and an oil tank for the dry sump beside it (yes FC's has had dry sump oil system since at least back in the late 80's) and an air bottle for the driver. The TF kits needs new wings both rear and front as the rear wing has allways been 2-element in the kits but 3-element wings has been used on the real cars since about 1997-98 (Revell never updated the rear wing other than new end plates) and the front wing is a separate whole piece in front of the nose cone on the real cars and appeared for the first time in 1998 on Joe Amato's car and the rest came in after that, and therefore also a new body and wind shield are needed in the kits, the TF kits have also needed a new fuel tank since the very beginning as they have never looked like they do in the kits. Both the TF and FC kits needs new wheels. Front wheels, preferably a couple of different current designs like Magnum PRO, Aluma Star and V-Series from Weld Racing, and maybe the ARE series Qualifier, Track Star and Torque Thrust Pro (the American Racing Pro Series wheels wich are sold by Weld today). The Weld Racing Magnum PRO and Aluma Star PRO rear bead lock wheels with the required SFI 15.4 tag are used by most of the racers in nitro racing today so they are obvoius choises...some may even use the fairly new Weld Delta 1 wheel wich also are available with SFI 15.4 tag and has become very popular in Pro Stock. The Schumacher TF canopy maybe aren't that necessary as there aren't that many who use them yet except for the 3 DSR drivers and Brittany Force but would be a nice optional part. And of course the FC kits needs new bodies...not that I like the look of the "wedges with humps" body styles they drive today but they are needed to do a current Funny Car. .

Just to clear things up a bit, the red Mr Gasket Gasser was a later 69-70 Mustang body style, the blue Malco Gasser was the earlier 67-68. Underneath was the Malco Gasser and the first version of the Mr Gasket Gasser pretty much the same except for a couple of things and the MPC model kits of the two were the same except for the body and decals, the engine in the real car was later changed from a blown "Cammer" to the dual turbo Boss 429.

Yes that's right. I got at least one of each evolution of these kits, all Funny Car kits wich started with the Monogram Don Prudhomme Pepsi/Wendy's, Dale Pulde Miller Warrior Pontiac Trans Am's and Billy Meyer Chief Autoparts Ford Mustang in 1984 via the Monogram Ford Tempo from 1986, the Revell Olds Cutlass from 1989, Dodge Avenger from 1995 and up to the Pontiac Firebird from 1997 are based on the same tooling...including the Mongoo$e 57 Chevy...and share the same chassis and pretty much everything else. Some things were updated during the years tho'. We'll start with the wheels, the first kits had Weld Drag Lite, then Weld Pro Star for some of the Olds and finally a strange hybrid of the Weld Pro Star and Centerline Convo Pro that never looked right for the Avenger and Firebird. Further updates were dual magnetos and dual plug valve covers and electronics box wich came with the Olds, the rear end got changed to a Chrisman in the Avenger, the blower got a bag and hold down straps, the injector hat got larger with straps and the wheelie bar was changed to a single with the Firebird, and a few things more.

That's just the "sold page", if you click on the picture you'll be forwarded to the original auction and pictures of the contents, yes the model was started and the chassis and engine was partly built and looks okay, only the cab, hood, rear body and battery was painted, the rest wasn't...and if the box is bad doesn't matter that much...the main reason is that all contents are there. So I don't know but I still thinks it was fairly cheap. I just did a quick search for Tyrone Malone's trucks on ebay and there are two Bandag Bandits up for sale right now, one for 200 and one for 400 bucks "buy now" and two Super Bosses, one for $180 and one for $250 "buy now". There are also one Papa Truck up for auction and the bidding is up to $101 at the moment, and one Hideout Truck is up for sale for "buy now" $150...all these are unbuilt I have to add.

It looks like it ended at $36 + $25 for shipping...that's still quite cheap for a complete Bandag Bandit.

I didn't have that big of a problem with the AMT White Freightliner when I built it in my teenage years, it came together pretty much straight forward if I remember correctly...it was 35+ years ago tho'. I also did the AMT KW W925, the GMC General, the Pete 352 and 359, and the Ertl International Transstar II and Mack DM600 back then and all came together quite good. But the Freightliner isn't much of a multi piece body...it's just three parts to do the outer shell of the cab, the Italeri trucks has multi piece bodies and they consists of at least five pieces to do just the cab, front, left and right sides, back wall and roof, and the interior consists of several separate pieces, floorboard, roof, sides and back wall and they have to be put in with the outer parts so you can't do the interior and cab separately, I have also built some of them and with patience they are not that big of a problem to put together.

Yes the "1100 Series" cab replaced the Unilite "small Window" cab 1972 so it has to be before that, and 1969 is a round number so why not.

Well it's nearly 24 hours left of the auction and the price will most likely go up some before it ends, but anything under $100 is a good deal for one of these. I allready have two of these unbuilt so you're safe from me...I promise I will not bid.

I have built both and it doesn't matter to me, as long as you take your time with a multi piece cab it shouldn't be a problem.

The left one looks better...a bit too deep but better than the right one. The outer edge of the rim should be about the same level as the center where the lugs are or slightly over...somewhere in that neighbourhood anyway.

Well then you have a bit of a problem Brian...that car is a 2014 Camaro and that's not available in resin yet, the Competition Resin Camaro body is a 2012-13...but it's probably possible to modify it to a 2014 if you want to...it's mostly the front and rear lights that's different. I haven't seen any decals for that car either, but Slixx do have decals for the Summit 2013 cars and they have the complete line of Competition Resin products too, http://www.slixx,com Working with resin isn't that hard, it's just important to get the body clean from any mold release or other greasy things that can cause trouble with the paint, and soaking it in Westley's Bleach White over night is a good tip, wash it thuroughly before paint, resin can take almost any paint out there so you don't have to worry that much about that. You can't use regular model cement as it doesn't work on the resin, you have to use epoxy or super glue. Use a respirator when you sand resin as the resin dust isn't good for your health. And I would follow Andy's advice as you haven't done a model in a while and build a practice Pro Stock or Pro Sportsman kit just out of box first so you get the feel for it, it doesn't matter how it comes out, you'll learn and get experience from it either way and what to do and not to do with the next build.

I have always used Black Enamel under Alclad II Chrome as the instructions on the bottles I have says, some have tried blue or even white but I haven't tried that myself, other Alclad finishes requires other base coats to work right and they are stated in the instructions for the specific paint The thing with Alclad is to lay it on thin for the chrome effect to work right together with the base coat, if you go too thick it just looks like regular silver paint...and that's easy to do with a spray can.

The Camaro bodys for the street cars and Pro Stock cars are a lot different, the Pro stock bodies are both longer and narrower and tweaked both here and there and doesn't look much like the street car anymore, so you can't just take a model of the street car and do a correct looking Pro Stocker out of it without a lot of body work. But I see you have found the Competition Resins Pro Stock Camaro body. Here are a couple of pictures where you can see the difference between the Pro Stock cars and the street cars. First the 2012-13 Pro Stock Camaro body And the 2013 street car. The 2014 Pro Stock Camaro And the 2014 street car.

Yes Ford engines for cars in any other color than black or blue between 1959 and well into the 70's are most likely just one offs for publicity shots as you say Scott, as far as I know Ford did not deliver any engines painted gold or red from the factory in any car under said years...the valve covers and air cleaners under the "black era" (59-65) were different colors (chrome, gold, silver, red, blue, white, yellow) to distinguish what specific engine version it was, but the block, heads, oil pan and intake manifold on these engines were painted black, with exceptions for aluminum, magnesium and chrome parts wich mostly were left unpainted. Ford did have other colors for their engines in cars before 1959, red, green, bronze, dark blue, yellow, creme/ivory are some colors used, but not under the years the 427 SOHC was available...and as the SOHC wasn't on the option list for any cars from the factory and the only way to get one was "over the counter" as parts it could even had been unpainted.

Yes nearly...you said the engines were painted many colors by the factory, but two different factory engine colors under the four years they were available isn't that many...so I wanted to clarify it some.

Yes the AMT kit is not possible to do without retooling as it share most of the parts with the W925, and that was altered to the T600 so the cab and related parts are gone.

Well Ford only had two engine colors from 1959 to way into the 1970's, so if the engines were painted at the factory it had to be either Black or Blue depending on what year it was from. Ford painted all engines Black between 1959 up to and including the 1965 model year, and the SOHC engine was developed in 64 so the engine block and oil pan had to be Black 64 and 65, and from 1966 and forward all Ford engines were Ford Engine Blue. But none of these engines were sold to the regular public as these were for racing only so the owners could for sure have painted them wich ever color they liked...so they could even have been unpainted raw cast iron from the factory.

I don't say the 427 cylinders are weak, they are just not as strong as in many other engines, the for this engine block large bore made the casting of these blocks very demanding and expensive and that's why Ford decided to do the 428 with 4.13 bore instead of 4.23 and use 3.98 stroke instead of 3.78...cheaper and easier to manufacture. Pre 66 the engine blocks and oil pans were black and 66 and forward blue, mostly everything else on the SOHC was aluminum or magnesium...but none of these were ever sold to the public as a complete engine...you could buy the parts for one over the counter if you had the right connections tho'.

I like it, But if Italeri would do one I hope they start all over and do a correct kit and not take shortcuts and update an old kit with new cab and hood parts as they mostly have done so far...if they do a modified old kit I will pass on it as they usually are wrong almost everywhere. And if anyone does this truck I hope they do regular dual mount drive wheels as I don't like the look of super singles...I think it looks like something's missing.

Yes the headlights still needs some work to look right.

Great build. I like the special "Hurst" Ramber/AMC cars, both the Hurst Rambler S/C and this one.

The SOHC from 1964 pulled 616 hp - 515 ft/lbs with one 4 bbl carb on the dyno as I said, and 657 hp - 575 ft/lbs with dual 4 bbl carbs back then wich wasn't bad at all for an engine developed in 90 days and 425 cubic inches...yes the Ford 427 is really "only" 425 cui. The aftermarket FE blocks today are a lot sturdier than the original blocks and can have over size bore and longer stroke wich you can't do much of in an original 427, the original 427's was a bit fragile and didn't like much "over" stroke even tho' it had cross bolted mains, high cylinder pressures wasn't that good for the original block either as the cylinders were quite thin (a friend of mine says it has cylinders strong as card board tubes...and he's not far from right ), the original stroke was 3.78" (same as 390) and the cylinder bore was 4.23" (the 390 has 4.05" and the 428 has 4.13") and you could only over bore it maximum .030" if a sonic check allows it, if the block needs an over bore and not pass the sonic your expensive rare 427 block is only good for a boat ancor. The original SOHC engine blocks had an oil drain back holes from the heads in the lower back on each side wich is not present on regular FE's and the aftermarket blocks has provisions for those holes and can be drilled if you want to do a SOHC...the oil drain back from the heads can also be done with outside oil lines back to the oil pan if the drain back holes aren't there.

The 427 SOHC produced 616 hp with a single 4bbl carburator and this could for sure have been just that pull.