Force

The axles in the AMT 68-69-70 Mopar B-bodies are Dana 60 wich were used in 4-speed big block and Hemi cars, the Dana 60 is very strong but it's heavy and hard to change gear ratios in as you have to do it on the car. I don't know exactly when all teams started to use the Ford 9 inch but I know the Mopar NASCAR cars used the 8 3/4 inch rear end back in the day, this axle is similar in construction as the Ford 9 inch and it's easier and much quicker to change the gear ratios in that axle as the 3rd member is a separate removable piece, so if you have several 3rd members with different gear ratios ready to use it's just like pull the drive shafts and swap the 3rd member to another one with a different ratio...much like they do with the Ford 9 inch. Regarding the "Bathtub" intake manifold, the only ones I know of from a kit is the old MPC intake wich can be found at some aftermarket resin casters, and as Tim says, they are not good representations of the "bathtub" intake...the best "bathtub" intakes I have seen has been scratch built...I'm curious why no one from the aftermarket has done and offered a better more accurate one, it can't be that hard to do with CAD and 3d printers we have today.

Normally the Ford FE as well as most of the other Ford V8's has the deep part of the oil pan at the front of the engine as the oil pump is located there, but with a longer oil pickup you can put the deep part at the rear, as long as the front part of the pan is deep enough for the oil pump to fit in there it will work just fine. Another solution to get more oil volume is to make the deeper part of the pan wider instead of making it deeper and modifying an oil pan is not exactly rocket science. The pictures below are of 427 SOHC dragster engines and one type of oil pan pan used, the SOHC is FE based so it can for sure be used on regular FE engines as well. It doesn't seem like they use a dry sump system as I can't see any scavenge pumps or oil lines, Ford had dry sump oil systems on the FE 427 for the GT40 Mk II and Mk IV in 1966 and 1967 and the NASCAR and Can Am 429 Boss for 1969-70-71-72ish but none of them looks to be in use as the scavenge pumps were integrated in a special timing chain cover for the FE 427 and in the front of the oil pan for the 429 Boss, so I believe they used regular oil pumps in the dragsters with FE engines. It looks like they use a girdle to stabilize the bottom end tho'

Very nice replica. As Bills72sj said, the Keystone Classic wheels needs some black detailing, otherwise it's very good.

Why would I want a self driving car, if I want to just ride in a car I can call a cab...you can pay many cab fairs for what a self driving car costs. I can't understand why they waste money on this. I want to drive my car myself and enjoy it.

It's not that uncommon to move the oil filter on race cars, usually on a 426 based Hemi the oil pump is on the lower drivers side and the oil filer is pointed forward from that, but due to cramped spaces they often use either remote filters or adapters to move the filter to where it's more room and easier access. On modern Nitro burning engines the filter are sometimes mounted upside down in front of the drivers side cylinder head or somwhere on the chassis near the engine.

I couldn't agree more, I hate those small metal pins they started to use about 15 years ago, you almost have to crack and destroy the suspension parts to get the wheels on there, I never use these pins and find my own better solution to the problem, one thing is that I allways glue my wheels on the models as I don't want them to roll...I mean my models are not toys, they are static replica models that's going to stay put on the shelf and not roll around. I also think many of the wheels in later Revell kits look too small...they might be scaled right but they still look too small when you use them on the model, I read somewhere that if you scale down everything exactly on a model the result of some things may not look right and have to be slightly overscale to get the right look. So for me they can return to what they had before and skip the system they use now as I think it's c*ap.

The AMT 1965 Buick Riviera has nice wire wheels and the spares kind of looks line them.

Auslowe has several of them.

Yes, the real Papa Truck transporter is a 1976 V.I.T. 200 Bicentennial Edition and that truck has torsion bars and a Bicentennial interior in red, white and blue (no diamond tuft), the wheels should have been Truck Mate 5 hole wheels and the front bumper should have been a smooth Peterbilt style bumper without any holes. The Hideout Truck Transporter on the other hand was as you say a 1978 and the kit is quite correct with Airglide 100 suspension and diamond tufted interior, the wheels should have been the same Truck Mate 5-hole wheels as was used on the Papa Truck and a Peterbilt style bumper with holes for 2 fog lights. The transporter beds are the same on both trucks in the kits, the Papa Truck has small round holes for a square key to unlock the side compartment doors and the Hideout Truck has chromed paddle latch handles for these doors, the Papa Truck has a winch at the front of the bed, the Hideout Truck doesn't have that. So both kits are the same except for the decals but the real trucks are quite different in several places so the kits has to be modified some to do correct replicas of the transporters. One more thing wrong with these kits is the dash panels, because the K100 Aerodyne has a different style dash panel than the flat top K100 and the kits has flat top K100 dash panels, all K100's got the Aerodyne dash panels but as far as I know it was in later production cabs.

If you want a 1932 Phaeton you have to go for the AMT kit, Revell has only done Tudor Sedan, Roadster, 3W Coupe and 5W Coupe body styles and the MPC 1932 kits aren't that good and they did not do a Phaeton either.

If you want to go the easy way the same exact carburetor can be found in most of the Revell/Monogram Pro Stock kits and there are several resin casters casting them, so these are not difficult to find. I have been around the real stuff for many many years and these are definately not the best representation of a Holley 4500 Dominator by any means as a real Dominator doesn't look like that at all, so I don't know why so many still use them on their builds because I think these model "blobs" look awful, the Jo-Han 4500 carbs from for example the 71 Sox & Martin 'Cuda looks a lot more like the real ones. Unfortunately Fireball just have the 4150 and 4160 styles for Holley's and they are great but no 4500 at all, so the best Holley 4500 I have seen so far from anyone is the E-DOM-2N from Futurattraction, so if you want to skip the model carb and get a more correct look, use a couple of them.

Very nice!!

Very nice...When can I get one??

Here you can read about the so called "improvements" in the Pro Stock category over the last 50 years...if it's good or not...that I leave for the observer to decide. https://www.nhra.com/news/2020/50-years-pro-stock-salute-you-ve-come-long-way-pro-stock

Nice builds.

Thanks for the pictures, I wish I had been there. About Pro Stock, I have allways liked the Pro Stock category but the sanctioning bodies have let the class going too far and has deviated too much from what it originally was, in the beginning (1970) the Pro Stock cars were just like Super Stock cars with slightly looser rules, but they still looked like the cars they were supposed to be and was still based on road going cars with engines based on what you could get in your car from the factory. With the rules like they are today where the bodies of the race cars (mostly Camaro's) doesn't have much resemblence to the street going counterpart and all use one type of engine, the GM DRCE, wich is an aftermarket engine developed purely for drag racing and not available in any car and have never been...how fun is that...both the spectators and car manufacturers has lost interest and the class is slowly dying as the competitors are leaving because it's too expensive, look back 20-25 years where there were maybe 30-35 cars trying to get in the 16 car field, now they barely get 16 cars total for each event. I don't understand how taking away the hood scoops (I think race cars look cool with hood scoops) and introducing the electronic fuel injection they use today, and the fact that NHRA has shortened the Pro Stock Calender from 24 events to 18 would make the class more interesting...I'm not against evolution but it doesn't do it for me anyway as all the fun is taken out of it. So it's maybe time to re-write the rulebooks, go back to square one and do an all new Pro Stock class with car bodies that looks a lot more like the street going counterparts from GM, Mopar and Ford, abandon the 500 cui rule wich was implemented 1982 and do a new engine rule based on the modern V8 engines used in the street cars with a displacement limit of maybe 358 cui or something like that, that will maybe get the interest back for the class from both the spectators and manufacturers. Just look at the Factory Stock and Factory Super Stock classes wich has gained lots of interest the last few years and the car manufacturers are all over it...get the hint!!

Good work on your model Richard. But this kit is a 1949 and not a 1950. There are lots of small differences between them and one giveaway is the dash panel, on the 49 all gauges are round and the 50 has one large half round speedometer and the other gaugs are squared (the same dash was also in the 51) the rear glass was separated into three pieces on the 49 and was a one piece in 1950 The side trim is slightly different between the two years, the hood has MERCURY spelled out with separate letters on the 49 and a badge and a trim piece with MERCURY stamped in on the 50, the trunk badges are different, the door handles are different. Here are some pictures to show the most significant differences. 1949 front 1950 front 1949 rear 1950 rear 1949 dash 1950 dash The 1950 in these pictures is a Monterey so it has a vinyl roof and Monterey badges on the doors, these are not on the regular coupe's.

You can also have use for this book from the same author.

I have some bad news for you, if you use the roll bar as it is on the Jo-Han 71 'Cuda you woun't be able to use the side windows as the main hoop will interfere as it's slightly wider on top than the roof...ask me how I know that. So if you want to use the side windows on you model you have to shorten the upper bar some and angle the uprights slightly inward...then it will fit allright. I noticed this when I was to put the interior in the body with all glass installed so it was a bit too late to fix it, the interior was finished with the seats and I also had added a 4 point racing harness wich is wrapped around the bar behind the drivers seat, so I had to skip the side windows as it was too much work to fix the problem...but I for sure will on my next build. Otherwise, you're doing a good job and I can't wait to see the result.

Yes indeed, they look great.

If you can't find the Prudhomme Hot Wheels car and you don't need the Hot Wheels decals this is essentially the same kit. And this one too.

I just saw the video myself a few minutes ago, unfortunately the rear wing side plates reads "Tyrone Malone AMT Hobby Kits" but it should be "Bandag Bandit AMT Hobby Kits" so it's close but no cigar. I also noticed "Driver Martin Carver" temporary decals for the doors on the decal sheet, it's from when the then CEO for Bandag Martin Carver set the record back in August 1988. You can't really do the Martin Carver record setting version with what's in the kit if you want it to be correct because the hood is different on that version with some large bulges down the sides behind the fenders wich are not on the kit hood, and the stripes down the hood sides are much shorter. It's unfortunate that Paccar and Kenworth stopped Round 2 using the correct markings for these trucks, because Bandag/Bridgestone or Detroit Diesel-Allison didn't mind and would let them use the names, from what I saw in the youtube video the decals would have been awsome if everything was on there as it should have been...but no...it was like "leave the Bandag, Detroit Diesel and Allison out or you can't get the license to do these Kenworth truck kits"...very bad...it would have been easier to leave out the Kenworth markings. It's not like these things are small and insignificant and they can't easily be found in other kits, Bandag, Detroit Diesel and Allison together with Kenworth are the reason Malone could do what he did for so many years. So to complete the markings on both these trucks we have to rely on Jerry at Modeltruckin', I don't know how well his decals will go with the new kit decals colorwise but we'll see. I noticed another thing when I went through my references recently, I wasn't sure what rear suspension the Hideout Truck had, torsion bars or air ride, as I have never seen any pictures of the underside of this truck, but as it turns out there is a text between the rear wheel arches on the original paint job I hadn't noticed before that reads "Kenworth Airglide 100 Suspension"...so the model kit is correct there so except for the front bumper and wheels, everything else is right for the Hideout Truck. Another thing I have noticed with the Bandag Bandit and Super Boss truck kits is the missing shift lever for the auxillary transmission, this shifter should be near the back wall of the interior between the seats, AMT only provided the shifter for the Allison automatic transmission but nothing for the Fuller auxillary transmission.

The front wheels in the kit isn't the right style and kind of crude, they used reversed Halibrand spindle mount kidney bean magnesium wheels on the Winged Express. I'm pretty sure the gold front wheels were coated with DOW 7 wich was popular chemical treatment on magnesium wheels at the time to keep them from oxidise wich magnesium does as you look at it, the DOW 7 gives the magnesium a brass-goldish sheen but wasn't that durable.

Very nice.

You can paint the engine silver if you want to, I think the engine is supposed to be a 8V-92 and the 92 series was called Silver 92 and was painted silver. But I have seen them in Alpine Green too.