Carmak

There is an old joke: Do you know who the highest paid person at Palmer is? The guy that does the box art. The point is that the box art was better than the kit in the box. Often Palmer kits are caricatures that are of no particular scale and can be hard to recognize. The "PSM" kits are actually fair kits. I think they started in 1970 and many of the tools from that era were still around a few years ago and sold as Lindberg kits.

I win

Anybody else notice the red and clear lenses for police lights? Those were part of the 68 Hard Top kit. Hmmmmmmm

My spin on Cab Driver's method. I put the models in a Ziplock and hold the bag upside down over a small pot of boiling water with an oven mitt (BE CAREFUL). I let the bag fill with the hot water vapor. Seal the bag and into the deep freeze for a week. The water vapor gets into the small cracks between parts and freezes. A little thermal shock helps also. Sometimes it takes a few cycles. I have done this for 40+ years and it doesn't always work but sometimes it really surprises me.

It is my understanding that Salvinos JR has Nascar versions of both the Daytona and the Superbird in process. Might be worth the wait.

All Pontiac 326/389/400/421/455 intakes are the same size. There was a slight change from 59-64 to 65-78 where the bolts and ports changed enough that they do not interchange in the 1:1 world, but that is a non-issue in 1/25 scale. The 68 Firebird intake is designed for a spread-bore carburetor (the primary ports are smaller than the secondary ports) and your image shows this. All 64 Pontiac 4bl intakes were square bore (all port the same size). Once again, I am not sure this could be seen in 1/25 scale. I assume you are thinking about using the intake from the Revell 68 Firebird. I think it would be a good choice. As for a carburetor any Carter AFB would work. They were commonly used on mid to late 60's Mopars. Craig

Sonny and Cher

The Jeep

Found another little batch of cool survivors/rebuilders locally last week. Some funky stuff I don't typically run into. The goldish 32 Ford in the Monogram "Son of Ford" kit. The gold Mustang in an AMT Sonny and Cher kit. I think the Jeep is the MPC "Bottoms Up" kit The Phone Booth is the MPC original issue mid 60's Stroker McGurk kit. The black panel is the mid 60's MPC 33 Chevy panel kit. This is a rebuilder I have been looking for. Carmak Iowa

Loved my old 67 Catalina. Wish I had a better pic.

Just got this guy a couple weeks ago. I assume it's the Bottoms Up kit because of the cab and decals. Did any other issue have the cab?

I have a connection to the 1:1 muscle car world and the hot Super Bees are 69 and 70. The 68's just don't get that much love. I have even seen a trend of people putting 69 grilles/front clips on 68's. In the model car world, we have had 69, 70 and 71 Super Bees available for years so we have a demand for the 68 that is not necessarily reflected in the 1:1 world. I say all of this as the longtime owner of a 68 Coronet. Carmak.

I recently picked up this group of eight survivors. Seven are basically stock and one has had a major mod. Carmak

The cost to do a correct 68 Super Bee really depends how the tooling was designed. The tail light areas are different between R/T and Super Bee. If the tooling is designed in a way that allows this slide to be easily changed it makes the change easier. All 68 Super Bees are pillared two door sedans not hard tops. This could be handled by glue in pieces, so the body does not need to be changed. The grille might need to be different because of the R/T emblem and Super Bee emblem are different. Not 100% on this but 68 Super Bees might have been bench seat only and they had a quite different upholstery. Carmak

The story I have heard repeated many times on this forum and other places is that at some point JoHan or Seville had not paid their workers, so the workers stole much of the tooling and sold it for scrap.

My 68 is currently in the shop getting fresh paint. I have a few original 68 R/T builders and nice built kits but I will be all over the new 68 R/T kit in all forms!

I am aligned with Daddy Fink and Snake about curbside / Craftsman kits being a good direction for clones. The curbsides have a low part count and therefore lower engineering cost, tooling cost and plastic cost. Great bang for the buck. The new Charger R/T kit probably has triple the engineering cost and double the tooling cost of a curbside clone kit. Carmak

Back in the late 90's I had a 62 Cadillac Town Sedan (short deck). From the side is looked very chopped off but it was a lot easier to park than my 65 Bonneville.

First off I think the point of your comment is legit at times. For this specific case the 351 Clevland engine is supposed to be one of the highlights of the Mach 1 kit so a perceived error is disappointing. The 68 Coronet is intended to be a clone of the original kit with some improvements so the poor detail (no detail) of the front suspension is not a disappointment. Honestly if the Mustang and Coronet bodies are proportionately correct I will be happy and I will buy many of them. I am a Mopar guy and I still can't get past the front fender issues with the Revell 70 Cuda. Carmak

65 Chrysler 300 promo found at an auto parts swap meet last weekend. Been looking for one for a very long time. Will rebuild as a curbside. 65 Cadillac found the week before at a flea market. Missing the interior and front suspension. Been looking for one for a very long time also - now I am looking for an interior . Carmak

Would that make you a "stitch counter"? ?? Just messing with you. My son has a 1:1 68 GTO and I also saw the upholstery.

I would second what Mark has said about the Change from 59 to 60. Back in the 90's I parted out quite a few rusty Iowa full size Mopars from the late 50's to late 60's. The early 60's subframes were very related to the late 50's full frames. All of the 61-64 full size sub frames were essentially the same (only the wheelbase ever changed) so good pictures would not need to come from a 61 Dodge. Take a look at a 62 Custom 880 which is a 62 Chrysler body with a 61 Dodge front clip. I look forward to your project!

Tom Daniels California Street Vette - mid 70's. Age 6-7.

On the kit the rear fenders tuck in leaving the rear tires partially exposed. Do they tuck in that much on the 1:1 (hard to tell in the pictures)? Which was harder to build, the 1:1 or the kit .

Love the pictures from Brazil. Please note that Ford of Brazil used the basic 67-72 Ford truck design up to the 90's and possibly longer so these photos may be more recent than the 67-72 design may suggest.