Mr. Metallic

A victim of Modelhaus???

Oh, i completely understand there never being a list released to the public of what was purchased. But since the sale the easiest rule of thumb to follow has been, if the last release has China on the box, Quantum owns it. If the last release was produced in the US then there is a likelihood that Atlantis (and by extension, Salvinos) probably ended up with that tooling. But I guess we can no longer follow that line of thinking. It was just easier to tell the folks that say "I hope Atlantis has so-and-so tooling' to say "nope, last release was in China so Revell still has it" or "Last release was in the US, so there's hope Atlantis got it" it's no longer that cut and dry. Thanks for the reply

Oh, if only ?

Not sure if you are privy, or are able to comment. But now I'm confused again. Did Atlantis purchase EVERYTHING that was stored in Illinois, or did Quantum keep some of the tooling?

Man, that is screaming for Round2 to add to a car or pickup kit since it is a separate tooled item

Glad to see this thread resurface because it was a good read. I wasn't active daily here back when all the hulabaloo went down around the introduction of the kit (Nine years ago ? ) so i missed all the unpleasantness. Dennis' recent build got me interested in the kit, and have spotted the drag version on the HL shelves. I'm interested in building it, and may use the "chopped" body since I like the look. But reading through this thread has piqued my interest in the option of a corrected body 9or maybe the notch if it comes to market) Thanks to @Maindrian Pace and @Dennis Lacy for showcasing these great builds and showing what can be done with "the kit that won't be named"

Couldn't help myself, needed to see a mockup with more parts now that paint is complete. This will probably be the last update until after it's all done.

Paint update... As I stated earlier, I had to strip the paint off the interior side panels due to an issue with the paint. However, the do-over is just an opportunity to do it better the second time. I let the parts sit in alcohol while I was on vacation and when I got back they were ready to go. So I went ahead with painting the rest of the interior items. At the suggestion of my friend Randy I went with a warmer off white rather than straight white, and I love the way it warmed up the dark cherry body color. The off white is Tamiya Racing White, and the roll and pleat areas are Tamiya Champagne Metallic. Parts are in the dehydrator, and then I'll finish off the side panels with the dark cherry upper section. Hoping to start assembly this weekend.

The truck came out awesome, thanks for taking us along for the ride. May i suggest, to match the level of the truck, that you replace the kit wire wheels on your dragster with pieces by Curt Raitz?

You may find that the "purple pond" doesn't do much to strip your Tamiya paint. Since it's a form of lacquer Super Clean usually doesn't do anything. You may need to switch to 90% alcohol, which is what i use to strip Tamiya and Testors "lacquers"

I think maybe the title of this thread should be changed because there's more info in that blog post than just concerning Aurora molds. I thought these two paragraphs were VERY important to the history of the hobby. Although this does add confusion to what the new owners of Revell/Monogram kept that was stored in Illinois and what was let go to Atlantis and Salvinos JR. It's no longer a cut and dry blanket statement that "whatever was in Illinois was sold" "Throughout the period from 1991 through the closure of Revell in 2018, ownership and management changed... but, one constant was the Product Manager. This person worked with several firms that purchased bagged assembly items from the overall Revell mold inventory. Following the purchase of Revell assets in the USA and Germany, "interests” for the German buyers specified molds held in China and the USA that they wished to retain for future production. There were a number that were not selected and those were set aside to be scrapped. Knowing that this would lead to a number of vintage mold sets from Monogram, Revell, Aurora, and Renwal disposed of for material value only. Revell product manager Ed Sexton saw the value in selling a quantity of the remaining molds to a viable buyer; Atlantis Toy and Hobby inc. Located on Long island New York. Fortunately, these principals saw potential in future production from most of the molds scheduled for destruction and a business "deal" was negotiated. Those that remained were transferred to Atlantis; a major undertaking all its own. The past 3 years has seen the limited production of vintage kits that had not been produced in years. If you appreciate what Atlantis is creating, support them with purchases! We need to thank Ed Sexton along with the cooperation of Lou Aguilera, President of Carrera Revell of Americas, Inc. that a "quick sale" to a junk dealer did not happen. While Ed worked with principals at Atlantis Models, Lou negotiated with the new German owners to achieve an acceptable solution. Their foresight to find a small firm that was (and is) committed to work hard to survive in a very different hobby market is not only laudable, but provides future kits releases from vintage molds that otherwise would have been lost. Atlantis co owners Peter Vetri and Rick Delfavero are taking on a massive challenge that goes way beyond what you see when a new Atlantis kit makes its way to a retail shelf." thanks for sharing this @Reegs, but maybe a title change would be beneficial to convey what is actually contained in that blog post

The AMT interior and Moebius floor pan do not play well at all. That's why I tried to explain that I went through a lot of trial and error trying to get them to mesh well with the minimum amount of work possible. But I had to keep going further and further, so I presented the best solution that I could come up with. the trans tunnels and wheels wells just provide too much interference with each other. Plus the Moebius side panels give much better rendered detail.

Thanks Dennis. I was sure I wasn't the first person to think up the kitbash, but couldn't remember anyone actually starting one.

I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen anyone else do this yet since the kit has been widely available for about a month now. I purchased the curbside version of the wagon kit as soon as it came out, but couldn't decide how to build it. Then when Tim Boyds build preview of the Moebius 65 gasser came out I knew I had to try combining the two. I've been busy the last few weeks since i got the Moebius kit, so I didn't get a chance to sit down and determine my course of action, and figured for sure someone would beat me to it so I could follow their lead. Well, it appears I'm first (at least I haven't seen anyone else do it yet, but I could be wrong), so now you all get the benefit of learning from my trial and error. These kits actually kitbash very well together in certain aspects. It all depends on how much effort you want to put into it to get to the level you're comfortable with. You also may see something I did that you feel you could improve upon, if you do please make sure you share it with the rest of us when you do your own conversion. To begin with, I want to thank my good friend Randy Meyer (Randfink) for inspiring me to not cut the corners with regards to finishing the cargo area, but we'll get into that in a bit. Since we are having an impromptu build off, I knew I needed to elevate my level to even come within sniffing distance of his attention to detail. Now, let's get started. Here are the main components you need to gather to get the fitting process started. The AMT wagon body and interior bucket, the Moebius floor pan, front subframe, radiator, firewall and interior panels (not pictured). I did a side by side comparison of the two engine compartments and determined they were close enough that this should work without even putting a caliper on them. As I would find out, my assessment was right on the money, almost as if Moebius engineered their kit to mesh together with the AMT kit (I know they didn't, but it's fun to pretend, right?) I think overall the Moebius compartment may be 1 scale inch longer than the AMT as later you will see the moebius firewall ends up slightly farther back than where the AMT one was molded in, but the difference is hardly noticeable unless pointed out. You can see in this picture where I highlighted the upper edge of the compartment sheetmetal so i knew to remove everything on the underside up to that point. I set about with removing all the compartment stuff with my Dremel cut off wheel, sanding drum and then my razor saw and sanding sticks. Before I could test the fit I had to slightly narrow the rear area of the floor pan to fit into the wagon body. I cut out the areas highlighted in black with a straight cut where it transitions to the fender well and then finessed the area with a sanding stick to tightly fit the wagon body. Eventually the rear of this area will need to be extended a bit. I also assume the gas tank configuration is incorrect for a wagon, but haven't researched that yet, or even decided if I will tackle that feature at all. Now it's time to do the first test fit. Use the radiator as your reference point for the positioning of the floor inside the body. It lands perfectly under the cross brace, and the firewall ends up perfectly nestled under the cowl. You may notice the sheetmetal that ran down the sides of the compartment are gone, that is due to me being over aggressive with my Dremel. If you're careful you can retain them. I haven't decided if I will replace them or not. Here you can see what I was talking about when I fantasized that they were engineered to work together. Note how the notches in the top of the Moebius firewall mesh perfectly with the underside of the AMT fenders/cowl. It's a snap fit. The black highlights are a reference line for future mockups to show where the firewall belongs so I don't have to use the radiator every time. No sanding has been done to the Moebius firewall or radiator to fit this tight. Now to begin the fitment of the interior. You need to shorten this tab on the front of the AMT bucket about 2mm. Don't go too far because you want that tab to hold the tub at the correct height in relation to the body. Now the tricky part, where you can decide how far you want to go. I was going to just use the Moebius side panels and throw a tonneau cover over the cargo area and call it done. perfectly acceptable for a drag car or custom. However, knowing that Randy would not cut corners on his 65 wagon conversion, I decided to push through this hard part. At first I was going to do what I could to retain the Moebius fenderwells by simply removing material from the inside of the Moebius part and the outside of the AMT fenderwells. However, there didn't end up being enough thickness to the plastic to accomplish this, so I completely cut away the inner "half" of the Moebius fenderwells. Note here on the left the evidence of a partial removal, which still wasn't enough. So I set the AMT bucket on top of the Moebius floor and marked where I needed to cut. On the underside you can cut right up to the frame rail if you like. I cut the AMT cargo area away directly in front of the fenderwells and preserved the downward sloping sheetmetal to meet the Moebius floor. After removing the locating tab on the Moebius side panel where it meets the fenderwell I then used the panels as a pattern to show where I needed to cut away the side of the AMT bucket. Fortunately this is exactly where the inner door panel line on the four door wagon would be, so a gap here is prototypical to 1:1. Remove the shaded area and do some finesse sanding to get a good fit. Then repeat the process for the drivers side. You will also need to remove this small sliver of plastic from the AMT bucket to allow the Moebius panel to fit properly and still allow everything to fit inside the body. It is the width of the vertical plastic that used to occupy this space. The drivers side rear fender well is a slightly more rectangular shape at its leading edge than the passenger side, so it requires a little more material be removed from the Moebius side to fit. Use the AMT fenderwell as your template, and remove material slowly. Now you can see where all your hard work is getting you. You will need to slightly enlarge the arch where the cargo area fits over the driveshaft tunnel. Now everything is ready to test fit in the body. After you fit the interior into the body you will probably note that the cargo area now sits a little high compared to the window opening. There is a molded in parting line on the upper surface that serves as a great reference point for the removal of material. Run a fine line marker or pencil down that line and then gently sand the top surface until that line disappears. Now everything should line up. Now we're talking!!! And, the glamour shots... Now, I'll be stepping away from this build as I'm done painting the parts for my Simple 30 Ford coupe. Once that is done I will come back to this, as Randy and I have a deadline of June 1st to get out wagons done. Thanks for following along, and I hope someone out there finds this helpful.

Painting mishap while doing the interior side panels, so I'll be stripping and repainting those. Heading on vacation tomorrow so hope to hit this one hard when i get back.

Snake, if you don't have a use for the engine I do. I'm building this from the ground up, trying to use all vintage parts. The body and interior were in a parts lot I bought, and the body has original paint and decals. The body is AMT, but I believe the interior is MPC because the front seats are not molded in. The engine that is in there now is not vintage, or overly unique. I'd love to stick that engine in this, the yellow would go great with the teal metallic. ? Totally understand if you don't want to let it go though

I dig The BOS ? Work your Snake-fu on it and I'm sure it will be cool Also note the wires seem to originate from the base of the distributor, not the top. You've got to re-use that engine somewhere, if not in this one. Time capsule that it is. ?

Didn't they do that when they were just changing the packaging last year? They went from being in boxes, where you couldn't see the condition of the case and I got several that were cracked and had to exchange before i learned to open the box and check. Now they have no box. They put them on clearance to eliminate the old stock (with box).

Thanks for the update Bill. I am more than familiar with how life can prevent us from paying attention to our hobbies. Hope the move goes smoothly. I'm heading to Yuma in a few days with the fam for vacation. i enjoy Arizona

Mr Engwer, I hate to ask, but any progress on this one? I've been through the entire thread several times since its inception. It feels like most of the fab is done and the body was close to primer ready? @Ace-Garageguy

You are most welcome. I borrow ideas from others all the time. Glad I'm able to do the same for someone else for once.

I only use Tamiya for very minor scratches or imperfections, and always allow it to dry for at least 12 hours to make sure it has fully shrunk. I use 2 part automotive filler for everything else because it doesn't dry, it cures. That means it doesn't shrink and is very stable. I used to use Evercoat "Eurosoft" but like others have said, got tired of it going bad in the container. Upon the suggestion of my friend I switched to Dolphin Glaze (I know, weird name). It can be purchased on eBay, and comes in a pouch, so the product stays usable in the package much longer than anything else I've used and is easy to just squirt a little on a pallet for mixing small amounts. I've been using it for years now with no issues seen in any of my long completed projects. Sands and feathers well too.

Here are the Archer louvers applied to my current project. Should have the same results as using their rivets. Before paint, note the edges of the decal, especially at the sides. And then after one coat of primer and 2 coats of paint. The line disappears

This is very cool. I love the front end treatment, and the clear roof is just ultra cool.

Looks vaguely familiar... ? Great minds think alike https://public.fotki.com/crstan/finished_models_by_me/rods/32-ford-custom-rod/