Chuck Most

Why have a separate section for diecast? I'm of the 'don't care what material the body is made from' school of thought. Styrene plastic and resin are already accepted, I don't see why so many people still have a negative opinion of diecast metal models and kits, other than the fact the majority of diecasts are a bit 'toyish' as far as detail and proportions go- but even that is changing. I don't see why diecasts need to be put into their own separate bubble and confined from styrene and resin- that would (to me at least) only send a message reinforcing the idea that diecasts somehow 'aren't worthy' enough to be mentioned in the same breath as the other two mediums, regardless of scale. There are all kinds of worthy modeling subjects the plastic kit makers and resin casters (so far) haven't touched which are readily available in diecasts, in all kinds of different scales. Though I think the scale thing might be a whole 'nother can of worms.

Ditto. Either version would be cool for a model project though. I think Hot Rod or Hot Rod Deluxe did a full feature on this car a few years back- lots of cool chassis and engine shots in it. I'll have to dig around and see if I still have it.

And it was produced by Dino De Laurentiis. His granddaughter has a show on Food Network, or so I hear.

One of the cinemetographers literally lost an eye during a mishap shooting the runaway lawnmower scene.

I'm out. I'm done. Until I get a few more weathering supplies, that is.

John Carpenter did the movie- Stephen King wrote the novel the movie was based upon.

Photoetched cylinder fins would be VERY cool... and oh-so-fiddly to put together!

Probably not. The Car came out in 1977, and the Christine novel came out in 1978, and King has said he started work on the novel when he was still a sports writer in the early '70's. EDIT! The novel came out in 1983, the STORY in the novel takes place in 1978.

Barris is mostly regarded with the "Super Persuit" and convertible versions from the final season, the Knight 2000 car was designed by a guy named Michael Scheffe.

The resin kit is long gone- so's the company that cast it as far as I know. The car was based on a '71 Lincoln Continental MK III, and there's not kit of that either, so you couldn't go that route. All I can say is keep scouring the online classifieds... or make your own. If you're into such things, Ertl did a diecast of it in 1:18, too.

Well... $30 plus shipping, not too shabby for something 'pro built', I'd say. Could you even find this kit for that much?

I think mine will end up with a cut down '66 Nova pro street chassis, and a Mustang II front suspension. For some reason, this thing just seems like the perfect starting point for a drag car.

From what I remember all of the JoHan AMC V8s are the first-gen style, even the ones in the SC/Rambler and AMX. All they did was tool up a few new top end pieces to disguise the old engine as the second-gen AMC unit. That, and there's that big, flippin', 3/16" or so hole in the block.

What would anyone be offended about? A little variety will be very nice.

What I don't like about the Matador V8 is the soft engraving and overall lack of detail, though to be fair, it wasn't to bad compared to what else was avaialble at the time. The Monogram CJ-7 engine is a bit simplified, but very nice, trouble is it's 1:24, not 1:25 like the Gremlin.

What Danno said- sometimes moistening it helps, too. If you're worried about damaging the paint, stretching a piece of microfiber towel over the tip will mimimize the chance of scratching the paint.

Cool!

http://www.wps.com/AMC/Front-suspension/index.html

Round 2 is kind of banking on nostalgia these days- maybe they just assumed this kit would appeal more to the, ahem, more seasoned modelers among us, and they thought the folks in that particular market would already be aware of this kits engineering, features, and scale from past experience.

Danno....?

But in the meantime.... LIONS SUCK!

AND THE LIONS STILL SUCK!!!!!!!

Cobbled up a gun from spare junk laying around- it is now attached to the Mustang's roof...

Sounds like par for the course for the majority of Heller kits I've built. (Grain of salt- I've only build four Heller kits, and two were the Citroen truck-one the Waterman pen truck, the other the Hotel taxi.)

Too late... I already got two of 'em.