Chuck Most

Guess I could chime in with a list- AMT Phantom Vicky- Fantastic Ford Mod motor with tasty capped headers, killer street rod frame with IFS and an 8.8 coil sprung rear axle, and those 17/20" Halibrands. Revell Beetles- Really good engine and chassis pan Revell '32 Fords- Especially the newer 5 window and Tudor variants. I bought a couple Tudors just for that yummy Flattie and those chrome wire wheels. Monogram Ford F-350- great dually wheels (tires? not so great) nice 460 385-series engine, Dana rear axle AMT and Revell Model A Fords- the Revell kits have some very sweet period speed parts for the four banger, and great big and little whitewalls. The Red Ram hemi in the AMT roadster is pretty good as well. Even the AMT Woody/Pickup has some nice parts. Revell '64 Fairlane/T-Bolt- Awesome 427 FE with four speed or Lincoln automatic, nice M&H slicks, teardrop hood scoop, and the newer issues have FOUR sets of wheels- stock steelies with caps, drag steelies, a set of Keystones and a set of Radirs. AMT '25 and '27 Model T- the '27 has a nice Frontenac head setup for the four banger, the '25 has a simplified but convincing Lincoln 430 MEL engine. The '27 also has a cool dropped front tubular axle. Revell Beatnik Bandit- cool wheels, narrow slicks, a very nicely done Olds V8 with a blower and a sweet-looking blower drive guard. AMT '40 Willys- Nice blown Olds V8, lots of neat gasser suspension pieces, extra pickup cab and bed for a rat rod if you build it as a coupe. Revell Willys- the street rod version has a great chassis with IFS and a four-link rear, as well as a mean early Hemi. The SWC and Big John kits have a period blown Olds and a nice gasser style chassis. AMT '70 Super Bee Pro Street- the chassis will fit under just about any midsize Mopar kit in existence, and that prototype DOHC Hemi engine is just plain cool. AMT '66 Nova Pro Street- I've used that chassis under nearly everything but a Nova. The extra stripped engine and stand is a nice touch, too. It's also loaded with speed parts for SBCs if you get off on that kind of thing. Odd Rod kits (Tom Daniel kits, Vampire Van, AMT Lil Mixer, etc.)- Loads of weirdo stuff for off the wall hot rod builds. Military Kits- All sorts of different kinds of doodads and widgets for post-apocalyptic buildups. NASCAR and drag kits- beefed up axles, engine parts, roll cages, MSD ignition boxes, shifters, seats, tires, wheels, etc.

And to sweeten the pot, I'm using the 'bad' Revell kit!

Revell does a '30/31 in in1:25, but it's a Tudor. The 1:24 Monogram kit is very nice, though.

Cast spoke wheels in Boggers? Now I've seen everything! Well, except for talking spiders... Looking like a promising project at this point- I think I'd go with a stake bed on the back, or maybe an 8 foot Flareside bed with some rough old wooden stakes on the sides.

I'd love to see one of those Revell Monroe Shocks MII's built up? How tough are those to track down, I wonder...

I'm going to bankrupt myself buying these... never mind the upcoming '50 Olds!

Builds like this are the reason I don't slag snap kits. Very nice.

That Sketchpad gave me a sick thought or two of my own...

Disregarding painting the wood, ride height bugaboos are about the only issue I've ever had if you're starting with the stock version of the kit.

This is a '60 model, but there are a LOT of great reference pics here. Check it out, just seeing a 60 Beetle with 7500 actual miles is a pretty cool thing to behold anyway! http://www.oldbug.com/marxred60.htm

In the new issue of MCM, Mike Lomaka showed off a sketch of a Sidewinder modified to resemble a second-gen Effie. He pointed out some similarities in the front end between the 1996-vintage Dodge concept truck and the production Ford. Guess I'd never noticed or thought about it, but he is right. That particular sketch is now on my workbench. That got me thinking- that high hood and low fenders that blend into the doors look was pretty much standard for many years on trucks. Early Dodge trucks had that trait, as did IH trucks from '57 to '68. So... that gave me a couple ideas... First up is the Dodge- I restyled the nose to resemble a '55 model, and added a tuck and roll interior with a bench seat. Why not make the hood a butterfly unit, like on the original '55? I also left on a wispy, 'blade' front bumper, just because its a bit more distinctive than the rolled front pan you'd probably expect to see on such a vehicle. The V10 emblem hints at the show truck's engine being retained, but an early Hemi with EFI disguised as a Hilborn setup would be cooler still. Rob some wheels from an AMT Phantom Vicky and lay it out and you've got a high-end street rod pickup. And being a lifelong IH truck freak, I HAD to try out this one... This is based on a '66, and has the familiar, almost VW-esque W in the hood, as well as the air vent at the front of the hood and underneath the grille. This one has big diameter steelies and wide whites, and a more simplified, workmanlike interior, befitting a Binder. For power, a rebuilt Scout 345 would be a pretty cool and offbeat mill to use. So, now it looks like I'm cooking up two Sidewinder do-overs... Mike's Ford, and my own International.

Sweet! Question- when did Revell do a parts pack turbine? I'm guessing they aren't the easiest thing to find.

Looks like all the second-gen Camaros in my area, except with nicer paint.

Krylon gold might be a close match- I plan on trying some to see how it looks applied on the engine.

Todd- I hate you for beating me to making up tuck and roll interior panels! Dominik- I think yours is the first Hornet kit I've seen painted black. The metal trim looks great.

I think that particular engine is underscale, compared to other 1:25 Ford small blocks I've seen. And I've got quite a few 1:25 small block Fords.

Unless you had an on-board compressor of some kind, maybe driven off a road wheel. Something to keep the tank pressurized as you drove. LIke OPEC's ever gonna let THAT happen.

Possible, but if I recall, those manifolds in that kit were really, really, reeeeeeleeeeeeey narrow.

No, no Kammandant Lee. (But thanks for the idea... ) Instead of a Dixie flag on the roof it will have a big spike. And hey, you'd be a smiling Trabant too, if you escaped the Iron Curtain and made it to a custom car shop! I would imagine.

Yep, this does it. I'm buying the next Surfite kit I see!

The hearse is probably for an AMT Ecto kit- it had the fins molded separately.

I love it when you get a shredded magazine, and they put it in an envelope that says "We Care". I've had pretty good experiences with the USPS. For an organization that's perpetually bleeding red ink, they seem to do okay as far as getting packages from point A to B goes.

I'm all for a split Beetle in 1:24/5 scale, but I'd really like to see a Thing kitted first. Reworking a Hasegawa Kubelwagen just isn't really workable.

Looks to me like a pretty much straight repop of the SWC/Mazmanian kits with different wheels and tires, though that might be a pic of the actual car on the box. What's up with the motorcycle mirror tacked onto the door? If it is a modified reissue of the SWC/Maxmanian kits (which it likely will be, I'd assume), I'll still buy quite a few of them. Love this kit!

A little too shiny. Nevertheless, I do dig it.