Chuck Most

Sort of???? This is one I kitbashed with a Revell Deuce Tudor (and a few other kits) This is one done as a barn-find early rod One I kitbashed with the Phantom Vicky kit And this one with a Jimmy Flintstone extended cab (and the fender unit and frame extended to match) And yeah... quite a few of these will be bought simply as 'Coke Collectibles'. Ed Hulings, owner of Hulings Hobby house (where I bought this kit) ordered four of them in, and the first two went to a Coke collector!

Lee- you owe me a new keyboard. It shorted out from me drooling on it... Well, Christian is slightly responsible, too. That Cosmo kit got me started.

I've changed my mind. My dream kit would be one I could just flippin' build out of box and be happy with the end result! I'm tired of all this constant kitbashing, scratchbuilding, and padding the aftermarket's guys pockets!!!!

If you're going with that paint scheme, I'd go with some rollers more like the ones on that Impulse!

Great job! (Notice I resisted saying 'bang up job'... I think I remember reading that the violence of the crash in F&F was camera trickery- the actual car was not too badly damaged. A source said it looked as if a new subframe would be all that would be needed to drive it. Not a big fan of wrecking old cars in movies (except first-gen Camaros and '57 Chevys... sorry!), but I still get a kick out of seeing that '67 Fury get destroyed on Mythbusters reruns... and this is coming from the proud owner of a 1:1 '67 Fury! As was mentioned, theoretically mine IS worth more now...

I'm not big into 'labels' either, but sometimes I feel it's necessary just to communicate a point with people. Thing is, what I consider a 'rat rod', 'custom', or 'whatever' may be entirely different from how you define it. A lot of guys would consider an Escalade with 26" spinners custom. I wouldn't, but take that same Escalade, lower it, shave the door handles, add a stainless grille and some new paint, and I would consider it a custom. I think with a 'rat rod' it has more to do with the owner than the car itself. When/if I ever get around to finishing my '34 Ford pickup, I know it won't be perfect. It won't have laser-straight body panels, and none of the door gaps will be perfectly even. It won't have perfect paint, it won't have a perfect interior... heck, it might not even be all one color! It won't be a traditonal rod by any means (the T5 tranny and hidden front disc brakes I'm planning kind of rule that out), but it won't be a 'rat rod', even though a lot of people think it would be. And no, I don't take offense to the term. I know what it is... it's my truck! I've got so many more important things on my mind than what some guy at the Admiral station thinks my ride is!

I've built only the AMT version, but I do have the Revell kit in my stash, and I'd have to say the Revell kit has a slight edge over the AMT in terms of detail, and the parts seem to be more crisply molded. The sore points (for me) in the Revell are the big dogleg hinges for the hood and the pins for mounting the headlamp lenses, but the better detail, not to mention the AWD drivetrain, offsets that for me.

Harry Shearer, perhaps? He was Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, and he does the voices of Principal Skinner, Otto, Smithers, and many other Simpsons characters. How's bout a couple of gratuitous Lakeboat shots? Here's the Carl D. Bradley, sank in 1958 (the year after the Fitzgerald was launched)- And the last large freighter lost on the lakes before the Fitzgerald, the 60 year old Daniel J Morrell, which sank in 1966 (this particular image is from 1936)-

Looks better than my first (and many subsequent) go-round with BMF! To repeat what others have said, yeah, it only gets easier from here.

I know some of the AMT Rides Magazine kits had PS2s and a controller, but I've never seen any kit or aftermarket supplier with an XBox 360.

Yeah- neglected to mention the ride height issue, and forgot about the other review (thanks Plowboy!). I'm not really in love with the box art model, but I have been thinking of replicating the box art with a model for the first time. But I'm thinking more along the lines of THIS-

Working on my Larry Greenburg impersonation. Don't be afraid to tell me how much I suck at it! ENGINE: Motive power consists of a 265 ci small block Chevy V8, which can be built as a stock mill with iron exhaust manifold, single carb, and a dainty, separate two-piece “Slip And Slide†slushbox tranny. The kit also can be built as a drag car, so there’s an optional dual-quad manifold with carbs and velocity stacks, three piece (with collector) headers, finned valve covers, and a beefy 4-speed manual trans. Detail on the engine block is a bit sparse, but a little basic detailing pays off on the top side. If you’re bothered by the lack of block detail, the 265 from the ’55 Cameo kit could be adapted. CHASSIS: The frame is molded separately from the floor boards, and the front suspension consists of seven pieces, including a separate tie rod and stabilizer bar. The rear suspension is six pieces- shocks, leaf springs, and upper/lower axle halves. For the drag version, a pair of plated ladder bars are also included. A full dual exhaust system and multipiece engine compartment round things out. WHEELS AND TIRES: Rollers consist of stock Corvette wheel covers with molded in spinners, or a set of wide 5-spoke mags which are quite similar to the ones found in the AMT ’71 Thunderbird kit. Stock tires are AMT’S ageless 5-rib Firestones with printed wide whites (niiiiice!), and the drag version gets Goodyear Polyglas GTs for the front and two-piece Goodyear slicks out back. INTERIOR: Being an open car, it’s good that AMT took the time to make this one look nice. Granted, it’s nowhere near a modern kit in terms of detail, but it’s still a very nice jumping-off point. The interior builds up off the floorboard and is completely stock, except for an optional three-spoke steering wheel for the drag version, odd how there’s no fire extinguisher or racing helmet, as with many similar AMT kits! As stated before, it is a bit on the simple side, but is well engraved and should detail out well. BODY: The main body is one piece- the front and rear splash aprons install separately. The hood is hinged, and an uptop is included. The taillamp bezels, headlamps, grille, mirror, bumperettes, and windshield frame are separate, plated parts. For the drag version, a ‘tripod’ rollbar is included. The windshield, backlight, and side windows are all separate pieces. The body is nicely molded and the proportions look good, but those clear ‘screens’ over the headlamps have always ruined the look of the front end of this kit for me. I wonder if using PE mesh would help. Or would that just make the ‘chrome’ molded headlamps look worse…???? DECALS: You get Shelby-style “Skunk Stripes†for the car in black and white, two blue on white Chevrolet Bow Tie vanity plates. Two pairs of yellow-on blue California plates reading “CHEVY†and ‘USA001â€. Pairs of decals for Manley, STP, Goodyear, Lee, Hurst, Champion, Moon, American, Simpson, Firestone, Rocket, Bell, Schiefer, and AHRA, one decal each for OTE, and Cams, and a pair of white BM/SP markings for the drag version.

STOOPID QUESTION- Is the grille with the vertical bar up the middle in the Little Deuce kit actually in the box, or was that just artistic licence on the part of the illustrator?

Oh, it gets better... the tires have (gasp!) sidewall detail with LEGIBLE ARMSTRONG LETTERING!

One of my all-time faves, back for another go around! Who else is glad to see Lindberg at least partway out of the woods. I’ve loved this kit for a very long time! I have a 1:1 ’34 Ford pickup in an ‘advanced state of disrepair’ which will one day be a late ‘50’s style rod… I wonder if building all those Lindberg ‘34s as hot rods as a kid have anything to do with that? Yep, this is the long-running ex-AMT kit, which if I recall dates back to the early ‘60’s. considering the age of the tooling, this has always been a pretty well molded kit. Sure, there are some mold lines and a bit of flash to contend with, but nothing too major, and I’ve personally seen a LOT worse! This one is dolled up with a new Coke decal sheet (no, not a ‘New Coke’ sheet), and though the box art only shows the stake body, the pickup bed is still part of the deal. In fact, so is the wrecker boom. Oh, and the chromed headlamp bezel/reflector castings are still there, even though it appears they were not installed on the box art model! Aside from the Coke decals and the lack of the custom Goodyear ‘gatorback’ tires, this one is pretty much identical to the most recent reissues. I was half-expecting the kit to be molded in yellow, like the mid ‘90’s reissues. No sirree, Bob… white plastic all the way. As I mentioned earlier, all the parts from the previous reissue are here. That means you can theoretically build a ‘hot rod’ Coke truck, if that is what your twisted little heart desires. The custom wheels are 5-hole Centerlines, a bit dated but fairly well done, and the tonneau cover is still the smooth one with snaps, as opposed to the tuck and roll pattern piece in pre-1995 reissues. And that simplified but oh-so-cool Ford T-bird 390 FE big block is still there! About my only gripes… the kit is listed as 1:24, it is in fact 1:25- scale discrepancies on Lindberg kit boxes seem to be kind of an ‘in’ thing these days. And for whatever reason, Lindberg still does not see fit to bag the clear sprue, though in this case, there wasn’t any perceptible damage to the plating. I’d also recommend replacing the ‘plastic wire’ axles with metal ones, as the plastic axles are a bit too bendy and brittle to serve their purpose reliably. The kit does go together very easily out of box, so even a novice could build a presentable example, and it has just as many hot rod possibilities as the real truck. As this was originally an AMT kit, quite a few bits from other AMT Ford kits of the era will drop in without much effort.

I can think of at least three Dodges going on currently (four counting yours)... that's got to be an all time high for Dodge van WIPs in model car message board history!

Must be a "Dodge Van Fever" going around. I'll be keeping a sharp eye on this one for sure!

The description is a little cryptic... is it all new tooling, or is it the old Styline kit with some new parts added? Either way, I'm in!

The one gripe I have is that grille- it's a touch wider at the bottom than at the top, and when compared to a 1:1 Deuce shell (or even the grille from a Revell or AMT '32), it has a kind of Quagmire-from-Family-Guy 'swollen jaw' look. The other gripes I have are all ones Larry pointed out, but they aren't as big a fly in the ointment to me. I do concur that it is a very buildable kit, has LOTS of potential, and won't give you too much fuss during assembly. I've bought a few of these JUST for those front radius arms and spider caps!

I haven't seen the flat one like that, only the earlier 'bottlecap' type, in plastic and resin. Mike's right though- probably wouldn't be a big deal to scratch one up. You might be able to foil-copy the GMC letters off the hubs of an AMT '95 Sonoma kit.

BEYOND cool! I wish Revell had done one of THESE instead of the Black Widow/150!

Hey! Hey! Heeeee-eeeeee..... just had one of those... uh... what to you call it when you get a headache with pictures? Oh, yeah! A thought! How cool would one of these look on a hoodless hot rod in front of an engine pirated from one of those upcoming Hudson Hornet kits...

Liking this already! I've built three rods from this kit (two Mopar powered, one powered by Small Block Ford!). I'd love to see Round 2 bring this back... and tool up a new sedan delivery body for it, too!

Love it!!!!

It's a good one! The profile on John Teresi was great, the coverage of the Model Car Museum was awesome, Jairus' 'illustrated rat rod guide' has given me all sorts of sick, twisted ideas... and the whole thing is 100% Chuck Most free! May be the best article yet...