Chuck Most

The '59 Retractable reissue is stock-only this time (it did include some custom parts in past issues), and is molded a bit better than older versions. The decals are very nice, too, except it still has the cheesy "Miami Vice" graphics. It's a pretty good kit- IF you take the care to get it together and working!

Every other Flintstone body I've used fit perfectly over its intended donor kit, as I've said, this one's a first!

Yeah- this is the first time I've ever had a real issue, too!

Regarding the Ala Kart- The new kit is Ok. The old one is just better!

Really cool build, Clay. Seems like I tried the 1:32 monster truck chassis under a 1:25 Daisy Duke Jeep CJ-5 and it worked pretty well. Never finished the model, but that had nothing to do with the chassis swap!

That sucks, Jeff! Is it just me, or does this kind of stuff actually seem to pick up around Christmas time? Holiday cheer, my hiney!

That's why I used the Buick nose on this El Camino SS kit! Reverse engineering at its... well, not finest, but reverse engineering nevertheless!

This was patterned after the new- tool '62 body (the one that's out now as the Passionate Poncho). Theoretically the body should drop right on, but the fact its just a little bit smaller than it should be is the problem. The body is by Jimmy Flintstone.

Gang- Here's the situation. I recently picked up a resin body for a '62 Pontiac kit. It looks good, and it didn't need too much cleanup, so I thought it would be smooth sailing. Then I started fitting pieces from the donor kit and noticed that just about everything seemed too big to fit the body. I started measuring, comparing the kit body to the resin one, and the resin one is roughly 2 scale inches shorter (or narrower) in almost every dimension! I've seen more than a few warped and distorted resin parts in my time (I'm a big fan of R&R! ), but this is the first time I've seen one that appears to be shrunken! I'm pretty sure there's no way to fix it aside from trimming the AMT parts to fit it, but I'm worried about a couple of things. Is it possible the body could shrink even more? I'd hate to get this thing done, only to have the body spit out its chassis a few years down the road! And I've got quite a few other resin bodied models- could this happen to any of those? Like I said, this is the first one I've seen that looks like it shrank a bit after it was cast. The body has no other distortions or other problems besides that.

He's right... the old Packard plant is still there! Well, what's left of it.

Hmmmmmm......

Very nice color on Maggie, Rick! Been a while since I've seen you lurking 'round...

Meh, they'll never replace the original.

Man, I've gotta go big-scale one of these days!

The car looks very sweet, but those drivers look just a little bit sickly...

Nah, that kit's not too bad. You ought to see the Arii '72 T-Bird kit!

I'll take 'em!

This is very cool. I've wanted a Horn Toad for, like, FOREVER. But I don't want to pay collector bucks for one. I love that slant-mounted Pontiac 6!

Love it! Who makes that kit? And do they make a Mangusta, as well? I must have one!

Weird- I've got a '67 Fury 4-door, too, and the Jo-Han '68 kit. I'm planning on doing the opposite of what you did and use the model as a kind of '3D Concept Sketch' for how the 1:1 will look when it's finished. Great job- I only hope mine turns out as cool (the model AND the real car).

It looks like a cut-down '56 grille to me, with the Desoto teeth underneath. The cab looks '53-'55. If I were going to build it, I think I'd use the AMT Trophy Series '53 F-100 (NOT the flipnose!) and raid a grille from a Revell '56 F-100.

The new tool Ala Kart was no turkey- turkeys have grace and sophistication! The Ala Kart was just a substandard surrogate for the original kit. If the Moebius Hudson were somehow approaching THAT level of 'non-goodness', I wouldn't be nearly as excited about it as I am! Never having touched the actual kit, I'll say again I'll reserve my final judgement until I've got one in front of me. In the meantime- here's a REAL turkey!

I do agree with you, Casey, but in the case of the Magnum, I think the base model looks way cooler than the R/T and SRT models, just because it doesn't have the blinding polished wheels and chromed headlamp housings. Give me the satin-finish wheels and blacked out headlamps any ol' day of the week, thanks! I could do without the 2.7 liter V6, however, and I think most modelers would, too!

I guess I do have a couple more!

He also consulted with George Barris in the late '50's and early '60's, before he became head of GM design. Yep- some of the General's finest were produced under his watch.