SteveG

This is the IMC version that will be in new Moebius - Mode King packaging. It will be molded in the US by the same vendor IMC had partnered with. It should have all the changes that were done by the IMC team which include new wheel backs, new clear red tree and a new " thinner glass" part if I recall correctly. I haven't seen any of the new packaging yet including the decals so I can't comment on them. -Steve

The new tools were dropped after Walmart stopped selling model kits in most of their stores. At least that's what Ernie told me .... There was also a new Mustang in that group but that was pulled as soon as they found out Revell was doing a similar kit, Steve

Well done Sean ! I'm looking forward to seeing the final version of this kit. -Steve

I also got a chance to closely examine the 61 Pontiac test shot at the NNL and I share Tim's opinion of it. I would like to add that I was able to confirm what I suspected and that the rear suspension was miss-aligned during assembly which Dave didn't catch but is aware of now. The front suspension also appeared to me to be slightly off square to my eyes but I wasn't able to pinpoint a cause. I can say from the dozen or so early test shots I've built over last ten years the goal is to make sure all the parts fit, not to build a perfect display model. - Steve

Chuck, I think the term I'm looking for is perspective distortion. I don't see how you can take two separate photos taken with different cameras from different focal points with different angles of view and expect object points to line up exactly as far as side by side comparisons go. I do think the photos have brought out valid concerns but I have some real doubts about some of them. For what it's worth, I'm going have some faith in Dave and the rest of the Moebius team to do the best job they can and cut them some slack ..... at least until I see a test shot up close Steve

Well it looks to me that body dimensions are being based by the the models wheelbase being correct and the wheels being in the same position in the openings. Too me it looks as if the whole chassis or at least the suspension parts are too far back on the model, especially the rear. That could just be an assembly error. If you adjusted the models wheels to match the same location as the 1:1 I think you would find that roof and door lines match up much better. Regardless, as close as those two photos appear, I wouldn't start making tooling changes based on just those photo comparisons. I stand by my position as it's generally not reliable. Oh and thanks for the grammar and spelling check jb......

Although the comparison photos I've seen are all well meaning there's no way to support the dimensional accuracy. Even photos that appear to be close may have been taken from different focal points and with different lenses. I think the way only to accurately do it is to set up both the 1:1 and scale subjects somewhere perfectly level and square to the camera. Next you have to set up a measurable focal point and be able to scale that down. Then you would have to find the proper lens to work at both distances. Assuming all that's possible you would have something you could work with to compare dimensions. It seems to me that breaking out a pair of calipers on the test shot would make much more sense. Now talking about specific details in the photos like the brake drum fin spacing for example is perfectly fine but I'm not going stick my neck out and say this point is too long or that point is too short based on some quickly taken photos. Hopefully Moebius will be at the Toledo NNL this Sat. and maybe I'll get to see it with my own eyes and get a better look. Steve

I have to agree with Brett completely, this kit should do very well for Round 2. This is the exact type of mass-market product that will pay for us to get the adult enthusiast type kits later. It not useless, it's what keeps them in business. Look at it from another angle, do you think Chrysler would be able to sell Vipers and SRT Challengers if they weren't selling loads of Mini-vans and 200's too ?

I say if you found a system that works for you, go with it. Here's one of my finished builds with lots of foil trim. Can you tell if I foiled it last or did I clear over it ? I'll post the answer after some guesses ..... for those that know my technique don't give it away

I don't know about the other two movies but in the original "Gone in Sixty Seconds" all of the police cars damaged in the film were bought at city auctions by the director H.B. Halicki himself. The cars may have been repainted so I can't say if all the colors used were correct. However I imagine just about ever factory color has been used on an unmarked Police Car at one time or another. I can't say I've personally seen a Yellow one but the Green 70 Catalina Traffic unit I mentioned before was replace by a Burnt Orange 74 Ford Galaxie very similar to the one shown in the photo below. As I recall that one was very effective at blending in, I saw in use on great many number of traffic stops.

I had a close encounter with a slick top traffic unit 68 Fury in the early 70's. My friend rolled a stop sign and we got pulled over by it. As best I can recall it was Maroon with a Black interior. It had red high beams and pair of small red lamps on the package shelf. Only markings were "POLICE" in White on the fenders and "City of Cleveland Heights" in small White lettering near the tops of the front doors. I don't remember if it had spot lights but if it did it would have probably been a single one with a clear lamp. That was a very typical suburban traffic around Northeast Ohio at that time, Although I remember the same suburb using a 4-door full size civilian looking 69 or 70 Pontiac, Silver with a Black vinyl roof and same lighting and lettering as the Fury except the all the markings were Black. The next suburb over had a 70 Pontiac Catalina Enforcer, Dark Green with a matching interior. Similar lighting and markings layout as the 68 Fury. I remember that one the best as I bought it for a daily driver after it was traded-in around 1974.

Well done Sean !

I don't have the actual numbers but I'm pretty sure the top selling model car kits of all time include the original G.L. Charger, the Monkeemobile and The Red Baron kits. If you figured $5.00 kit profit which I'm guessing is very optimistic you would have to sell 200,000 of a single kit to make your first million. I'm not aware of any new tool model car kit designed in this Century that sold anywhere near that amount of volume. If you added up all the sales of every release of Revell's '68-'69 Charger kit since the late '90s I doubt it would add up to even a quarter of that. Even it you toss a new conversion to a '70 model I'd bet you still never see those kind of sales. I've never been a fan DOH TV series or the more recent movies but I'm predicting the new G.L. snap kit will do very well for Round 2 and hopefully those profits will be used to bring more full detail kits to us die-hard modelers. If you've seen any of recent the Autotrader commercials showing the G.L. Charger then clearly there is still interest.

I use to feel the same way until I got more involved with hobby. Getting kids into model building is key to keeping the hobby going. Right now there is over 40 million kids in the US between 5-14 years old. Using your math and going with 1% or even half that, get just .5 % of the kids (or one of their parents) to buy one entry level model kit that would be 200,000 kits sold. Today's average adult targeted car kit sales are about 5,000 per release. If they sold 20,000 of the newly tooled DOH kit it would be considered a huge success. Also snap kits like the DOH kit can get into mass market retail stores that the adult targeted models can't. So if really want to get a full detail 70 Charger kit for you and me build, you best hope that Round 2 does very well this kit because this is the type of mass market model kit that will pay for it. And if you really care about the hobby go buy an entry model like the new DOH kit and give it to one of the 1% of the kids that have an attention span greater then a gnat and hope they grow up to enjoy the hobby like you and I do.

I've seen great work come out of the Asian vendors, the cloned parts is a good example. I've also personally felt the frustration of trying to get corrections done and seen how difficult it can be. I've told the story before about the certain Police car steel wheel and center cap. No matter how many photos or measurements we sent to the vendor they just couldn't get it right. After the third sample was rejected, I suggested we just go buy the actual parts from the dealer and ship it to them. That worked and the parts were approved on the next round. Short of shipping complete cars to Asia or digitally scanning them (it's been done but still very expensive) your going to be dependent on the capabilities or your vendors. Back in the original golden age of model cars you had the full process being completed in the US with major support from the Automakers. The model companies just don't have that kind of access anymore. Me, I'm hoping for the best from the new releases but knowing how the process works I'm not holding my breath. Going by the current track record of hit or miss we'll just have to wait and see .... Steve

Why is because Revell ( Also Round 2 and Moebius ) don't actually produce the model kits anymore. All new tooling work is done overseas by sub-contractors. Revell does the R&D, and designs the packaging etc.. The point of the test shots is to see if vendor produced what Revell ordered. There is only one set of molds produced, if Revell doesn't like the test shot they have to rely on that vendor to fix it. Revell can send over a perfectly designed kit but that doesn't mean they'll get a perfect product back. In most cases all the vendor gets to start with is photos and and measurements to work from. The vendor has to do the all the rest of the work. -Steve

Close Scott, Chevy engine Orange started in 1955 with the passenger car V8 265 engines, then Chevy went to Red V8's in 1956 cars, although there appears to be a few documented Chevy Orange 265's in '56 cars that were probably leftover '55 production. All the 1957 passenger car V8 engines (265 and 283) would have been Chevy Orange except for the few Chartreuse 265's as noted before. Steve

Darn Auto-correct got me again John .... it's fixed now. Julie London sure was something in her day but that's a discussion for another board

Early 57 Chevy's with the 265 2bbl and manual trans were painted Chartreuse (yellow green). After November '56 or so all the 57 Chevy V8's were painted Chevy Engine Orange. The Vintage Chevy Club of America (VCCA) has researched this pretty well. Here's the only photo I could find so far. It would have been an odd choice but there could be a 57 Chevy Belair Convertible equipped with this combo or even a 235 straight six. The same way a 283 2x4 bbl. could have ordered in a 150 4dr sedan. The only engine restrictions I recall were on the Corvette that year. -Steve

First off I would like to say the castings you've done on your Future Liner are Beautiful, no doubt you could probably sell a few and that would help defray your cost. The trick is finding the right price. You may want to slightly de-content your projects to bring the cost down. Most builders can source car and light truck tires so there's no reason cast them. I would also suggest vacuum formed glass vs cast again to save on molding costs. I would love to see both a 1/25th scale Rampside Corvair and 87-90 Caprice. If there done as well as what I've seen on the Future Liner you should have takers. -Steve

Well done Tom !!!

I agree with Brett, It's most likely the Lindberg or should I say former Lindberg kit. I have pretty good reason to believe that there were a very small number tools that Round 2 wasn't able acquire as part of the Hawk-Lindberg deal. My guess this is one of them and Revell grabbed it. It's really the only way it makes sense to me. -Steve

The listing has no photos or year details so your guess is as good as mine. What else can you get out of a 74-76 Gran Torino tool besides a stock version ? A Ranchero I suppose but I would rather see a '70-71 or '57 Ranchero. You can argue it's an Iconic TV-movie car but I can think of a bunch of others I would have done first. Go figure ....

Not a big surprise on the 2014 Corvette but here's one they have listed that I would have never guessed. Starsky & Hutch Ford Torino #85-4023 Late Oct release. If you go through their listings there's some other Oct & Nov releases without pictures but I think they were all announced. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXERMC&P=7 -Steve

Those blue stripes are actually decals that I made by cutting down some wider stripes to fit. I gave it my best shot at painting the stripes on but I wasn't happy with the results. I ended up stripping off the paint and starting over. -Steve