SteveG

Along with Jimmy Flintstone, Ernie Petit was the other name behind the HSO kits. I believe Ernie was Vice President of Testors Corp. at the time. I don't recall the story on how Testors got those Johan tools but the did have them. The molds were probably modified slightly to run in the equipment that was available and I believe they were shipped overseas to save on the repair cost. They were definitely not made from leftover kits from the Seville days. The real question is where are they now ? Lindberg took possession when the bought the plastic kit line up from Testors around seven years ago but I don't think the molds ever moved. Technically Round 2 owns them now when the bought Lindberg from Jody Keener but I doubt they have a single clue where they are. I know who I would ask if I were to start looking for them but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for something to happen. Round 2 already has there hands full with the old AMT and MPC line up. -Steve

Forgot all about that show, had to look up the cruisers they used on IMCDb.com. Mostly black and white full size Ford and Chevy's with a few Torino's and even a Pontiac Lemans. Looks like you have several choices for light bars, have you decided which one your going with ? Check out the can lights mounted on a bar on this 73 Chevy ....

No, not very difficult. The hood is the biggest change. I had some discussion with a well known resin caster here to possibly do some alternate conversion kits like a Hurst Olds or back dating it to a 73 Olds 442. There's others items that can be done with the basic GM "Colonnade" body style. I think the market would have be better for conversion kits but I would love to be proved wrong.

So close .... I love to pass on the exact details on why this didn't go forward but I'm sure I would find myself at the wrong end of a lawsuit. It did get as far as being approved the GM licensing agent and would have included new tool Rally wheels and Sport mirrors as well as different tires. All off the original Cutlass promo tooling still exists except for the tires and are here in the US along with the Rambler Wagon and Turbine Car. There were other items too never announced. I have a full test shot of one and seen parts of others. I will say that there were plans to permanently modify it to a from a Cutlass S to a 442 after the first run. I'm really sorry we couldn't make it happen. -Steve

Here's a perfect example from when I was working with Ernie on developing Lindberg's Dodge Charger Police version. After several attempts over a few months our overseas artisans just could not capture the shape of the steel wheels and center caps correctly. Even though they had plenty detailed photos to work with. We were about to give up on getting them corrected when we decided to send them an actual 1:1 wheel and center cap purchased from a local Dodge dealer. About a month later we got back acceptable test shots of those parts. Considering that those Artisans probably have never seen a 1:1 'Cuda ever and most likely never will it's amazing how much they did get right. Short of shipping crates of 1:1 parts or actual cars half way around the world, digital 3D scanning is the solution. I hope both Revell and Round 2 adopt the technology soon ! -Steve

Nice job Erik and not too far from reality. Even the NYPD tested the Chevy Citation in 1980. Check out the link to some photos of Chevy Chevette and Ford Escort Police Cars on Copcar.com. http://www.copcar.com/mo0300.htm -Steve

Welcome Paul, You'll find that there's quite a few members here from Northeast Ohio. I live just west of you in Medina but I'm in the Hudson - Stow area frequently on business. Steve

Correct .... here's the actual built up from the recent Toledo NNL. Not my best photo, sorry. Hopefully the kit will include decals for the wood inserts. -Steve

Close, at one time Modelhaus did a '81 or '82 Caprice Coupe but that was after the fishbowl rear glass was dropped. Later on it was converted to a the 85 Impala 4dr which is still in his catalog as far as I know. You could work it backwards but the 77-79 full size Chevy's had different outer sheet metal based on the same platform.

The first cut was made just past the rear edge of the passenger floor area. I trimmed off what was needed to correct the wheel base. Basically what Tom Geiger did with the Duster chassis. I also trimmed a little off the very front edge and trimmed a small section off the rear to bring the rear body crossmember forward. The gas tank area was cut out and filled in with sheet plastic. Then I trimmed and sectioned the gas tank and reinstalled after paint. I also took a little off the edges of both sides. I don't have Johan 63 Plymouth body handy to check it but I suspect you won't need to do as much as I did. That's just paint detailing to the molded in harnesses. The Lindberg chassis and front inner sheet metal offers a lot of nice details, that's why I used it. -Steve

I did a similar swap with a Johan 62 Plymouth years ago. If you study the photos below you can see where I made the cuts. You should be able to do something similar to make it work with the 63 Plymouth. Here's how my attempt at Max Wedge 62 Fury came out, it wasn't that hard and I think the results were worth the effort. You can see the rest of the photos here's ........http://public.fotki.com/SteveG26/62_plymouth_fury/

Casey is exactly right, it's a homage to the old version with all new 1/25th scale parts. I've seen both the parts trees and the built ups in person and talked about it with Ed Sexton. The fact that it's difficult to tell says to me that they succeeded with their plans. -Steve

I believe MPB does a chromed Olds dog dish hub cap very close to that style. I've only seen his stuff at shows, not sure if he does mail order or eBay.

I've built two of them and left the center sections chrome for one reason. It's too difficult to prep, mask and paint such a small area body color on a chromed part without possibly damaging the surrounding areas. Maybe some enterprising resin caster will offer a multi-piece replacement. If that happens I'm sure you'll see more of them painted. As far as the 1:1 versions I'll second Casey's answer.

After I watched the Revell of Germany VW beetle fall apart in Ed Sexton's hands as he was placing it on the table, I didn't even ask if I could pick up any of the other display models. So unfortunately I didn't see the underside of 57 Chevy Convertible. I checked my raw photos from the show and found nothing that would help. There were no chassis related photos on the display board. I then check my 55 'vert kit and compared it 57 Black Widow Sedan. The chassis and exhaust parts are identical, even laid out the same with one exception. The 57 kit now has a separate insert for the gas tank and spare tire well, guess where they placed it ? You guessed it .....right where the x-braces go on the 55 'vert kits. Houston, I think we have a problem. I guess they just have to find a new place to insert them. -Steve

I made a Hurst Pro-matic shifter from scratch for my Street Hemi Dart. Starting with sections of the stock console, I cut it down and added some bits of evergreen until I came up with this. The housing and the upper plate are separate pieces. I ended up flattening a stainless steel paper clip then sanding and polishing it to shape to make the shift lever. I topped it off with a parts box shift knob and used the kit decal for the gear selector. Here's how came out.... the interior is otherwise box. stock. If there was Pro-matic shifter available in resin I'm not aware of it. I had some in-progress photos but Fotki is moving servers or some other non-sense so they're missing for now. Steve

The Continental kit rear bumper is on a separate tree as shown with the Convertible windshield frame so it's possible for them to do both if unless they block it off the other chrome tree. -Steve

Since all the builder gets is a bagged test shot with no instructions I would say that's a very good possibility.... -Steve

I'd say the wood areas were painted on the display model but I'm hoping for decals at least for the inserts.

My Mopar fanatics friends that saw it said they were OK with the Cuda's as shown. Not perfect but much better then there previous offerings. I would love to compare it side by side with the Johan '71 and MPC version for giggles. I'm with you Casey on the 53 Chevy panel graphics. It will still make a great donor to fab up a '50 Olds Sedan Delivery phantom.

Revell display # 3 ......... That's all for tonight, you can check out more details in my NNL #34 Fotki album -Steve http://public.fotki.com/SteveG26/toledo-nnl-nationals--34/

Revell display part #2 ....... more to come ......

Revell display highlights part #1 More to come .......

Here's some prototype mock ups of the 71 Ford Pickup..... ....... still a work in progress per Dave

Here's a few photos from the Moebius display. I'll post a few more shortly plus some Revell photos too...