iBorg

Very nice kit. The also did an Olds Aurora. Well cast, the included decals were top notch. Nice to have them back in production.

This brings back so many memories of the one car I loved the most. Lost it in a house fire that started in the garage. I really need to find this kit. Without a doubt those front seats were some of the most comfortable I've ever been in. Darn fast car to with simply a larger exhaust. Some day I need to replace her.

Thanks for the clamp picture. I see a purchase coming up. In looking at this, it seems to also be called a peg clamp, universal work holder or a watch holder's clamp. Some are designed to be hand held and others have a stand. Which have you found to be most helpful?

Another model that all I can say about it is WOW. That magneto is 1/25? Way out of my league or imagination. You mentioned a jewelers adjustable bending jig. Could you show a picture of it? Thanks, Mike

Wow....... Just wow. What kind of load are you going to fire that thing up on?

Johan did some things right and some things so-so. I always felt their chassis was toy like but that was through the eyes of someone not in their intended market. The engines and bodies were exceptional. Their interiors were really hit or miss. Until Revell did their funny car series, the Challenger and Mustang/Pinto were the high water marks of funny cars. Their Pro Stock kits I think surpassed MPC's. Of course the only decent pro stock from AMT was a repackaging of the Johan Maverick.

Mark......looks great. Why couldn't AMT approach your accuracy?

So I looked at merging it with the 1/24 Mongoose dragster. Frankly there's so much off in so many directions in this kit, I'm thinking this is best for the decals and a scratch build I don't have the energy for. I really wanted this to one of those kits that proved AMT kits were world class. That given a head to head match up, AMT could equal Revell and rival Tamiya. They give us so few new kits, when they do, they should know the bar is set pretty high. While some may say that's not fair that this is a reissue, I'd argue that the major component of this kit, the body is new. To screw it up as badly as they have is simply inexcusable. I've wanted to build this car since I was in high school. I idolized this car. I was ecstatic when it was announced. I ordered it in March for an August release. Now I'm disappointed I blew $30 on a kit that I have little use for.

Let me correct myself. Both MPC's and Revell's bodies of this era look dainty, I always felt Monograms were a bit oversized. I always attributed this to their kits being 1/24 vs. 1/25. I've had other AMT kits of this era such as the two Ivo kits. While the overall shape of this kit is nice, the size is huge. I'm not even sure if its 1/24 or even larger. With that increase in size, it is definitely too short of a wheel base as well as all the other kit pieces being undersized. I've thought of correcting it and if the Monogram 1/24 kit doesn't match up well, it will be up on the shelf to collect dust. After so much excitement, I'm terribly disappointed.

I can relate to this. four years ago I was able to locate a collection of Jo-Han kits (1931 Cadillacs, Pinto and Mustang Funny cars plus a Rambler pro street) from several states away. Not the Jo-Hans I really wanted but still shrink wrapped kits. The thing I was most thrilled in was they arrived in two Jo-Han shipping boxes. I was more thrilled in those cardboard boxes with blue ink than the kits inside. Its funny the little things that pull our trigger.

There's a statement in this thread (I'm not disputing) that the actual car has a 220 wheelbase. I finally got mine this week and hope to have some fun with it in the next day or so. The wheelbase issue bothered me. Looking at the actual kit, the front axle is molded as one piece to part of the frame. When these two pieces are joined, I calculate a length for the wheelbase as 8.728 inches. Using a scale calculator ( http://webpages.charter.net/sinkwich/sdventure/html/sd_scalecalc2.htm ), I get a wheelbase of 218.2 inches. Even if I'm off a little, the kit wheelbase is off no more than three or five inches. While twenty inches off would be a deal breaker for me, I'm not going to quibble over two inched in 1/25 scale. I guess I need to surrender my rivet counting license.

Here's the box....

The question is when does it go from model building to artwork? I think this post answers that.

If you find the resin 417, can you post pictures of it?

With Bigfoot's connection with Ford, that would surprise me.

A not so great version without the Donovan lettering is in the AMT Trojan Horse Mustang II. I'm not aware of anyone making a better one in resin.

How close are the GMP tires and wheels to 1/16?

Can you share what printer you used? Mike

Superglue a filler piece and resand it.

The biggest problems of cutting resin is the dust is harmful, you need to wear breathing protection (although most don't) and that body is not smooth inside which means you'll have to prep it by sanding. Also, that coupe in the background looks killer.

Flintstone body?

Looks like an absolute LeMon. All that is lacking is significant body damage. Guess this one hasn't been ran for 24 hours.

If I judge, and have a couple of times, the wrong designation would effect my decision. A gasser has a stock based or rectangular frame. Period. A round tube frame throws the car into an altered class. Likewise a mid 60's funny car would not car the AA/FC tag. That came about in either '70 or 71. No pre '68 car would be a pro stock. That class came about in 1970 and allowed two year old cars to compete. The gasser tags are a bit harder. NHRA changed those through out the 60's. Likewise a modified sports car was moved into gasser or altered depending on the frame in the late 60's. Rivet counting? Maybe, but why spend hours to super detail an engine and have such a simple faux pas.

The Spirit body, stock has way too much pitch to it and the wheel openings are too shallow. It could be reworked but before I did, I think I'd scratch build the shape.

The Spirit body just seems fake compared to either of the other two. Without the rivets, its a much better piece than the previous wedges. I'd love to have the AMT wedge also. The Spirit body is pretty useless to me. On a side note, what's the wheelbase difference in the Ivo vs. Garlits chassis? Hopefully this will sell well and Round 2 will resissue the Ivo streamliner.