iBorg

I'm glad this topic came up. I taught graphic arts and printing management for 34 years. My students were successful in both the newspaper and the magazine industry. Here's a few thoughts. Magazines typically work on one of three income models, advertising, newsstand sales or subscription. Hot Rod and most of the former Peteresen Publishing magazines worked on the advertising income model with the exception of Hot Rod Deluxe which worked on newsstand sales for most of its run. You can always tell if the magazine is working on advertising if they almost give away subscriptions. For example, I once got three years of Hot Rod for $4.97. That price covered raw materials and postage, nothing else. That type of sale is designed to have a guaranteed readership. I suspect, when TEN folded most of the former Petersen magazines it was to channel the advertisers to the surviving titles. That might have worked but during COVID most newsstand sales were halted for a couple of months. This meant the magazines had to refund some of the advertising revenue due to not having the required readership. As for newsstand sales, the amount of linear space is better used by most stores for higher profit items. For example, how many record albums can fit in the same space? I use this example as one of the only two bookstores in my town has a significant vinyl display. If an album cost $24 and a magazine $10, there's more profit in the album. I find this topic of the decline of magazines sad. It is a loss of a culture, a reflection of the graying of the hobby along with the inaccessibility of the hobby. What made the car building hobby successful in the 1950's-1980's was the ease of modification along with the availability of alternative parts. I would be challenged to find more than a handful of junk yards in my state. Beyond that, ever tried to change the type of engine in a FWD? It might be possible but its beyond my skill set. Swapping a RWD to a different engine? Get the motor mounts right and you've got a lot of the project done. I'd love to convert a "classic car" to electric. Unfortunately, the barriers the manufacturers have created with electronics prohibits that for many people. I am saddened by the loss of magazines. I'm currently reading magazines from five years ago. Knowing the title no longer exists I see them as a historic artifact of a time that has passed me by. I do hope magazines have a resurgence. With the advent of digital printing, magazines can be printed easier and less expensively. By the way, I'm pretty certain that MCM is printed digitally.

Yes!!! just yes.

I'd be interested in your tutorial on the shocks. If it's an early 60's car, gasser is the safest class for it to fit into. Here's a HAMB page on shoebox Ford drag racers: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/drag-race-and-gasser-ford-shoebox-49-54-photos.1250342/

First off, I really love the chassis work. This is a great beginning. Are your front shocks plastic built on top of brass? I trust you're wanting to have the car be as accurate as you can based upon the work you've already done. A bit about the rules. In the era in which car would have run, the 1960s, the two main sanctioning bodies were the NHRA and AHRA. Drag News, a weekly drag racing newspaper also promoted classes with a general set of rules for a challenge series. Number three on the Drag News List could challenge Numer One, etc. Due to the relationship with Hot Rod magazine and the NHRA, you need to research beyond HRM to learn about the AHRA classes and Drag News races. There were also local rules that are less known. Unless you scoot the motor back a bunch, this car would fall into the gasser class. That doesn't mean it couldn't run as an altered. Many gasser racers would look at their competition and move their car into the altered class. This was done with some cars by pulling the front end off a flip nose car or pulling out the passenger seat or removing the headlights. A S/X was mainly filled with fairly current cars often used A F/Xers. The car could easily be a gasser or altered. During the early and mid 60's, superchareged cars would be double lettered such as AA or BB/GS. With the weight of the 1949 Ford, this car would more than likely be a BB/GS if it has full gasser equipment or an altered. To be truly accurate, you need to choose a year, and check out the rules. For example in the early years, gassers had to have a full exhaust including muffler. It just wasn't hooked up.

I guess my original 1960 Apache has just lost most of its value.

I don't think the box art is that bad but agree that elements of it are questionable. They REALLY need to have pictures of the built up kit on the side panels. All it takes is a customer buying one or two kits that in no way resemble the pictured car to loose that customer. If I bought the Jungle Jim Camaro and expected it to build like the picture, I'd say never again to Atlantis.

There's always using a piece of plastic sprue.

I think the is the price point that should have been retail so those and the Wacky Racers should have been $8.99 to move at a bargain store.

I think you're close but I think the ar was first painted silver. Then a light coat covered the entire body. The top has one or two additional coats. with possibly a light second coat on the lower portion of the car especially the lower rear quarter panels. Then a darker green, maybe also a candy or transparent green was sprayed on the character lines. I think the darker colors as its very even and looks like it was painted in one shot.

A few thoughts. Paint looks killer. I've seen the kit but never expected the decals to look as good. The filling the hole really helps this kit. You've done a really nice job so far. Do what Revell should of done and dump the engine. That motor is an artistic license motor. I challenge anyone to tell me what kind it's supposed to be. The valve covers look like a Chevy 409 but the same basic block was used by Revell for a Ford SOHC. The chassis has always given me fits in this series, the Willys PU, Austin and Henry J all use a lot of the same part for the chassis and engine. NHRA rules dictated a production chassis or a rectangular reproduction. The front suspension is very well molded and the rear suspension is pretty good but it hangs on an illegal chassis. Yours looks nice but is not technically legal.

Round 2 has reissued the old MPC Beverly Hillbillies truck under the Granny's Hot Rod name. I've seen them listed on a couple of mail order sites and eBay. Has anyone seen the kit at a Wal-Mart, Hobbytown or HL? Thanks!

This has the look of the local racer of the 60's and early 70's. Great ob. I'm curious as to what printer you used to print the decals.

Nice collection! Nicely built and great history lesson of the Woods.

Two part question. Have you tried Indycals. Two, are you the Paul Fisher of casting fame?

The Hot Wheels Charger is the PL Charger funny car.

Please don't think I was criticizing your build or suggesting you're idolizing Stepp's non racing activities. Stepp and Freddy DeName both had a bit of fun with their reputations. I think I saw this car run. His Challenger is one of my favorite drag cars that I'd love to find decals for. If we were to start a list of drag racing characters, there were several that spent time with the government for drug running. You're building a great model to celebrate a great race car.

Billy Stepp was from Dayton, Ohio. He had an interesting reputation. According to an article in the Dayton Daily News upon his passing, "William Elias "Bill" Stepp was the most famous mobster, gangster and notorious hoodlum the Miami Valley has known." See https://www.newspapers.com/article/dayton-daily-news/26339861/

Interesting to note there are three cars with George Barris licensing. I wonder if that relationship is ending.

Mark nailed it. If AMT had done 1/24 or had entered the market first at 1/25th, there kits would had been the standard and Monograms would have been viewed s the second tier kits.

When trying to distinguish NASCAR tooling that Round 2 has, there's several generations between AMT and MPC. MPC's earliest efforts was a Dodge Daytona which is ripe for reissue. After that kits success, came the adjustable wheelbase cars that included a Roadrunner, Charger, Torino, GTO and Chevelle all using the same chassis and engine with different bodies. That mold was reissued with the Torino body in the past five years. The chassis mold has been used a bunch of times to create mediocre kits. With Salvinos offering a Charger and Roadrunner, I doubt we'll see those repopped in the near future. With the exception of the GTO and the Torino, I don't expect to see any of this series reissued as Salvanios/Monogram offers superior kits for that body style. The Johan Torino is better than the MPC but a bit more difficult to find. AMT did a series of GM based cars such as the after mentioned Lennie Pond kit. I always found them lacking. AMT did their series of 1990's Nascar kits which are what I believe you're talking about. Sadly these excellent kits were looked down upon for being 1/25 and not 1/24. While I'm not a fan of scale snobbery, they are much smaller than Monogram's dominant 1/24 cars. These never were as popular as Monogram kits, maybe due to scale or the plastic they were molded in. Irregardless, if the same subject mater was available by both manufacturers, people would buy the Monogram kits. With the availability of AMT's Nascar kits for low prices at shows, I've seen as low a $3 in the past three years, I can't imagine them being reissued. Sad, as the kits deserve better.

Looks killer. This build yells its time to reissue this one.

I think you're right. How many of us care about things that were popular 20 years before we were teenagers? For example, have you watched the prices of tinplate Lionel. Prices have dropped as those who were serious collectors have left the collecting hobby.

A sad update. Chuck apparently passed away in November 2023. A good guy and one of the folks that helped modelers in an era when the manufacturers were not repopping kits.

Who's waiting to hear from Steve Scott? I wonder if he'll claim to start legal action if its exhibited as the Uncertain T for violating his rights?

Congrats on the courage to build a rare kit. Looks nice. A few questions....is this the same chassis as the AMT Vega? Is the body a stock body? Also, where did you source the decals?