Don Sikora II

That's cool. I see one of the street cars at least a couple times a week during my work commute. The orange paint really stands out on the expressway!

There is also a stock '69 Cougar. To be clearAMT made two 1/43 Cougars, the custom and a stock '69. Also, the Firebird 400 is a 1968, not a '69.

Yeah, it is shown on a color sell sheet that was included in an order I recently received from Auto World. it's shown with the original box art, but no release date is listed. There are several things listed on Tower that aren't on the AMT and MPC websites.

I bought this kit yesterday. They did a really nice job, and I was pleasantly surprised with the booklet that's included. I already had more AMT Avanti kits than I'll ever need, but I'm happy I bought one of these.

Revell also made a Firebird Formula convertible that's very similar to the Camaro kit shown.

The LeSabre was also done as a kit by ITC that was about Hot Wheels size--approx 1/64. It's very simple but it's been reissued by Glencoe and is still available. It comes packed with a 50s Indy racer.

There used to be a grocery chain called "Eagle' and even into the 1980s the store here had a surprisingly good selection of model cars. Several drug stores had kits (Thrift Drug had a selection better than many hobby shops) and a few hardware stores did too. Ben Franklin had plenty of kits, and Wilson's Variety had a full hobby department...I still have the X-Acto pin vise I bought there at least 30 years ago. It was the first modeling tool I bought besides a knife.

Yeah, I had Legos as a kid in the 1970s. They are all at my sister's house and her friend's kids still play with them. I have some of the recent Architecture sets like the Space Needle, Rockefeller Center, The Brandenburg Gate, and Fallingwater. Also have the big Eiffel Tower that I've built.

Great collection of Oldsmobiles! Very nice craftsmanship.

By JoAnn's do you mean JoAnn Fabrics? Do they have kits? I've never been in there. If they do, how is the selection?

I worked in Revell-Monogram Tool Engineering from 1992-2005. I'm not a molder, but have spent plenty of time around molding machines and kit tooling. There are so many possible causes for flash that it's not just a simple answer. Temperature control is one cause, another big one is because of mold filling problems. Getting any mold to run well is an art, and it can depend on how much time/effort the person dialing in the machine is willing/able to put into it. Sometimes filling problems can be worked out in the machine, but lots of times old molds probably didn't run well when they were new. We'd spend a lot of tool room changing stuff like gates and runners to try to get stuff to fill without having a ton of flash. Flash can cause problems with the mold too because chunks of it can get stuck between the mold halves and get "smashed" causing further mold damage/problems.

If any Americans are interested in this kit, I just bought one from Squadron. My Heller Xsara kit isn't handy, but this one looks like the detail might be slightly sharper. Was pleasantly surprised to see the decals are printed by Renaissance. I also bought the 1/43-scale C4 kit from the Mexico rally. It looks a little nicer than Heller's 1/43rd Xsara kit, and has a few more parts including separate seats. It also has nice rubber tires...think that makes in the first Heller 1/43 rally car that doesn't have plastic tires. Also saw on the Heller website that they announced a Citroen DS3 rally car in 1/24 scale.

Starting in 1975 or '76 the Firebird promos only came in kit form.

It looks like they are the same. I only have original 1/32 scale Mini-Men that are still in the package, but they were packed with one tree (two mini-men) on the card. The Auto World package shown has two trees (four mini-men).

I have the version that's Starlight Black. It's molded in black and prepainted, but mine isn't painted very well. The body is basically the MPC kit unit with a molded closed hood (with shaker scoop, not the turbo hood). The front and rear bumpers, rear spoiler, and wheel flares are separate parts like the kits, but are prepainted. The T-tops are molded in place but could be cut open. The wheels are the snowflakes with gold plating, and the tires are the little Goodyear Polyglas GTs. Decals are red/orange/yellow with the hood bird, little birds for the b-pillars, engine call-outs for the scoop, and three Trans Am names.

Pretty sure that's from a recent AMT 36 Ford kit.

The only difference between the Revell and Monogram kits in your post are the wheels. There was also a Revell snap kit of the '93 (it's red on the box) that shares many of the same parts as the glue kits but has a simplified engine and rear suspension. I agree with the other guys and say go with the Revell or Monogram kits.

What a great project!

I use glass soda or beer bottles with a wad of duct tape on the top. Thinner neck ones work best....I have some Mexican soda bottles (Goya Coconut, I think) that have a nice tapered shape at the top. They're probably at least 5 years old and work great since they have enough weight that they aren't easy to tip over.

No not that one. Wish they did though!

That was an MPC 1/20-scale kit. The pen holder base that was originally included with the STP Turbine is the same one that surfaced in the Prestige series in the 1980s.

The '63 Vette convertible didn't include the pen holder/base. It came with the AMT drag strip accessories parts pack tree instead.

They also reissued these: 1961 Dodge Phoenix two-door hardtop 1962 Studebaker Lark hardtop 1962 Rambler Classic 4-door sedan 1963 Oldsmobile Starfire hardtop 1968 Cadillac de Ville convertible 1968 Chrysler 300 hardtop

Yes, that's an Enthusiast kit. Revell also boxed the Enthusiast Series 1985 911 Targa kit.

I'm 99% sure the full-size car was built to match the Big Deuce kit, not the other way around. The up top was still in the McDonald's issue too. That's the first issue of the roadster to use the steelie wheels and Ford caps that were originally made for the Beach Boys coupe version.