Don Sikora II

Good find! I've never see that kit before.

A few years ago someone on Facebook posted an AMT stockholder's annual report, I believe from 1967 or 1968. From memory, AMT had some kind of export (and import?) operations in the Los Angeles area in those days. So maybe this address is related to the export business, especially since the person selling the original brochure was in France. I believe Al Trendle (spelling?) was listed as the person in charge of this section of the AMT business. He later founded Minicraft.

It wasn't me who mentioned AMT board games, these are completely new to me! Great finds.

Yes, the last two are MPC Chevette.

It's from MPC's 1976-1978 AMC Pacer X kits. If memory serves, AMC was using Chrysler automatics at that time.

I think #11 is actually AMT '65 Chevelle wagon. The AMT/Ertl reissue from the 1980s was molded in yellow.

#1 and #2- I think these are mid 1960s AMT tooling. Possibly '65 Chevelle wagon. '58 Impala might have something similar too. #3-Jo-Han steel wheel, this version for the rear axle. Included in many kits. #4. I believe this is from an AMT second-generation Corvair kit. Possibly the 1965 or '66 annuals. #5 AMT '66 or '67 Mercury Cyclone annual kit. #6 I believe this is from one of the AMT '51 Chevy kits. #7. Yes, I believe this is from an SMP kit. Probably one from 1961. #8. This might be from the Monogram Predicta.

The Tamiya Jeep Wrangler kits have the 4.0 litre six.

#1 Box/cooler thing is not from the Revell Mooneyes dragster. #2 black dash, I don't think it's from a Squarebody truck...passenger side all wrong for that. Might be from a Revell Chevy van. #3 turtle deck is Revell Custom Car Parts 23 T body (parts pack) #6 red hood is MPC '82 Chevy Cavalier #15 Monza rear body cap. MPC molded this section as part of the body, so it 's not that. AMT's was separate, but I don't think it's from the AMT kit. I'm pretty sure your piece is from Nitto's Monza kit. I have a but Nitto Oldsmobile Starfire and from memory it's noticeably larger than the MPC or AMT Monza kits. Nitto did a Buick Skyhawk too. So did Yamada, and that one was reissued by Doyusha. #16 Orange tailgate, is from the stepside version of Monogram's Chevy LUV.

The parts pack came first. And, great build!

Very interesting! That might be the address for Dynamic (slot cars) which AMT owned at the time. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it on a flyer or anything similar before though. Somewhere I read that some AMT kit packaging was done at Dynamic, I think it was for the 1/72-scale airplanes that they issued 1967-1969. The planes were purchased bag shots from FROG and Hasegawa. Edit: Googled the address and it looks like it’s now part of Santa Monica Blvd near Supleveda.

This! Bought a bottle and was very pleasantly surprised. Easily it’s my favorite semi-gloss black. Looks great. Not too shiny, not too flat. Easy to get because Hobby Lobby and Michael’s have it in their racks.

I think the SAAB J35 was the only ex-ADAMS kit issued by Lindberg. Life-Like ran a lot of the ADAMS tooling in the Seventies, but don't know if Lindberg ended up with all of that stuff. Some of it has surfaced in the last few years at Glencoe, where they've reissued a couple of the missile kits, the Roman chariot, and a few of the old 1/48-scale western kits. I wouldn't mind seeing the 1/40-scale military stuff again...

Varney may have been the first American company to make a plastic model kit, sometime shortly after the end of World War 2. I believe the first was the "Fleet Submarine," and there was a PT boat, an airplane or two, and maybe a couple others. The molds were sold to O-Lin, possibly before 1950, and O-Lin evolved into Lindberg. Think I still have a reissue of the ex-Varney submarine from the Craft House days, but from what I remember the parts are no longer exactly the same as the original issue.

See what you’re saying about the gate, but that looks like mold damage to me. Something got hung up and the side slide probably dinged the core.

Try Model Empire in West Allis, WI. I believe they carry in store, and they do mail order.

Mr Hobby sells retarder for lacquer, and it might be slightly easier to find in the US. Haven’t tried it with Tamiya spray, but it’s magic with Mr Hobby lacquer brush paint.

Pretty sure I saw it at Tower Hobbies for preorder, so it’s coming.

Long ago, Roger Harney of Monogram engineering told me the Monogram kit that sold one million units the quickest was the 1/24-scale Red Baron.

Last week bought some Testors and Tamiya paint from Tower Hobbies, and almost all flat black and semi-gloss black varieties from both brands were out of stock. Wouldn’t be surprised if there have been widespread problems restocking in the current environment. Today I was in Michael’s in Racine, Wisconsin, and they did have regular Testors flat black enamel brush and spray paint in the rack, but that store only recently reopened.

He knows what he’s talking about. I use a brush, but otherwise it’s the same deal, one HEAVY coat. Great stuff.

For Testors enamels in the square bottles, in my experience they airbrush the best when thinned with the Testors Model Master airbrush thinner. The small bottle of thinner that comes in the paint sets is more for cleaning brushes, don’t know what the difference is but the airbrush thinner is the ticket if you’re going to spray it.

The 1999 street machine issue was originally supposed to come with a cardboard cut out of a vintage Taco Bell, but was never released that way. Not sure if it had a different catalog number than 85-7679. Don’t think the T-Bolt made it into any of the special two-packs, so think you’ve caught all the various issues of this one.

I believe the ‘55 hardtop was last available in the Hot Rod series 3-pack with the ‘54 sedan and ‘57 hardtop. It’s number 7447 and was originally released in 1985, but I’m pretty sure it was still in the catalog after the Skip’s version was discontinued. The ‘55 in the tree pack included the stock wheels and tires, unlike the Skips or the regular Hot Rod version. Strangely you can sometimes find the three pack for less than any other issues of the three kits usually sell for individually.

Very nice!