Longbox55

One thing I will say in the HAMBs favor, while some on there can be very rude and belittleing to those asking questions, or fly off the handle when someone who actually knows more about the subject then they do or calls them on BS, they are nowhere near as bad as the guys on Pirate 4x4 and Marlin Crawler. Those guys can be downright ruthless, to the point of actually hunting down personal information about people and posting it for all to see. I won't go into details, but there was a member of another site I was one that also on there, and the tore this individual to pieces simply because of an off comment about not wanting to post a picture of themselves.

Is this the one you're thinking of? http://www.gassermadness.us/index.htm

Got to be carful when going to the HAMB, it can get to be a rough crowd sometimes, especially when dealing some of the self proclaimed "experts" on there. Not saying everyone there is like that, but they do have their fair share of Know-Nothing-Know-It-Alls. BTW, many of the pictures in the early Hot Rod Magazine issues Ace speaks of were taken by Andy Southard Jr., and I agree, they're also a great source. I don't have much in the line of original issues, but I do have the 6 issue reprints they did during their 50th anniversary.

Skylar, I didn't even know that existed! Thanks for putting a link to it, just added it to my Facebook likes section, will be using for sure.

If you can find it, Hot Rods of the '50s by Andy Southard Jr. is a very good reference. All of the pictures in it were taken in the '50s, so there will not be any modern built "traditional" cars in it. Only original cars built during the actual time period. You might be surprised at how many small block Chevy powered cars were really built during the time period, contrary to what most of the "traditional purists would want people to believe. Hot Rod Deluxe is also a good source, lots of old pics from the '50s-'60s era from Hot Rod Magazine, may never before published. I would also suggest Hot Rods and Customs of the '60s and Custom Cars of the '50s, both also by Andy Southard Jr.. There is some overlap of the '50s style rod into the early '60s, and some of the customs featured in both books straddle the line between a rod and a custom.

Just to add to what Ace posted, they are also used in resin casting to make light weight castings and/or to reduce the amount of resin required for a given volume casting. Especially useful if one needs to make buoyant castings.

MPC already did one. Can be easily reissued, and is probably one of the best Chevrolet truck kits ever done. No need for an all new tool.

The AMT '71 Charger has the engine/transmission combo you need.

I can think of several kits with GM automatics in them, some are recent production, others aren't. a short list off the top of my head; AMT '72 Nova, 350/TH350, MPC '78-'82 Chevrolet Stepsides/MPC/AMT '84 GMC 350/TH350. That one does have a regular tailshaft, the 4x4 adapter is part of the transfer case, MPC '78 El Camino/GMC Cabellaro, 350/TH350. I think this one might have also been the base for the later AMT l Camino SS kit. MPC '80 Monte Carlo 350/TH350, Revell Caprice/Impala SS, LT-1 350/TH700R4, AMT C1500 454SS, 454/4L80E, Revell Tri-5 Chevies (new tool) 265/283/Powerglide is included in all versions. Revell '55 Bel Air (old tool) option engine 409/Powrglide, Revell '53/54 Sedan/Sedan Delivery, 409/Powerglide, Revell S10 pickup/GMC Syclone, 4.3 V6/TH700R4.

I've used a little different approach to making them. I have a home made tire sanding tool that chucks up in a drill. chuck the tire up in it as normal, spin it up with a drill (I generally use a drill press, hands free and holds a steady rpm), mark where I want the grooves, then cut them in with a razor saw or file.

They're way ahead of you http://www.round2models.com/models/mpc/amc-pacer-x

I'll throw my list it 1: the '78 Chevrolet Stepside Annual 2wd 2; '78-'81 Chevrolet Stepside Annual 4wd, preferably the '78 3: Any of the long bed Dodge trucks 4: the '33 Chevrolet Panel. 5: if they can find the tooling for it, the Lindberg 1/25 scale '33 Chevrolet Pickup hot rod. I would be open to Round 2 combining 1 and 2 into one kit with both building options.

That is incorrect. The GMT 400 body ran from mid year '87 to early '99 on 1/2 and light 3/4 tons, and 3/4 ton HD and 1 ton to '00.

Yes, those would be the Revell kits.

The somewhat resemble one of the designs from Private Brands LTD., which is a company that makes wheels for the tire store chains. Basically, same style wheels, but with whatever brand name the chai sell theirs under. They made one for the shop I used to work for that was very similar to that for their "Z Racing" and "SSC" brands. Cheap Chinese made wheels, the chrome always started coming off them within a year or so.

Aaron, your idea is sound, but in the case if the upgraded older kits, which were all MoPar products, they had an already tooled up chassis for a different kit ready to go. In this case, it was from the AMT '68 Road Runner. To do the same with the '72 Chevy, it would require them to tool up a completely new chassis that really couldn't be shared with much more than perhaps a variant of that body style truck. The only exception to that would be if they were to reacquire/find the tooling for the original AMT/SMP '63-'66 Chevrolet truck, which could use the same chassis with a few minor tweeks to the rear suspension. But for the costs, you would probably be pretty close to what it would take to go ahead and do a complete kit.

I have one of those kits, too. Pretty decent kit, even though it's a curbside.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of it. I did try to talk the owner into selling the lights, though. I do have to correct myself, though. They were from a '56 Chrysler product, but not a Desoto. They were from a '56 Imperial. They were mounted just inside the wing on the trunk lid, kind of like a form of high mount brake light.

I agree. Free up Round 2s resources to find and clean up/repair some of their better truck kits, like the '72-'79 Dodge longbed and the '78-'80 Chevrolet Stepsides, which would bake great companion kits to the F350 kit.

Just for the record, I wish Nascar would do the same with the current cars. Only one out there even remotely close is are the Chevrolet SS teams, even they're not available in a 2 door body.

They were never really intended to be a street car, the whole idea was aerodynamics, cheat the wind, and the big race tracks. But Nascar required at least 500 to be built and available for sale to the general public to make the body legal. Low production and the racing connection are the big draw. Besides, it's not really much different that what the tuner crowd does with modern cars, except this one actually has a performance background as the original goal, rather than just aesthetics.

I have a couple of those stashed away, one complete, and another I got from a friend who only wanted the tires and wheels from it. I also have the 1/10 scale RC that it's based on.

There's one of those around here that's a similar deal. The owner bought it in early '70 as a clearance car, the dealer couldn't get anyone to buy it. He used it as a daily driver until the late '90s, when he passed away. Put somewhere around 400k miles on it. The local MoPar collector has it now, and restored to pretty much original condition. The only change he made from how it was new was to replace the 14" Torque Thrusts that were on the car (dealer installed) for the more appropriate Magnum 500s. It also needed a few body repairs from alterations over the years, including removing a set of '56 Desoto tail lights from the truck lid, the trailer hitch, and filling in the heart pattern that had been drilled into the nosecone. I got the chance to drive it a few times when the original owner had it, haven't taken the current owner up on his offer of taking it out for spin yet.

Agreed.

Technically speaking, the Avalanche does not have the correct grille and headlights, either. While the basic styling is similar, the parts on the 1:1 are not the same, and do not readily interchange without swapping the entire front clip.