[Why would AMT do this?]

28 minutes ago, iamsuperdan said:

I'd say its due to licensing fees. If the licensing to use Firestone logos is significantly less than Goodyear, then it should be of no surprise that the tire brand changes.

Model companies probably aren't rolling in dough, so if they can save a few bucks of licening, then they do.

 

 

I would say that would be a valid point IF AMT didn't also have licensing to use the Goodyear name as they have done with the Polyglas tires in kits and the parts pack sets, not to mention using the Polyglas name on the 1962 Pontiac Catalina "Polyglas" gasser kit. I'm by no means an insider or expert on how the licensing works unlike the many that claim they are and the fewer that actually are, but I would guess paying for the licensing means you have the right to use that name. If it would be a "by use" deal, I would hate to know how much AMT had to pay for licensing on the Catalina kit, because only going off of Google images of the box art since I do not have that kit because the car holds little interest for me, AMT uses the Polyglas name twice on the box art and at least once on the side calling out the Polyglas red lines included in the kit and that's not including all the other times the Polyglas and/or Goodyear names are used not only on the box art but on the tires included as well. That alone leads me to believe that the licensing to use the names would most likely be an all encompassing type instead of a per kit or per use type just as it probably is with the Coke decals that AMT is making sure they get plenty of mileage out of.   

[Why would AMT do this?]

I just stumbled across something while reading through a thread in the "Truck Kit News & Reviews" section and it leaves me with two questions:

1. Why would AMT do this?

2. How many other tires have AMT made "fictional" with pad printing that no one has noticed?

Even though this relates to tires found in the new reissue of the AMT Peterbilt wrecker that comes with pad printed "Firestone" tires, my questions also applies to the plethora of car kits and parts pack tire sets that it seems AMT has been throwing pad printed tires into just about as much as they have been Coke decals. I'm still waiting to see the Coke Construction Bulldozer or a Coke A-10 Warthog or even a Coke Saturn V rocket with Coke Lunar Lander to be reissued!  As for question #1, this is what leads me to have that question in my mind, these are the "NEW" pad printed tires in the wrecker kit:

and these are the tires I dug out of my 1977 issue AMT Kenworth Alaska Hauler kit to compare to the supposedly "new" tires because after many years of building truck kits, the distinctive diamond shapes around the sidewall of the tire stood out to me. 

The reason I wonder why AMT would change these tires and make them a fictional Firestone tire is for the simple fact of the Goodyear Polyglas tires not only found in car kits but the Polyglas Parts Pack tire sets as well, why didn't AMT just pad print these tires with the Goodyear markings? It obviously isn't a licencing issue or AMT wouldn't be pad printing the Polyglas tires for the car kits along with whatever other Goodyear tires they may have included in kits, I just mention the Polyglas because that is mostly what I find in muscle car kits I have and the pad printed tire sets I have on the shelf.  Honestly in my opinion, I think these particular tires would have looked much better with the Goodyear and Custom Hi Miler called out in the pad printing and the tire size information left alone, because a white letter tire is something very rare on a big rig anyway, mostly just found on show trucks and even at that, the white (or colored) letters are painted on by the owner using paint pens. They do add a nice custom touch though, just as a white letter tire does to a car. 

 

Now on to question #2, just how many other tires have AMT done this to that no one has noticed? It might not be as noticeable on a car tire as it is on these truck tires that honestly I think Stevie Wonder could tell these tires are old Goodyears that AMT just put Firestone markings on, but it still raises the question if AMT has done this for car tires too. Car tires don't usually have something distinctive on the sidewall like the diamonds on these tires, but they do usually have a distinctive tread pattern and how many of us really pay attention to the tread pattern on a tire? Even though I've never noticed anyone else ever posting anything about any of the pad printed tires being pad printed for something they are not, has anyone ever noticed this with any of the other printed tires? Also, I'm not talking about kits with tire decals but just actual pad printed tires. The decals if they aren't the right tire or in this case the right manufacturer are more or less an option and can simply be left off, but the pad printed ones can't be changed quite as easily as a decal can.    

 

[1/25 AMT Peterbilt Wrecker]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

Round2 created all-new, pad printed Firestone 10.00-20 Transport 110 tires, which are included with this release, and I'm guessing will be what are included inside the "Big Rig Truck Tire Parts Pack", AMT PP-23?:

 

7 minutes ago, highway said:

Those are not "new" tires because I have some of them in my stash. The pad printing (which raised white letter tires are very rare to see on a semi anyway unless it is a show rig and even then the lettering is usually painted with white paint markers) might be "new" but without digging through my truck kits right now to be 100% certain, those tires look like Goodyear Custom Hi MIlers that are common in many AMT big rig kits so the tires themselves being "new" is a load of fertilizer large enough to fill a fleet of the reissued Autocar Dump trucks! 

As I had thought, get the fleet of Autocars ready for a huge load of fertilizer!  These are the Goodyear Custom Hi Milers from my 1977 issue AMT T-511 Kenworth Alaskan Hauler and even as Stevie Wonder could see, these "new" "Firestone" tires are nothing but the Goodyears with the names removed and Firestone pad printing applied. 

Now my only question for AMT since they have added not only Firestone pad printed tires into car kits but Goodyear pad printed tires in the Goodyear Polyglas tire sets and kits as well, why not just make these pad printed Goodyears as the original tire is instead of making it a fictional Firestone tire? Obviously with the Polyglas tires, AMT has the licencing to use the Goodyear name and in my opinion, having the Goodyear and Custom Hi Miler in pad printed white lettering and leave the 10.00-20 Nylon 12 Ply Rating callouts just as is on these original tires would have looked much better for a show truck style white letter tire. 

[1/25 AMT Peterbilt Wrecker]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

Round2 created all-new, pad printed Firestone 10.00-20 Transport 110 tires, which are included with this release, and I'm guessing will be what are included inside the "Big Rig Truck Tire Parts Pack", AMT PP-23?:

Those are not "new" tires because I have some of them in my stash. The pad printing (which raised white letter tires are very rare to see on a semi anyway unless it is a show rig and even then the lettering is usually painted with white paint markers) might be "new" but without digging through my truck kits right now to be 100% certain, those tires look like Goodyear Custom Hi MIlers that are common in many AMT big rig kits so the tires themselves being "new" is a load of fertilizer large enough to fill a fleet of the reissued Autocar Dump trucks! 

[Round2 July '19]

23 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Since it's supposed to be a fire department car (red paint job), just add some Coke decals and you're set.

 

Along with adding Coke decals to the 70 Impala Fire Chief car, they could also reissue the pumper, ladder chief, aero chief, and the Chevy rescue van with Coke decals and one could have an entire Coca Cola plant internal fire department! 

[Revell 2019]

38 minutes ago, MrObsessive said:

I wish I could 'draw' on the pics,....

If you are using a Windows 10 PC, you can "draw" on the pics by simply saving them to your PC, click on the pic you want to draw on, and in the upper right hand corner you will see "Edit and Create". 

Then click on "Edit and Create" and you will see the "draw" option. 

That will give you this bar where you can select what type of "pen" you wish to use and color by clicking on the "pen" and draw what you want to add to the picture then save the pic with your lines drawn. 

[Revell 2019]

1 hour ago, Hawk312 said:

 

I think the kit looks great, and I still plan to buy a couple of them, but am I the only one who thinks the strobe stripe decal is more rounded on the kit decal compared to the real 1:1 stripe? I drew green straight lines to try to emphasize what I mean:

Actually from this screenshot from Chris's video, not only does it have a curve, but to me it also seems like the stripes above the door handle are not tall enough and also seems to me that it also does not follow the top body line as it should. 

At first I thought it might have been an issue with Chris's decal placement, but after comparing the pic of the decal sheet, the real car, and the one of his finished model it is definitely the decals themselves. It seems to me Revell not only have a curve in the decal but the height of the stripes from the door handle back are not tall enough for the decal to properly follow the body line as it should. 

[Revell 2019]

I can't help but laugh at 2 full pages of complaining about a rear end in a kit that most of the time it will never be seen when the model is sitting on the shelf!  I would also guess most everyone complaining about the Cuda having a Dana rear end would also be the same ones that would misidentify the rear end in the Monogram/Revell Ford F250 and F350 kits as a Dana rear end when it is not! 

[Upgrade Status]

12 hours ago, BigTallDad said:

Thanks for your hard work; after 40+ years in the IT sector, I can sympathize with you.

I'm seeing what appears to be an error message (circled in red)...is this a cause for concern? Obviously I can post images...

 

9 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

We’ve been getting that message for a while now. It's not harmful, and should disappear with the upgrade. 

The mobile presentation has been problematic for a while. The upgrade will also fix that. 

The site should be more responsive to your input. 

 

This has been the first time I've seen that message circled in red, and have already fixed it on my PC and simple to fix. 

1. Go to the very bottom of the page where it says "Theme" with the down arrow next to it. 

2. Left Click on "Theme"

3. Select "Default" and the message disappears. 

I was getting the message when I first came online for the first time since this second upgrade attempt, and the "CleanCut 4.0.0 (Default) was selected. I changed it to "Default" and that message disappeared. 

[Terrible Box Art]

32 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

Yeah, so many of the AMT boxes of that era look like they put very little effort into the box art...very lazy...

At least those are slightly better than these ones like this Nova that I call "box of chocolate" kits because you never know what you're going to get inside! 

I had bought this because I have a thing for grocery getters and the box art clearly shows a STOCK Nova on the box and of course this is also when AMT/RC2 put little or no information on the kit box describing the kit inside. I was quite disappointed when I opened the box and found nothing but a prostock/prostreet version in the box with not even an option to build the stock version on the box art. 

[Aughhhh!! The 389 is being retired?????]

12 hours ago, clayton said:

Just seen a video were the 389 is retiring.  

Could this be a hoax!

Is this the end of the big hoods!

Will there be a return!    Stay tuned.

Tim! 

 

I hope it's not true, but also wouldn't be surprised since Paccar did in the W900 with that new plastic pile of you know what called the W990. 

 

[Testors Automotive Paints]

10 hours ago, martinfan5 said:

I have to agree with this ,  the only Testors/MM lines I use are the Metalizer lines in the jars, now, it would be a giant kick to the balls if they dropped that entire line instead of just the cans, the loss of the sprays doenst bother me, I either air brush or hand brush it on.   I stopped using the Auto Lacquer line years ago, I no longer have need it, ive built all the subjects I would using that paint before I got a A/B. 

I know for many though it will be a loss.

I'm not even that big on the Metalizer line, but that is only because I know while some including a close friend of mine have great success with brush painting the Metalizers in the bottles, I never could brush paint it well. I do like the Metalizers through an airbrush though for larger projects like this 1/32nd scale tanker trailer that the main body is sprayed with Metalizer for the main tank body and a few different shades of Alclad aluminums for some of the other parts for some visual difference. 

[Testors Automotive Paints]

Honestly it wouldn't matter to me if Testors does get rid of their paints because I have slowly been phasing their colors out for years with Tamiya paints for my brush painting needs. As for spray paints, I would miss some of those like the Custom Lacquer line such as the GM, Ford, and Mopar colors, but even those I only use for specific projects. Anything I don't want a specific color I use Duplicolor automotive paints on and if that specific color is available in Duplicolor's line I'll buy the Duplicolor over Testors.  

[2019 Round2 Truck Kit Releases]

3 hours ago, Force said:

The CO-4070A was available 1974-75 but disappeared from the catalog 1976 when the 4070B Transtar II "Eagle" came so the 4070A tooling was most likely modified to do the 4070B Transtar II,  and as you say, the Transtar II was probably the first truck kit with tubeless Alcoa ten hole front wheels, I haven't seen any earlier kits with that, the wheels at the rear are five oblong hole wheels tho'.
The Transtar Eagle 4300 came in 1977 and had the same ten hole front wheels as the Transtar II but the rears are also ten hole and not the same as the Transtar II, the F-4270 was still available after 1977 so it seems like they did a completely new tool for the Transtar Eagle 4300.

The original 1971 issue of the KW W925 and also the original 1971 issue of the KW K123 had Alcoa 10 hole wheels as well in all positions. The original 1969 issue of the Peterbilt California hauler and the 1970 issue of the Peterbilt 352 also were like the KWs and equipped with the 10 hole Alcoas. 

As for the International 4300 and the F-4270, I have both but know for sure where the 4300 has Alcoas and the F-4270 has spoke wheels but without doing a direct kit beside kit comparison not sure if the two share anything else or not. 

[Crafting up decal sheets(for mostly late 70s, 80s & 90s models so far)(Updated: Feb 1st)]

On 4/21/2019 at 12:11 PM, gtx6970 said:

Ray, Any chance these decals can be done with a white side stripe and WITHOUT the R/T lettering cut in ?

 

 

I second the motion for the option of white stripes, and also would like to suggest maybe a set in white and black of these R/T stripes too and for both the 70 and the 2009.

[BJ & the Bear XXL Project Complete]

WOW, and I thought the custom BJ and the Bear truck I was working on using the "Papa Truck" until it got temporarily shelved was long!!  Nice work!

[CB radio mount in Boss Hogg's 1970 Cadillac]

10 hours ago, Andrew D the Jolly Roger said:

Wow! Good eye....so maybe it really is mounted where I was thinking....

Really, really appreciate that!

You're welcome, it only took about 15 minutes of pausing rewinding, and pausing some more not only to spot it but to get a decent enough shot to point it out! 

2 hours ago, Mike999 said:

You should get lots of answers from us geezers about that!  The "metal bit with holes" is probably a simple U-shaped bracket, like the one shown below.  Some of these brackets had holes all the way around, some didn't. Two screws thru the side of the CB player held it into the bracket. The bracket itself was mounted flush/straight against the bottom of the dashboard with a couple of other screws.  The angle of the CB player could be adjusted by fiddling with the 2 mounting screws on its sides.

Some people also mounted the bracket upside down, on the transmission hump.  Which sort of looks like your first picture.

I don't know about the "geezer" part if that applies to me or not , but you are 100 % correct about the mounts being flipped and attached to the transmission hump. 

[CB radio mount in Boss Hogg's 1970 Cadillac]

I found this on YouTube, looks like it could be right at the arrow. 

[2019 Round2 Car Kit Releases]

6 hours ago, Classicgas said:

I was referring more to mainstreamer type vehicles from the 50's and 60's, sedans, etc.  Not suv's and related ilk, nor 20's and 30's cars. I have little interest in more modern subjects. The likelihood of a 4 door Chevy sedan is not good. I realize there are a number of 4 door vehicles out there. Heck, we have a hard time getting a manufacturer to give us a mainstream version of things like Nova's or Chevelle's. It happens but not often. I saw far more 4 door versions of a lot of the cars I grew up with than I did 2 door high performance versions. Not too mention Round 2 does not have a good track record of issuing new kits nor adding parts to existing ones. That 4 door would require a new body, interior and glass, and that is highly unlikely.

In your two comments I quoted, you said 4 DOORS and did not specify anything other than that! All of the kits in my picture fit what you specified in those previously quoted posts and unlike many here that seem to not realize there has been life after the 50s, 60s or 70s, I build anything from the 1886 Daimler Benz I have in my collection all the way to modern. I also have resin conversions I purposely left out that are 4 doors because you did specify plastic kits...wait, I forgot...resin conversions require one to buy more than just one kit...

[Airfix Aston Martin DB6 - classic kit whats in the box]

6 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

I have this kit (MPC) and indeed those parts look very familiar.

While I don't have this particular kit, I do know Airfix and MPC did have a relationship in the late 70s or early 80s. I have a 1981 issue MPC Dodge D50 4x4 and I've found pictures online of it with the same box art except for the MPC being replaced by Airfix. 

[2019 Round2 Truck Kit Releases]

On 5/31/2019 at 9:11 AM, JerseeJerry55 said:

We need a reissue of the ERTL IH 4070B. That would make a lot of us very happy. 

 

On 5/31/2019 at 11:56 AM, Force said:

This one?

Unless he got the A and the B confused. Either way, the A has only been issued once in its original release in 1974 and the B Transtar II only twice in 1976 and 1996. 

[2019 Round2 Car Kit Releases]

11 hours ago, Dave Van said:

I think I'll buy the Supernatural Chevy and use it as a lazy stand in for a Dirty Mary Crazy Larry 70 Chevy............most will not notice....

Ummm...the Impala in "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" was a 66 the last time I checked.  I believe it would be noticed too if the car was actually a 70. 

The Impala from"Dirty Mary Crazy Larry":

And a 1970 Impala 4 door:

[2019 Round2 Car Kit Releases]

On 5/31/2019 at 5:28 PM, Classicgas said:

It would be great but I'm just not going to count on a major kit manufacturer doing a 4 door.

 

22 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

Well , 30-odd years ago MPC did just that with their 1978 Monaco...

 

11 hours ago, Classicgas said:

Yes, but you can pretty much count on one hand the 4 door plastic kits.

Oh really??  As 1972 mentioned, MPC did just that with the Monaco, but there are several major kit manufacturers making 4 door kits in several different forms no matter what genre or era of vehicle you are into. If you can count these on one hand you have a LOT of fingers on that hand, because just out of my personal collection I have 36 different kits that are 4 door vehicles, and it you want to stretch it 38 since I also have a Johan Cadillac ambulance and an Ecto 1 but did not include them since they were more a commercial modification, but they do still have 4 doors! There are also many others that I don't have in my collection such as cars from BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, and probably even more than that, so you better have a LOT of fingers to count all the 4 doors on one hand! 

[best beginner amt truck model]

On 5/22/2019 at 12:57 PM, NOBLNG said:

Are you wanting a highway tractor or a 1/2 ton? The only truck I've built is a Revell '65 Chevy stepside...nice kit. 

This is EXACTLY why this section needs to go back to the way it used to be FOR HEAVY COMMERCIAL ONLY!! 

[Anyone convert a Revell W900 Aerodyne to a day cab?]

On 5/13/2019 at 5:37 PM, Oldmopars said:

I picked up a Revell W900 and was looking to see if anyone has converted one of these to a Day cab. I know that the tow truck version is a day cab, But is it even the same kit base? Anyway, I really like this W900 and it seems I could convert it, but was hoping to see some others that have been done. Both this sites search and Google did not return anything useful.

Since no one answered the second part of your question, no the Revell wrecker is not the same base kit, it is based from the Revell of Germany W900 which share nothing with the ex-Monogram Aerodyne snap kit. 

Another alternative to hacking and cutting the Aerodyne snap kit would be AMT's KW reissued a couple of years ago. It has the back window cutout and even has a piece of "glass" on the clear sprue, so a day cab conversion is as simple as not putting the sleeper on.