Aaronw

That should work well for you.

Yes and Fujimi, Hawk, Maesto etc. But the Charger was a bit different since they got the first run of the kit, it was not simply a re-issue of an existing kit.

I've got one of these from the "re-birth" of Johan a few years back. Simple but a neat kit, I'll pick up at least one more, maybe two. I wish I had grabbed a couple more of the Plymouth police cars when I had the chance. Hopefully if these sell well, it will be next since the tooling was supposedly all accounted for.

Just a guess but maybe these exclusive first releases provided a chunk of the financing for the tooling. So maybe Testors / Model King etc were in from the beginning taking some of the risk, and in return they get the first run at the market when demand will be at its highest.

I was wondering about that, it seems like a ready made chopped top (just cut off the stock top and add the chopped roof) would be a nice option. Not as simple as the molded in chopped roof, but it would greatly reduce the difficulty of a chopped top without forcing one particular style of chop on everyone. Now if the body has actually been narrowed as Zed suggests then I guess a stock roof height would be rather pointless.

Testor's has also sold Maisto diecast as kits. Outside of finishing products (paint, tools, decal supplies etc) Testors is primarily a distributor. I can't think of any kits that were really made by Testors.

Not 1941 Chevy specific but here is a site I found a couple years ago. There are lots of old shop trucks, maybe something will catch your eye. http://www.pbase.com/czechman/door_art

Worst case I would think you could just use a dedicated hose with the regulator attached.

This kind of fits in, colors used on the engines and special factory colors used by some manufacturers. Somewhere I have a list of available engines too. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2453&hl=%2Bmotor+%2Bcolors&fromsearch=1

Now what would be kind of useful would be a thread on detailing engines. There was an article on Ford flatheads a few years back that went over which kits had flatheads, the quality of detail of each, the version (early or late, 221, 239 etc), special items (speed equipment etc). Now I agree internals like 402 vs 396 is kind of silly since it is just a hunk of plastic, but it is good to know 396, 402, 427 and 454 (for example) share a block in case you are trying to replicate a specific car and don't know there are two 402s one based off the Chevy Big Block and one based off the small block (and called a 400). The little details like Chas pointed out about the different location of dip sticks on a 348 and 409, and popular swaps to a more conveniant location is nice to know for those really committed to accuracy. Seems to me this could be a neat tips, tricks & techniques post.

The chopped top kind of put me off, but then seeing the kit I've been thinking Mad Max 1950s style.

Ok, you were going somewhere other than where I thought. I actually thought you were suggesting there was no point in knowing what the engine in a kit was since they all kind of look the same which surprised me.

Is that really a kit option that is in the works? I'm not into many race cars but I think I'd get one of those.

Well I think it is handy to know what motors shared parts. That way if you get a kit with a certain motor but the car you are building had another it helps track down a donor. This kind of gets to my post the other day about the B/RB block. Dodge used the 413 in many of its medium / heavy duty trucks. I found it helpful to know that the 350 / 361 / 383 and 413 / 426 / 440 are all essentially the same externally, but the 273 / 318 / 360 found in many Dodge kits, despite an overlap in displacement is a completely different motor. It is also helpful so I don't spend time trying to find a replacement when the kit motor works just fine (for example the Chevy W 348 vs 409 which from a model perspective is the same engine)

Also the correct light bar for CHP in the mid 1990s would be the vector with individual pods. As I recall the CHP kit included a basic strobe style light bar even though Lindberg has done the Vector. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with the correct type, and there is one in the Charger police car kit. You could also do it as a slick top (no light bar) which were also very common.

A regulator shouldn't be that expensive, maybe $20-30, which you will go through in no time at all using propellant cans. Badger and Paasche both offer quality entry level air brushes. I bought a Paasche double action in a kit with a bunch of extra bits for about $99. It seems to do what I need it to do on the few occasions I actually use it. This is the kit I bought, Bear Air has it on sale for $60 http://www.bearair.com/Paasche-VL-Complete-Set/productinfo/100097/ I'm an airbrush novice, but I found this a workable airbrush (I just find rattle cans much easier to use, so don't use the air brush much).

I think you are out of luck on a US made compressor for $100, at least with a new compressor. I just did a quick search and the only US made compressors I found were well out of that price range, most being commercial grade equipment (expensive and large). Mi-T-M is a company based in Iowa that does a smaller compressor, but their smallest is a 5 gallon compressor for $400. I've had a 2 gallon Craftsman for about 10 years. It is noisy but has been trouble free.

According to the Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Book, the Chevrolet W was available as a 427. The better known 427 is part of the later Chevy big block that included the 396, 402 and 454.

Thanks Since photos are appearing, any chance someone has a photo showing the embossing block on the RB that Bradley mentioned?

I believe it has to do with the physical size of the block rather than actual displacement. Chrysler's B series engine is considered a big block but it started with a displacement of 350 cubic inches and eventually developed into the 361, 383 and 400. The RB series is closely related (slightly taller block for a longer stroke length) and was available as the 413, 426 and 440. GM's W series that Mike mentioned is also a big block and was available as a 348, 409 and 427.

No it is not that much of a change, but it seems easy enough to do. Mostly just one of those things I know I did even if it is trivial to another. Being able to say I modified it instead of just calling the 361 a 413. I'm also starting to look at modifiying some existing kit engines to make things that never have been made (mostly some of the smaller diesel engines) and this seems like an easy way to get my feet wet. What is wrong with the front of the block that should be changed?

I'm looking at modifying a Chrysler 361 (B series) into a 413 (RB series). I understand that externally the big change is the RB has a 0.745" taller deck height allowing for a longer stroke (accounting for the greater displacement). So I'm under the impression I can do this simply by adding a shim made from 0.03" plastic sheet under the engine heads. Do I also need to build up the area between the heads? Am I barking up the wrong tree completely? Thanks

Neat idea, you might be able to lift the Mercury from the donor car using foil and replace the Ford above the grill. Mercury trucks was originally an import / marketing thing, similar to Dodge / Fargo trucks. After WW2 Ford sold trucks under the Ford and Mercury line. As Chuck said basically just a badge / trim change and the trucks came off the same production lines, only final finishing determined whether they became Fords or Mercurys. The reasons for the expanded Mercury line changed in the 60s and the Mercury truck line went away in the late 60s. All sizes of trucks were offered including medium / heavy trucks like the Ford C series. This site gives a pretty good overview of the Mercury trucks. http://mercurypickup.com/merc_history.htm This one has lots of photos of Mercury trucks http://www.wingedmessenger.net/Trucks.htm

I used to use tables in Word, you can adjust the size of the boxes to fit the decals you have. Small decals like license plates might get 10 -12 columns (1" +/-) while larger decals obviously will get fewer. You can also go into the tables settings and turn off the borders. The box outlines will still show as light grey lines on the screen, but they will not print on the sheet. If you right click on the image you can resize with actual dimensions (0.25" etc) instead of just getting it kind of close. The actual size of the decal will vary slightly based on how large the blank area left around the image is, just a hair over and you are pretty close, but if you leave a large canvas around a small decal then the actual decal size can be way off from the size you enter, so cropping close to the image is important.

To be fair "they" don't close the passes, it would be the 30 feet of snow that does that.