larrygre

Steve, I should have known that one. Testors brought out a 1/20 scale snap together Pete 359 in 1983-84 that only stayed on the market for a year or so then vanished never to be seen again. I never had the kit nor saw the parts for it so I cannot comment on the quality or accuracy. Thanks for that!

Steve, that Peterbilt 359 box shown in your Fotki album of the show - any info on that? Is that a new tooling? Thanks!

Fujimi's Daytona is one of my all time favorite kits. Italeri's isn't bad, but Fujimi's seems to have it nailed.

Welly makes a 1/24 diecast of the 2004 Monte Carlo SS. It's nicely proportioned and decently detailed. You can find them on FeeBay pretty easily.

Amen, brother Bill, Amen! Since they did announce the kit officially, I wonder if they were using the diecast's data as well. Hopefully, the new powers that be at AMT will resurrect this - and the bullet nose Studie too.

Great job! Love the color scheme!

I couldn't agree more, Bob. Ed's a great guy and does fabulous work. I just got his new '63 Galaxie post sedan and its a winner.

Besides the MV lenses, Modeler's (a Japanese aftermarket company) made a sprue of various size headlight lenses in clear plastic. It does not seem to be currently in production, but I'd believe somebody out there still has stocks of it. HTH!

Bill, 67 was the first year for the 440. I've seen dead nuts accurate 67 GTX "Super Commando" 440s at car shows. The swap would be accurate.

Ed, Detail Master's foil is not as flexible as BMF, as it's a little too much on the thick side. Gunze's foil is nearly as thin as BMF but the adhesive is too sticky. I don't know of what would be a good competing aftermarket alternative, except for my previously mentioned use of cheap thin household foil and Micro Metal Foil Adhesive.

Parts-swap the rear axles with either the Revell '67 GTX or '67 Coronet R/T, which have the standard Mopar banjo. Both kits are Hemi cars, which would normally have the Dana 60. You could also use the street Hemi air cleaner and exhausts from either kit on the Charger, which is what I've done with mine. Minor adjustments needed to get the exhaust manifolds to mate up with the pipes, but that's about it.

The problem is not confined to BMF. I have several sheets of Gunze Sangyo's chrome foil that is just as bad if not worse.

I stand corrected, Guys. It was Curt's (Richard Dreyfuss) 2CV.

Anyone know of decent photo references on these cars from the movie "American Graffiti"? 1. The white '58 Chevy as driven by Ron Howard 2. The Pharoahs' chopped '51 Mercury 3. Toad's blue Citroen 2CV Many thanks in advance, my friends.

BMF is great stuff, always was, always has been. However, most times, I find it not bright enough, or I need a satin aluminum finish. If I don't use BMF, I use the cheapest household aluminum foil I can get, usually from a discount or "dollar store". The cheap foil is very thin, unlike the name brands such as Reynolds Wrap, and is easier to work with. I apply one or two THIN coats of Micro Metal Foil Adhesive to the back side, let it THOROUGHLY dry, and apply it in the normal manner. The caveat here is that you MUST use a BRAND NEW blade in your hobby knife when you use this method. Dull blades tend to "rip" the foil. Hope that helps, y'all.

If there's enough stock parts there - bench seat, flat hood, dog dish hubcaps, etc. - I'd throw in one of Ken Kitchen's resin straight 6 engines. A baseline Fairlane - how cool is that?

Bill, you're right, there are accuracy issues with both AMT kits, and not just with the body. The engine and chassis are not exactly "there" either, and the "new" interior pieces on the '67 are problematic - poor engraving on the dash, and blocky proportions to the seats. Revell's Firebird would probably be the best place to start for an accurate 67-68 car, but there would be a pretty extensive amount of work needed. Let's hope either Revell or the reborn AMT will answer the call for a state of the art early Camaro.

Hey all, Anyone know if this is made in resin, and by whom? I'm looking to do a Baldwin-Motion car but the hood is the "stinger" type instead of the "L-88" style as in the Revell kit. Thanks,

My friends, Gregg made the right call. There are literally hundreds of Internet chat forums where one can engange in pissing contests of all sorts, politics and religion included. We have precious few dedicated to the love of the model car hobby. 'Nuff said.

Fujimi does a pretty reasonable job on most of their kits. Some of them get a bit too simplified for my tastes when it comes to their interiors. Fortunately, their GT-R is very well done. Next to Tamiya I have a preference for Aoshima. EXCELLENT QUALITY. Superb interior details and really sharp engraving. I'm waiting on their GT-R kit now.

Randy, the kit is seriously overpriced, separate motor or not. The Fujimi and Aoshima kits are equally as good and in some cases, IMO, better in the details, but Tamiya is the only option if you want to do a US or Canadian-spec GT-R as it is the only kit offering left hand drive as an option. I had to get mine mail order from China at a total cost of around $40 with shipping. The LHSs in my area have the kit for $60-70. The photoetch is $14-20 depending on where you shop for them. One word: OUCH!!!!!!!!

Bill, that's absolutely right. Lindberg deserves a lot of credit for taking that kind of bold action. I would have to give similar credit to Revell-Monogram for their swift retooling of the Pro Modeler '69 Charger around the same time span. Don't remind me about the "2+2", old friend. Seems my "Dog's Day" article in SAE just won't die! Hope all is well with you.

The changes were made shortly after the first production run of the kit, 1997 or thereabouts. Again, back in the days of STRICTLY STOCK, Lindberg had sent me a final round test shot (in metallic black no less) of the kit for review. I saw the problems right away and provided them with a detailed report. Response was an "Oh $%#$!" and "The kit's gone into production. We'll have to wait until after the first run to make the corrections." And they DID. They pulled the tool and made the corrections. Only one thing I reported to them was not addressed, and that was the shallow interior depth. The fact that they did make the majority of the corrections is cause for major compliments. Such corrections are not cheap. Tooling costs are EXPENSIVE. But Lindberg at the time wanted to make serious inroads into our enthusiast community. And again, they DID. Kits with the red and white box having a yellow and black NEW sticker on the shrink wrap are how to tell the "fixed" kits from the "unfixed" ones. All kits in the gray boxes are the fixed ones, including the Dyno Don editions. Hope that helps a little.

Rob, it would have been an excellent Tamiya kit. Back in the 1990s when I was still penning STRICTLY STOCK for SAE, Revell Germany put out feelers for new subjects for their "Classics" seris (which included the BMW 507, Jaguar XK-SS, and the ex-Monogram Jaguar XK120). I suggested to them the 2002 as a perfect subject - this was the car that put BMW on the map. They could squeeze at least three variants out of it: 2002, 2002tii, and 2002 Turbo. The kit, IMO, would be a runaway hot seller in Europe and Japan. Note that Revell Germany seems to have lost their appetite for the Classics series. There was sill so many kits they could have done that would have done well in their home market, not to mention the rest of the EU. . .BMW 2002, BMW 3.0CSi, Facel Vega HK500 (which Heller had actually started to research but never followed through), Jaguar SS100, MGA 1600 Twin Cam, Triumph Spitfire, Mercedes-Benz 280SL, and others.

Probably for the same reason they have not yet made a 1/24 BMW 2002. And I have been after them since they started their Classics series to do one.