Ace-Garageguy

365 Daytona kits can still be had in the $20 to $60 range. But be aware that the REAL Miami vice version was a Chevy-powered replica. I don't know if the Revell model has Ferrari guts or not.

Some exceedingly relevant input at this point would be the actual sales numbers on existing kits of various genres, like old-fossil subjects and current Euro and Asian fast cars, compared. Just a reminder to the older-car naysayers. Moebius must be doing well enough with their Hudsons and big '50s Chryslers to be able to justify more continuing '50s and '60s model development and tooling. Somebody is buying enough to keep it all going. Another reminder...30 years ago you couldn't give a real flathead engine away to use as a boat anchor. There is now a flourishing 1:1 aftermarket making reproduction hot-rod parts that haven't been seen in 50 years for these engines...and the stuff sells for big money.

Building a racing flathead that will stay together is NOT a cheap way to go to the drags. The narrowed body shell was done a lot on the lakes, and when drag-raced was typically accompanied by a narrowed rear axle as well, which I think would make the car look better, but I can live with it as is...having seen a lot of identical setups. Still, Mickey Thompson and other pioneers discovered early in the game that a narrower rear track helped directional stability out of the hole But what REALLY puts me off my stroke is the roll cage. Yeah, I know, safety safety safety blah blah blah...but it ruins the otherwise cool period look of the car.

I'm listening, but I'm wondering if these aren't slightly contradictory. Do kids 8-14 have the $$ to buy kits? Buying one video game and playing it a lot seems to take less cash than buying models, but my thinking may be flawed. Then there's the excellent point made by Jeff. "2). I have to agree that I don't think the video game crowd isn't gong to convert. My son is 18, and loves cars. Loves Ferrari and Lamborghini and Bugatti. I've offered to buy him nice Tamiya kits and he's just not interested. His best friend is on his 5th WRX... He buys and sells and buys and sells. Big car nut. ZERO interest in building a model. Loves the one I built for him, had no interest in doing it himself. I think the time where we get these kids is when they turn 30, just had their first baby and they remember their dad or Uncle who used to build models. They don't have the freedom they once had and are looking for a hobby. " 20s and 30s men are STILL chasing women, if my own memory is anything to go by. I was entirely out of model-building (other than presentation prototypes for business) from my mid-teens until my late 50s.

Being an old-fossil hot-rodder myself, I'd really like to see a lineup of '30s Mopars. Don't forget the pickups, which shared body parts as well. Non-Ford cars are becoming increasingly popular in the real-car old-hot-rod movement. I'm in the beginning stages of final assembly of an all steel, 354 Hemi-powered '33 Plymouth right now.

I'm really enjoying watching what you're doing here, especially the Ardun conversion. Your mods are very much in keeping with real-world work to get things to fit in hot-rods, and it's good to see someone taking the time to figure it out, and the effort to make it look like it all belongs together.

Clean, tasteful, just right. Very nice.

OK. Now we're getting into what "make a business case" actually means. Good stuff so far, thinking about how to play the potential market and why. Keep it going.

But that's not the point. The point of this thread is really "if YOU were a model-company executive, in charge of planning a new lineup of kits, what would you think WOULD ACTUALLY SELL in enough numbers to make a large investment in development and tooling worthwhile, and WHY ?"

That's seriously cool. Great idea and execution.

Are you looking for a raw, just-out-of-the-mold cast iron appearance? Raw cast iron is various shades of gray, depending on its actual composition. Many auto parts stores have rattle cans of a raw cast iron simulated finish that looks very good. Misting or dry-spraying can produce a perfect sand-cast surface effect. If you HAVE to have brush paint, a dark silver, or one of Testors metalizers will do it, available online if your local shop doesn't stock them. Though some of the Testors non-rattlecan metalizers are labeled "non-buffing" and "for airbrush only", you can probably get decent results by stippling the airbrush stuff with a good quality, soft paint brush. Experiment to get the look you need. Burnt and raw sienna artists acrylics can be used to weather a raw-cast finish to look slightly or heavily rusted.

Business case questions, as if this were an actual product development meeting. No criticism intended...only realistic answers and thought sought. 1) Why bother with a chopped and lowered '30s hot-rod kit when a competent modeler can already build an infinite number of variations on the hot-rod theme from the very good stuff that's already out there? Chopping and lowering upright cars is far far easier than say, a '49 Merc or a '48 Ford. Let's look at how those pre-chopped kits are selling. Convince us. And how about some input on the sales of the pre-customized Stacey David "Rat Roaster" version of the '32 Ford? I know the car overall didn't appeal to a lot of modelers, like me, and I also know it DID appeal to a lot of modelers, like me, as a parts-raider source. 2) Do you really think the video-game crowd is going to make the conversion to building models, which requires an entirely different manual-dexterity skill set, patience, and an attention span that can be captured by something that isn't going crash and boom constantly? Again, make a convincing argument. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EDIT: THE POINT OF THIS THREAD IS "if YOU were a model-company executive, in charge of planning a new lineup of kits, what would you think WOULD ACTUALLY SELL in enough numbers to make a large investment in development and tooling worthwhile, and WHY ?" Try to keep that in mind as you form your answers.

My thoughts exactly.

Mmmmm...pizza. I think I have a coupon around here somewhere. If i get one, I'll surely eat the whole thing and be irked tomorrow when I see I've gained a couple of pounds, but hey...that's tomorrow's irk.

By far the easiest way to lower a strut-type suspension, which I assume your model replicates, is by simply cutting the stub-axles off of the struts and relocating them upwards by the exact amount you want to lower the model. This duplicates pretty well one technique used in real cars, and avoids a lot of other cutting and hacking. Measure CAREFULLY, and mock-up the stock AND final ride height to get an exact idea of how much you need to lower it. When you relocate your stub-axles, you may find the re-attachment is stronger if you drill holes in the struts and use styrene rod for new stubs, rather than trying to just butt-glue the original stub-axles back on. To get the "stanced" look, you may have to relocate the attachment points at the top of the struts inboard, closer to the centerline of the car. This allows the tire- wheel combination to lean inwards creating the negative-camber effect. Again, it's just like doing it on a real car. Measure carefully and think through what you're doing. I have some photos of the lowering process somewhere that I'll try to find.

Best answer.

Well, I assume you're building a model of your buddy's car, and the model is too long to fit the display box. So, out of appreciation for you building a model of his car, if he's any kind of friend at all, he should be happy to cut those couple of feet out of his Biscayne, right? I'm just trying to apply the same kind of logic here that gets you fined if you can't afford (shhhh!!!) health insurance. Not politics. Just an illustration of applied logic, or lack thereof.

Now if they just put hydraulics on everything and made the body open up at wonky angles...

Story here. http://bangshift.com/general-news/car-features/car-feature-the-176mph-lsr-1970-cadillac-coupe-de-kill-caddy-powered-and-homebuilt/

Aw, quit your whining (just joking) and shorten the model. Maybe something like this...

I make notes to myself and leave them in the boxes when I shelve one project to get into another one. It really only takes a few seconds to hit the salient points, at least enough to have memory-joggers. Where there are important dimensions or sketches needed to remind me of how I've figured out to do something, that takes a few more minutes, but I've found I can get back into a project quickly with the notes. I also now tend to list which kits parts have been robbed from, in case I change my mind later and want to reunite them with their donors, or in case I should happen to do a write-up on something. I also take a lot of photographs of projects in mockup stages, to be sure I don't lose critical elements of stance and proportion. I've also just about completed setting up a new multiple-bench work space, where I can have as many as 4 major projects going simultaneously without having to shelve one to work on another one. It's a real luxury to be able to glue or paint something that will have to dry thoroughly before a project can move forward, and to be able to just go to the next bench and continue another build. I'm thinking I might actually finish a few models with this new layout.

I really have to disagree with the notion that liberal return policies are to blame for the problem. Strong guarantees were put in place to assure the buyers that the manufacturers were doing a good job making the tools, and that the retailer would stand behind a QUALITY product. The fact that the return policies have been abused is NOT the fault of the policies, any more that it's my fault if someone smashes the window in my truck and steals my radio. Values, like the value of good tools to do good work, and values like the concept of fair-play and not cheating by returning tools fraudulently...these values are taught, or NOT taught, to children by parents. If values aren't taught to children, the adults they grow up to be will not magically develop them on their 18th or 21st birthdays. A society that laughs at morality-based concepts like telling the truth, competence, hard work, and fairness tempered with common sense is doomed, and a widespread wanting-something-for-nothing is a major indicator of decline.

To tell the truth, I've got all the "stuff" I'll ever want. What I don't have is the time to work on all that stuff, and really enjoy it...even the hot, sweaty, dirty work. I REALLY want to build something to run at Bonneville before I die. And I'd like to have more time to travel. That said, I always thought if I came into a lot of unearned money, I'd give half of it to something I believe in...like research into childhood cancer. And I'd like to build some demo projects to showcase just how energy-efficiently we can live without spending huge sums of money to do it, or being slaves to government-mandated energy and pollution programs that just don't work. But being a greedy, self-serving human, I'd keep the rest and spend just a little more recklessly than I do now.

That's one seriously wild iron casting. I'd like the hear the cursing and swearing at the foundry as the workers tried to keep the sand cores from breaking up during handling. I bet THAT'S the real reason only 10 sets were made.

A serious assbite if it's not produced. I've been holding my breath for that one. The Galaxie kits were among the best out there, and I REALLY wanted several of these things to go with the others. Such plans. Period chopped with fade-aways, a gasser, big-wheel ground-scraping street-rod, maybe even a stocker grampa car. Bugger.