Ace-Garageguy

I wonder if some careful light rework might adapt that one to a SOHC...

True...and it's good you pointed that out...but the first-gen Chrysler hemis used a separate valley cover, and the L and R throttle bodies would likely be stand-alone castings, adaptable to the Ford SOHC in model form if a valley cover is fabbed from sheet stock. Not perfectly prototype-correct, but in 1/25, nobody but a real-engine guy will care. And while the 426 hemi uses the intake manifold as the valley cover, Hilborn injection manifolds usually have longitudinal ribs. Not too hard to cut between them and correct the offset for a Ford. Either way, it's a whole lot easier than fabbing something from scratch...which is what I meant by "will get you very close".

I don't know right off hand, but anything with even port spacing like a Ford FE or a Chrysler hemi will get you very close.

Pretty much anything Starrett is top-of-the-line, but there are tons of perfectly adequate pin vises out there. The problem with the really cheap ones, often Chinese, is soft metal in the threads and chuck jaws, or sloppy machining, leading to early failure or an inability to grasp drill bits hard enough to resist twisting as you drill. Stay with a known brand like X-Acto, you're fine.

I agree entirely, but there's a large element whose knee-jerk reaction to this statement is "if you don't have anything to hide, why should you care?"...invariably delivered with a snide, superior overtone. They have no concept of privacy solely for the sake of privacy, and have no problem divulging the most intimate parts of their lives on social media platforms. And of course, they're the darlings of entities like Meta and Google who rake in billions by enabling "targeted" marketing based on ALL your behaviors.

IIRC, the MPC Coyote is based on their earlier Ford GT MkIV kit, and is as accurate as a typical Palmer kit. The real TV car is based on a Manta Montage kit car, which is in turn based on molds pulled from a real McLaren M6GT. Having progressed fairly deeply into scratchbashing an M6GT, I became quite familiar with the MPC Coyote kit. McLaren M6GT, below

Highway Patrol was what got me stoked on the mid '50s heavy iron 2-doors I've been hunting down for a while, Perry Mason is to blame for an in-progress '57 Ford retractable, and Naked City sent me on a quest for early '60s Pontiacs.

Too hard to find anyone who can count change back these days.

Because common core? I think the pictogram could also be read: if the toilet's broke, there's no paper anyway, and you notice a tank of high-pressure gas with a fuse on it, pour yourself a shot-glass of something. EDIT...and glad you're back with a worthy item for contemplation.

And in case anyone's wondering, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

I like it overall, but I sure wish designers would get past the mechanical catfish-face, and accent lines going every which way. If you cleaned up the overwrought hysterical styling of the front of that thing, it could be elegantly beautiful. But like so many of today's cars, it looks like every member of the team got to put a squiggle on it, whether it integrated well with everything else or not.

Impression is that of a real car. It doesn't get any better.

Chrome bezels are present on both of these.

Pretty kewl...

Before calling this old AMT dinosaur kit "real junk", folks who haven't already might like to take a look at what kind of effort it takes to get the exquisite (IMHO) Accurate Miniatures Corvette Grand Sport (also reboxed by Revell) to the point where it looks right. It's a complex kit, heavy on detail, and "challenging" to say the least...but boy does it make one beautiful model if you take the time.

A 1961 Olds 88 would have a first-gen (1949-1964) OHV Oldsmobile V8 in the 303-324-371-394 family, specifically the 394. All those engines share architecture and are very similar visually, except for things like valve covers and accessory drives and induction. The Revell 1950 Olds 303 is an excellent starting point, and it's easy to change valve covers, intake, and pulleys/drives. The much earlier Revell Anglia / Thames panel also have excellent 394 engines with injection, the Revell SWC Willys has the same engine with a GMC blower, and the Revell Orange Crate has the engine again, but with a Potvin front-drive blower setup. The old AMT '40 Ford has a nice Olds 3X2 intake manifold that's readily adaptable to any of them, and a better front cover than in the Revell kit...and though the '50 Revell pulleys and fan look better, the lower pulley is wrong for a '61, and you'll have to research and probably fabricate brackets for the generator, power steering, and AC if so equipped. A single 2 or 4bbl would be right for a stock '61, but the '50 Olds manifold can be modded to look good to anyone but a real hair-splitter; just use a later carb. For a '61 stocker, the above mentioned '63 Olds from Johan would be the preferred valve cover donor, but if you're building a custom, any finned valve covers with a similar bolt pattern will work. The Revell Anglia / Thames, SWC Willys, and Orange Crate parts are correct. If you prefer something simpler, the '63 Johan unit will get you pretty much there, but it is, as mentioned previously, kinda blobular and simplified. EDIT: The Johan '63 Olds kit would also have the closest representation of the correct stock automatic trans for a '61. The OEM slushbox would most likely be the Roto-Hydramatic 375, widely referred to as a "Slim Jim". The Johan has a not-good version, but it's the only representation of that particular gearbox I'm aware of. Manual transmissions were still available in the big Oldsmobile, but they're very rare, and were essentially a side-shift version of the ancient LaSalle 3-speed box dating back to the 1930s. That trans is behind the '50 Olds 303 engine in the first version.

Those of us with well developed modeling skills, and who understand that achievement in life sometimes takes a little effort, can make something great from this kit. Others can't, or choose something easy. Fine. But that doesn't make the kit "junk". EDIT: And in this time, there are plenty of online reviews folks can research so they won't go home with a kit they're incapable of building. But of course, that takes effort too.

Great project, great progress.

If it's UV-cured goo, there's no bringing it back. One potential use would be to offer it to model railroaders. It looks rather like old-time laced iron construction members, stair railings, etc. It could make good demolition-site material, or convincing scrap or fabricated steel freight-car loads. Other possible diorama uses too.

The grain of most leathers is way too large...and it's usually too thick...for good scale appearance in the smaller scales, but I've seen it used very effectively in 1/12 and 1/8. Women's glove leather (and driving gloves) is often very fine-grained, thin, and you can occasionally find old ones cheap at thrift stores. Both Etsy and eBay have .6 to .8 mm-thick hides available in very fine grains too. You can also find sellers offering bags of scraps and cuts that are too small to do anything but modeling with, pretty cheap.

Love the colors on the convert too...

Man...those look like fun.

Whoowhee!!! I have a gloobomb one of those I'd been trying to think of something interesting to do with. Problem solved. Thanks...and nice work.

Keep your fingers crossed, but don't hold your breath. MCM came back after lotsa folks had written 'em off entirely. Let's all hope RJ can too.