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Greetings, Not that I'll soon be awarded a lifetime achievement award for the enviable number of project completions I register, nevertheless if I might network with others, absorb insights and share a few ideas, no great harm will come of it. This would be a Jo-Han annual/funny car release of their 1968 American Motors Javelin slowly being resuscitated into a coherent rendition of a Ronnie Kaplan Engineering/Javelin Racing Team SCCA Trans Am racer from that year. About decade ago I gathered up a pair of glue bomb models in the form of a ghastly 1968 and a still-worse 1969 Javelin SST, hence with the march of time, parts gathering and (I certainly would hope!) progression of a certain skill set, some things come into focus. The '68 is enough together to constitute a going thing, whereas the '69 will eventually emerge, albeit not now. On with the show then... - This would be the topic in-period and at play. Seen is Peter Revson early in the '68 season, while I don't really know if the material hanging down up front is strictly intended to be an air dam full truth be told. Also, they really didn't have any effective anti-dive built into the front suspension in '68, hence what is seen isn't the static setting if you will. ...and this would be a few project mock up images which depict the stock release with various modifications and updates. Chassis is basically standard '70 Mark Donohue Trans Am release with '69 Hurst SS/AMX power so to speak, while the stock interior has been cut up to combine the standard '68-specific interior side trim with the bare '70 racer floor. The cage is scratch built, the wheels are resin clones of 1:24th Monogram '69 L88 Corvette racer fare. Tires in the rear are ancient MPC Goodyear Blue Streak Sports Car Specials with the curious 'pebble' tread these had, whereas the front tires are vinyl repops of NASCAR tires from the early '60's purchased at an area hobby show. The turned aluminum rings employed on the wheels were like-sourced, albeit I can't remember who did them. Stuff is missing and/or incomplete at this point (i.e. the Group 19 RKE wing in the back for one), although as tides shift, now and again updates will be made to this post. ...the roll cage was largely finalized last evening, with the top tubes heading forward from the main hoop splaying out a bit as they arrive under each A-pillar. The odd avocado panels are from a deceased '68 promo picked up for less than $20. Happily it carried an organ donor card, and thus it's vitals were transferred to something living. Headlamp fill panels are '70-'71 Penske Javelin, whereas the turn signals have been filed out and plugged. The cast-in 'JAVELIN' identification on what would be a license plate platform up front has been ground out and filed to remove evidence of such, while a hole to afford scale air to a scale oil cooler (Jo-Han Superbird at this point) was likewise cut. Neat, appropriately patterned screen has been cut to protect the intake area from picking up larger debris as seen in the next image: ...looking the business then with the roll cage installation being a tight as I could make it. The side mirror is Jo-Han Superbird stuff again. Happily the special promo-issue grille with the chromed and upraised 'Javelin' script lived, hence it reappears here. The Wink multiple-element rear view mirror is coming. Obviously, all the identifying badges have been removed, although occasionally the fender script i.d. was retained by Ronnie Kaplan Engineering on their racers. ...not too bad in profile, with a 1:18th GMP Trans Am Camaro diecast fuel filler used on the deck lid. I think they rendered it too small for 1:18th, whereas it looks at home here. Noteworthy and tedious will be the rocker panels which were cut off and replaced with '71 rockers that first had the upraised trim present on them carefully sanded down and out. Sanding the same detail out on any rare shell isn't recommended for either children or adults. Again, the upper bars on the cage are splayed looking forward, hence they look a touch odd here. I keep trimming the exhaust dumps again and again for length, and some work still needs to be done here... ...noticed will be the scrubbed off dash pads with overlaid panels fitted as per photo reference gathered. The fill panel beneath the rear screen, the trunk lid, the quarter trim extensions and rear valence panel are all separate items, while the sans bumper profile is an insert that was scratch built and is not yet complete. That my old trunk lid and fill panel were glue-fried and distorted pretty much sealed matters, hence I had to do something. The resultant surgery was delicate as seen below, but largely successful... Happily I was able to save and recycle a 'Javelin' badged tail light insert for they certainly don't grow on trees. Other mild stuff would be the meshing of a '69 AMX wheel with the taped '70 Jim Paschal NASCAR GT steering wheel rim given some photos show the car with the same. Given I'm looking to mix up things, I thought this would be something to do/try. Aluminum rod hub inserts are also seen if one looks close. Thanks for reading and examining this post. GO JAVELIN! Mike K./Swede70

Greetings... I always wondered what a factory promo of the '73-'74 American Motors Javelin AMX would have looked liked had it been afforded to us, pondering what could have been made of parts tooled for the AMT release as well as the knocked down snap together Jo-Han release of old. Witnessed below would be a starting point... The 'Volcano' styled stamped steel wheels would appear within AMT's Gremlin (and likely stock Matador) unassembled kits, while maybe the MPC hard vinyl Goodyear Polyglas GT tires could have been used even as they were likely sized to suit the Vega GT promos first and foremost. Modern eBay kit breakers were turned to, while the availability of things sold separately helped knock down costs... For gathering a nicely built up snap together release and collecting suitable scale footwear, I finally decided to do something about a certain urge. Another set of wheels is in the mail, hence I'll hopefully have four well-plated and reasonably crisp examples to choose from. This would Fairway Green Metallic on a '73 Javelin versus the expected Javelin AMX model, with the neat 'Volcano' stamped steel wheels also on view... ...while this would be a very typical (albeit in terrific restored condition) American Motors interior hue of the period. My interior paint choice isn't the closest, although it's typical of period Jo-Han practice. I feared that if I simply painted the interior basic black, it would appear more 'messed with' versus something that might be mistaken for an actual promo. A later Gremlin kit might be tapped to come up with a steering wheel akin to what is pictured here, given the rim blow option was no more after the '72 model year... Seen would be a respray for use of Tamiya TS-20 Green Metallic which approximates '73 American Motors Fairway Green Metallic, a weird interior refinish in Rust-oleum Stalin Leafy Green with a quick semigloss clear coat applied over it. Some clean up work was performed to the body shell casting, although only enough to ensure it would look about equal to a pair of '71 and '72 true promos that I have in terms of finish quality. Jo-Han plastic kit axle locators were modified for adding a bit of plastic tubing to widen the track both front and rear prior to painting each ACE hardware Garden Green to match the color of the plastic used for the aforementioned snap together release, the results being generally clean and discreet for so fitting. Music wire was used for new, wider axles matched to the track of the old Hurst mags typical of these models. I had a spare plastic 'glass' panel/insert on hand, hence such was polished with NOVUS 2 and switched in. The tires are a bit small, but I'll live with such... The tail panel plus bumper top cove black out denoting that the 'GO' package was added after masking out the bumper guards. Locating tabs otherwise intended to square things up for assembly of the top tail panel insert relative to the red-tinted tail light panel were ground away to level things out, while the aforementioned lense insert was stripped with Easy Off and reshot with Tamiya TS-74 Clear Red to ensure it was colored evenly versus the usual Jo-Han blotchiness. Watch out for clumsily built up examples which often evidence glue burns to the tail panel insert top corners extended along the back of the insert. Damage such as I describe is something commonly discovered only after one returns from a show with a messed up example in hand. Both tail light lenses I had to choose from were damaged in this fashion, although one was within the realm of saving for use here. Fred Cady decals are coming - hence a gold 'T'-stripe hood graphic will be added soon enough, being as weird and as typical of anything AMC ever did in period. Mostly I'm happy. Thanks for your review of this more or less finished mini-project... Mike K./Swede70

Greetings and thanks for the interest expressed in questions posed in the past... Isolating assemblies and subassemblies for a project, does anyone recognize the oil breathers in use on this particular topic, and do they exist on a tool I can reach for? I'm thinking that they might be something done by Mickey Thompson, and that some drag racing or land speed record car in 1:25th would offer up such. My knowledge of period speed equipment is limited, hence the guiding influence of others is sought! O.K. - look not so much at the valve covers or near the water inlet for the breathers, but rather atop the intake across the lifter valley to see two of the breathers of which I speak. Whaddya think? The image was captured by Karl Ludvigsen at Bridgehampton, NY in '69, the topic a same-year RKE/JRT Trans-Am Javelin again... Kind thanks for reading this post... Mike K./Swede70