Kits Which Were Once This, Then Became That

[Casey]

15 minutes ago, Venom said:

Ok... well I don’t know my Country Squires very well, but it was close enough that I immediately recognized it?....So, what year is the one shown above?

1957. More info here:

 

[Daddyfink]

 

[Daddyfink]

[cobraman]

Seems like most things that were changed was not for the better.

[Fabrux]

Didn't this:

End up as this?

Edited January 31, 2021 by Fabrux

[MrObsessive]

On 1/29/2021 at 10:27 PM, THarrison351 said:

That's actually going to be a very near in the future WIP of mine. I'll be doing some changes though......let's say to make it a bit more "streetable".

[Mark]

19 minutes ago, Fabrux said:

Didn't this:

End up as this?

The first version issued was actually a NASCAR version.  After the '77 annual, there was a custom-only version, then racing issues only.  The stock trim was removed from tge body and other alterations were made, so it's unlikely the stock one will reappear.

[ranma]

The International Transtar Series of kit's were  Big sellers when  kit's that were changed . While the '63 Nova wagon became the Boss Nova drag wagon, Round2 Brought the wagon back from the ashes, as they are doing to the '64 Oldsmobile . Then they went and are re doing the Transtar 4070 a. Remember the Mack Cruiseliner came back the same way from a kit that wasn't built!

[Casey]

Started as this...:

 

...then became this:

 

 

[Can-Con]

4 hours ago, Fabrux said:

Didn't this:

End up as this?

I'm not sure about the timeline on that Chris but I do know the NASCAR version was in the AMT catalogue as early as '74 when that bodystyle started. The stock kit was available at the same time so?? 

According to the catalogue, the race version was out in March '74 and the stock version wasn't available until August.

[64Comet404]

On 1/31/2021 at 11:32 AM, Casey said:

Started as this...:

The "King T" also had a long string of changes over the years, though the changes have tended to be ...more aesthetically pleasing, shall we say, than what happened to the Wild Dream. Changed to the Carl Casper Paddy Wagon (much different than Monogram's), then the Fire Truck, then the Outcast, then back-dated to the Fire Truck. The Outcast was the least attractive, but it still wasn't that bad for the era.

[Casey]

First issued as...:

 

...then later modified into:

[Scott Colmer]

Great thread, Casey! I want to play too. Since I like showrods, I have a few makeovers in my stash.

I might be wrong about these next two.

 

These next few are not in order, but it is easy to sort them out.

I'm not sure if the Yellowjacket is part of the 32 roadster's origins

Sorry for the blur

That's all for now.

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Scott Colmer

[Scott Colmer]

One more because the story is good.

The Surf Woody...

Became the Horse Hide Hauler. According to the Showrods site, the name sake to this odd rod, Denny, McLain, was a baseball star who ran afoul of the law with racketeering and drug charges, obviously after the kit was released.

[Mr. Metallic]

8 hours ago, Scott Colmer said:

I'm not sure if the Yellowjacket is part of the 32 roadster's origins

 

The Yellow Jacket is a 30-31 Model A roadster, so it is not the origin of any 32 Ford kit.

It is actually a variant of the 6 in 1 Monogram Model A coupe/cabriolet tooling. To make the Yellow Jacket roadster version they just left the roof out of the kit.

Original

Sadly, all that remains of this once expansive tooling is now a stock only 5 window coupe

[Snake45]

9 hours ago, Scott Colmer said:

One more because the story is good.

The Surf Woody...

Became the Horse Hide Hauler. According to the Showrods site, the name sake to this odd rod, Denny, McLain, was a baseball star who ran afoul of the law with racketeering and drug charges, obviously after the kit was released.

 

I think before that, they got a "dune buggy" out of it, too. 

[Jantrix]

On 1/30/2021 at 5:14 PM, Daddyfink said:

 

I'm not certain that Draggin Wagon "became" the Hangman. For certain they shared parts, but the rest of the model is so radically different that altering the molds to make another body would have been pointless. So very likely the Hangman used molds A and B from the Draggin Wagon, but then created new molds for the rest of the model. Also I believe the the Draggin Wagon was re-released as the Circus wagon just a few years ago.

 

[Daddyfink]

9 hours ago, Jantrix said:

I'm not certain that Draggin Wagon "became" the Hangman. For certain they shared parts, but the rest of the model is so radically different that altering the molds to make another body would have been pointless. So very likely the Hangman used molds A and B from the Draggin Wagon, but then created new molds for the rest of the model. Also I believe the the Draggin Wagon was re-released as the Circus wagon just a few years ago.

 

From what I read, when they made the Hangman out of it, it was way to modified to make it the Dragon Wagon again, and lots of it had to be re-tooled. 

 

[Daddyfink]

The original was cool, and luckily, was not too heavily modified. They just added stuff to make....

 

The Vanbulance, which to be honest, I like more than the original. 

 

 

[slusher]

On 1/29/2021 at 6:14 PM, Oldcarfan27 said:

First one I thought of...

I have seen one vampire van built.  That was a bad mistake..

[slusher]

On 1/29/2021 at 8:01 PM, Oldcarfan27 said:

Revell did the same with another one.

I think it was better as the deluxe Kombi.

First time I have seen or herd of the Rubber Duck other than a Mack..

[Modelbuilder Mark]

On 1/29/2021 at 1:11 PM, Casey said:

Kits which were irreversibly and heavily modified into something else, the latter of which may not necessarily be an improvement. While it's easy to look back in hindsight at what might've still been, the deed has been done in the name of putting a "new" kit on the shelf, and these altered kits are likely to never be returned to their previous state, much less ever re-issued in their current version. 

I think it was Mark B. who mentioned the AMT ZZR became the Firebug, so let's start with that one:

It was this...:

I have been trying to land one of these for a LONG time. 

On 1/29/2021 at 5:14 PM, Oldcarfan27 said:

First one I thought of...

This one is especially sad. Even over at Dave's Show Rod site where there are over 500 built models of various model show rods, both real and fantasy, there is not one single sample of this being built. Someone mentioned only ever seeing one completed, and that may possibly be one more than I have.  I have one of the panel trucks in my my stash that is a partially started kit I picked up, that I will finish out at some point. 

[doorsovdoon]

I don't know much on this subject but I know the original Dodge Tradesman became the Bad Company van with a heavily updated front end and other alterations. I'm gutted as I want to build the Magic Bus that WLS Radio used for various promotions.

[1972coronet]

18 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

I know the original Dodge Tradesman became the Bad Company van with a heavily updated front end and other alterations.

Typical 'Annual' updates is all . By c.1979 , MPC showcased the customised version of the fill-in-the-blank annual ( e.g. , the 1979 Ford Econoline Van was called Sunrunner , and the stock parts were included ) :

[doorsovdoon]

34 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

Typical 'Annual' updates is all . By c.1979 , MPC showcased the customised version of the fill-in-the-blank annual ( e.g. , the 1979 Ford Econoline Van was called Sunrunner , and the stock parts were included ) :

The good thing about the Econoline is, as far as I know, body wise it remained unchanged. I think its the Coca Cola van now?