Tom Daniel - Most Famous Kit Designer Ever?

[magicmustang]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 4:20 PM, styromaniac said:

Somewhat toy like level of detail but simple enough to not frustrate the young builder...molded in body color to minimize painting ...lots of chrome ) . I preferred Revell's "show and go" series of subjects ( Tommy Ivo, Mickey Thompson, Orange Crate, Swindler, all the Roth stuff...for their challenging level of detail...but I don't recall ever finishing one of those kits to my satisfaction.) For me the Tom Daniel subjects were too cartoon like. Essential hobby history.

Agree entirely. 

Edited January 22, 2019 by magicmustang

[Dave Van]

TD also owned a model railroad aftermarket company that sold parts and scenery items for HO scale trains.

BTW....best or most famous......don't know...but my favorite. 

[unclescott58]

The suggested theme for tonight's MCCM (Model Car Club of Minnesota) meeting was Daniel and Deal. Model designed by Tom Daniel and Dave Deal. Here are a few photos I took this evening. 

 

[Bugatti Fan]

Built the Tijuana Taxi first time around, but would like to build it again with the benefit of 40 years more experience. 

Was the Boot Hill Express a Daniel creation that made it to being built full size?

[Snake45]

6 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Built the Tijuana Taxi first time around, but would like to build it again with the benefit of 40 years more experience. 

Was the Boot Hill Express a Daniel creation that made it to being built full size?

Dunno if TD had anything to do with BHE (it doesn't look TD-y enough to me, but I could be wrong), but it was definitely a real car before it was a kit. 

[Mark]

Ray Farhner built the Boot Hill Express (actually, there are two of them).  That kit came after the Darryl Starbird era at Monogram ended, but before Daniel came in.

[Bugatti Fan]

Thanks for that Richard, it looks like the Daniel Creations were aimed at the model kit market. Seen some Barris and Roth creations in kit form by Revell and Eldon but not sure if any were done by Monogram.

Mark, thanks for the feedback on the BHE, was unaware that two had been built!  I forgot about Darryl Starbird. Did he create the Custom 3 wheeled Volkswagen that was kitted by Monogram? Cannot remember its name.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Bugatti Fan

[Mark]

Starbird did build the Futurista.  It was built for a particular show but got beat that year by Bill Cushenbery's Silhouette.  The 1:1 Futurista was pearl white, not yellow as in the kit. 

The Eldon kits were all credited to Bob Reisner (who built the dual-engine Invader) but he didn't build all of them.

Monogram only did one Barris car: the Bathtub Buggy.  Revell didn't do any Barris stuff until the Seventies; the VW with the Rolls-Royce grille might have been the first.  Revell did all of Roth's stuff except the Mail Box Chopper which was an MPC kit (that is way different from the 1:1).

Edited January 22, 2019 by Mark

[TonyK]

I built the Tijuana Taxi when I was a kid and recently enjoyed building it again as an adult with more patience and experience. Have built a few others again too and really enjoy the kits just having some fun with a not so serious subject matter. Also enjoy thinking I have done this before and sometimes wondering how I tackled little troublesome parts fit that may come up when I was putting this together as a kid.

[Casey]

"Mad, mod, funny cars. Gobs of plated parts, colorful decals and way-out styles designed to make model building really fun." Sounds like 1969 copy. 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Casey

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

"Mad, mod, funny cars. Gobs of plated parts, colorful decals and way-out styles designed to make model building really fun." Sounds like 1969 copy. 

 

Very cool! I have several of these from aircraft kits of the era, but don't think I've ever seen a dedicated car one.