tim boyd Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) I posted this at another message board about a year and a half ago, but I don't recall showing it here. (Apologies if I am repeating myself...) Here's a proposal for a '29 Model A Highboy Roadster on '32 Rails that I developed and sent to my contacts at AMT back in September of 1975. Enjoy.....TIM Edited February 10, 2015 by tim boyd
wayne swayze Posted February 6, 2015 Posted February 6, 2015 Very cool that you still have the old paperwork from back in the day. I'll bet you have a lot of model related items that could go into a museum, like build ups, magazine articles photos etc. You must like this hobby...
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Why on Earth would they consider that? Well...apparently they felt the same way, as there's never been a kit of one from AMT. or for that matter, anyone else other than Norm Veber's conversion kit for the Revell '32 Ford series.... On the other hand, '29A Roadster Highboys have been, and remain, one of the most popular subjects in the 1/1 scale Hot Rod and Street Rod Community.... (Looking at your profile picture, I now realize you probably know this as well as I do...!) TIM Edited February 7, 2015 by tim boyd
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Very cool that you still have the old paperwork from back in the day. I'll bet you have a lot of model related items that could go into a museum, like build ups, magazine articles photos etc. You must like this hobby... Wayne...yeah... I probably have some stuff that people would like to see. Maybe I need to get a bit more serious about posting more of it on my Fotki site. Like the factory design blueprints for some of the AMT trade show announcements - kitbashes (or in a few cases, outright scratchbuilds) I did for them on commission back in the 1970's.....(anyone remember the three AMT '75 1/2 Ford Econoline theme kits.....or the 1977 "Custom Gremlin"....) TB Edited February 7, 2015 by tim boyd
jbwelda Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 aw they probably just brought out another Tom Daniels design or something like that instead. kool to still have the plans! maybe you could interest them now! jb
Junkman Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Very nice, but they didn't listen, so nothing changed in those 40 odd years.
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 Very nice, but they didn't listen, so nothing changed in those 40 odd years. True...but there was a great deal about kit design I did not understand when I made that proposal back then. Turns out it would have been impossible to do the way I suggested...e.g. it would have required an entirely new tool....oh well....live and learn! TIM
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) aw they probably just brought out another Tom Daniels design or something like that instead. kool to still have the plans! maybe you could interest them now! jb JB....By that point in time AMT was pretty much done with the thingy/Show Rods category....but....instead they did the Thomas Flyer. So your point is taken....BTW has THAT Thomas Flyer kit EVER been reissued? Guess that one wasn't such a good idea either! Best...TB Edited February 7, 2015 by tim boyd
Junkman Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Turns out it would have been impossible to do the way I suggested...e.g. it would have required an entirely new tool. And? Obviously I'm the only one around here, who thinks the purpose of model kit companies is to make tools, release kits, and sell them. I mean, I wouldn't ask my plumber to do it, would I now? Although, on second thoughts and based on my experience the past 40 years, it might be more worthwhile. Edited February 7, 2015 by Junkman
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) And? I never heard a word back on it....from what I vaguely recall...AMT did get a good deal of mail from hobbyists with kit ideas and the like...but back then, AMT (and practically all the others too) still thought their biggest market was kids. So ideas from adult modelers didn't often make it through the product committee. (There were quite a number of car guys and modelers at the working level in AMT, but the senior leaders were a tough sell.) There were a few street rod themed kits that did make it to market back then...the pretty miserable '34 Ford 3W Coupe, the all-new '23 T Roadster, the '41 Plymouth Street Rod, and the '51 Chevies and '53/'55 Corvettes. But in realilty, at that point a '29 A Highboy Roadster was apparently just too specialized a topic...at least it was in their minds. TB Edited February 7, 2015 by tim boyd
Junkman Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) So ideas from adult modelers didn't often make it through the product committee. I'm repeating myself. Nothing has changed the past 40 odd years. I mean, everything has changed, but not the model kit industry. I love your proposal. I especially love the effort you put into it. Edited February 7, 2015 by Junkman
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) I'm repeating myself. Nothing has changed the past 40 odd years. I mean, everything has changed, but not the model kit industry. Well...it has changed SOME....I mean, now we get period Hudsons, Kurtis Midgets, chopped '48 Ford and '49 Merc customs...Black Widow Chevies....and one other kit idea I suggested to AMT back then....the '49/'50 Olds. Granted, these are coming from others than the successors to AMT Corporation back then....TB Edited February 7, 2015 by tim boyd
Junkman Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Well...it has changed SOME....I mean, now we get period Hudsons, Kurtis Midgets, chopped '48 Ford and '49 Merc customs...Black Widow Chevies....and one other kit idea I suggested to AMT back then....the '49/'50 Olds. That's slightly thin for 40 years, don't you think?
Misha Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 I'm certainly behind you on the idea of having a 29 roadster issued that would ride on a Deuce frame. When one looks at the success Revell has had with their varied Deuce kits, one would think they would be the natural manufacturer to issue the 29. It's a no brainer as such a kit would appeal to all the gearheads who have built the previous kits. By the way, when can we see the original 32 roadster reissued as my supply has been used up. Hope the molds still exist and weren't eaten up to produce the rat roaster version. Cheers Misha
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) Hope the molds still exist and weren't eaten up to produce the rat roaster version. Cheers Misha Misha...I'm 1000% with you on that!! TIM Edited February 7, 2015 by tim boyd
tim boyd Posted February 7, 2015 Author Posted February 7, 2015 That's slightly thin for 40 years, don't you think? Christian....yeah...I see your point there. Particularly since everything I mentioned has happened in just the most recent seven or eight years....TIM
Junkman Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Even for seven or eight years I find it thin. Let alone 40. Don't they see the runaway success of the diecasters? Don't they realise, that we would knock each other's heads in for stuff we have been requesting for forty years??? That proposal you made should be in production by Summer. Summer 1976 that is. What's the bloody hold on for 39 years? On a different note, we both seem to be in this game fairly equally long. Of all the things Round2/AMT could be reissuing, don't you find their selections of the past three years slightly underwhelming? Or am I again the only one? Where is the Detroit of the kit industry? Laidback, Idleho? Meh.
Art Anderson Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 And, after all these years--still no '27 T Roadster (although that is what AMT Corporation originally advertized--but came out with a touring car instead! Still wishing! Art
jbwelda Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Tim, while I was looking at your proposal, I was thinking, he is identifying these parts and where they can be sourced, but wouldn't that still mean they had to gather up all those (insert whatever it would be) and somehow make up a new mold somehow? but I would say that for back in that time, someone would be very impressed, or at least mildly amused, at that hand drawing and calling out of exact parts from exact kits in their line. shows quite a bit of initiative for someone out in the audience to draw that up and send it in. but I guess back in those days a lot of kids/young adults might have been bombarding them with that sort of thing. now if only you could do a "kit bash" kit somehow where they maybe run off whole trees of the kits you cite and include them all in the box! that would make it so no new molds would be necessary! jb
my80malibu Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 True...but there was a great deal about kit design I did not understand when I made that proposal back then. Turns out it would have been impossible to do the way I suggested...e.g. it would have required an entirely new tool....oh well....live and learn! TIM Tim Make a copy of your plans, then wrap it around a rock, and toss it through the window. Maybe Someone there will have a Brainstorm of an Idea.
ZIL 111V Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Kool archives! How many intresting projects did AMT management reject? especially in the 2nd half of the 70's... Always tought that from the mid to late 70s, AMT was in a very rough financial downhill, meaning many intresting projects got axed. At least the '77 Custom Gremlin "GT-op" made it! kool looking car kit for a kid of the 70s.
38 Crush Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 One kit I have been waiting on for more than 25 Years for AMT to reissue is the Astro 1 show car. They announced sometime in the eighties that they were going to reissue it, but never did. Just another disappointment ! On another note! About the rock. In this day in age, they would probably would have arrested you for breaking and entering !!!
wayne swayze Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 Going on record here to let Revell/Monogram know that I would buy a few of this kit...if they ever got around to get it out to the public. I'm sure there are others that feel the same. Look at the success of the various dueces. I have a few of them in all the available configurations, so Revell, what do ya say? Please give us a '29 Ford roadster on duece frame! Seems to be popular request.
horsepower Posted February 7, 2015 Posted February 7, 2015 It's still a possibility if they just swapped out the Phantom Vicky body for the molds to the venerable '29 roadster kit it could be done, a little more contemporary, but still an A on Deuce rails
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