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1/16 MPC Nascar Petty Charger; a kit change just announced


'70 Grande

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I just bought mine, and it's an excellent kit i was waiting to buy since a long time!!

Originals are merely unaffordable, and i don't like to work with the clear plastic body, because it's not the same as opaque polystyrene, it's harder and more difficult to work with ...

I've seen lots of patched t-tops bodywork ruined because clear plastic doesn't react the same to solvents, you can achieve this task correctly, but it requires more bodywork!

And this issue will allow modeler's to BUILD the famous NASCAR from the King, and will also keep the originals with the clear body valuable!

I'm impressed with the quality from a tool that age... And proud to finally have it in my lineup.. :wub:

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Clear body would have been cool, but too much of a liability as I see it. AMT/Ertl a few years back was using a different plastic formula for clear parts from what I had seen before on one SF spacecraft model I was building (I believe they were testing a formula to use on a couple all clear SF ships they were designing for their Proshop line) and it seemed about as flexible as opaque styrene, but it had a weird side effect as when I painted and put a wash on the part, it warped. Only way to de-warp it was to gently brush it with some liquid glue on the backside. So I am thinking if Round 2 were to try and use THAT plastic formula and somebody were to try a half and half paintjob (half clear, half painted) the result would have been a warped mess.

One piece car bodies are an interesting bit of model kit engineering and require a bit of flex to de-mold properly compared to other kit parts with two piece molds and shallow draft angles. It was a miracle of modern engineering that MPC were able to offer those bodies in clear back then. I am not surprised with altered plastic formulas, changes in some of the ingredients and perhaps stricter EPA guidelines that such a formula for doing it would have been lost. We are talking 40 years of model kit engineering afterall with the ownership of MPC changing hands three times at least. Besides, 40 years ago we also were landing men on the moon and that is another thing we don't do anymore.

So, I will get my Petty Blue molded charger and I will enjoy building it. I've waited to get my hands on one of these for years and it sounds like the wait will be worth it.

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I'm about 90% done with this kit. Tons of flash, and your knuckles end up raw from the endless puttying and sanding. But what a fun fun kit. The work is very rewarding.

So I have a question. How are people executing this 3 color scheme? The best advice I've seen is to paint the entire body white. Then mask the white line and paint the blue and red. I think this will work but there are some sharp curves that are tough to lay down. Is there a masking product that will take such a sharp turn? Ot do people have a better idea?

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  • 1 month later...

Tony, be prepared to be blown away! This is 1973 kit technology you're looking at, and it is STILL one of the most technically accurate NASCAR models ever made. A friend of mine recently showed one to Richard out in Fontana and the King was blown away at how well the kit had been restored to it's original glory. :)

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Very impressed! Jack stands, clear valve cover and gauges, and on and on...this is going to be a fun one to build! There is some flash, but nothing that looks any worse than other kits. I'm pleased with my kit! So, is the Petty racing red from the NASCAR line of paints that came out a while back a good match for this? How about the Petty blue? I think I have a spray can of each left. I used them on my '92 Fan Appreciation Tour Pontiac I built a few years ago. I remember the red going on flat and rough but smoothed out with the gloss coats. The blue went on smooth and shiny.

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Very impressed! Jack stands, clear valve cover and gauges, and on and on...this is going to be a fun one to build! There is some flash, but nothing that looks any worse than other kits. I'm pleased with my kit! So, is the Petty racing red from the NASCAR line of paints that came out a while back a good match for this? How about the Petty blue? I think I have a spray can of each left. I used them on my '92 Fan Appreciation Tour Pontiac I built a few years ago. I remember the red going on flat and rough but smoothed out with the gloss coats. The blue went on smooth and shiny.

Okay, several others are sure to jump in here, but i'll put this out there again. The racing colors were good paints if just a little misguided where Petty cars are concerned. Thier "Rocket red" was a near perfect match while thier two Petty Blues...not so much. Actually that's not correct either. The so called "modern" Petty Blue was near perfect as well. The "early" Petty Blue was way off the mark because it wasn't necessary. Petty Blue's formula has not changed one dram since it's second year. There were a few slight (very slight) variations in 1960/61 while they refined the formula. Remember Petty Blue came about by accident, as Richard mixed white and blue paints together, pretty much in a rush.

Once they got a chance to work at it Richard and Lee worked very hard to duplicate the "electric" blue they had come up with before. They finally did so and according to the King himself it has not changed since. Folks think it has because of pictures they've seen down through the years. What did change was factors like lighting, different cameras, different films and ever improving the cameras and films. You might not think so but a Kodak and a Polaroid will take two different pictures of the same subject, with the same brand of film. Take four different pictures of the same car and you will see four different tints of Petty Blue.

The modern Petty Blue from the race colors is very close. If you want exact matches I suggest going to your local auto store and have a three ounce bottle of -Corporation blue, Super Blue, Basin street blue, mixed and or put in a spray can. The Super and Basin colors are early seventies Dodge colors. Corporation is a 1970 Plymouth only color. I always ask for them by name and therefore have not commited numbers to memory.

For the STP red, it can be found at several online sites listed as Granatelli Red. If there' enough in the can your racing colors STP red should work fine.

If you need reference pictures I am a p.m. away. You might also wish to check Mike's decals for his superb Petty Charger decal set that includes the white striping as well as all the markings you'll ever need. ;)

P.S. Most neons are inherently flat but the racing colors red does gloss easily. Should you run out of it before finishing the car (and you will) the current Testors racing red is the same paint. Model Master #2939. Tamiya #TS-23 blue is a close match for Petty Blue, but don't mix it with the racing colors and alot of guys use the Tamiya #TS-36 neon red, but it's too orange for my tastes.

Edited by MAGNUM4342
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Chrysler's paint code for Petty Blue is TB3 ; this colour code dates back to 1962 .

As Magnum stated , its 'official' name was Super Blue (Dodge) and Basin Street Blue (Plymouth) , and became a regularly-available colour for 1972 .

Yes, it's also known as code 999, and C37D but those are codes for Chrysler corporation colors not Petty Blue. Only the Petty clan has the exact formula. "Corporate Blue" was adopted by Chrysler corporation but it is still a drop of tint away from Petty Blue. This is the closest you can get without actually getting it from Richard.I was trying to be lazy earlier but John made me look up the codes! :P

Edited by MAGNUM4342
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Yes, it's also known as code 999, and C37D but those are codes for Chrysler corporation colors not Petty Blue. Only the Petty clan has the exact formula. "Corporate Blue" was adopted by Chrysler corporation but it is still a drop of tint away from Petty Blue. This is the closest you can get without actually getting it from Richard.I was trying to be lazy earlier but John made me look up the codes! :P

Interesting nugget here ... I didn't realise that there were so many subtle changes during the lifetime of Chrysler's Corporate Blue (et al.) versus the 'official' Petty Blue .

I read some-where that Petty mixed his blue from a combination of Ford Blue and white . Whether that's a valid story or not , I don't know .

All that I do know is that my 1973 Duster was TB3 with black interior (318 / 727 / 8.25") , and that I miss my Duster :(

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Interesting nugget here ... I didn't realise that there were so many subtle changes during the lifetime of Chrysler's Corporate Blue (et al.) versus the 'official' Petty Blue .

I read some-where that Petty mixed his blue from a combination of Ford Blue and white . Whether that's a valid story or not , I don't know .

All that I do know is that my 1973 Duster was TB3 with black interior (318 / 727 / 8.25") , and that I miss my Duster :(

I miss my MAGNUM too. I just keep telling myself "One day...one day...". I heard the same rumor about the blue, as well as a couple others like, it wasn't even auto paint! (That one made me laugh long and loud when Richard told me that!) I think I actually discussed it with him more than once. Jacen introduced us in 1983 and that was the question I asked at the fan club meeting. Although he doesn't remember the "make" of the paint, he assured me it was not a Ford color. At that time Lee wouldn't allow anything Ford on the premises unless it was a friend or fan's car. He did say it was a blue "just a few drips off of royal blue". I thought that was kind of prophetic..."royal blue"..."the King". :D Of course there are other stories, some of them likely to be also from the King, but this is the one I was told.

Edited by MAGNUM4342
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I enjoyed building the Dukes Charger but I'm not sure I could want to get back into all the prep and bad fit etc. I would hope the Petty wouldn't be as bad. The one guy talks about flash. I had to touch every part on the car (Dukes) as far as the flash, I don't think one part had no flash--oh well I guess if you want to do it you do it and get the job done. I ended up making interior door panels out of plain plastic sheet like a stock car has for the Dukes kit. Things just didn't want to fit.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 years later...
  • 1 year later...
On 1/18/2013 at 11:28 AM, ss2000 said:

Can anyone post a pic of the decals? Is the red on the sides part of them ?

The below images are from the (re-?) re-issued kit, MPC938, so I can't say if they are the same as the 2013 reissue or not.

457370643_PXL_20210221_0214587942.jpg.f15b6193beab06ee0fbe04fe117e32a2.jpg

411964177_PXL_20210221_0213286732.thumb.jpg.41e1afd99806f4f208a94596eab09305.jpg

315360096_PXL_20210221_0213316132.thumb.jpg.15b9164711a861072864830e80016638.jpg

1110112810_PXL_20210221_0213408782.thumb.jpg.fa2f41f62701d19738b1b0b71cc5ecd8.jpg

 

Body parts are again molded in Petty blue, the balance in a color very similar to '90s era AMT/Ertl kits:

1898623187_PXL_20210221_0200243602.jpg.a2be63f66cd40c04e8f82ebee24526a2.jpg

1338383887_PXL_20210221_0200536922.thumb.jpg.1b1c2ed3739e6af69c0b0f6590935bfc.jpg

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