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Test shot Pics Revell '70 AAR 'Cuda


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When one considers how much money R-M has sunk into producing two botched AAR kits, one has to believe the company would have been money ahead had it simply started from scratch with an all-new tooling in the first place.

Know what else is depressing? Thinking about what else the tooling $$$ R-M spent on this latest abortion MIGHT have gone to!

Hey Ken, Cut revell some slack about the mis-shapen body work, after all this was the first run test shot, so it's not as bad as it could have been... :shock: :lol::D

picture007-vi.jpg

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Strange how things turn out, not?

When Revell and RC2 both announced revamps of their existing cuda tooling, most of us modelers were moderately optimistic, like one of them will be workable, then RC2 closed the curtain on their plastic division, and now this...

sadly for us, it's most likely that this kit will sell great at the big box stores, just as its predecessor did, blowing away any chance of a decent all new accurate kit of this subject.

Better start saving your pennies for an original MPC 'Cuda or a resin re-pop theireof.

Thx

Luc Janssens

Belgium

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Strange how things turn out, not?

When Revell and RC2 both announced revamps of their existing cuda tooling, most of us modelers were moderately optimistic, like one of them will be workable, then RC2 closed the curtain on their plastic division, and now this...

sadly for us, it's most likely that this kit will sell great at the big box stores, just as its predecessor did, blowing away any chance of a decent all new accurate kit of this subject.

Better start saving your pennies for an original MPC 'Cuda or a resin re-pop theireof.

Thx

Luc Janssens

Belgium

It's almost sickeningly true-models of subjects like the 'Cuda, even rendered poorly, will probably sell well at the big box stores. Remember when we were told that sales of the awful Monogram 1/24 scale '69 Camaro remained excellent regardless of how much better the new-tool '69 is/was?

Though Revell could very well take this poor 'Cuda and make it worse, they manage to stifle a lot of point-of-sale purchases w/some pretty horrid boxart and boxart models :roll: It's as if they want the kit to tank :cry: The Revell Uptown models and their Ferrari Superamerica (US boxart) are three great examples of how not to do boxart, and they're three of Revell's latest.

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Man, how we love to trash the manufacturers when they don't live up to our expectations. Note I said the MANUFACTURERS, not the PRODUCT. Manufacturers make mistakes too.

The fact of life is this: every manufacturer of plastic models has its crown jewels and its turkeys as well. Vaunted manufacturers like Hasegawa and Tamiya have some kits that don't quite live up to the hype of the reputations.

When I reviewed the original kit in SAE (I can say that here, SAE no longer exists) in 1995, I also critically panned the Lindberg '40 Ford coupe (which has just been reissued) and the AMT '65 Pontiac 2+2. All three are not examples of bad people or bad manufacturers; they are examples of product planning that did not quite reach the standard of excellence.

Should Revell have done a new-tool '70 Cuda kit? Absolutely. Pre-RC2 AMT/Ertl would have done just that - in fact, that's why we got an all-new '70 Camaro kit instead of the 1990-vintage rehash that was never quite right. An all-new '70 Cuda could be designed to produce a Hemi, a 340, an AAR, a droptop, a 440, and with some creative toolmaking, a '71. Like I said before, it would be an out of the park home run.

Perhaps a post-RC2 AMT/Ertl would fulfill just such a wish.

Just my .02, amigos.

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Well said Larry!

I heard a little tidbit at our last club meeting that Lindberg/Hawk was in the running to make a bid for RC2. Let's hope so...........

My understanding is that there are some real car/model guys in the bunch at Lindberg, so here's hoping we'll get a decent '70 'Cuda (among other things) from them. :wink:

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Bill,

RC2 themselves are not for sale. They are dumping Racing Champions (the company they started with) Ertl, AMT, and JoyRide Studios. RC2 is staying in the toy and baby/infant business.

I have also heard that J.Lloyd (parent company of Hawk and Lindberg) is in the running to buy AMT from RC2. They have one visionary already - Lindberg/Hawk head honcho Ernie Petit. Hopefully, should they be successful at acquiring AMT, they will be able to reunite some of the visionary car guys that made AMT/Ertl a force to be reckoned with - guys like John Mueller, Dave Carlock, Tom Haverlind, and the rest of the engineering crew that put such passion into the last real AMT/Ertl kits.

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Bill, RC2 themselves are not for sale. They are dumping Racing Champions (the company they started with) Ertl, AMT, and JoyRide Studios. RC2 is staying in the toy and baby/infant business.

Whoops! :oops: I meant to say the Ertl/AMT plastic division.......... In my enthusiasm of what I hope takes place, I got carried away! :mrgreen:

There are some other cars besides the '70 'Cuda I'd like to see from them if they take over.........but that's the subject for another thread. :wink:

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  • 5 months later...
Figures!! With the way things are in the hobby now, I guess we'll never see an accurate 1970 'Cuda :(

Oh well.......guess I better treasure that MPC '70 'Cuda I've got stashed away........ :unsure:

I have one of these new issues on order...if I get really ambitious, maybe I'll try and swap parts with the Revell '71.

I have a couple of the MPC '70s in my stash, one built, one unbuilt....and I've got the Perry's Resin AAR parts to use with an MPC '74 to convert to a '70 eventually...

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I've got the Perry's Resin AAR parts to use with an MPC '74 to convert to a '70 eventually...

Same here Rob.............I have a couple of those MPC reissues. In one of the boxes I have Perry's Resin conversion kit. I sure as heck did NOT want to hack up that original MPC '70 as I wanted to turn mine into a Hemi convertible................One of these fine days. :unsure:

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Same here Rob.............I have a couple of those MPC reissues. In one of the boxes I have Perry's Resin conversion kit. I sure as heck did NOT want to hack up that original MPC '70 as I wanted to turn mine into a Hemi convertible................One of these fine days. :unsure:

Heh-heh..I have the same idea..I have the Perry's AAR parts and two sets of the Perry's Hemi parts, and 3 of the blue '80s issue MPC '74 Cudas...I have the parts and plans to do a '70 AAR, '70 Hemi ht w/ dog dish hubcaps from SELtd, and a '70 Hemi Cuda convertible...both of the Hemis using the engine from AMT '68 Road Runners, and a '71 Duster 340 for the AAR.

More ideas than time to work on them..

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I'm not surprised, not dismayed and still going to buy some. To me a model is a box of parts. some have a lot of good parts some only a few. I may correct it, I may simply use it to convert a Monogram 1971 'Cuda, I Might even build "Barely 'Cuda II". My point is there is no such thing as a useless box of plastic. At a recent model contest one of my fellow modelers commented that "You must have a fortune in that Model" when talking about my "Barely 'Cuda" Speedster. Imagine his surprise when I told him it was a parts box special.

I had a spare 'Cuda body, a Callaway Corvette speedster body interior and glass, some seats from a built up Revell Stingray III, a handful of Ferrari Tail lights, some pegasus wheels and a bunch of sheet plastic, and I put it all together. No complete kits were harmed in the making of "Barely 'Cuda". Who knows with the right outlook, an inventive builder might even be able to build something out of this new kit.

Barely 'Cuda in Progress

DSCF4494a-vi.jpg

My prediction, once the inaccuracies in this kit are fully known by the modeling community, there will be a lot of hand wringing, wailing at the skies, and maybe a flame war or two on other boards (not inhabited by fine gentlemen like we have here) and this will be another sign of how the model car hobby is drying up and blowing away.

But it is what it is. It's just a flawed model in a long list of flawed models. this too shall pass. Who knows maybe a resin caster will do a correct body for it.

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To add insult to injury, the AAR decals help magnify the problem by about 10,000%.

Good gawd Revell...seriously. Glad I have the Perry's resin '70 Hemi, and a couple of the reissue snap kit '74's.

Just sad really, the '70 Cuda shape is so clean, so right (copying the late '60's Camaro worked wonders for Mopar :lol: ), this just hurts to look at :lol::lol:

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My 2 cents:

In this day of advanced computer software, CAD, etc. there is no reason for any model company to release a kit that is inaccurate.

Sure, most of us can fix the flaws, but that's not the point. The flaws shouldn't be there in the first place!!!

We shouldn't HAVE to "fix" a brand new kit, any more than we should have to "tune up" a brand new car. It should be right...from the factory!

aar.jpg

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My 2 cents:

In this day of advanced computer software, CAD, etc. there is no reason for any model company to release a kit that is inaccurate.

Sure, most of us can fix the flaws, but that's not the point. The flaws shouldn't be there in the first place!!!

We shouldn't HAVE to "fix" a brand new kit, any more than we should have to "tune up" a brand new car. It should be right...from the factory!

aar.jpg

The sad thing is that many "weekend modelers" won't notice the faults and that this SKU, will perform so well, that it will be in the Revell linuep for years to come, might even be the next 1/24 scale "Monogram" '69 Camaro!

As for another manufacturer tackling this subject, well it seems that people rather spend big bucks for an old toy on ebay, then for a qualitiy automotive model kit, and this is where the root of the problem is IMHO.

Cuz the will and knowledge is there, only problem is to get the financing working

Kind Regards from this side of the pond.

Luc

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The sad thing is that many "weekend modelers" won't notice the faults and that this SKU, will perform so well, that it will be in the Revell lineup for years to come, might even be the next 1/24 scale "Monogram" '69 Camaro!

As for another manufacturer tackling this subject, well it seems that people rather spend big bucks for an old toy on ebay, then for a quality automotive model kit, and this is where the root of the problem is IMHO.

Cuz the will and knowledge is there, only problem is to get the financing working

Kind Regards from this side of the pond.

Luc

I'm looking forward to comparing mine when I get it tomorrow against the Monogram '71, MPC '70 and Johan '71 bodies to see what the problems really are...I've seen lots of claims based on the test shots, but I want to see for myself what the issues are..

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My 2 cents:

In this day of advanced computer software, CAD, etc. there is no reason for any model company to release a kit that is inaccurate.

Sure, most of us can fix the flaws, but that's not the point. The flaws shouldn't be there in the first place!!!

We shouldn't HAVE to "fix" a brand new kit, any more than we should have to "tune up" a brand new car. It should be right...from the factory!

aar.jpg

Harry,

Is this the new body? The roof looks short to me. Look at the quarter window versus the 1:1.

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Harry,

Is this the new body? The roof looks short to me. Look at the quarter window versus the 1:1.

The roof is deffinently too short. but the rest is'nt too bad. so i'm gonna get one. and cut the roof off. make it convertible

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