138 replies to this topic

[ratnasty]

Just got mine today here are some pics

 

 

 

 

Chuck

[ratnasty]

sorry guys I just could not resist in an early April fools joke LOL

Chuck

 

 

 

[Dragline]

That was just wrong.......

 

 

 

 

Bob

[Casey]

No single piece in either of the aircraft kits is anywhere near as complicated as the one-piece Charger body. The airplane wings, and even the fuselage halves, are molded using relatively simple tooling compared to what is needed for a one-piece car body.

 

^ This guy gets it. 

 

 

Cost and flexibility are only two of MANY issue when making a clear body kit. Please note that none of the more recent kits are near the size of the Petty Charger, not near the age of the Petty mold......that has been modified a number of times.  I have two friends in the industrial molding industry......both talk about how hard it would be to get a mold the size of the Petty kit to come out correct EVERY time.....which is what is required in mass production. Ten percent rejects would have raised the cost a bunch. 

 

^ Him, too.

 

I can see (pun intended) both sides of the clear body argument, and there's no right answer. Some like to be able to "see through" the body and look at the chassis details, which are usually hidden from view with an opaque body. If you're going to build an accurate replica, however, the body will be painted, so the "clear body" selling point is of no value.

 

Buy it, build it, or catch the bus back to 1971 and buy an original kit for $6.99. 

[Roncla]

 Something that has always intrigued me and I've seen some excellent models using the concept is to do a ' cut away '.

 

These can be seen at the real car shows.

 

Half of the body is as normal and the other half has been removed so you can see the insides.

 

You get a better view without any possible  distortion that you may get through a clear plastic body and  without the mold release marks and the like which always spoil a clear plastic  body

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Roncla, 19 January 2013 - 11:08 PM.

[brad4321]

I don't why so many are sweating the non clear body.  Tamiya and other companies make a great clear paint.  Easy.

 

But seriously, I would never build a model with a clear body.   Unless the actual car had a clear body.   But doing so would eliminate having to sweat the intimidating blue/red paint scheme.  I dread building this kit, but I'm going to have to.  *sigh*  It's maybe the prettiest Nascar car of all time.  I can't not build it.

[Fender]

looks like the MPC Street Charger- prob with a mix of that kit and General Lee?

[niteowl7710]

looks like the MPC Street Charger- prob with a mix of that kit and General Lee?

This kit is where the other two came from. That's why the Street Charger was a "One Run of Fun" reissue, to backdate the tool back to the original NASCAR kit negated the ability to do it again.

[hpiguy]

What they should do is have someone pull a body made out of lexan for them and include it with the opaque body.

 

I'm also big into R/C and we have lexan shells for even 1/4 scale cars.

 

All it would take is to make a plug from one of the styrene bodies and duplicate it. Lexan is cheap and fast to work with.

 

Maybe someone after market could do that. Lexan comes out crystal clear with little to no defects and then we could have both. Opaque accurate body and a clear lexan shell that as well if we want to go that way for a bit.

[Fender]

I hope that the Petty car is a big hit.   The other Stock cars were the Hardees T bird and The Pontiac in 1/16 that I used to have- I forget who made them. If the Petty car goes well it would be nice to have those other nascars back also.  

 

I'd like to see as many as possible 1/8- 1/12- 1/16  kits come back. 

[Edsel-Dan]

The 2 T-Birds & 2 Pontiacs were AMT, but many said that were not all that accurate.

Definitely not as detailed as this one.

Pontiacs were 43 of King Richard & 75 of Neil Bonnet

 

Not sure who the second 'Bird was.

[Edsel-Dan]

OK, That was Before Neil I think

[Dave Van]

OK, That was Before Neil I think

Neil had left RAMOHC Racing by the time the kit came out. He had gone to  a limited sched. The thing most folks forget is the #75 kit was announced at RCHTA as a Tim Richmond Old Milwaukee car!!  But the anti beer PC folks killed that one and the Speed car was filled in.

 

BTW....the kits are not well done. The Pontiac is salvageable but the TB is a mess. Body is all wrong. They have you cutting up the roll cage to make the body fit the chassis......just a mess.

[Greg Myers]

sorry guys I just could not resist in an early April fools joke LOL

Chuck

 

 

 

 

The new box is smaller ?

[Edsel-Dan]

Looks like it is.

[Fender]

 I'm building a modded General Lee which is close to the same as this kit (Petty) engine wise and chassis wise.......I looked thru this thread and couldn't find it BUT   I read  somewhere about having to tweek the headers and header gaskets to make them fit the engine right so that when the engine is installed in the chassis  the headers won't touch the tie rod or some other chassis parts.  I wanted to get a little more detail on that..  if anyone knows?

 

I'm going to be ready soon to do the tweek but I want to figure out all my test fits and gluing so it goes smooth.  Plus that will help when I get to the Petty kit if it has the same tweek needed.. Thanks--

 

I remembered the AMT stock cars and how the T Bird was messed up-  I'm glad my memory went back that far-( *80's) I guess I'm doing pretty good!

 

And----  I'll buy any 1/16, 1/12, 1/8  Nascar kit--  a 1/8 kit would be beyond cool--- ( I know- they'll never make one)

[mikemopar70]

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..

[JMChladek]

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.

[1972coronet]

Not to completely railroad the thread ...

I wonder if a multi-piece car body would take well to clear casting ? In other words , perhaps something along the lines of how a full-scale ("1:1") auto body is assembelled ; main "skeletal" structure ; separate quarter panels , fenders , shear panels , door skins , etc. , etc.

Certainly this would be "easier" in 24th or 25th scale ; however , perhaps it'd be *do-able* in 16th scale as well .

 

Just a thought ...

[JMChladek]

The idea does make sense. Although I've found that the seams in multi-piece clear parts do tend to stick out like a sore thumb somewhat if they are thick. One possible alternative I could see though would be a clear vaccuform body perhaps (even multi-piece since the edges of the parts would be thinner).

 

Still, I would consider that more for an aftermarket supplier to do rather than Round 2.