Robberbaron

Stopped in at my local HL yesterday (Hobart, IN). Still no Supernatural Impalas, but they finally did have several new releases: '65 Fairlane Stocker, '70 Galaxie Police, and the Revell '29 Roadster. First new kits I've seen there since the reopening.I For all I know, they may be carrying the SN Impalas and they're just selling out. They only seem to stock two of each kit on the shelves, and frankly they don't seem too diligent about restocking at this location. No auto kits on clearance either, but did see some aircraft/ships with red tags. Suspect there's probably several guys that come in systematically to poach any marked down car/truck kits. I scored a bunch several years ago, but that was just timing/dumb luck on my part.

Technically, since that has the high-mounted side trim, I believe that's probably a '67 Bel Air. (For some reason, in 1967 Chevy decided the Bel Air would get the 6-light taillights, like the Impala. Every other year they used the basic 4-light arrangement like the Biscayne)

My local Hobart, IN Hobby Lobby also still hasn't gotten these. No surprise since it always seems to be back of the pack as far as stocking new releases. Literally nothing new on the shelves since they reopened, and no spaces marked for anything upcoming.

Stopped at my LHS yesterday after work and was able to FINALLY snag one of the new release Revell '29 Model A roadsters. Told me they've been flying off the shelf as fast as he can stock them. Also stopped by Michaels the other day and got another '32 Ford 5-window with their 50% off coupon. Can't have too many of those, just for parts.

Wow, that was 2014? Time flies. I have that reissue, but don't remember the cheaters slicks. I'll have to take a look at them next time I'm digging through the stash.

Looks good, Snake. This would be the only way I'd be interested in building this one, too.

Well, maybe it's patterned after a 1:1, but that doesn't mean the styling is any less bizarre. This is obviously an aesthetics thing/matter of opinion, but the "swoopy" styling of that camper shell clashes with the straight-lined styling of the Courier, IMHO. My first reaction to the above picture is "it looks like it was left in the sun too long". 😉

I was the same way when I was a kid. I remember at family gatherings several of my uncles got a kick out of quizzing me on make/model/year of different cars. I even remember arguing with my Uncle Don that a Ford Galaxy was a 1969, not a 1970 because the taillights were different. I knew for a fact, because my dad had bought my Grandfather's 1970 Galaxy 500 sedan when he quit driving. I new all the differences between the different years of full size Ford's and Chevies, and even some of the model differences (like when I noticed that Biscaynes and Bel Airs had fewer taillights than Impalas) Our other family car was a 1968 Impala 4-door sedan, so I would love to see a '68 conversion too. We really need new plastic versions of the '68 and '69 Impalas. Those are the only model years from 1958 thru 1970 that aren't available in a modern kit. While we're dreaming, my first car was a '77 Caprice coupe, so I would love a kit of that too (or an actual DECENT resin version). Not gonna hold my breath for that one, though...

*edit* The cheater slicks are not included in this AMT branded reissue. 😐 I'm disappointed too. Never had one of the original PL versions, but I always heard that the cheaters were the highlight of the original release. With some of the body inaccuracies, I was on the fence about getting this reissue. Without the slicks, I think I'll pass. As others have mentioned, Round 2 is clearly cost-cutting by skimping on tires in a lot of their recent releases. Problem is, when the tires are potentially the best part of the kit, they loose sales. Also, didn't Dave Metzner (who worked for Polar Lights/RC2 before Moebius) state that this kit had a complete Hemi engine tooled up that never saw the light of day under PL? I was hoping Round 2 would include that too. (not that really there's any lack of 1/25 Hemi's, but it would have been another selling point for this one)

Ok, I saw the second roof and assumed it must be a convertible up top. Didn't think of the possibility that it could be a custom part.

I've got a Modelhaus repop of the original, to use on the one kit in my stash, but I'd pony up for another one if they actually fixed it for this release. Seeing how they refuse to fix the butchered taillights in the two recent 1969 Chevelle reissues, my gut tells me they won't fix the headlights on this one either. On the other hand, Round 2 has been retooling quite a few parts for some of their recent reissues. Usually though, it seems like it's a matter of restoring parts that have gone missing over the years instead of correcting parts that are still present. Personally, I think some of that money could be better spent correcting the shortcomings in a kit like this (headlights, taillights, rear Pontiac lettering) vs. retooling the weird asymmetrical custom parts for the recent 1963 Impala reissue, for example, which very few builders are likely to use.

Just noticed that convertible up top. Have any of the post-80s releases included that? I have the late 80s/early 90s release (molded in turd brown), but I don't remember that being included. Then again, I haven't looked at it in at least 10 years. Just wondering if that's from a newly opened runner in the tooling, or if it was also in the RC2 releases?

VERY happy to see the news on this one! Certainly never expected to see this one again, especially after seeing the comments on that old hanger shot picture from several years ago, plus the fact the original body got butchered. About the only way it could be better in my book is if they had retooled the hardtop body instead of the convertible (since I personally much prefer fixed-roof cars). I certainly still plan to get one. I am curious, however: if the body needed to be retooled, is there a reason they chose to do the convertible vs. the hardtop? Supposedly kits of convertibles don't sell as well compared to the same subject as a hardtop - it's definitely easier for a builder to convert a hardtop body to a convertible than vice-versa. I'm sure the original hardtop and convertible kits shared the same interior tub (with the convertible doglegs), so that doesn't seem like the answer. Maybe the reason is that they were able to reuse the original convertible-specific body core that they already had? Not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth here, just genuinely intrigued by the process R2 sent through when they decided to resurrect this kit.

A '68 Chevelle wagon based on the El Camino would be sweet! Seems like they could reuse all the dirty bits, similar to the Revell '66 siblings. Regarding the Vista Cruiser, that generation (along with the Buick Sportwagon) actually used a stretched 121" wheelbase, I believe. The "standard" (non-Vista Cruiser) Cutlass wagons used the same 116" wheelbase shared with the other A-body 4 -doors and the El Caminos. Since Olds didn't offer a true full size wagon at the time, the Vista Cruiser helped fill a gap above the standard 116" wagons. I really like the idea of a '69 Vista Cruiser, and a tie-in with "That '70s Show" would match up with Round 2's marketing strategy. The main problem is that there is very little that they could use from the existing '69 442/Hurst Olds. Really the only things I can think of are the engine block and auto trans from the H/O, front glass, front bumper/grill surround, and probably (?) the dash and rear axle. Everything else would need to be newly tooled: body, interior, long wheelbase chassis, driveshaft, exhaust, rear bumper, taillights, wheel covers are all different. Even the grill inserts would need to be new, and the non-power-dome hood is different too. I can still imagine Round 2 doing it due to the marketing tie-in, but it would be a LOT more ambitious than the Supernatural Impala, which is itself pretty impressive. I agree that one of the Brady Mopar wagons also seems possible, but I think it would be a similar situation to the Vista Cruiser: almost everything new. Family Truckster seems possible too, but I think that would have much less appeal. Can''t really think of any other iconic TV/movie wagons that could be a candidate? Looking where Round 2 is spending their money for major new tooling, I really suspect any kind of new wagon tooling would have some kind of show biz tie-in.

I was lucky at mine, since they had an in-store price scanner literally 5 feet away from the display. None of the kits had price tags on them, there were only large tags on each side of the display. I thought some of the kits might be in the wrong places, so I started grabbing several at a time and scanning each, with the results stated above.