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First Detailed Look and Kit Commentary - new Moebius '65 Plymouth Satellite


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At this link are 53 photos and commentary on the new Moebius '65 Plymouth Satellite kit. (Kit provided in advance by Moebius to several model car journalist/builders for advance publicity purposes, including this writer).

From first impressions, this looks to be a great kit - have a look and see if you agree. Of course, as always, the final verdict will be how it appears when fully painted and assembled.

By the way, Moebius advised that the kit is in production now and should be available for retail purchase domestically sometime in July.

DSC_0468-vi.jpg

Thanks in advance for your interest.

TIM

(PS - I recommend against posting pictures of real '65 Satellites and comparing them to the pictures herein, as differences in camara lenses, focal lengths, photography angles, et al make it virtually impossible to draw accurate conclusions about real vs. kit body proportions and accuracy.)

(PSS - Board Moderators - I posted this as a separate topic since it is a detailed discussion of the actual kit, vs. the existing thread which is mostly pre-introduction in topic content. But feel free to move this to the previous topic thread if you prefer). TB

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Tim,

Excellent review!!! This looks like another big win for Moebius and I share your enthusiasm for what they are doing for the model building hobby. I am building the '54 Hudson and another Chrysler 300 (my 6th & 7th Moebius kits) along with a Revell Grand Prix model of a 1:1 I owned. I realized yesterday the significant difference between building a Moebius kit and any kit from someone else.....they have really raised the bar for everyone.

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Wow! Thanks Tim for another great review. I love the way you review kits. The comparisons with the older kits are great. And as I've said else where, I'm not a big '65 Satellite fan. But, the more I see of this kit, the more I want one. Moebius is do things right to make me want a '65 Satellite. Again, keep these great reviews coming Tim. And Moebius and Dave keep those great models coming. Both cars and other subject.

By the way Tim, I do have one minor complaint with this review. And it's very, very minor. I do wish you had included the Polar Lights '65 Coronet for comparison. It's always looked okay to me. Maybe a review comparing the Polar Lights '65 Coronet to the MPC(/AMT) '65 Coronet would be in order? (Maybe you or somebody has already done this?)

Scott

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By the way Tim, I do have one minor complaint with this review. And it's very, very minor. I do wish you had included the Polar Lights '65 Coronet for comparison. It's always looked okay to me. Maybe a review comparing the Polar Lights '65 Coronet to the MPC(/AMT) '65 Coronet would be in order? (Maybe you or somebody has already done this?)

Scott

Appreciate the feedback, Scott. If I can find the time, I'll see if I can add those Polar Lights comparison photos in. And if I do it, I'll lever everyone know here.

Thanks....TIM

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Thanks Tim for the review of this real nice kit from mobius I can't waite till I get mine from the hobby shop and also I will be getting the 61 ventura from them I can't waite to see the review on that kit also thanks again Tim!!!!!

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Bravo, TIM !! This kit looks phenomenal in every aspect ! Kudos to DAVE, et al., for mastering such a much needed subject !!

In reference to the 727s oil pan : it certainly does look like a Direct Connection (et al.) part. The 1965 Torqueflite was a one year only animal ; first year for column shift, last year year for cable cable actuation. , last last year for 2 oil pumps.

Thanks for your review review !

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One thing I've noticed here, as well as Steve's F-Series photos - which isn't necessarily a Moebius "thing" as Revell does it too - is the use of those Mississippi Delta Queen paddles on the wheels. That's a new annoyance that I first remember seeing in the '50 Oldsmobile kit, and now it seems to be spreading...the tires are always the weak spot in these kits and those paddles impede the use of replacement items unless they too are hollow like the kit tires.

Yeah, yeah I can remove the riverboat accessories, but why are they there in the first place?

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Great review! I agree about the bumpy wheel rims. I will be searching for better tires right away, so they will just get sanded off. Not that hard, but a slight nuisance. I am going to wait until I have a kit in my hands to pass final judgement, but Tim's pictures sure make the vent windows look funny. The real Satellite had really tall, narrow vent windows. These look quite a bit shorter and wider, without the same curve at the top front corner. Hopefully, it's just the vent window, and we can just shave the back of the glass and tweak the post a bit and make it look right. Everything else looks fantastic. Moebius sure is hitting a lot of Home Runs as of late. This kit may not be quite to the level of the Ford trucks, or the upcoming Pontiac, but it looks pretty nice. I love the wheel detail and the door handles look as nice as anything I have seen molded. It may not be perfect, but it looks like the best American passenger kit in several years. The tight fitting hood is great for people who build without painting. It also allows us to sand accordingly to match our paint jobs. When I use lacquer and get a really thin paint buildup on some kits, I don't fill in the hood gap enough, and I get a sloppy looking hood fit. With this, the guy who builds without paint leaves the hood as is. They guy making the thin lacquer paintjob makes two or three passes with the sanding stick, and the guy slopping on the Testor's enamel paintjob takes five or six swipes with the sanding stick. It sure is easier to sand a bit of plastic off than to add it on!

Moebius is getting right up in Tamiya's grille, quality wise, with their interior and chassis detailing. The buildup of this kit looks as nice as any all plastic kit I have seen. I will have to see the dash in person to know if I can paint detial the instrument panel, or if I will use the kit decal. The dash and door panels look excellent. The chrome looks awesome, and the engraving on the body looks like a Japanese kit. It looks like the mold lines will clean up really easily, and are well thought out. I'm going to have to ask the modeling Gods for very steady hands for one Morning, to cut those door handles and wheel centers off of the chrome tree in one piece! They look to be very close to scale... and delicate!

Thanks for a great review of what should be a really good kit.

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I think this has all-new tires, so replacement might not be a necessity, they look pretty decent to me so far what I've seen.

This type of wheel-tire arrangement is pretty common with die-casts, and the first plastic kits I remember seeing with wheels that have extra material that fits into a thin hollow flexible tire were the Polar Lights snap kits back in the early 00's like the Coronet and GTO, and the Revell 68 Firebird. Even the new 66 Batmobile uses this type. So all 3 American model companies (Round 2, Moebius, and Revell) have used this style in recent all-new kits. I think it's here to stay and will probably be the industry standard going forward.

When used with the tires they're designed for it works well, and a major bonus (might be the reason they do it this way) is that it moves the sprue attachment off the rim of the wheel to a place it'll never be seen. You can twist these rims off the sprue and it won't matter. This might be the reason die-casts went to this style so they can assemble them faster and with less skilled workers. The paddles are far easier to remove if you want to do solid tires than the full rings that some wheels use (like the 50 Olds and those early Revell and Polar Lights) so that might be why they're showing up more.

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Thanks Tim for your write up. I remember looking forward to building the Revell 70 Cuda after your write up. I also used your tips on your build to help me along the way. I am looking forward to you building this one.

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Great review! I agree about the bumpy wheel rims... I am going to wait until I have a kit in my hands to pass final judgement, but Tim's pictures sure make the vent windows look funny. The real Satellite had really tall, narrow vent windows. These look quite a bit shorter and wider, without the same curve at the top front corner...

They are funky, mostly because the rear posts run nearly parallel to the A-pillars, instead of converging more noticeably toward them as they run to the top. I promise you you'll see just exactly that when you have yours in your hands.

Those people who've made you feel it necessary to qualify your statement with that classic "wait-and-see" that almost NEVER disproves an early observation? They're the ones with issues. Not you for pointing out a potential flaw.

Fortunately, that one small deviation looks like a pretty easy fix.

In defense of the hollow-tire-support-rib approach: as long as vinyl is the medium for the tires, one key thing we have gotten in trade for that loss of interchangeability is a much more convincing scale interface between the tire and rim. It used to be that when functional locating rims were molded to the wheel halves, the beads would stick out way too far for a scale appearance - AMT's new-tool '60 Sunliner from 2000 being a prime example.

Edited by Chuck Kourouklis
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They are funky, mostly because the rear posts run nearly parallel to the A-pillars, instead of converging more noticeably toward them as they run to the top. I promise you you'll see just exactly that when you have yours in your hands.

Those people who've made you feel it necessary to qualify your statement with that classic "wait-and-see" that almost NEVER disproves an early observation? They're the ones with issues. Not you for pointing out a potential flaw.

Fortunately, that one issue looks like a really easy fix.

Chuck and Dave M, your both correct about the vent posts. That issue was noticed and discussed by the review team and Moebius. After a long discussion weighing the cost to correct the body and the vent glass which is recessed to fit the vent opening. Plus the additional time delay against how easily the average modeler could correct it. The decision was made to leave it alone. It's a small blemish against otherwise outstanding kit in my opinion.

I would have corrected it on my build up but I wanted it to reflect a real out of the box build. Full disclosure here; I did sand the detail off the aftermarket style trans pan to make it look factory stock. I made no other changes.

One last suggestion, I recommend dry fitting the grille support panel to the body when checking the hood fit. It appears the hood fit is even tighter with the grille support panel in place.

-Steve

Edited by SteveG
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When used with the tires they're designed for it works well, and a major bonus (might be the reason they do it this way) is that it moves the sprue attachment off the rim of the wheel to a place it'll never be seen. You can twist these rims off the sprue and it won't matter. This might be the reason die-casts went to this style so they can assemble them faster and with less skilled workers. The paddles are far easier to remove if you want to do solid tires than the full rings that some wheels use (like the 50 Olds and those early Revell and Polar Lights) so that might be why they're showing up more.

Yeah but everyone runs around the Moebius threads insisting that they're the new Tamiya, then they should mold their wheels the way the Japanese do by attaching the sprue mounts to a little riser of material on the back of the wheel and start using polycaps so you could swap wheels and tires quickly and easily between all of the "Big 3" U.S. brands.

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