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Revell Reissued 57 Chevy Black Widow wrong body ?


kingiguana

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Last weekend a friend of mine picked up the reissued 57 Black Widow for me at a local swap meet. He dropped it off to me the other night. Upon, opening the kit, I find the body to the Belair sedan, not the 150 Utility Sedan. Everything else in the box is Black Widow, just a wrong body. Has anyone elese found this yet ? I'll be calling Revell later today, and hopefully they send out the right body.

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If the kit came from a swap meet, how do you know it was packaged that way by Revell?

it appeared to be factory shrink wrap,...plus reading the other posts here, I guess Revell knows. And the guy I purchased this from is a dealer, and also has a Hobby Shop. 

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Makes sense they would have the Bel Air body...wasn't the 150 2dr sedan out first, then the Bel Air 2dr sedan?   That may have been a retool and the only '57 Bel Air 2dr sedan body that exists now..would have to change the body tool to go back to the 150?  Just speculating...

Edited by Rob Hall
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Makes sense they would have the Bel Air body...wasn't the 150 2dr sedan out first, then the Bel Air 2dr sedan?   That may have been a retool and the only '57 2dr sedan body that exists now..would have to change the body tool to go back to the 150?  Just speculating...

The 150 came out in 2009, I'm almost positive the Bel Air came out before that considering it's kit 1912 vs. 4240 for the 150.

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The 150 came out in 2009, I'm almost positive the Bel Air came out before that considering it's kit 1912 vs. 4240 for the 150.

Is there any meaning to Revell kit numbers, though?   IIRC the Bel Air 2dr sedan 2n1 came out after the 150...   but it doesn't really matter..

Edit: I checked the Revell catalogs...the 2009 catalog shows the '57 150 Black Widow as 'New' and the 2010 Catalog shows the 'California Wheels' Bel Air sedan as 'New'.  

Edited by Rob Hall
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Is there any meaning to Revell kit numbers, though?   IIRC the Bel Air 2dr sedan 2n1 came out after the 150...   but it doesn't really matter..

Edit: I checked the Revell catalogs...the 2009 catalog shows the '57 150 Black Widow as 'New' and the 2010 Catalog shows the 'California Wheels' Bel Air sedan as 'New'.  

Quite possible the 1912 kit is the SnapTite kit now that I look at the numbering.

I can't disprove your release order, but it just seems to be the '57 Bel Air (and not the 1973 kit) has been around for awhile, and then it was modified into the 150/Black Widow to cash in on the vintage NASCAR craze that Moebius started with the Hudson & 300, and then again "modified" into the Convertible.  Obviously I'm misremembering the time line.

But it does seem quite silly that Revell perma-modified the body into the Bel Air after the 150 and then didn't remember doing that.

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Years ago, when AMT came out with the '71 Charger R/T, my LHS had a shipment that had an Olds Toronado body, (if I remember correctly) in place of the Charger body. AMT was replacing the order and the LHS owner was selling the kits with the mis-matched bodies for next to nothing. I think I bought five of them off of him for the parts particularly the awesome 440's with the 727 trannys.

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Quite possible the 1912 kit is the SnapTite kit now that I look at the numbering.

I can't disprove your release order, but it just seems to be the '57 Bel Air (and not the 1973 kit) has been around for awhile, and then it was modified into the 150/Black Widow to cash in on the vintage NASCAR craze that Moebius started with the Hudson & 300, and then again "modified" into the Convertible.  Obviously I'm misremembering the time line.

But it does seem quite silly that Revell perma-modified the body into the Bel Air after the 150 and then didn't remember doing that.

I'm pretty sure the 150 was first, then the Bel Air 2dr sedan, then later the convertible.   Moebius came along much later IIRC w/ their vintage stock cars, didn't they?  The '08-11 time frame is kind of a murky period of my life for various reasons...

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Perhaps the '57 Bel Air Sedan bodyside mold pieces were installed instead of the 150-specific pieces. Both share the same Sedan roof height, and I can't think of any other changes between the two bodies which couldn't be accomplished by changing the bodyside inserts. :unsure:

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Perhaps the '57 Bel Air Sedan bodyside mold pieces were installed instead of the 150-specific pieces. Both share the same Sedan roof height, and I can't think of any other changes between the two bodies which couldn't be accomplished by changing the bodyside inserts. :unsure:

No big deal really, but upon checking two built models on the shelf, I can see that the 1:1 differences between the Bel Air and the 150 interiors are present.  The dash in the 150 doesn't have the Bel Air polished aluminum dash insert and is a radio delete style. The seat pattern is also more basic on the 150.

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No big deal really, but upon checking two built models on the shelf, I can see that the 1:1 differences between the Bel Air and the 150 interiors are present.  The dash in the 150 doesn't have the Bel Air polished aluminum dash insert and is a radio delete style. The seat pattern is also more basic on the 150.

I should've been clearer-- I was talking about the body shells only. I suspect the mold for both the Bel Air and 210 Sedans both share the same base and differences are accounted for with various inserts as needed, but that's just a guess on my part. I have compared a few "newer" Revell 1/25 Tri-Five Chevy kits, but not these two, so again, my guess.

Below is the mold half for the 1/25 Revell Datsun 240Z kit, and at the bottom left we see the cavity for the body shell. It is my understanding the two thick pins on either side align the bodyside sections, and those sections are what I'm speculating got mixed up when the everything was setup and run:

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Is there any meaning to Revell kit numbers, though?   IIRC the Bel Air 2dr sedan 2n1 came out after the 150...   but it doesn't really matter..

Edit: I checked the Revell catalogs...the 2009 catalog shows the '57 150 Black Widow as 'New' and the 2010 Catalog shows the 'California Wheels' Bel Air sedan as 'New'.  

Yes, the Black Widow kit was the first one, kitnumber 85-4240 and the Bel Air sedan is 85-4251.

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I have both and yeah, I can see where different slides could be used to differentiate the two. Actually, I bought the Bel Air for a possible '57 Nomad kitbash with their '56. I've no idea why that one gets ignored.........It's just as popular as the '56 if not more so, and no, Revell's long ago tooled '57 Nomad just ain't it! :blink:

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