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1/25 MPC 904 '57 Chevy Flip Nose


Casey

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1 hour ago, Ben said:

The one on the model starts further forward on the body and the bottom of it is more curved.

Yes. They "bent" the lower edge of the spear upward to clear the enlarged wheel openings, and the shape is wrong. That's what's kept me from building this kit all these years. I'm giving serious thought to grafting most of the rear fender skin from a Revell body on to get the right shape.

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3 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Yes. They "bent" the lower edge of the spear upward to clear the enlarged wheel openings, and the shape is wrong. That's what's kept me from building this kit all these years. I'm giving serious thought to grafting most of the rear fender skin from a Revell body on to get the right shape.

How about this photo etch set at Model Roundup?

3BD9890B-5347-487E-B8FB-355362A50137.gif

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I was excited the last time this kit was re-issued, so I rushed out, paid up about $30 and started building- this was the first car kit I purchased myself as a kid back in the 70's, and in spite of some body and other inaccuracies for the '57 purist, when built up it does have a certain period gasser look (provided you are OK with big slicks protruding through modified wheel arches). My original build did not survive, but I painted it red, applied the kit decals and covered the rear windows with sponsor decals. My paintwork was pretty crappy, but it sure did look mean sitting on the table all raked with those decals. I did a few of the early 80's versions in black and lime green based on how much I liked that original kit.

I scoured eBay for years hoping to find an original issue to do up like the box art, but didn't like the prices. When I got my hands on the last re-issue of this kit, intending to recreate that first building experience, there were a few things that threw me and weren't quite the way I remembered. The wheels in the kit are not the wheels in the box art from the 1976 issue, so that was disappointing. The rear edge of the hood opening was modified to be cut back all the way to the rear of the hood for later re-issues (for the purpose of clearing the big Mr. Gasket style blower intake scoop included in the last few re-issues), so that doesn't jive with the box art...I only twigged to this after painting the body of the re-issue, too late to backdate the hood opening by fabbing up a trailing edge for the rear of the hood. I was hoping to get my hands on some resin re-pops of the original wheels but there weren't any to be found, so I ended up overpaying for an original issue when one finally appeared on eBay.

As much as I enjoyed the original issue of this kit, unless they fixed a few things on the latest version to allow building it as per the box art, I will probably pass. Fixing the hood is simple enough, but re-popping the wheels probably won't happen as it is a limited market and many builders today just won't care to pay up for resin wheels considering what the re-issue will cost. For the record, I paid $2.76 Canadian for the kit I bought back in '76 :unsure:

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7 minutes ago, High octane said:

While some of you guys have issues with this model or that model, you can always send those kits to me and you won't have to deal with issues. Problems solved.

I am not too hard on this kit- I've bought 5 or 6 of them over the years ;).

I just wish what was in the box matched the box art, so putting that out there that there are some differences. I believe I raided another gasser kit for the original style blower scoop. There are period style wheels that can be used to backdate what comes in the box. Wish I still had the wheels from my original build.

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17 minutes ago, gman said:

I am not too hard on this kit- I've bought 5 or 6 of them over the years ;).

I just wish what was in the box matched the box art, so putting that out there that there are some differences. I believe I raided another gasser kit for the original style blower scoop. There are period style wheels that can be used to backdate what comes in the box. Wish I still had the wheels from my original build.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with this issue

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I have an original issue of this and picked up an older Revell 57 (opening doors and trunk) to try and use the interior and frame/floorpan into the MPC... No dice without major surgery so it will be built out of the box although I may remove the side trim.

I see this kit returning in the near future from R2, so I will end up with a few more.

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The one time I tackled this kit, it was in the late '70s and I put a ton of work into kitbashing it with an AMT Nomad to build Bob Falfa's "'very wicked" '55 Chevy; got it about 3/4 done. The body panels fit together fairly well. Maybe I should finish it as the stunt car that was rolled...:rolleyes:

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10 hours ago, pack rat said:

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with this issue

I hope you are right :) 

:prepares to take more money out of wallet:

Insider knowledge?

Edited by gman
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12 hours ago, henry57 said:

I used to own a car that was nearly identical to the kit, it had a tunnel ram, tilt front end, ladder bars, and black diamond tuck interior.  You can see what the real trim is supposed to look like.

 

 

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Great pic! And it really shows how wrong the lower edge of the spear on the kit is.

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7 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

The one time I tackled this kit, it was in the late '70s and I put a ton of work into kitbashing it with an AMT Nomad to build Bob Falfa's "'very wicked" '55 Chevy; got it about 3/4 done. The body panels fit together fairly well. Maybe I should finish it as the stunt car that was rolled...:rolleyes:

Wasn't the trashed car a junky hardtop?:huh:

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The other thing with this kit, is its a 210. The rear 1/4 spears are the short 150 /210 versions and a plain radio delete dash. The bel air side trim needs sanding. Also the front bumper is a rubber bullet delete style. Its not bad but its been around a long time. 

Shame the didnt use the later box art, with whats actuall inside the box.

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On 7/11/2018 at 6:26 PM, ChrisBcritter said:

That was the one that blew up;  the rollover stunt car was a 2-door post. It had an Olds rear end with those distinctive wheels that nobody makes in scale (hint hint Chief Joseph...;))

Stunt car:

5b467754da43b_ag55chevystuntcar-42.jpg.2969b7e224b7b67fa0a056603e20cacc.jpg

Burn car:

5b4677870115b_ag55chevyburncar-44.jpg.a26f20e05f368f97e660e759186aa086.jpg

My car:

P1140042.JPG.4968c6854f38a1ff248a9f5df5a0fb92.JPG

P1140045.JPG.a11967dfbac387942cac547083575bbd.JPG

 

On 7/11/2018 at 7:59 PM, henry57 said:

Huh, that burn car actually looks like a 56.

This car is one of the "two lane blacktop cars...Look it up   :)

 

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