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Monogram's 69 Camaro Series


disconovaman

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The New Year is just around the corner and I want to start some new builds. I've built many Revell 69 Camaros and I'm putting this On The Workbench to show everyone the tricks that I've come up with to improve the kit over the years. 

I will be building all the 69 Monogam Camaros in their original Boxart form. I want to pay tribute to the kit that introduced me to the 69 Camaro.

My favorite model kit is the Revell 69 Camaro, so I figured I would combine inspiring boxarts with a quality model kit to have the best of both worlds .

Five cars will make up the series. They include

Kit#2220, The Cream Twin turbo 69 Z28 Camaro, This will be the one I build here first.

Kit#2230 The Orange Z28 Street Machine

Kit#2201 The High Roller 4X4 Camaro. Had the kit when I was young...used it for the running gear... never had the desire for a 4x4 Camaro, but now that I'm older? I dig the boxart so why not?

Kit# 2725 The Rampage Camaro. I already have this kit built but I'm going to build it agian because I wasn't really happy with the first outcome.

And finally Kit#7457 I want to build a replica of the first Revell 69 Camaro kit that I built back in 1991. It was molded in blue so I painted the interior black put the white stripes on it and clear coated the body, a very simple boxart build.

Thanks for looking and all comments and valadition is greatly appreciated...

With that said, Lets build a Model...

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You must be a glutton for punishment. I built three of those (each a little better than the last) back in the days before the Revell kit appeared and I can't imagine wanting to build another copy of the wretched backbirth. I did pick up a glue bomb cheap a couple months back just to harvest its roof for a planned '67 Bel Air/Biscayne conversion.  Well, good luck with it anyway, and I hope you at least have fun. B)

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Edited by Snake45
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My first order of business is to add the funky 80's seats to the Revell Kit.These are simular to the ones from the Monogram kit, with a little modifying I think they will look close.

I started by cutting the seat floor out so the back seat will sit flush with the package tray.

 

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18 minutes ago, Erik Smith said:

So you’re building box art version of the Monogram kits but using the Revell kit?

Yes, that is what I'm doing... the Monogram box arts really inspired me. I only wished the contents in the box were as inspiring. However as a kid I built them anyway and it wasn't until the Revell car was released that I stopped building them. 

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5 minutes ago, disconovaman said:

Yes, that is what I'm doing... the Monogram box arts really inspired me. I only wished the contents in the box were as inspiring. However as a kid I built them anyway and it wasn't until the Revell car was released that I stopped building them. 

Ah, I completely misunderstood your original post, then. 

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5 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

Ah, I completely misunderstood your original post, then. 

All those Monogram pics were a little confusing... Plus I don't know how to change to larger fonts on here...

The Monogram car is as you described it, a "backbirth" and it's hideous... lol!

Edited by disconovaman
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Interesting approach! I will be watching closely, as I am also in the process of building a Revell 69 Camaro Z28... Btw, how is the AMT (68) Camaro rated in your opinion? I have that kit too and I'll be using it's custom wheels and tyres for the 69 build, as I am not too happy with the Revell kit's rallye wheels...

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3 hours ago, Tommy124 said:

how is the AMT (68) Camaro rated

I like Amt's 67/68 Camaro... It's kinda basic and simple but I don't have any real complaints about it. I have a few in my stash. I'm using the headers and sidepipes from the 68 Street machine for this build.  

Yo can improve the Wheels from the Revell Camaro by sanding the backs off (saving only the trim ring) which is the best thing about the kit's wheels anyway. Then you can use the wheels from Amt's 69 chevelle. By sanding the fronts off those rallys so they're not so deep. By glueing the Revell trim ring to the AMT wheel it will look more realistic. I usually paint the wheel light grey or argent silver for added realism.

I agree the Revell Camaro rally wheels aren't the best, they do look better on the car once it's built.

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4 hours ago, Tommy124 said:

Interesting approach! I will be watching closely, as I am also in the process of building a Revell 69 Camaro Z28... Btw, how is the AMT (68) Camaro rated in your opinion? I have that kit too and I'll be using it's custom wheels and tyres for the 69 build, as I am not too happy with the Revell kit's rallye wheels...

The AMT '67-'68 Camaro benefits greatly from a couple of minor tweaks. I show you how to do them here: 

 

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Very interesting read Snake, I had never seen that thread before... The car looks fantastic with the improvements you made. I was aware of the door glass moldings being iffy... now when I build the kit I will deffinatly refer back here to make the changes. Nice build on that car too, The grey primer and wheels makes it period correct!

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Thanks both... Very helpful and good to know where to get all this well-founded information in case I "happen" to do one of these kits. Quite a bit of "extra work" to do on all of these Camaro first gen kits, it seems. Looks like the Revell '69 is the less flawed of them, right? Wait - don't tell me! Got enough work to do on that already! :D

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The Revell kit is pretty straight forward, it doesn't have any fitment or dimension issues. I don't think another 69 Camaro kit can compare in 1/25th scale.

There's the very rare and long forgotten Mpc 69 camaro. The tooling was modified on it to build the funny car and was never a stock body agian. That kit is pretty accurate (if you can find one) they are expencive too! Amt bought Mpc and the funny car has been reissued but it's not the same now.

It's the one that has the hideaway grill doors molded with the body and the grill inserts are seperate... 

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19 hours ago, disconovaman said:

Yes, that is what I'm doing... the Monogram box arts really inspired me. I only wished the contents in the box were as inspiring. However as a kid I built them anyway and it wasn't until the Revell car was released that I stopped building them. 

Now I'm definitely on board with this thread. I really dig when people approximate old box art with either better kits, or improvements to the original kits to make them better. I've done some of this myself, with more planned. 

I particularly like the artwork for the white with black stripe box art you have planned. 

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3 minutes ago, Mr. Metallic said:

I particularly like the artwork for the white with black stripe box art you have planned. 

Thanks, As an extra detail I plan on printing that artwork onto vinyl sticker  paper and making the box match the build. It has some small differences but the artwork looks like it would be on a moderen version of the classic boxart.

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48 minutes ago, disconovaman said:

The Revell kit is pretty straight forward, it doesn't have any fitment or dimension issues. I don't think another 69 Camaro kit can compare in 1/25th scale.

There's the very rare and long forgotten Mpc 69 camaro. The tooling was modified on it to build the funny car and was never a stock body agian. That kit is pretty accurate (if you can find one) they are expencive too! Amt bought Mpc and the funny car has been reissued but it's not the same now.

It's the one that has the hideaway grill doors molded with the body and the grill inserts are seperate... 

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First off, the AMT Funny Hugger Camaro (reissued not long ago) has NOTHING to do with or in common with any MPC Camaro. The Funny Hugger's body is what remains of the original AMT '69 Camaro annual, which was actually more accurate in some ways (such as the whole RS front end) than the Revell. I have one of these and I'm gonna convert the body back to stock and build it up using chassis, interior, etc. from a modern Revell. (I also have an original annual, which I plan to restore/rebuild completely someday.)

Now the MPC Camaro...I built both the annual and the Harrell FC back in the day, and still have both in their original (built) condition. (Both need to be cleaned up and restored.) The MPC annual might or might not have been made into the Harrell car, I'm not sure, but it was altered in some way and then restored back in the '80s and reissued a couple different times. These bodies were NEVER accurate from Day One as they converted them from the original '68 and never moved the body side line up, as they should have. The '80s reissue bodies look very similar to the original annual '69, but the original annual had a standard front end and the '80s reissues had the RS grille. The reissues also came with Pontiac V8s and OHC 6s, and I think maybe Firebird interiors too. Not a very good kit and I've built two of them. The last time this mold was seen was in the early 2000s with a Fast N Furious/Yenko boxing and a weird body. Some say this was an all-new body, but I dunno. The body sides look the same but there is definitely something different and weird about the roof. It doesn't look right at all. I built one of these and bought a couple more cheap (at Walmart) just for parts. 

Over the years I've built five MPC '68 Camaros (not counting the Harrell FC), the first in 1969, the latest about two years ago. One of these days I'm gonna get them all together and do on post on "Fifty Years with the MPC Camaro." :D

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13 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

The Funny Hugger's body is what remains of the original AMT '69 Camaro annual, which was actually more accurate in some ways (such as the whole RS front end) than the Revell.

So the car that was modified into the funny car was the AMT annual? Always looked MPCish to me... that just shows how rare those things are lol! I'd like to see a picture of the one you have Snake... It is a pretty cool kit. I've only seen a few myself. I'm glad you are around to clarify... I'm learning alot from you here latley. Thanks bud.

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2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

The last time this mold was seen was in the early 2000s with a Fast N Furious/Yenko boxing and a weird body. Some say this was an all-new body, but I dunno. The body sides look the same but there is definitely something different and weird about the roof. It doesn't look right at all. I built one of these and bought a couple more cheap (at Walmart) just for parts. 

I forgot to mention, this FNF issue of the MPC Camaro had an all-new grille--it's a standard grille like the original annual, but now has separate clear headlights, which is at least some improvement. 

On a semi-related note, when Modelhaus had their final clearance sale, I spotted a "69 Camaro grille" on there and ordered (and got) one. I assumed it was the RS grille and headlight chrome from the original AMT annual because Modelhaus usually called out MPC parts when they're MPC parts, but not this time. What I got was a repop of the original MPC '69 annual non-RS grille. Oh well. I might decide to use it when I restore my original annual, or maybe someone one here will be looking for one someday. (The last MPC '69 Camaro I built, I used a repop of the '68 RS grille on, which fit perfectly, and call the resulting crossbreed a '68 1/2.) 

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Back for a quick Revell 69 Camaro Tip...

First I'll start with my favorite detail I learned to do with this kit... opening the grill to expose the radiator support.This trick can also be used on the RS grill.

I use a razor blade to shave the back thin, then I use a toothpick to peck out the slots. A sanding stick or sand paper will clean up any loose shavings. Be careful when you get down to the nitty-gritty because it will be fairly delicate. It usually takes me about an hour, (I've had alot of practice) It may take awhile to get the technique down, just be extra cautious. 

If you paint the support black and the grill silver this is a very nice detail. If you paint the support a body color, and the grill silver or black, It looks cool that way too. 

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