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Best kit to build 1964 GTO?


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Odd that you would say that. The Polar Lights '64 GTO compares FAR more favorably to reference pics than the Revell Monogram kit. OK, so it's a snapper, so what? Scale and shape wise, it's pretty much right on the money. Same with the original AMT '64--but that one is in mega-bucks territory.

Art

Having had both the Monogram & the Polar Lights 64 GTO kit, I can safely say that the Polar Lights kit is as accurate looking to the 1/1 as a $3 bill is accurate to legal tender, since we are discussing being "on the money". The Polar Lights snap kits were very inaccurate looking, overpriced for what you got, & in general a complete waste of styrene. I'd stay away from them at all costs.

I think that the gentleman that is the former senior editor of High Performance Pontiac magazine would be one of the best to pass judgement on the accuracy of both kits, & he said that the Monogram kit looks more accurate. Perhaps the only person that might consider the Polar Lights GTO more accurate would be someone like Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles.

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Hey Round- 2 ya listening .............................................................................................................................................................?

Ed Shaver

As best as I can find out, AMT retooled the 64 Tempest/GTO annual kit into the 65 GTO annual kit, so I doubt we'll see them backdate the 65 GTO to a 64. Since Revell is about to reissue the ex Monogram kit, I'd go with that. It is nicely detailed for the era it was tooled up in, & more accurate than the other alternative from Polar Lights.

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Personally, I preferred the Monogram one over the others............it just seemed more "right" to me.

Here's my stillborn '64 convertible that I never finished..........the acetate windows have now warped among other things. I may take it totally apart sometime and redo it. Don't look for that anytime soon though............... ;)

It looks beautiful. What keeps you away from finishing it?

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It looks beautiful. What keeps you away from finishing it?

You can't see it from the pics, but the windows are severely warped. Even more so since that pic was taken. I had used the wrong kind of acetate when I did the glass--------now over time they've warped so badly that I can't stand it.

I'd need to totally take it apart, and replace the glass. The paint job (to me) could stand to be better as well, but I'm my own worst critic when it comes to things like this.

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Odd that you would say that. The Polar Lights '64 GTO compares FAR more favorably to reference pics than the Revell Monogram kit. OK, so it's a snapper, so what? Scale and shape wise, it's pretty much right on the money. Same with the original AMT '64--but that one is in mega-bucks territory.

Art

I don't know what your smoking, but in my opinion Ray Charles could see the the Polar lights GTO is junk!! These pictures should prove that fact just fine. A real 64 Goat:

64_GTO.jpg

and a pic of my Revellogram GTO at a similar angle.

HPIM2179.jpg

And now the supposedly "great" Polar Lights kit

000_2920.jpg

and another real 64 GTO at a similar angle.

64-Pontiac-GTO-02.jpg

I'm sorry, but the Revellogram GTO looks much more like the real car, the only way I think the Polar Lights version looks anywhere close to the real thing is if the real thing has hit a brick wall and was shortened by a few feet!! :blink: :blink:

By the way, the blue model is in a thread here:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24925

Edited by highway
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I have the Monogram kit and it built into a nice model, but it is too blocky and tall compared to the actual car!(compared to a friends 64Tempest)

Except for being a little stubby in the front the PL has softer lines more towards the original!

All this shows is someone needs to make a new and better representative model of the 64 GTO!

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To my eye the Polor lights GTO is off, but not in one major way but in many small ways that combine for an effect that is greater than it's sum. It's gretest sin is the soft details which tend to make the whole car seem too rounded. The real car is "banana shaped in the sense that the hood and the trunk slope away from the greenhouse, but the crisp and square body lines counteract that and give the whole car a longer lower look that Pontiac wanted. The soft body lines combined with wheels that appear oversized and fender openings that to my eye look undersized change the look of the car completely.

I've measure the model against a real one and dimensionally it's not far off, but the subtle details of the bodylines make it look off. Either way we could argue all day over which is the better of the two, but i think the most compelling argument is, which model got bought and built more. I constantly see the monogram kit built but hardly ever see the polar lights kit. The market place has spoken, and whether or not one kit is actually better than the other is of no consequence, if the marketplace disagrees with you.

That said, had Polor lights tooled up a 1965 GTO they would be heros today, even with the same execution, because anything would be better than the MPC based atrocity that has been offered over and over that somewhat looks like it might have been parked next to a 1965 GTO once.

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I just wanted to say thanks for all the great replies and outstanding pictures of some great '64 GTO's. The feedback allowed me to really learn alot, and I went with the Monogram (red molded plastic version). Should be delivered next week! I'm sure when I start building it, I'll be asking more questions! Thanks again!

Paul

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It does build into a nice looking model! I bought it when it was first released. Painted it red. Thinking about going back and redoing the silver painted trim with bare metal foil! :)

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My brother had a 64 GTO and I reworked the body and re painted it for him, so I think I know the subject well. I have no problems with the Polar Lights body. Plus it's 1/25 scale for kit bashing so it's my choice, the Monogram kit is OK unless you want to do better under the hood.

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OK, first a disclaimer- I haven't read the first few pages... just this page. Matt- thank you for posting the 'real' vs 'model' pics. Never noticed it before, but it hit with the comparison... that grille is NOT flat on the 1:1, nor is the top edge on the same plane as the bottom edge. The PL kits loses then and there.

Great. Now what to do with the PL kits?

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  • 2 years later...

I just saw the Polar Lights kit at Hobby Lobby a couple of days ago, but didn't want to buy it without checking here first. From the pictures I've seen here, it looks like the GTO and 6.5 litre emblems on the sides are just decals. I won't get into the discussion of which looks more accurate as I haven't owned either version.

I saw the original AMT '64 kit years ago and it looked nice - about like the '65 model. Is the AMT version issued several years ago the Polar Lights kit mentioned here? Is that a hardtop or post sedan?

Wasn't the Revell/Monogram GTO a 2-door post sedan in 1/24th scale?

Thanks.

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Very interesting thread. I'd never taken a GOOD look at the PL but after reading this I google-imaged it and looked at many pics. I don't think it's horrendous but I can kinda see what y'all are talking about. It ain't perfect, that's for sure.

Meanwhile, I have an original AMT to restore. Undecided on the color, but have it down to Marimba Red (metallic) and dark metallic blue. Any votes for one or the other?

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I have two OI AMT '64 GTO and a PL '64 GTO and the Mono '64 and agree with Bob Ellis. FWIW the OI AMT kit misses some critical details. The one that jumped out at me immediately was the line that goes across the cowl is missing on the AMT. Again, I think trusting measurements except for easy ones, like wheelbase are always hard to get consistency.

There was a tread here recently about the Trumpeter 1960 Pontiac, and until Harry did a line out photo showing key points lining up,

the roof wasn't that bad, except how it had been placed on the body. This kit has been panned since it came out as the roof is too short.

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I haven't seen very many of the PL GTO's built. That alone tells me something. What I have seen of it puts me in mind of a dog right before it takes a poop. I saw one at HL and it was priced in the same range as glue kits. :rolleyes: There's a reason they weren't around anymore. That's one brand that Round2 should've left dead.

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Red '64 GTO is a good choice.

If that was for me, it'll be the metallic Marimba Red metallic, not the solid red. I already have the solid red '67 and '70 GTOs in my collection, and I'm looking for as much variety in my "every year GTO" set. I was locked into the dark metallic blue, but recently decided that I'd do the '65 in that color. (The '66 will be light yellow, the '68 will be Verdoro Green, the '69 will be Carousel Red, the '71 will be Castillian Bronze, and the '72 will be Julep Green.)

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