Revell Ed Roth 57 Bel Air - Suddenly It's 1963!

[unclescott58]

The latest bunch of reviews are a lot more helpful. And I can now understand people's decisions for why they would buy and build this kit. Reminds me of Revell's old '57 Nomad kit released back in the late 60's. Everybody talks about how bad that kit was. And it was. But if Revell ever decides to reissue that kit again, I'll be in line to buy one. It's a very tough kit to build. I think I built at least two of them back in the day. And I remember them turning out OK.

I would still love to see more photos. Both of the kit built and unbuilt. I'd like to see how out of proportion the car looks when it done. There is the reason why I'd buy Revell's old '57 Nomad over the Monogram '57 Nomad they keep on reissuing. The Monogram Nomad just looks wrong to me. The Revell one looked better from what I can remember. And AMT's '55 Nomad went together fairly well and looked right when it was done. The reason I built more AMT kits back in the day, rather than the others.

Scott

Edited May 30, 2014 by unclescott58

[Rob Hall]

The latest bunch of reviews are a lot more helpful. And I can now understand people's decisions for why they would buy and build this kit. Reminds me of Revell's old '57 Nomad kit released back in the late 60's. Everybody talks about how bad that kit was. And it was. But if Revell ever decides to reissue that kit again, I'll be in line to buy one. It's a very tough kit to build. I think I built at least two of them back in the day. And I remember them turning out OK.

I would still love to see more photos. Both of the kit built and unbuilt. I'd like to see how out of proportion the car looks when it done. There is the reason why I'd buy Revell's old '57 Nomad over the Monogram '57 Nomad they keep on reissuing. The Monogram Nomad just looks wrong to me. The Revell one looked better from what I can remember. And AMT's '55 Nomad went together fairly well and looked right when it was done. The reason I build more AMT kits back in the day, rather than the others.

Scott

I think this kit has a lot of parts in common w/ the Revell '57 Nomad.

[Greg Myers]

Tell us and show us more of the kit itself. How bad is it?

http://manuals.hobbico.com/rmx/85-4306.pdf

Original kit http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/instruction_sheetsh/instruction_sheets/revell-6/revell-57-chevy-h-1/

Edited May 29, 2014 by Greg Myers

[Danno]

Lots of folks call me "Bart" or "Burt", or they pronounce my last name "borrow" - it's an English word, as in "wheelbarrow"! I can't image what they do to yours or other furrin'-soundin' names...

I've never had trouble with your name, Brett. I just think of Clyde and Buck.

But that's what it took to get me to stop thinking of 'Butler' as in Rhett Butler. (Don't know where that came from!)

I went for decades never having anyone misspell or mispronounce my name. Then I showed up once on the front page of the newspaper as "Barker." And that was a "good" story. They never got my name wrong when it was an "ahsh...ucks" story!

[Brett Barrow]

We touched on it in one of the "Revell New Kit" threads, but it hasn't been brought up here that this kit's engine is based on the 2nd Parts Pack Chevy #1107 which was labeled as a 327 Corvette engine and was not part of the ca. 2000 Parts Pack reissues.

So, at worst, you have a parts pack engine, some cool period speed parts and a cool decal sheet even if you chuck the rest...

[unclescott58]

http://manuals.hobbico.com/rmx/85-4306.pdf

Original kit http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/instruction_sheetsh/instruction_sheets/revell-6/revell-57-chevy-h-1/

Thanks Greg, these links were very helpful. See both sets of instructions the kit feels familiar. I think Bob Hall maybe right, and this kit shares a lot of parts with Revell's old Nomad. I hate to say it, but after looking at the instructions, I'm tempted to pick one up. It maybe a pain to build. But, it also looks interesting. This is the kit with the quarter windows that go down. I've always thought that feature was kind of cool!

I am going to wait on buying one, until I've see one build. I'd still like to see how it looks finished before I commit to buying one.

Scott

P.S. More than ever, after seeing the instructions for this kit, I'd love to see Revell's old '57 Nomad reissued!

P.P.S. Love the photo on of the real '57 Nomad on the original release of that kit back in 1968.

Edited May 29, 2014 by unclescott58

[57peppershaker]

Great box art & decal sheet. Just noticed the NITE MARE decals lol

I've got the Hot Rod issue that being built as a junker, so a lot of the kit problems wont notice.

Edited May 29, 2014 by 57peppershaker

[57peppershaker]

Just noticed the box art front bumper is custom, but its a stocker in the box.

[Greg Myers]

http://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/revell-instructions/automotive-cars--pi/chevrolet/1951-1960/revell-57-chevy-nom/

Edited May 29, 2014 by Greg Myers

[unclescott58]

Yes Greg, that is one I was thinking about. Thanks again. After looking at the link for the instructions for the Nomad, there is no question in my mind that Bob Hall is right. The two Revell kits did share parts.

With a lot of work, even as a kid, I was able to build the Nomad. The Roth '57 may not be the best kit in the world. If it's like its Nomad brother, it can be built into a fairly nice model.

Scott

Edited May 29, 2014 by unclescott58

[62rebel]

these were never the "shake and bake" kits that Monogram and AMT offered at the same time.... they take some skill to do well.

[Mark]

The Nomad and hardtop are similar, but I doubt they share any actual tooling. Revell had the hardtop in continuous production from 1963 through about 1998, and the Nomad was available, with a couple of short breaks, from 1968 into the early Nineties. Neither share any actual tooling with the '55 hardtop or '56 sedan, though some of the parts look very similar. Revell probably kept each kit as a stand-alone item to ensure that damage to one tool wouldn't keep any of the others out of the catalog for any length of time. They sold a bunch of the tri-five Chevy kits over the years.

Around 1968, the '57 hardtop was reworked. The engine was replaced with the C-1107 parts pack unit, the straight axle was added, hood and trunk hinges were changed, and other numerous little things were done. The Nomad was created around the same time. Some of the parts removed from the hardtop (the original stock engine) may have been used in the Nomad. I'm down to one started original-issue Nomad, I sold off three or four other issues, so I can't compare the parts trees of the two kits. I should dig out the instruction sheets and compare part numbers between the two kits. I do know that some parts like the front bumpers (which do interchange, and do look the same) have different part numbers and have visual differences that are apparent only under close examination.

Issuing the hardtop as the Roth car makes sense. It fits in with the existing Roth kits (including the '56 Ford pickup) in terms of parts breakdown. It was first issued shortly after he started his tenure with Revell. After seeing the Roth/Thacker book, I always thought that Revell should issue both the pickup and '57 hardtop in Roth garb. There are two other Roth cars that would be within reach for Revell; I hope they do those at some point too.

I haven't seen the new issue yet, but am currently tackling the last issue (1998 street machine) as a club project. It actually seems like it won't be as tough as it looks. I've got a couple other issues, including the low rider and an original issue, that I want to build also. Of course, I might not feel like doing one of these again after getting the first one done, but that's another story. For this build, I'm trying to get parts in from as many different '57 kits as possible. The AMT Pro Shop PE grille looks like it will fit, the old-tool AMT grille bar and maybe the valve covers will be used, wheel covers and intake setup will come from the new-tool Revell two-door sedan, and so on. I'm going to hopefully have some fun with this one.

[Spooky Benson]

Here's where I come down on this kit ... if you're buying it as a nostalgia trip, a parts source, a test of how far your building skills have come since childhood or to add to your Roth collection, great. But, if your objective is to actually build a model of a '57 Chevy ... one that won't fight you at every step of the building process and one that accurately captures the look of the iconic 1:1 vehicle ... there are many better options available to you. Here's a few of them, listed in the order in which I would rank them ...

1. Revell's modern-tooling Bel Air Sedan and 150. Quite simply, the best '57 Chevy kits ever produced. And, while I realize neither represents a hardtop, like the Roth kit does, I would think it would be fairly simple to convert the sedan kit to that body style with a simple roof swap if that's what you're looking to build.

2. Revell's '57 Bel Air snap kit. Yeah, it's a snap kit and a curbside, but it nails the look of the 1:1 as well as any other kit on this list.

3. AMT's old-tool kit. This kit's tooling has aged MUCH better than the Revell '57 tooling, and, it was simply a better kit to begin with. About the only knocks on it are the somewhat primitive chassis detail and the fact the ribbed side trim coves are represented by decals rather than engraving. That can be used to the modeler's advantage, though ... leave the decals off and you've got yourself a 210! Or, you could use the photoetched trim pieces from the Model Car Garage set. I THINK this kit is currently available as part of Round 2's line of entry-level, molded-in-color kits. You don't want this version, though, because it has only the stock parts. The very cool speed and custom goodies from older versions have been excised. However, there are plenty of the older kits around and they can be had for cheap money.

4. AMT's new-tool kits, released in the '90s. I'm not as big a fan of these as a lot of people were because the body proportions look heavy to my eye. However, they're still miles better than the Revell kit. And, the street machine version, with its mildly tubbed chassis and big-block engine, is probably your best option if you're building a modern street stalker.

5. The MPC flip-nose gasser. This kit can't be built stock, obviously, but it's still a worthy model, and the body, which represents a two-door sedan, looks really good. This kit was last issued a few years ago by the Model King. They've gotten rather hard to find and can be pricey when you do find them.

Back in the early days of Scale Auto magazine, when it was still known as Scale Auto Enthusiast, Tim Boyd did an article where he built, compared and ranked the four '57 Chevy kits that were available at that time ... old-tool AMT, Revell, MPC and Monogram. Tim's verdict was the AMT kit was best, followed by the MPC flip-nose gasser. The atrociously bad Monogram kit was a distant third and the Revell kit brought up the rear, In fact, Tim assigned it a "not acceptable" rating due to its myriad assembly issues. The fact he was able to get it together at all is a testament to Tim's skill as a modeler, IMO.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Spooky Benson

[Ron Hamilton]

_{I can keep my money in my pocket on this one. No.}

[tim boyd]

Back in the early days of Scale Auto magazine, when it was still known as Scale Auto Enthusiast, Tim Boyd did an article where he built, compared and ranked the four '57 Chevy kits that were available at that time ... old-tool AMT, Revell, MPC and Monogram. Tim's verdict was the AMT kit was best, followed by the MPC flip-nose gasser. The atrociously bad Monogram kit was a distant third and the Revell kit brought up the rear, In fact, Tim assigned it a "not acceptable" rating due to its myriad assembly issues.

Steve, excellent three sentence summary of a multi=page, many months in the development article.

When i sat out to do that comparo, I wanted to send some messaged to the model companies.: 1) stop repeating the exact same topic across three or four manufacturers (these were the days when AMT, MPC< Revell, and Monogram would all do their versions of new topics like the third generation Camaro/Firebird), 2) if you persisted anyway, your kits were going to get ranked and there could only be one winner 3) unrealistic body proportions - which were a frequent problem with some of Monogram's new kits at the time - were a key factor in evaluating kits and were going to be called out, and 4) ease of assembly was also a key factor in how kits were going to get ranked.

Don't know how effective it was in achieving any of those objectives, although I do think all four elements improved in the following years. I do know that the Monogram team noted their third place finish and expressed a desire to do better in the future. (They didn't challenge my conclusion, or complain, though). And when AMT/Ertl, Lindberg, and Revell all introduced their 1997 F-Series pickup kits, each company did a different configuration of the 1/1 scale lineup rather than them all being SWB 4x4 XLT's....

Also Steve I think I would probably agree with your current rankings as well. IF someone forced me to do it, I'd come out the same. But I still really like the original AMT kit!

Best regards....TIM

***************

PS - this reminds me that about seven or eight years ago, Revell contacted me and told me they were doing a new, full detail '57 Chevy kit. They wanted to know whether I thought they should do it as a Bel Air or as a 150/Black Widow.

Now remember, this was back when Walmart and their ilk were dictating the fate of our hobby.

I told them I thought that the 150/Black Widow would be a way cool kit topic and that was my personal favorite, but from a marketing /kit volume/sales standpoint, the Bel Air was a safer bet.

I would imagine they asked others the same question, but to their everlasting credit, they swallowed a brave pill and went with the 150/Black Widow. IMHO, the success of that kit helped give Revell and others (Moebius???) the impetus to go ahead with some of the more "specialized" kit topics we've seen in recent years. TB

Edited May 31, 2014 by tim boyd

[Brett Barrow]

I always thought the '56 210 Del Ray was an odd choice to come out of the Wal-Mart era. Personally, I love the post sedans.

[Spooky Benson]

I always thought the '56 210 Del Ray was an odd choice to come out of the Wal-Mart era. Personally, I love the post sedans.

My understanding is the stock-only version was a dog sales-wise, too. Edited May 31, 2014 by Spooky Benson

[Spooky Benson]

***************

PS - this reminds me that about seven or eight years ago, Revell contacted me and told me they were doing a new, full detail '57 Chevy kit. They wanted to know whether I thought they should do it as a Bel Air or as a 150/Black Widow.

Now remember, this was back when Walmart and their ilk were dictating the fate of our hobby.

I told them I thought that the 150/Black Widow would be a way cool kit topic and that was my personal favorite, but from a marketing /kit volume/sales standpoint, the Bel Air was a safer bet.

I would imagine they asked others the same question, but to their everlasting credit, they swallowed a brave pill and went with the 150/Black Widow. IMHO, the success of that kit helped give Revell and others (Moebius???) the impetus to go ahead with some of the more "specialized" kit topics we've seen in recent years. TB

Much as I love the 150 kit, I am glad they went ahead and did a Bel Air sedan, too. And I really hope the forthcoming (and long-delayed) '57 ragtop isn't the end of the line for Revell's Tri-5 Chevys, as we're hearing. We really need a state-of-the-art '57 Nomad kit!

Edited May 31, 2014 by Spooky Benson

[Brett Barrow]

My understanding is the stock-only version was a dog sales-wise, too.

And sadly, the 56 is the Bel Air we really need! I think the sales thing is more because it's a 56, the 55 and 57 will always overshadow the 56 regardless of the trim level, but a Bel Air hardtop probably would have done at least a little better, certainly no worse.

And what we REALLY need is a 57 150 Handyman wagon first, then a Nomad!

Edited May 31, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Greg Myers]

[tim boyd]

Much as I love the 150 kit, I am glad they went ahead and did a Bel Air sedan, too. And I really hope the forthcoming (and long-delayed) '57 ragtop isn't the end of the line for Revell's Tri-5 Chevys, as we're hearing. We really need a state-of-the-art '57 Nomad kit!

Steve....me too! Nicely stated...TIM

[Spooky Benson]

And sadly, the 56 is the Bel Air we really need! I think the sales thing is more because it's a 56, the 55 and 57 will always overshadow the 56 regardless of the trim level, but a Bel Air hardtop probably would have done at least a little better, certainly no worse.

And what we REALLY need is a 57 150 Handyman wagon first, then a Nomad!

Here's a complete list of the subjects Revell has kitted in its "new" Tri-5 Chevy line ...

'55 convertible

'55 hardtop

'56 Nomad

'56 Del Ray

'57 150

'57 Bel Air sedan

'57 Bel Air convertible

Other than the shared tooling, what's one thing these all have in common?

The fact that with the exception of the '55 hardtop, none had previously been done as 1/25 scale plastic kits. (Minor exception for the '57 Bel Air hardtop, but, you can't really count the MPC flip-nose kit since it can't be built stock.) What that tells me is that, once again with the '55 hardtop being the exception, Revell has gone out of its way to avoid duplicating the past efforts of other manufacturers, including the "old" Revell and AMT. (And Monogram, too, although their kits are 1/24.)

That wouldn't seem to bode well for either a new '57 Nomad or '56 Bel Air, since the "old" Revell did both ...

A 150 Handyman, though ... hmmm ...

Edited May 31, 2014 by Spooky Benson

[Rob Hall]

Here's a complete list of the subjects Revell has kitted in its "new" Tri-5 Chevy line ...

'55 convertible

'55 hardtop

'56 Nomad

'56 Del Ray

'57 150

'57 Bel Air hardtop

'57 Bel Air convertible

Other than the shared tooling, what's one thing these all have in common?

The fact that with the exception of the '55 hardtop, none had previously been done as 1/25 scale plastic kits. (Minor exception for the '57 Bel Air hardtop, but, you can't really count the MPC flip-nose kit since it can't be built stock.) What that tells me is that, once again with the '55 hardtop being the exception, Revell has gone out of its way to avoid duplicating the past efforts of other manufacturers, including the "old" Revell and AMT. (And Monogram, too, although their kits are 1/24.)

That wouldn't seem to bode well for either a new '57 Nomad or '56 Bel Air, since the "old" Revell did both ...

A 150 Handyman, though ... hmmm ...

Not quite accurate..Revell did a '57 Bel Air 2dr sedan. The '57 Bel Air ht they did is a snap kit.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Rob Hall

[Spooky Benson]

Not quite accurate..Revell did a '57 Bel Air 2dr sedan. The '57 Bel Air ht they did is a snap kit.

Edited to correct ... my bad!

[Danno]

I'm on board for a '57 Handyman wagon, too!