Faust

Man, what WON'T MPC try and repush. What is with the roof on Fonz's rod? At least give the full roof, for goodness' sake! Now it just looks like a big golf cart! That Seathogs/Superfly car is awesome, though. All kinds of bad taste in one Hungry Man meal of aesthetic disaster. I sooo need to get one.

Oh my... what in the what is that. It's like the illegitimate (and somewhat genetically de-contented) love child of a Poncho and a Stutz Bearcat. That thing, is just the worst, and yet, it is the best. Now I HAVE to get one of these. Does it even actually have anything to do with Welcome Back Kotter, or did they "Fonzy's Dream Machine" the original Superfly in the same way? That thing would be a scream! MPC, you never disappoint! I would need a bag of Doritos just on opening the box! Yeah, I wondered about that. Fab? If it was a 4-cylinder, the "Fab-4" jokes write themselves (Ooh! Abbey Road-themed inappropriate EXP custom is now coming into view in my minds eye!). It's almost like even MPC was just at the end of their ability to care at all about the car. That's fair, I get it. One day, I'm going to review something that doesn't suck, and you guys are likely going to be bored. My apologies in advance.

Oh man, Alan is going to go all out, eh? Nice! Those wheels will look great with it. As for that Nova, I am SO IN! It will HAVE to be light metallic blue. They were ALL light metallic blue when I was growing up. Weill, that or beige. As for beige, man, Randy, that's a lot of hate on the Volare. I can totally see why you'd want an earlier version. My brother has the promo of the '78, and yeah, those are really quite nice-looking cars. Your "may as well" description pretty much sums up his IDEAL version of this kit. He loves ultra-base cars (since no one preserves them, but they are usually the rank-and-file that were on the streets - gotta preserve what was real), and would kill for a good slant-six engine! Me, I love that it's a last-year, square-headlight lame-o Volare. To me, those sum up the total hopelessness and futility of driving enthusiasts and even the automakers in general. It really is like they weren't even trying. Well, I guess they weren't... I like to do my cars of the Malaise Era up as the "almost cool" cars they were trying to be, just because it's that much sadder. Let's face it, an '80 Road Runner fits well with the "sporty" X-11 notchback and EXP I already have in my collection, right? On that note, I found a beautiful black and red example online, and I must say, time has been kind. In immaculate shape and eye-catching colours, this car can almost pass for cool now. It couldn't do that in 1980, could it? Glad everyone was able to enjoy the review. Sometimes, I wonder if I make them too long, but I get passionate, and I have to let my inspiration run its course. Glad you guys take the time to read them. It really keeps me motivated!

I grew up in the middle of the Automotive Dark Ages. I was surrounded by the last, sad remnants of the old V8, rear drive cars and the vanguard of the new, more compact vehicles. At the time, I remember thinking that there was no reason to announce to the world that you had a “2.2” on big numbers on the door. I mean, what good was that? What I didn’t realize that the time was how truly sad the “real” cars had gotten. That dawned on me as I grew up, and that’s part of the reason that I love to model cars from this time period. Remember them from my childhood, and now understand them, and what they meant as the collapse of a passion for motoring that would take a long time to recover. There are a lot of cars that fit into this category, but some of my favourites are those that tried hard, but failed. These were the “Faded Glory” cars; little more that econoboxes or downsized shadows of their namesakes’ former greatness. Perhaps one of the best example of this is the Road Runner. By the time 1980 rolled around, it was little more than just a decal package on a Volare, and a not-very-inspiringly-restyled Volare at that. That’s why I was so pumped to see Round 2 punch out the old MPC “Fuzz Duster” Volare! It really is an encapsulation of its era, and all that was wrong with it. Despite the lameness of the car, though, MPC did a pretty nice job on the kit, even if it’s a bit incorrect. Check out my out of box review of this “muscle” machine here. Just remember that yes, it DID get this bad! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/mpc-125-1980-volare-road-runner-fuzz-duster-oob/

Thanks for the compliments, Phil! I really wish there were more Transformers kits, too. I think they'd be awesome. Like the "Robot replicas" from the first couple of Bay-verse movies, but of G1 guys and, you know, cool. I also have an old HG 1/100 Epyon as Devil Gigatron from Car Robots (Galvatron in RiD) and that worked amazingly well as a detail/colour overlap. I also have a Frame Arms I think looks like Hardhead. Overall, though, it's tough to find a mech that looks like a Transformer (Valkyries and Dorvack mecha aside, of course), eh? I'll keep my eyes peeled!

Good call, Ace! This kit is a good way to get a lot of spares in one shot. On that note, does anyone have any good pics of what the '75 exhaust setup actually looks like? I am certain it's not the duals in the set, but I'd love to make this into a truer '75, so if anyone has any pics or links, I'd appreciate it! Thanks, all!

Nice work on those kits! I love the Zeta, but I must say that the silver and blue on the RX-78-2 is very eye-catching! Which kit is that? I am with you on frustration regarding clean Gundam/MS builds. I've alwasy built my MSs clean, because I want a "just walked out of the anime" look to them. I get some flak for my approach, but as you can see form my website, I don't really care, and just carry on doing what I do. A lot of people think that my kits are toys (I get a lot of "Oh, it's a Transformer!") or simple assembly jobs. They don't realize that there's just as much, if not more, skill that goes into a Gundam/mech build as any other kind of kit. :/ Congrats on the Gundam conference! If there's anywhere where there's some pics, make sure to post a link! You'll find all kinds of cool advice there! Have fun, and keep up the good work, Phil!

Man, the 1/20 Vettes! My uncle built one of those waaay back when I was just a wee gaffer. I remember thinking it was small - he tended to build the 1/18 kits that were out at the time. It's funny you should mention the big Vettes. I managed to snag a Laser Vette a couple of weeks ago. A bit rough, but unstarted. It seems to be the smaller kit LITERALLY pantographed up. Needless to say, one day I will get around to doing a review of that crazy custom beastie. I don't really know the history of the Vettes in that scale, though.

Hey Phil! Thanks for the compliments. As for knowing about the show, I always buy my kits before I've seen the show anyway (at least 95% of the time) and I have kits from shows I STILL haven't seen! I, too, like the AGE-1's aesthetic, even the spoiler on the back! As for panel lines, I never use washes, even on most other types of builds. I've only started to use pastel washes on planes in the last 6-8 months or so. They are hard to control and staining is a problem I've found too. Definitely okay on armour or weathered planes, but bad for a clean MS, you're right. Find a Michael's Arts and Crafts store, or a Hobby Lobby (Do they have those in England?) or, barring them, some kind of similar store. If you can find the Sakura brand calligraphy pens, they are great. There are "Gundammarkers", too, a brand designed by Bandai/Mr. Colour to work with Gundams, but they are a little bit big, sometimes, even at their smallest. Get the smallest Sakura pen, and I think you'll be better off. A pencil, filed down, works great on small details too. To prevent staining, especially on white, I'll paint the white, then dull coat it with a thinned out Delta Ceramcoat Indoor/outdoor Urethane Varnish. Once that's dry, the paint can be handled without yellowing, and if the marker smudges a bit, you can use a white eraser to remove most if not all of it. A bit of light sanding or scraping will do the rest. I then nail the marker down with a VERY LIGHT dusting of dull coat. Too wet, and it'll run! I let the marker sit for about 4 hours first, though. Hope that helps, and yeah, the smudging will look fine on a damaged suit!

Thanks, JT. It is a tough customer, that's for sure. I'm a bit worried about how Bad Company will have made it through the years. It's a bit rough looking, actually! I figure, though, you can never have TOO MANY vans, right?

A few years ago Bandai expanded the Gundam franchise again with the Gundam AGE TV series. At the time, it was somewhat criticized as being a bit too “kiddie”. Sure, the character designers looked a little simpler and more “Digimon-ish” than what we’d seen before, but really, the accusation isn’t fair. AGE was a good show, and it managed to do a lot more than most other Gundam series of the same length without getting too bogged down in contrived introspection. Of course, Bandai when to town when it came to kits for AGE. Mind you, they made more kits for Unicorn and it was only a 7 episode OVA, but there were a lot of different age kits to choose from. The earliest Master Grade from AGE was the AGE-1 Normal, the ‘most basic’ form of the Gundam, but one that made it all the way through to the last episode of the series. I’ve always been a fan of the AGE-1, and was glad to give the MG a go. Check out this somewhat overlooked Master Grade below. Maybe you’ll see that AGE wasn’t so bad after all! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/mecha-robots/bandai-1100-mg-age-1-gundam-normal-type/

Thanks guys! I love those vans too. I wish there was a reissue of one of the legit "Street Van" packages you could get. That'd be awesome too! The new "Bad Company" looks just as much fun, but the moulds seem to have suffered. There's a lot of "step" at the corners.

I didn't realize there might be a difference in the nose cap between '74 and '75. What IS the difference? Is it just the bumperguards? Given that this thing has such a sad engine compartment, I'm thinking I'll just make it a curbsider; close the hood down and glue it shut, make up the vague-looking engine so there's something to see, and take it from there.

I didn't mean to offend anyone. Heck, just because a car can be labelled a loser doesn't mean they aren't cool to look at or own. My brother has a '77 Cougar with a 302; not a rocket nor most people's dream car, but he absolutely loves it! Most sports car and muscle car people wrinkle their nose to my face when I tell them that I still have the 301T in my '80 T/A, too. That engine was largely regarded as a loser, but I love it too. There's nothing wrong with supporting the underdog. That's part of the reason I love building "loser" cars. It wasn't the car's fault it got stuck between immature technology and over-zealous government regulations. It's the victim! I do see a tonne of potential in the vette convertible, though. Heck, get 2 and make an earlier version of the Corvette America! (PS - I need to find the Monogram Corvette America some day! Maybe a reissue, Revel?) Chris: That's awesome about the tape! Great way of doing it. You're right; it was a lot more fun when you didn't worry about every tiny detail. That's why I kind of tread the middle line: Good work on the finish and interior, but no super detailing, just working with what's there! The simpler times were more fun for a lot of reasons, and if we're going to get people to get into this hobby, we really need to bring them back!

A-Freaking-Men! That is an awesome story! I love it! My uncle also built car kits, and he used them to teach me all the parts of a car and engine. Thus, when I was 3, I could pop into our neighbour's garage when he was working on his Vega hotrod, and name a bunch of parts. It was pretty cool. He doesn't model any more, but I still strive to be as good at it as he was. I think I might be better now, but the thought keeps me motivated. I love that kids got to have fun with kits. They weren't the gold-plated, fidgety detail-overkill monsters we all pay too much for today. They were simpler and more fun. No wonder a lot of us still do it! I just turned 40, and I've been modelling since I was 12. One of my first cars was the HOT ROD edition of Orange Crate - that was a disaster, but it got torn down and repainted like 4 times in its life! I hear you!

I know that most of us have our comfort zones. We like certain kinds of planes, or cars, or whatever, and we tend to focus on subjects in those categories. For me, when it comes to cars, I’m probably most well-known for, and most comfortable with, loving the losers. Chevettes, Citations, EXPs and Omnis – these are what make my world go around. Still, every now and then a kit comes along that encourages me to branch out. One perfect example of this is the MPC (Round 2) ’75 Vette convertible. I know, I know… you’re thinking “Why would he build a Vette?”. Still, you have to admit that the ’75 convertible is one of the slipperiest automotive shapes to come out of Detroit, pretty much ever. I find it very attractive, and I was very excited to get a hold of one just the other day. So, while it doesn’t have the cachet of loserness that some of the other Round 2 reissues do, I was compelled to buy one. It doesn’t hurt that ‘75s are also pathetically slow, too. Check out this newest offering from MPC, another interesting “back from the dead” offering that proves you can have your Vette and build it too! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/mpc-125-1975-open-corvette-roadster-oob/

Sometimes, my love of esoteric subject matter and my almost perverse addiction to old, cruddy and more-or-less-completely-undesirable kits intersects in a cool, but ultimately painful way. A perfect example of this is when I encountered, and proceeded to snap up, a whole mass of Farpro Japan kits in a (now defunct) local shop. These are the ancient Aoshima kits, but without the cool box art. That means they’re just dogs with mangy coats, I suppose. Still, the part of me that loves a challenge and roots for the underdog can’t help but want to see these 50+ year old gems built. I’ve already built one, and another will be underway soon. To get a feel for this next project, check out my Out of Box review for the Farpro 1/72 Shiun (Norm) recce floatplane. Regardless of the badness of the kit, the Norm itself is a cool looking plane, and is rare for Japanese aircraft in that it has a counter-rotating propeller! I could have bought the newer, better and I’m sure less troublesome RS kit, but why, when I have this gem on the shelf! Check it out here, and then survey your own stash of more modern kits and thank the modelling gods they don’t make ‘em like this any more! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/farpro-japan-172-e15k1-shiun-norm-oob/

That looks amazing. I'm blinded by the shine, Tim! Fantastic work on a great car! Jeff: I'm an MPC addict too. I see an MPC and I'm immediately enthralled by its potential, like a Matchbox kit! I have nicer, newer kits, but sometimes I ask myself why. MPCs are THE BOMB when it comes to cars. Of course, that won't stop me from collecting or building others... that would be wrong...

Yeah, I'm not that big a fan of the Vette Van's box art. Especially when you consider how wild it is, it's a pretty sad box. At least the Pacer and Pony Express are a bit more interesting. , even though they are in fact, just a car on a white background. Heck, Bear Bait works, but then again that's because IT'S INSANE!

Those Supras are really pretty, Bill. My grandmother's neighbour had one for a short time in the 80's. I think it was a midlife crisis kinda thing. They really are the Japanese take on, and answer to, the F-bodies. I live in southwestern Ontario, right in the Rust Belt, and it's called that for a reason. Heavy road salting and bad winters combined to make sure those early Japanese cars have all but disappeared here, too. There's a black one of those around town, though. It's a slightly later one, but it's in good shape. Still an amazing looking car, even now! I like them more than today's Camaro, that's for sure!

I hear what you're saying about the Supra, John. I was shocked when I found it in a shop in Toronto. It was expensive, and it was resealed, so I didn't know if there would be tire melt, but I took the chance on it anyway. It's a great kit,a n d I got away pretty clean on the windows! I like it a lot more than a Tamiya kit; the detail is far, far superior to anything the Japanese made or make for normal civilian car kits. As to your question, I don't think ANYBODY was making Japanese subjects back then, although the Brat and LUV got a bit of kitting from Monogam and AMT, and their Japanese at their roots. Does that count? (P.S. I need to get those LUV and Brat kits. Soooo cool!) Bill: That Fiero GT has been on my "Grail" list for a while. The '88s GTs are my favourites; like little mini Trans Ams. So great an evolution from the dorky '84s.

As you guys likely know by now, I do love my MPC car kits. There’s something about grabbing onto an MPC, whether original or reissue, that just gets my engine turning. One thing that’s for sure, they really had distinctive box art. It was so much better, even at its blandest, than some of the Revell and Monogram stuff of the same era. Just for something fun to do, I took a few more pics of some of my newer MPC kits and put the box art up on my website. If you want a retro blast, check it out. Do you remember building any of these, back in the day? https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/scores-and-collections/mpc-cars/

I hear you about the decals. They weren't in register on my kit, either, but I decided just to say "F'it" and get what I could out of them. As I mentioned in the article linked with the photo, they did want to break up on me, though! MPC decals are a scary thing in this day and age! Glad you guys liked it! How would you have handled the shingle alignment issue?

Thanks Jesse! I love the classics. I just got my hands on one of the 1/20 Laser Vette kits. SOOOOO lame it's awesome! I'll have to do an out of box on it someday, too! Glad that you enjoyed it! The old ones just have a charm the new ones can't match!

You know that old saying that “Nothing worthwhile comes easily”? Well, I guess it’s true, because I consider MPC kits to be a fun and worthwhile use of time, but man, the sure can be a pain in the posterior. The particular kit I’m referring to in this case is the Gold Rush Show Van! Yes, I finally got it done, but it didn’t come easy. That having been said, it certainly looks like the wild vannin’ creations I remember seeing around in my younger days, and having one on display is pretty darn exciting, especially if you love vans or MPC’s crazy over-the-top customs! Check out this fat-wheeled shingle-and-Naugahyde-sporting monster at the link below. Let me know what you think and if anyone else has built this thing, let me know how yours went together! https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/mpc-125-gold-rush-custom-showstreet-van/