Robberbaron

The AMT 75/76/77 Nova kits (pro stock/factory stock/street machine) are a mess, too, especially the roofline and quarter window shape. That body would have been tooled up right about the same time as the Monza, so that makes sense. Never knew that about the AMT Monzas, now I know to not bother getting one if I stumble across them. I still have an MPC Monza promo that I got as a kid. I agree, the body has always seemed spot-on with those.

First problem that comes to mind is that the Arii is listed as 1/24th while the Johan is 1/25 at the largest. The old Johans were sometimes "scaled to the box", and I wouldn't be surprised if the '58 4-door is even a little smaller than 1/25. Think there would be enough of a difference to cause lots of headaches...

Great everything: color choice, detailing, super clean build, and awesome photos...

Catching up on checking out some of these Under Glass builds. Really like this one, especially the under hood. Careful use of color instead of chrome reminds me of Pure Vision (Steve Strope). In fact, the syle of.the car altogether reminds me of that. Not sure if that was an actual influence on you, but please take it as a compliment!

Personally, I have to admit I didn't thoroughly look into the differences between the 2 versions. I thought the differences were limited to the plastic color, the extra tinted glass, and the different box with the artwork print included inside. If I'd realized the Blue Streak slicks and sponsor decals were only included in the Original Art version, I would have ponied up the extra $2.00 my LHS was asking. As for the body and steering wheel, I entertained the idea, but as I said I'm confident I can easily straighten things out. If any plastic had been snapped off, there wouldn't even be any debate about requesting replacements. This is the first purchase of a Round2 kit where I've personally seen any problems, so in my experience this was a bit of a fluke, and hopefully a one-off experience. Mentioning the Tri-power setup reminds me of something else I noticed: the Tri-power air cleaners are on a regular, non-plated parts tree. I thought Pontiac Tri-power setups always had chrome air cleaners, or was that maybe just on GTOs?

Last set of pics. Curiosity got the best of me, and I had a Revell '66 Impala handy (think the chassis should be identical to the '65 Impala that '70 Grande was asking about). First pic shows how similar the 2 frames are to each other. The Revell Impala is a little bit wider than the AMT GP, but not by much, mainly comes into play behind the rear axle. Side-by-side with the front wheel wells lined up, it looks like there is a wheelbase difference, with the Impala being shorter (which would go along with the 1:1 cars, as Mark described). Also note the very different gas tank shapes. Yet, putting the bodies together, distance between the wheel arches is basically equal. Final pic is the money shot with the Revell Impala chassis in the AMT GP body. Slips in pretty easy, no trimming necessary along the rockers. Will need to trim down the chassis along the rear quarters,behind the wheel wells, and probably also lop some length off the back so you can get the GP's bumper on. Main snag is that the Impala rear wheel wells are a little too far forward, so you'd need to do some surgery there. Hard to tell definitively where the wheels would end up without actually assembling the Revell chassis, but man-oh-man can you get in the ballpark going this route...

Some close-ups of the chrome trees. Cragars have decent center cap detail (though I still think the '65 Chevelle wagon and El Camino have the best available) FYI: my first reaction to the 8-lug wheels is that the center caps looked quite different from the Moebius '61 Ventura center caps. A quick Google image search showed that the 1:1 caps in '65 were a different design than in '61, and IMO these look pretty accurate. The instructions describe the 3rd set of wheels as Corvette wheels, not sure about those center caps... In the last pic I tried to get a better shot of the blower parts and the Weber side-draft carbs.

Some more of the standard issue: 1st pic shows some details of the reel-to-reel recorder in the briefcase, and the road cones Bottom right in the 2nd pic you can see the stock 2-spoke steering wheel that was also nearly snapped off the steering column. Once again, no breakage, and it feels like I can straighten it out OK, but that's the second time in the same kit. 2 sets of white stripe tires, plus the tire for the 5th wheel. No slicks, as stated before. Note the only clear is the windshield/vent windows/rear window assembly. No other lenses or covers, at least in this version. (and no green tinted glass,as stated before) Last pic shows the "standard" decals. Note that this decal sheet only has a portion of what's included in the Original Art version. This one does not have any of the sponsorship decals or "road test" decals.

OK, decided to get some pics of my "standard" issue GP kit, to give a better idea of what the plastic looks like, and to show some more of the differences. Seems like mine got slapped around a little bit before getting put in the box. First thing I saw taking the body out of the bag was that the plastic in the "A" pillars turned white where the roof got seriously tweaked. Looks like it came thisclose to snapping them. Pillars are still skewed JUST a bit to the drivers side, but feels like it will straighten out when the glass goes in, or if nothing else some warm water. My box was in perfect shape, so this wasn't shipping damage. 4th pic hopefully better shows some of the swirls in the passenger side of the body. From some angles you don't see it, but when the light hits the pearl just right, it looks pretty funky.

This kit includes a bunch of accessories associated with vehicle road testing, such as Road & Track would have used back in the day. Includes a "5th wheel", set of road cones, some kind of reel-to-reel tape recorder inside a briefcase, and probably some other widgets. You can see a bunch of this stuff in GTX6970's pics above. For the 5th wheel testing, whenever I've seen pictures/videos, they've looked pretty much like a normal spoked bicycle-type wheel and tire. You can see that the 2-piece chromed wheel in the kit doesn't really look like normal bicycles spokes, but then again it wouldn't be possible to really mold those accurately anyway. Not sure if any 1:1 testing ever used a 5th wheel that actually looked like this. Same for the tire that goes on the 5th wheel: the one in the kit reminds me of the ones in the stock version of the '34 Ford 5-window, but maybe that's the closest they had to a bicycle-type tire. Overall, still some pretty cool widgets included with the kit...

Original art version (in the big flat box) is molded in white. The "regular" box version is molded in a pearl teal color. That's the version I got, and yes, there are swirls in the metallic plastic, just like every metallic molded kit that I've ever bought.

Yeah, I was one of those people that kept planning to eventually order from Modelhaus, and was never getting around to it. Figured it was pretty much now or never, so placed my order. Mostly parts to repair some promos and also some repops of original issue parts for stuff like the AMT '65 GTO, '69 Chevelle, and the MPC '67 GTO.

That seems to be the consensus from everyone who works in retail. Gives me a chuckle, thinking back to all the threads through the years discussing the need for an '80s Cutlass kit, so many of the self-proclaimed industry insiders and "experts" insisted "there's no interest in those cars", "those will never sell", "retailers won't even stock them", etc. Just a good reminder to take all those "insider's" proclamations with a big heaping spoonful of salt...

OK guys, maybe it was mentioned and I missed it, or maybe some of you guys know because you experienced these kits when they were first released. I keep seeing discussion that the '60 Vette is heavily based on a '56/'57 version that was released first. Did that '57 body get butchered to make the gasser version, and therefore that factory stock version is gone forever? I don't remember ever seeing a factory stock MPC '57 Vette reissued. Seems like the kind of thing MPC would have done. (I suppose it's not as big of a deal since AMT/Ertl released their new tool '57 back in the '90s)

Lots of the new Spring 2016 releases hitting the shelves now at my LHS, including both versions of the '65 Grand Prix, the MPC '60 & '75 Corvettes, and the double dirt bike parts pack. Made myself abide by my one kit per visit rule, so picked up the basic '65 GP. Think I have my sites set on the MPC '75 Vette next...

Stopped at my LHS after work. Had a bunch of new Round 2 stuff, plus they finally had the Moebius Belevedere sedan. Was really looking forward to getting that one, but decided I'd better pass considering the panel line issues and the widespread warpage people are finding in that one. Decided to come home with the AMT '65 Grand Prix, since that's one I'd missed during previous reissues.

Looking good so far, SFD! Looks like you're overcoming the shortcomings of the body right out of the box. Too bad about the panel lines and emblems, also a LOT of people are posting that they are dealing with varying degrees of body warp. Real disappointment to me, since I was really looking forward to getting this one, since it's right up my alley as a resto-mod street car with the big & little steelies or the mag option. Really hoping they get these issues addressed and eventually do a second run of these down the road.

Not sure what your plans are for marrying the Monte and the '74 Cutlass. Note that the Cutlass is an "S" model, with the semi-fastback roofline, while the Monte's roof (c-pillars and rear window) are more formal. The Cutlass Supreme did share the Monte's roofline/rear window, but shared the same B-pillars and door glass with the Cutlass S and 442. In comparison, the B-pillars in the Monte (and the Grand Prix) are much closer to vertical. All of this means the quarter windows on the Monte are unique to it, and totally different than the Cutlass Supreme. In short, you can transplant the roof from the Monte onto the Cutlass to convert it to a Supreme, but for it to be correct you need to use the Cutlass's B-pillars, which in this case would mean rebuilding the top of the one on the passenger side. The other problem if you want to convert it to a Supreme is that in 1974 the Supremes had totally different header panels and grilles compared to the Cutlass S, and parking lights in the header panel instead of the bumpers. Boils down to an awful lot of work if you want to convert it. My apologies if you're already aware of all this...

Add to that Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" being used to sell Mitsubishi SUVs. Probably the most ignorant one that I recall was CCR's "Fortunate Son" used in a Wrangler jeans commercial. You've got to wonder if anyone involved ever actually LISTENED to the lyrics of the entire song...

Round 2's old website was the best in the industry (IMHO). Their new one is darn near useless. There was absolutely no reason to change from the old one, it was set up perfectly: pick the brand that was of interest to you, and the newest/upcoming releases were displayed at the top, with older releases/previous years in descending order. The availability of the PDF instructions were invaluable, in my book. I'm just hoping they at least keep the old site frozen in time, as it is now, since I still go back to it to research contents of some of the older kits I consider purchasing. (Probably too much to hope that will go back to actively updating the old one...)

The GSX is one of the last 1/24 scale kits Monogram produced before they switched to 1/25 scale for new kit development. It has improved detail compared to most of the older Monogram 1/24 kits, but as others have said, it goes together pretty much drama free. Only issue I recall from my youth was struggling with the decals (my experience back in the '90s was that Monogram decals plain sucked compared to the other manufacturers. Shouldn't be a problem if you have a new version.)

I've always hoped that Revell would produce a 1971 or 1972 Sklark GS or GSX variation of their excellent Monogram 1970 GSX tooling. A 1971 GSX would be most logical. Just need to tool up new front grille/bumper assembly, rear bumper, and taillights. Just about everything else should carry over from the 1970. Actually, seats might be a different upholstery pattern for 1971, not 100% sure. Pretty sure dash/steering wheel/console could be used unchanged though. Chassis/drivetrain no changes required.

New Moebius '54 Hornet Special (2 door sedan) and the MPC '70 Bonneville convertible.

I was lucky enough to get a pretty good assortment of Johan kits, but most of what I have is from their later period. When I was just starting to build basic snap kits, I remember standing in my LHS admiring all the different glue kits that I hoped to build when I was older. I clearly recall seeing the 1970 Rebel Machine, the Hornet funny car, and 1968 Chrysler 300. By the time I was able to build glue kits, those were already no longer available. I also didn't appreciate certain subjects at the time. I'd love to have the '62 Dodge and Plymouth kits now, but at the time I didn't appreciate their "creative" styling.. I never got the '63 Plymouth kit because I didn't realize it could be built stock, and I thought the custom version shown on the box art was ugly as sin. One other factor was finances. I was just a kid, so I couldn't get every single kit I wanted. Could have gotten the '62 Cutlass, the '63 Starfire, and a bunch of others, but passed them up to get something else.

While GM may have started switching to corporate blue for other divisions, from what I've seen Chevy engines installed in actual Chevy-branded vehicles didn't switch until part way through the 1977 model year. The 305 in my old 1977 Caprice was painted corporate blue, same for the 305 in my old 1977 Monte. However, my 1977 Malibu Classic's 350 is painted Chevy Engine Red, and was built early in the model year. I bought this car from a little old lady with 63,000 miles on it, so I can say definitively it was factory original and correct. Family friends also had a very early build 1977 Impala 4-door sedan that also had a CE red engine. From what I've seen over the years from junkyarding and shopping for used vehicles, the vast majority of 1977 Chevys had corporate blue engines, maybe 10% that I've seen had CE red, so I'm guessing (and it's ONlLY my educated guess) that it changed only a month or two into 1977 MY production. I suppose there's also a chance it was dependent on the manufacturing plant (my Malibu was Canadian built) FWIW, I've always considered the color on my Malibu's engine to be red/orange - seemed like the Duplcolor Chevy Engine Red was a close match. The 350 in my brother's 1975 Caprice is the same shade.