Robberbaron

Nice to see the Pinto & Volare Roadrunner upcoming - good street machine material there. Seems to be a good indication that some of the previous smog-era '70s releases like the AMT Gremlins and MPC Pacer have sold decent enough to continue releasing other similar subject matter. Hoping pretty soon they might get around to reissuing the MPC '79 Nova, which is MUCH more accurately proportioned than the AMT '76 Nova Street Machine that has been reissued several times. Would also be nice to eventually see the MPC '77 Ventura, which I believe has never been reissued, and maybe even the "Bear Bait" Chevette!

When I first saw the issues with the '67 Camaro grille and the back end, I stated this same opinion. I expected that sales would initially be good, because the general buying public either doesn't know or doesn't care about the accuracy issues. Even among the hardcore model enthusiasts that populate this forum and others, many bought this kit, even knowing about those issues. However, by not correcting those problems, Revell forfeited a good chunk of sales to potential buyers that ended up taking a pass on that kit (such as myself). Just as important, even for the buyers that did buy one of the '67 Camaro kits, how many of them bought additional kits after that first one? One of the charms of the '69 Camaro kits are that they pretty much fall together, and when completed, they do a pretty good job of looking like the 1:1 when they're sitting on the shelf. You just can't say that about the '67 without putting in some major effort to address the grille and back end proportions. After I built my first '69 Camaro kit, I went and got 2 more. I suspect that isn't happening with the '67 kit. I think for most buyers it's a "one and done", quite likely due to the fact that it just doesn't look right when it's built box stock. There was (is?) potential for at least as many variations of the '67 tooling as there have been for the '69, when you consider that the '67 body shell is clearly designed to also be used for '68 variations. In addition to small block and big block SS versions of each year, there are also Z/28s for each year, plus all the possible drag variations (Grumpy's Toy, etc). IMHO, Hobbico shot themselves in the foot by not making the effort to get the basics correct on the '67 Camaro. I suspect that the core team at Revell probably wanted to get things right, but weren't allowed by corporate to do any more tooling changes. Now for the Cuda and the Nova, for whatever reason I was able to look past those issues and purchased those. However, the Mustang LX fell into the same category as the '67 Camaro for me: all set to buy multiples until I saw the proportions...

Good eyes, Jim! The 5-lug wheels jumped right out at me, but I don't know how I missed that incorrect bumper.

When I started to go junkyard scrounging with my older brother in the early '90s, you didn't see too many of these B-bodies as daily drivers anymore. By that time, all the ones in the Chicago area that were getting junked pretty much all had their leaf springs punching through the trunk floor, something we also saw whenever the occasional Challenger still showed up in the yards back then, too. Too bad so many great cars were lost to the tin worm...

My thoughts exactly. Pretty strange that they didn't mold it separate, considering the level of detail for the rest of the kit (even to the point of having the frame separate from the floorplan).

Casey's pics show one of the other notable things about this kit - the engine is backed up by a TH400 transmission. Those are pretty few and far between in the 1/25th world. It would be nicer if the pan wasn't split down the center with the rest of the case , but nothing a little pre-assembly and filling/sanding can't take care of. If you're looking to swap a BBC/auto drivetrain into a Chevelle, Camaro, Nova, etc., this might be your best candidate.

Sweet!!! They also included the "standard" Cutlass Supreme hood - didn't expect that! Looks like they basically combined some of the unique parts from the previous "Revell Muscle" Cutlass Supreme (standard hood and uptop) with the original H/O kit, plus gave us the correct 442 grille. About the only thing missing is the custom wheels/tires from the Cutlass Supreme kit, but I didn't expect those anyway. With the 2 hoods, that really makes this a 3 in 1 kit. You can build it as a 442, the Hurst/Olds, or as a "standard" Cutlass Supreme. Definitely need to get several of these now, similar to when they reissued the '70 Torino with the corrected body. Note to Revell: THIS is the effective way to separate me from my money!

Wow! Kudos to Revell for making this addition - they SHOULD make the inclusion of the correct 442 grille very prominent on the box somewhere. That's going to be a big selling point, since this is the first release that will finally allow a correct 442 build. We just recently had a discussion about this issue on the original thread from when this kit was first released. Speaking of which, we have 3 different active threads on this kit right now. Would be nice to get them combined into one by the moderators...

Dave, appreciate you leveling with us on this - most guys in your position would say nothing, and chuckle to themselves as this thread ran on for umpteen pages. For the record, I'm anxious for news on that '59 Dodge...

On the subject of a 1970 variation of this tooling, I've always been a bit surprised that they chose to do a '72 H/O convertible instead of a 1970 442 W-30 hardtop. Since the '70 W-30 is generally considered the apex Olds muscle car, it seems like that would have even more sales potential. Who knows what the current plans are, but I'd wager that a 1970 version was planned back when this kit was originally developed. The W-27 rear end that's included wasn't even available anymore by 1972. The fact that it wasn't even mentioned in the instructions (at least in the first release) would seem to indicate that it was actually intended for a future release, logically a 1970 version. If Revell would release a 1970 442 W-30 hardtop (Cutlass S body style) variation, as long as they would assure that the bumpers and hood would interchange onto the convertible body, that would open up additional future variations. Along with a proper '71-'72 442 grille and '71 taillights, they'd have the ability to release hardtop or convertible versions for '70, '71, or '72.

Good point Steve - if they would tool up a correct '72 442 grille, I believe the ONLY other change required to create a '71 442 version would be the taillights. For all the talk we hear about needing to create multiple versions from a basic tool, it doesn't get much easier than that.

Missed this one when I was out of the hobby for a few years. Looking forward to getting it.

Thanks Steve. Those definitely look much better than the ones in the AMT '70 Vette. Think I'll need to get one of those '75s...

I'll throw in my 2 cents with Snake and Uncle Scott. My family always made the differentiation between hub caps and full wheel covers, so as long as I can remember I've also made that determination. Maybe we were more aware of it since we had vehicles with both types in our family. I also agree that it probably could also be a regional thing, or even come down to the group of friends someone hung out with growing up. If no one ever made the distinction, the thought would never occur that there was different terminology than what you had always been using. Things were pretty cut and dried for most American cars up until probably the early to mid sixties, when aftermarket "mags" and factory "sport" style wheels started coming on the scene. Pretty much anything that's not a traditional hub cap or wheel cover was called a center cap, but that's kind of a catchall. Sometimes (like on Chevy rally wheels) the center cap covers the lug nuts, almost like a traditional hub cap. On other wheels, like the Buick road wheels and pretty much all the traditional "mags", the center cap only covers the center bore of the wheel. Often a center cap is designed to fit only that specific type of wheel (for example you can't install center caps from a Chevy rally on a conventional steel wheel).

Well, I guess I can scratch that one off my list of future purchases.

Hmmm, didn't think about it, but you might be on to something there. Kind of unusual for them to be announcing 2 full size Pontiac reissues at the same time. Neither one is direct competition to the Moebius products in my opinion, but I could believe that it is a factor.

I agree that it's best to build this one as a convertible, unless you're ambitious and want to do some serious reshaping of the A-pillars and the side window openings. Right out of the box, gluing the roof to the body will not look at all like a 1:1 hardtop. I seem to recall someone on here doing a comparison of an original MPC hardtop body and the Lindberg '72 body, which of course is really an old Palmer tool. The conclusion was that, surprisingly, Palmer did a pretty good job of cloning the MPC body all those years ago. (many people consider it the only Palmer-based kit that's worth buying) Seems like you could maybe bash the AMT '70 with the Lindberg body to make a decent looking hardtop. Still would be a fair amount of work, though.

Good call on Round 2's part on the Model A. They'll sell plenty to people looking to kitbash them with the new Revell releases, and vice versa - good for both companies. Lots of other stuff I'm Iiking here: '70 Bonneville, '84 GMC, and '65 Bonneville were all kits I missed out on previously. I've heard that the '75 Corvette also has a great set of bare rally wheels (no trim rings or center caps), but I've never seen pics to confirm. Anyone know for sure? If so, I'm in for one of those, too. (I know the AMT 1970 Vette also has a set, but the slots aren't correct and they're not deep enough)

Wait, you're saying that some Johan parts were molded without flash? Just kidding - I realize when these kits were first released, Johan quality was probably equivalent to AMT and MPC. By the late 80s and especially into the 90s, QC had pretty much gone out the window at Johan. Couple of the last Johan kits I bought back in the day have some parts trees that are pretty much completely flashed over. I've also had factory sealed Johans with different colored plastic from the factory. My Javelin AMX was molded in an ivory color, but had a separate bright orange rear spoiler in the box. My brother bought one a couple months later from the same LHS, and his contents were identical to mine. Pretty common for the Johan chrome trees to be molded in a different color from the rest of the kit. In the 90s I bought a whole batch of the '75 Cutlass kits. They were each molded in tan, but the plastic for the chrome tree was black in all of them.

Really great comparison pictures, thank you for posting those! I've got one of the Comets, but around the time that I decided I'd like to get the Maverick too, they stopped producing it. All these years, I was under the false assumption that both kits shared the majority of parts, including interiors and mechanicals. I now see almost nothing is actually shared. Overall very similar, but I'm amazed that so many of the details are different like the cages, seat style, and even the engine parts. Noticed that the Comet oil pan has a hole for the fat "sprue-style" axle to pass through, yet it looks like the oil pan for the Maverick does not. Do the Maverick front wheels mount with pins instead of a solid pass-thru axle like the Comet? Didn't expect to see that difference. FWIW, I believe I bought and built my Comet kit in the late 80s. It's molded in the same bright blue/aqua as your review subject, and mine came with the Fast Eddie decals.

Me too - I've always loved the look of those Cyclones ever since I saw one for the first time. I might try to cross breed this body with the Revell Torino chassis/mechanicals. Body itself wasn't altered too much to create the NASCAR version. Problem would be recreating the factory stock front grille, taillights, interior, etc. Hood was also smoothed for the NASCAR version (now Montego style vs. the original Cyclone style with the scoop). Modelhaus might offer some of this stuff, like the front bumper/grille assembly, never checked. If Revell wanted to get more mileage out of their Torino tooling, they could tool up the Cyclone body/interior/wheels. Chassis and drivetrain from the Torino could be used unchanged, I would think.

MPC Mercury Cyclone stock car.

Yes, I suppose they must have been usable for a truck build, never gave it much thought. My thinking was that they were entirely useless on these car kits they were included with, since there was no reasonable situation where either of those cars would be converted to 6-lug wheels as a 1:1.

I'm assuming the "vintage-style" custom mags will be something other than the 6-lug modular wheels that they included in the Ertl version I have. I believe MPC also put those in "The Cat" versions of the '73 Cougar, in both cases they were literally useless. Didn't MPC also forget to add the backup lights for the valance when they updated the tool to a '69? Wonder if that's something they'll correct for this issue.

Thanks Casey- think you nailed it! Also found a little bit of info on the H.A.M.B. and the Classic Funny Car Board. All the ones that still exist seem to be 16" magnesium split center, 10 or 11" width. High level race stuff, which explains why they're pretty obscure. Definitely not something anyone would bolt onto a '71 T-Bird, especially not a set of four! Lots of possible uses on race or hot rod builds, though.