Robberbaron

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.

Picked one of these up today and opened it. No big surprises, since FordRodnKustom already posted some awesome pics. Couple observations on my part: Didn't notice it in the pictures before, but 5 stock wheel covers are included. My first thought was that there must be an option for a continental spare, but nope. Kinda strange, anyone know the story? The box side shows Goodyear Bluestreak slicks. The slicks that are included have tampo-printed "Goodyear" white letters, but they DO NOT have the tampoed blue line, like they are including in some of their other kits. For the 4 optional "mags", now that I see them in person, they look very similar to the mags in the '55 Corvette kit. Wonder if it's even the same tooling inserts? Between each of the spokes it looks like there's a pair of rivets, I'm guessing to attach the center section to the hoop on the 1:1 version. Real happy to get another set of these wheels. Never seen a 1:1 version of these in real life, I'd really like to know who the manufacturer was and what the style was called. Seems like a really "aggressive" design. If you look back at old Car Craft and Hot Rod magazines from 40 to 50 years ago, it's amazing how many wheel designs have totally disappeared over the years.

AMT "Bird of Paradise" T-Bird and the Revell '29 Model A pickup, currently marketed as Monogram. Maybe I'll put the pickup in a dark closet with the new '29 A roadster kit and see what results. Oh: and will someone please give Hobbico the memo to knock it off with randomly using the Monogram name on the wrong kits! It's not complicated: all your 1/24 scale kits should be marketed as Monogram, call anything 1/25 Revell. Nice and simple! I realize there were a couple of pre-merger Monogram kits that were done in 1/25th, like the S-10/Syclone, '59 Cadillac, and '59 Impala. I'd be fine with calling those only Revell from now on. OK. Glad to get that out of my system!

Agreed - aside from the missing lug nuts, I still think these are the most attractive set of big & little slotted mags ever tooled. If I ever get ambitious enough, I'd like to add photoetch bolt heads to a set of these and then resin cast a whole pile of them for myself, because basically every car looks even better with a set of slotted mags! Good chance the Mercury Comet variation of this tooling still exists. Johan was still producing it right up till the end, even as the "Pro Street" kits and the Testors reboxes with the extra metal wheels. About 90% of the kit is the same as this Maverick. Really wish I'd gotten more when I had the chance. At the time, they'd been producing them for so long, it was easy to take for granted that they would always be available. Looking over these pics reminds me of when I built the Comet version back in Jr. High. I recall being amazed at how much detail the engine assembly had. Full valve detail in the heads, the lifter bores in the block, even carb spacers. And....a big ass hole right through the engine for the axle to pass through? Classic Johan mixed bag of good & bad. One of these days I'll finish redoing that Comet. Already disassembled it years ago and stripped the paint off. Couldn't decide how I wanted to redo it.

Interesting custom wheels, don't look like the typical Torque Thrust or Cragar S/S style that so many kits have. Spokes on these appear "flatter" - anyone have any idea what style of 1:1 wheel they're patterned after? One nice thing about these vintage kits is that usually even the custom wheels and speed equipment is usually based on real life designs, so I'm guessing that applies to these, too. I planned to get one of these kits anyway, but it's a bit of an added benefit to get a different style of mag compared to what you typically see.

I'll second that. I seem to recall those were retailing for quite a bit more than other contemporary kits at that time, even though they were only curbside. Same goes for the 1970 Buick. I was interested in both at the time, but just wouldn't pony up that kind of money for a curbside with no optional parts. As long as Round 2 would price them right, they could sell plenty of '64 Comets to piggyback on the full detail '65 coming from Moebius. If they wanted to get ambitious, they could add an extra set of wheels and maybe even a pair of drag slicks and decals as an added selling point. That would also allow them to have a more attention-grabbing car for the box art.

The new "Bird of Paradise" reissue is on the shelves now at my LHS. Came thisclose to getting one today, but decided to go with a Revell Model A instead. Next visit I'll probably get this one.

More info here, if you're interested: I picked one of these up and was very impressed by the contents. This is one of Round 2's "A-team" efforts.

AMT '41 Plymouth

I can certainly respect your viewpoint and opinion on this. I myself have some concerns about the latest Moebius releases, based on other's experiences with warpage, and some of the fidelity issues with the Ford pickups. Neither the '65 Plymouth or the Ford trucks particularly interest me, so I'm probably not going to have to deal with those issues for those specific kits. I am looking forward to the '61 Pontiacs and the '65 Comet, though, so I'm really hoping they get any packaging/warping issues resolved with their manufacturing plant before those are released. I will say that the previous Chrysler and Hudson kits I've bought all seemed very well packaged and organized. A step beyond what I'm used to from traditional "U.S. branded" kits. I will say that since I got back into the hobby a couple years ago, what I buy is about a 50/50 mix between Revell and Round2. I haven't had to return a kit from any manufacturer due to defects, which was not the case back in the 80s/90s when I was first building. As far as the pricing issue goes, as long as a Moebius kit isn't warped, etc., I feel they are much more justified in their pricing compared to some of the Round 2 releases within the last year. At least the Moebius kits are modernly designed, well detailed kits, even if there may be some inaccuracies. The problem is many of the Round 2 reissues are listing for about the same cost from many retailers. The latest example of this is the '79 Trans Am kit which is pushing $30 MSRP. From the discussion in that kit review thread, pretty much everyone agrees that that is a vast overreach, since the only real difference/improvement in the latest release is the decal sheet. Many of these old AMT/MPC kits have glaring inaccuracies that would result in 30 pages of discussion if they were newly tooled kits (sectioned '32 Vicky body, anyone?). The difference is that most of these issues have been known for years, so the typical member of this forum would go into a purchase of one of these kits with the full knowledge of what they were getting. As discussed in the '79 T/A thread, the Round 2 reissues seem very hit or miss. As a consumer, it is much easier for me to justify some "premium" pricing if there has been some significant restoration of original parts to the tooling, such as the recent '36 Ford kit. A kit like the '79 T/A, however, seems to be pretty much a straight repop of a kit that was issued not too long ago under RC2 ownership. And if I can buy the brand new Revell '29 A roadster kit for about $5.00 less than that, it's not going to be a very hard decision on my part.

Stopped at the Merrillville Hobby Lobby after work yesterday. Finally had lots of new stuff in stock. First time in a while that I had a tough time deciding what to get. Revell '57 Ford Del Rio, AMT '41 Plymouth, and MPC Cyclone stock cars were all new arrivals I wanted. Decided to go with the Del Rio, since I've been waiting for that one for a while.

After only being released for a couple of years, my local HL finally began stocking the Revell '70 Cuda kit, so I used my 40% coupon on that. Had been hoping they'd have the Del Rio kit, but no go. I swear I have no idea how they determine what they are going to stock, or when...

A.C., thanks for the heads up on those stripes. Whenever I would eventually get around to building this one, I had been planning on either black or silver to go with those red stripes. At least now I know that won't work, as opposed to when I'd be placing the first stripe!

The reissues that I bought within the last year of the AMT '63 Corvette and '36 Ford, as well as the MPC Pacer were all molded in that off-white plastic. Think my Ohio George Ranchero might have been, too. They've been using it a lot recently. PS: Gotta get used to this new quote system! Not sure what I did, but turned out pretty funky. Gotta read the owner's manual...

OK, hope I don't get blasted too bad for this one: Had to stop at Wal-Mart to get this and that. Took a stroll down the toy car/diecast aisle like I always do. Almost walked right past these things, then took a closer look. Anyone seen these before? "Adventure Wheels" seems to be a Wal-Mart brand, but the chassis in each of these indicates that they're actually manufactured by "Kidztech Toys". These are actually plastic bodied pullback toys, with flashing LED headlights and sound effects. Windows are totally opaque black plastic, and chassis detail is very shallow, and not prototypically correct. BUT.....to my eyes at least, the bodies are actually very well done as far as proportions and details. Even have clear headlights, driving lights, and clear red taillights. Haven't bothered to scale them, but the Charger sure looks close to 1/25th scale. Silverado seems like it might be 1/24th-ish, maybe even 1/23? Still close enough to be in my ballpark. Aside from the windows and lack of chassis detail, the Silverado has incorrect 8-lug wheels, but they do have a very nice Chevy bowtie tampo on the center, and decent looking rubber tires. Could look nice swapped onto something more appropriate. If I ever do anything with this one, probably would be a rim swap and drop it all the way to the ground to hide the chassis. Paint is a must to hide the awful metallic red plastic it's molded in. The Charger immediately looks 100% better after you peel off the awful police stickers. The spoiler and oversized push bar are rubbery plastic, and will need to go, too. The grille element sticks out too far, but it looks like a separate piece that just needs to be recessed in a little further. I'm picturing ditching the junk lightbar and giving it an all black repaint for that unmarked look. Just try to think of them as slammers. I believe there's a Motormax diecast of the 2011-2014 Charger, but I'm thinking this is the only thing in plastic. Don't think there's any other version of the 2007-2013 Silverado out there. Hey, they're far from perfect, but they're frickin' toys! What do you expect for $4.97 each?

As we learned from Eugene Levy in "Vacation", the actual official name for this color is "Metallic Pea". "You think that you hate it now, but wait till you drive it!"