Robberbaron

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.

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.