CapSat 6

This is a puzzler. Do you want to restore it as it was offered by MPC? Or for a stock ‘65 Coronet 500? The kit came with a cross ram race Hemi. You can find more or less the same engine in most releases of the MPC ‘66-‘67 Charger. It’s exactly the same tooling like Mark says above. The Coronet 500 in 1:1 was never available with the Hemi. The top option would have been the 426 Street Wedge. You could use any kit 440, with an air cleaner from either the MPC ‘68 Coronet, Moebius ‘65 Dodge or Plymouth with wedge engines, or Lindberg ‘64 Dodges / Plymouths with the wedge engine. If you want something that would look like something MPC would have put in as a stock engine that would be accurate to a ‘65 Coronet, then maybe the 440 engine from the MPC ‘68 Coronet could be adapted. You would have to work on the transmission, as the ‘68 has a trans that’s split between the driveshaft and the case. If you look at the ‘68 Coronet kit parts, you’ll see exactly what I mean.

I think the Jo Han Furies did come with Hemis. Before the Hemi was banned from NASCAR briefly in ‘65, the Fury was looked at to be raced with a Hemi if it were ever to come back. Also, Chrysler looked at offering the Street Hemi in C Bodies. I think I read somewhere that prototype parts such as exhaust manifolds were tooled up for C Body Hemi installations. As this might have been in the works for Chrysler, it might have been decided to put the Hemi in the kits and offer racing options for that engine. I think either the ‘65 or ‘66 Fury actually had a Petty NASCAR building option, too. A few C Bodies might have been raced in NASCAR, but the top teams all stayed with the B Body after the ban was lifted, initially using a Hemi destroked to 404 cubic inches. The rules might have stated 426 cubes for Hemis for full size cars, and 404 c.i. for intermediates, but eventually, this fell by the wayside. if you want something that would look like a 383 that would better fit the 1:1 car, and look like something that would have come with the kit, maybe try to find the 440 from the Jo Han ‘68 Fury Police Car, or the Jo Han ‘68 Chrysler 300. Those would look the part and probably fit right up. They were great looking engines back when they were tooled up, and they still look pretty good compared to what’s available now. The Chrysler engine comes with an air cleaner with “TNT” detailing on the pie plate area, the Police engine comes with a plain / unengraved pie plate. You could always go with the 383/440 from the Revell Dart. That seems to be the best looking 383-440 in scale. The 440 in the Revell ‘68-‘69 Charger is also a really nice one. Any “440” in scale could be dressed as a 383, or a 400, or a 413/426 Street Wedge. They all looked the same externally except for some details. Earlier engines had different details such as air cleaners. The right air cleaner could be found in the Moebius or Lindberg Dodges and Plymouths. The Moebius engines are pretty good as well, with the Lindberg engines a bit weaker/ squarer/ less detailed looking. The air cleaners in the Moebius and Lindberg kits don’t really look too good to me- Jo Han nailed the ‘65-‘68 big block air cleaner and nobody else really came close. Somebody really needs to cast copies of the air cleaner from the Jo Han ‘68 Fury Police car and offer them for sale.

It would be nice to see Round 2 do a Landy ‘68. They should tool up nice new Cragars on a small shot of their own (perhaps copied from the old MPC units we used to see in their ‘71-‘76 Road Runner annuals, but NOT like the new ones in that ‘71 Demon kit) to throw in the box. For that matter, Round 2 could tool up a new hood, one piece rear valance and grille inserts for their ‘69 Charger, to at least bring that one up to “acceptable”, and do a Landy release. I’m sure with the Cragars, decals and new parts per above, they could wring new sales out of that old chestnut. Now speaking of diecast- and I don’t want to turn this into a hijack- along with the new ‘68 Coronet R/T (which will apparently have convertibles coming in 1/64 within a few months, according to the preorders on some sites), they have also just released a really, really nice ‘70 Fury. This gives me hope that they are at least considering a 1/25 kit.

Don’t take this as a knock. It’s not to be meant as a knock of any kind… I sought out a lot of old annuals for a long time. I got tons of Mopar annuals in my time…but I never had a ‘72 Duster. I still have an MPC ‘71 that I found in the late 80’s and built up. It’s still in my case. I’m not terribly happy with it, but it’s ok enough to stay built. The ‘72 is so similar to the ‘71, I guess I felt like I never needed one. I AM really happy to see Round 2 do all of these retro releases. All of them, even if I’m not an end user, even if a particular subject doesn’t really trip my trigger. I’m really glad to see that there is a company out there making things for “us”. I’ll probably buy one of these out of curiosity. It would be just fine for me to have one of these join the rest of my “stock”. I’m still holding out hope for a ‘72 Demon, though…

That is correct. This new kit seems to share engineering with the ‘71 Demon. I have to figure that the ‘72 Duster was baked in with the original design of the ‘71 Demon. Perhaps we will see other variants- Pro Stocks, maybe a ‘73-‘76 Duster? Otherwise, doing the ‘72 doesn’t make too much sense to me, as the ‘71 Duster is so similar. What I would really like to see out of this tool is a Mr. Norm’s Supercharged ‘72 Demon.

That’s a very good point. The ride height looks about stock. Looking at that one shot of the chassis plate, you might be able to razor saw the front axle off, trim it down a bit, and reattach, thereby lowering the front. That would perhaps give you a custom rake. Still a PITA though…

There are some interesting design choices here, to be sure. I like the idea of the removeable roof section...that's the only way you will really be able to see any interior details, and that's what these vas are really all about. The Revell Custom Chevy Van from the 70's had this, and I have started an old MPC Dodge that I'm going to build as a custom that I have done the same thing to. It looks like the conscious choice was made to put the tooling dollars into the exterior and interior details, at the expense of the engine. Was this a good choice? I'm sure we will litigate that right here. The way I see it, we didn't necessarily need a new tool for this subject, as Round 2 has the old AMT Chevy Van, and Revell themselves has the old Monogram shorty. Those kits both have engine detail for those that must have it. I'm partial to Dodges, and while the MPC kit does come with engine detail, that engine is meh, and there is no opening hood. I have gotten used to that. My guess it that Revell looked at modifying the shorty, and the old Custom Van - and this was the the easier, cheaper, and ultimately best choice. They at least did the right configuration for the subject, instead of faking it with the wrong body style/model/year kit, like we have seen with other movie and TV subjects. The show fans will have something to buy, casual builders will have a good experience with a modern tool, and I'm sure they have baked in variants for down the road that will have further sales appeal. I would be there for custom wheels and Kiss or Star Wars graphics. My only real knock is the look of that grille...but it's not exactly a deal killer for me, the whole built sample looks pretty decent overall in the pics.

Wow- Stranger Things is giving us a lot of new tooling! Now I have to email the producers and convince them to give the ‘78 Magnum a starring role

Any 2015- up Challenger??? Chances are hurt a bit with Round 2’s Challenger being a curbside. Still- I wonder why no 2015-up Challengers have ever been done as a regular model kit. These cars proved to be very popular in 1:1 (much more so than the classic first gen- there, I said it!) and there are a TON of model/hood/wheel/trim variations that could be done. Maybe now that Stellantis has permanently stopped production, we will finally get some more Challenger kits? 🤔

Neat that the GTO is coming back. I see these around the streets once in a great while. My understanding is that the 2004 was a fully stock kit. The first releases had prepainted bodies in stock colors. The 2005 was the “drift car” (with a rear wing), but I’m not sure much else was added, except for the bold graphics preprinted on the body. I think the 2005 even came with stock wheels. I have one somewhere- I’m sure I got it somewhat economically at a local model show when they were relatively new. I was able to promptly devalue it by removing the factory paint with a soak in 90% alcohol, and then back in the box it went. I will get back to that one someday. I think it would have made more sense to put out the 2005, as I think the 2004 has been reissued at least once before, and also, it might be more enticing for younger builders (what with the wing and all). Also- the 2004/ 2005 had some model year differences: primarily, the 2004 had a flat hood and a 350 horse engine (which was plenty stout for 2004), but the 2005 got a ram air hood and 400 horses, since sales of the 2004 weren’t exactly hot, so GM added some spice to the dish in order to juice sales. The 2005 was improved both visually and mechanically to address complaints that the car was a little “boring” in its initial form. I remember that although I was excited to see them come, and I dabbled with the idea of buying one back then, they kind of stuck me as looking a little like a puffed up Grand Am that first year. Maybe Round 2 will throw the ram air hood and wing into the box? Also, they should call those parts out on the box, although the details of the release are probably already set.

It does look like there was a Barris connection there. He was evidently capable of restraint He was probably just following orders for a mildly restyled ‘67 for the new car season: https://macsmotorcitygarage.com/george-barris-presents-the-ford-custom-cruisers/ It looks like the Barris car built for the new car show circuit was a coupe/ wagon concept. Ford seemed to be fixated on this type of thing for several years. The coupe/ wagon thing really was cool 😎!!! IF this were to be cloned, Round 2 could try to bake in some of the traits of the show car, although it probably wouldn’t be practical to accurately recreate all of the modifications to the roof and hatch, but perhaps they could include a hatch piece for “advanced modelers”, engrave cut lines in the inside of the rear of the body and call the Barris connection out on the box (with the proper licensing, if it’s not too costly). A quick internet search did bring up a tasty modern custom, too. Again, I think this one resides squarely in the middle, but IF Round 2 has some of this tool to work with (perhaps they have the ‘67 body somewhere) then I think the chances increase. An all new clone might make it less attractive; it seems like this one is getting a bit of a mixed response from the crowd.

Ok…can of worms time! I’ll try to be as objective as possible. I’d say this one is somewhere in the middle of the list. That gives us a very, very wide space. It’s sort of like answering with: we could have any kit become available- it’s a “somebody who has never been in my kitchen” answer 😁 But seriously- I do see people comment about this subject once in awhile. It does come up. I wouldn’t say there is universal clamor for this subject, but many people think it would be nice to have it. I usually see more buzz about the ‘70 Cyclone or ‘71 Road Runner than something like this one. As far as Ford products go: would the ‘67 Galaxie rank higher than a ‘70-‘71 Cyclone? Probably not. Would it rank above a ‘69 Cyclone Spoiler? Maybe? Maybe not. Higher than a ‘68 or ‘69 Torino formal sedan? Maybe, maybe not. What about full size Mercuries? They stopped right around 1964, I think. Many people would like to see a Hawaii 5-0 special, or ANY full size Mercury. I knew a guy who had a ‘68 Mercury Monterey Convertible. That was a really neat car, a rare bird. They have almost no following. The very few that survive made it by pure dumb luck. Casting wider: would the ‘67 Galaxie rank higher than a ‘69 Impala? Or ‘71 Impala? I think full size Chevies usually have more demand for them than full size Fords. We have a lot of those and have gotten a lot of those kits within the past 25 years. There are a few gaps, but man- full size Chevies are covered pretty well. They seem to get customized a lot in 1:1, and the Lowrider crowd like them, too. Would the ‘67 Galaxie rank higher than a ‘69 Pontiac Grand Prix? Dunno. Maybe? Maybe not. I have my own preference here, but everybody will feel a little differently. Lastly: what about full size Mopars? ‘67 Galaxie vs. ‘66 Plymouth, for instance? Maybe the Galaxie by a nose. I’m a Mopar guy, and the ‘65-‘66 C Bodies leave me a little cold, although people seem to be nuts about them. What about vs. a ‘70 Chrysler 300 Hurst? Well…the 300 might have the nod there. I might see an all new (as in: ‘69-‘72 C Body) full size Chrysler having some real market impact (or maybe not. There could be a “Mopar Mirage” effect going on there)… These are just my guesses. The ‘67 Galaxie would be aimed squarely at us- I’m not sure that would be a mass-market thing. Sure, they might get a few sales at Wal Mart or the LHS, but really, this would be for US, and we don’t all really agree on this kind of thing 100%. Does the ‘67 Galaxie have a racing history? I think Ford shifted right to intermediates before the ‘67’s, but there there could have been a few campaigned in NASCAR. I want to say Wendell Scott rebodied an old Holman Moody castoff as a ‘67 at some point. I’m pretty sure the original AMT kit had a NASCAR option, but when the ‘67 kit was being developed, it was probably Conventional Wisdom that they would be campaigned in NASCAR, until they weren’t. Drag history? Not really. Customs? Low riders? I don’t think I have ever seen one of these in person at any kind of small or medium cruise. I would imagine they’re only really seen now at larger Ford shows (not that they don’t deserve love- they are neat cars, they just don’t seem to have a real hold on the 1:1 hobby crowd). I’m just not sure this subject has as much of that universal appeal that many other subjects of the time have. So…yeah…I’d say this one is squarely in the middle. There are probably a bunch of subjects that are similar that would probably get the greenlight before this one…it’s a nice enough car, but I think the more significant full size Fords have more or less been covered. It’s a shame the tooling didn’t survive (I think it didn’t survive). If Round 2 does have the most of the tooling for this one though, it would definitely be worth investing a little in it and firing it up. It could be worth tooling up a few small things to get it back on the market. Would I buy one? Not really. I would probably buy all of the cars I mentioned above first. If I had to pick a Galaxie, mine would probably be a ‘64 (which I can get).

I have to think that the Cyclone is at or near the top of Round 2's list of tools to clone. Every time the NASCAR version comes up, many cries of "we need the stock version back" (wholly justified, IMHO) are heard. Sign me up for one!

Let’s add this to the list of corrections! Also, on the MPC bodies, they were engraved as sunken in, while on the real cars, they were level with the fender surface. On real cars, they bolted in from the inside, with the trims being body color pot metal, and a large plastic housing for the lens assembly. Decals for the ‘71 units (black outlines for the trims and amber or red for the lenses) could be a good solution. For the ‘72’s, small cast clear pieces could be used. There is at least one aftermarket vendor offering the corporate ‘72-up turn signal lenses, so small pieces could work for the ‘72 variant.

These really do build up decently as they are- I didn’t mean to make them sound terrible. You crushed these builds, Tim!