CapSat 6

1) rear bumper, valence & taillights. The ‘72 units are entirely different. 2) ‘72 Road Runner grille. The ‘72 Road Runner grille is unique. The ‘71 Satellites, Road Runners, GTX’s and ‘72 Satellites used the same grille, but with different center ornaments. Also, paint treatments for the standard grille differed by model. The Satellites generally got a bright silver painted grille, while the ‘71 Road Runners, Sebring Pluses and GTX’s got a darker black and argent treatment. 3) side marker units (and quarter panels/ fenders). The ‘71‘s are integrated into the fender, with a large rectangular receiver cutout stamped out of the fender. The ‘72’s are the smaller, rectangular “generic” units, which bolt onto the fender into a smaller round hole in each fender/ quarter panel. 4) header panel emblem: the ‘71 cars used a small Plymouth vertical emblem that went into the round stamped depression in the header panel. There was a decal that circled the depression on all models in ‘71. The ‘72 header panel was the same sheet metal, but a new circular emblem fit completely inside the depression for ‘72. You could swap these from ‘71’s/ ‘72’s, they fit the same way. 5) Rocker mouldings: each model had special rocker mouldings. The GTX in ‘71 had unique ribbed moudlings. The other models either used large flat ones (like the Satellite Sebring Plus) or thinner ones (Road Runner). I’m not 100% sure about the ‘72’s, but they probably differ from the ‘71’s. 6) Belt mouldings: ‘72 Sebring and Sebring Plus models got belt mouldings that wrapped over the wheel houses, and went all the way from the front to rear edges of the car. The Plus model also got an argent paint treatment below the belt moulding. ‘71's could get a smaller belt moulding (body side moulding) set that did not reach the wheel houses, it was more of a rub strip for the door and area just behind the door on the forward portion of the quarter panel. The '71 moulding was available on the non- Road Runner and GTX models, according to the literature on Hamtramck Historical. 7) emblems & stripes: vary by model and year.

Very nice- that really looks the part! I knew of a guy in my high school in the mid-80's that just happened to drive a Dodge Aspen 2-door in the same colors, so you nailed it as a period piece!!!

I would like to see such a build! I have seen a caster offer a modern spray booth on eBay...that might help you out. Look at seller: "bcs-trading". They don't seem to offer a spray booth right now, but I think I remember that they did at one point. They also do some lifts, wrecker bodies, etc.

I took a look at my PL Spider Man and Harley Quinn kits. Just as I remembered, the Spider Man kit did not come with the convertible roof piece, but the Harley Quinn kit did. It does appear that all the needed pieces for a box stock Polar Lights Herbie build is in the Harley Quinn kit, except for the decals. Also of note are the two sets of custom wheels, custom bumpers and custom seats, along with the stock parts. These Polar Lights kits are really well done. I think the Coca Cola Beetle is essentially the same as the Harley Quinn kit. I think the convertible piece even shows on the built car on the box. Accounting for all of this, if I were to start over, I would get either the Harley Quinn or Coca Cola kit, and combine it with 3D Scale Parts’ wheel set if I wanted to build a “race” Herbie. Below are pics of the contents of a Harley Quinn kit.

Here is the Tamiya kit I have. Yes, I started building this as a Herbie many years ago, well before the Polar Lights kit came out. I have never finished it. I really should. Pictured here are the very wheels and hubs that Daddyfink mentioned above, from a Fujimi Porsche 356. I think I got an opened and incomplete Testors version of that kit on heavy discount about 25 years ago or more, so that’s where the wheels came from.

Ok, I checked my stuff out. First off- I WAS WRONG about the wheels in the Tamiya kit. They do have wide 5 detail under the hubcaps, but they DO NOT have separate hubs. Here is a shot of the Tamiya wheels. They can certainly be paint detailed to look right, although to Erik’s point, Herbie’s wheels did not have cooling slots. The wheel with no hub is the spare.

I never noticed that before. Looks like 3D Scale Parts resin wheels for the win!!!

One last note: all of the Polar Lights kits (Herbie, Spider Man, Harley Quinn and Coca Cola) are more or less the same. The Herbie kit only had the option to build it as a stock “street” Herbie. Like Tom notes above, there were no VW markings on the hood or hubcaps, because the movie cars did not have those markings, either. I think the original PL (late 1990’s) Herbie kit only had stick on graphics, no water slide decals. The Spider Man kit had all of the Herbie stuff (except for the roof insert), but also had two additional sets of wheels- an EMPI mag set and another custom option, plus optional custom seats and nerf bar bumpers along with the stock ones. The Harley Quinn kit is the same as the Spider Man kit except for the stick on graphics (I gave the stickers for one of my Daughters to use on another car). I think the HQ kit also did come with the convertible roof insert (I will verify that tonight). I do not own a Coca Cola kit, but I think it’s the same contents as the Harley Quinn kit and I think the box art for that one does show the convertible roof piece.

I’ll get home tonight and look over what I have. I know I have a PL Herbie, a Tamiya ‘66 a PL Spider Man kit, and a PL Harley Quinn kit. Yes, I’m a Mopar guy, but when I was 5 I wanted to build a Beetle from junkyard parts. I was so upset with my parents when they didn’t go along with that plan! None of the Revell kits will work- the new one is a ‘68 sort of Euro spec car (different in many aspects). The original Revell Herbie licensed kits are very different, too- as they’re sort of ‘68’s with earlier style bumpers. I think Herbie was a ‘63 (most of them, anyway). The PL kit in any form would be the best start. I’m pretty sure the Spider Man kit did NOT come with the convertible roof insert, but I think the Harley Quinn kit did, and I’m fairly sure that the Coca Cola kit does as well. The Coca Cola kit is currently available, I saw one at a Michael’s store within the past few weeks. The Tamiya kit is supposed to be a ‘66. There were differences between ‘63’s and ‘66’s, but to me, the ‘66 looks close enough. The Tamiya kit might be considered better than the PL kit, but it won’t come with the convertible roof piece, so you would either have to get that piece from a PL kit, or scratch build the convertible roof. One advantage of the Tamiya kit is that it comes with separate hubs and wide 5 wheel detail (and meatier tires), so if you want to build the “race” Herbie, the Tamiya kit might be the way to go. To build the race version, I think you’re looking at bashing both the Tamiya (at least for the wheels) and PL (at least for the convertible piece) kits. If you are ok with hubcaps, then you could probably just go for a PL kit, it really is nicely detailed. I’ll post some pics soon.

I’ll tell you why...because the ‘72 specific parts were modified and used for the Petty stock car. The rear bumper in that kit was modified (bumper housing filled in/ “panelled in”) from the ‘72 piece. I think the same thing happened to the ‘72 front bumper, but it’s less obvious that the ‘72 piece was used as a basis for the Petty front bumper. The Petty hood was totally flat- incorrect for one of those cars. It should have had the creases toward the front of it, like a Satellite hood, or, like an Air Grabber hood that is missing the center dome (which is just like the real hood). On the underside of the Petty kit piece, you can see where they took the ‘72 twin scoop hood and filled in the scoops to make it a flat hood. So - the major components specific to the ‘72 Road Runner have been modified and would need rework in order to be used again for a stock release, assuming they could be found in the first place. It would probably be easier for them to get the components for the ‘71 together to release first. That was last put out in around 1987. Some say that the tooling has since been lost. When Racing Champions owned AMT/MPC in the ‘90’s, they had announced that they were putting the Petty kit out again. I’m not sure how far they got with that project. They might have found the ‘72 Petty bumpers, but then realized that the body would have to be converted to NASCAR trim, and that might have been farther than they were willing to go with that.

My personal fave: 1978 Dodge Magnum. It would have been cool if MPC offered this as an annual back then. Also: we need a Hellcat. Full detail with an engine. Charger or Challenger, doesn’t matter to me, although I think a Challenger would sell better than a Charger would. We need that engine in scale, at the very least.

Me too. This tool would be worth a bit of fixing (headlight buckets, bumpers, turn signal lenses for the lower grille), but it would probably sell as a snap fast kit in it's current form anyway. If they do put it out again, they should at least give it the expanded decal set treatment...

The Torqueflite trans was in the '80's 'Hemi Cuda" and "Pro Street Barracuda" reissues. The hood was last seen in the Pro Street Barracuda and Auto Scape Barracuda. The intake parts, dual distributors, wheelie bars and side windows haven't been seen since the original Missile release. I wonder what's left of this tool? Maybe it's worth a annual style retro release with new decals, box art and nice tires? Didn't they announce that they were re-releasing the Snap Fast Plus version some time ago?

I like it!

That's a beauty. I don't think I have ever seen one in that color before. There was a guy I went to high school with in the 80's that had a really, really nice triple black one. I seem to remember his had a 350 engine and gate-style floor shifter. That was one sweet car!!!

I remember those hubcaps. You just about nailed them!!!

I think the Coke machines are a nice little bonus. I like the vintage one that came in the Ford Van. I just happened to want both the van and the Coke machine. The van will probably not get built as a Coke van, but the machine will go somewhere, probably outside the service station I eventually want to get built. It’s a bonus for me in the Chevy pickup (which I also want), so I might get one of those, too.

I think the ‘68 and ‘69 Dodge Coronets are the best bets I have seen in this thread so far. I have suggested something like this before for that subject. Round 2 could use the ‘70 body tool as a basis, create new tools for the ‘68 and ‘69 bodies, and while they are at it, massage a few areas that were not very accurate the first time around (mostly the grilles). They could tool up multiple hood options, and make the bodies so that they could offer new variants- like the ‘68 and ‘69 Super Bees. They could of course use the chassis and engine from the ‘70 Super Bee/ ‘69 GTX- between those kits, they have offered 440 4-Bbl (which could easily stand in for a 383), 440 Six Pack, and Hemi engines. Add one of their excellent retro boxes and decal packages, perhaps offer a single racing option (maybe a Dick Landy ‘68 R/T 440 for example), and they could have a winner. The MPC ‘71 Demon also represents a great opportunity. The best path here might be to do a new body, interior and dash for the MPC ‘76 Dart Sport kit. Rather than recreate the original Demon body, they could work on the areas that were incorrect the first time (the wheelhouses were Duster- style the first time around, I believe), and offer the correct body for the first time. I think re-engineering the AMT ‘71 Duster might be trickier. I’d like to know whatever happened to that project- I think Round 2 was working on converting the AMT ‘71 Duster to a Demon some years ago, so I wonder if they hit some hurdles that prevented them from making that happen.

Agree! One-Run-Of-Fun, Limited Edition Neoclassical Custom Pontiac Grand Prix. A disco/ Funk themed box...decals with pinstripes, flames, and lace panel paint. Put me down for two!!!

Hmmm...wheels, grille & headlights, maybe the hood (bonnet? :)), bumpers, right-drive dashboard, a rear spoiler and some interior changes? Along with a decals sheet with options for some of the special packages they offered outside the U.S., those changes might get you a UK/Euro-spec Capri. I think it was offered in Europe a good deal longer than it was offered in the U.S., at least into the mid-80's? It seemed to me that when I visited the UK in the 90's, there were a lot of 2nd gen Capri's there on the streets, sort of like the Camaro or Mustang here. I got a kick out of seeing them as drivers with rust and custom wheels. There were just a few other Capri kits, done by Japanese manufacturers, but mostly racing type-cars. If Round 2 did decide to tool up a few new bits to broaden the appeal of the kit, they could have a good seller in Europe. Overall, the detail level on this kit was pretty decent, and I don't think anything like that had ever been offered before.

They could release it as a "neoclassical custom". For the box art, I would use the same artist that did the recent releases of AMT's '62 T-Bird and Catalina Gasser. Do very dramatic/ dynamic illustrations. They could always unblock all of the parts and see what they have...I think some of the custom parts (side pipes, etc) came with the annual kits even before it's Superfly form. MPC probably just blocked off a bunch of parts for the Sweathogs release. In 1:1, wasn't the Stutz Blackhawk (I think Elvis owned one or two) based on the GP for awhile? That's a car I would love to see a kit of, but that would take fairly radical mods to the GP body going the other way from stock.

There were no body mods to the Capri. The air dam and flares are add ons. I have one of these, but it was an open box when I got it many years ago, so I can't confirm that the Café Racer always comes with stock bumpers, but I'm pretty sure the stock grille was included with these and otherwise it could be built stock.

You are quite welcome, Bill! I hope at least somebody can benefit from all of the time I have wasted on these kits!!!

All true. The 500 hood isn't the same as the original annual hood, as it has underside detail, and the front edge isn't as nice. it definitely wouldn't pay for Round 2 to retool this one, as Revell already has a superior '68-'69 Charger tool. Round 2 even did a snap tool that repeats some of the sins of the glue tool(same '72 grille inserts for the stock '69, for instance). I still have a soft spot for this tool though, warts and all. If they were to bring the 500 back (I think they have only offered it twice, and if you want to build a 500, you must use at least some of the MPC kit, or get the grille in resin), then it might be worthwhile to make a few upgrades while they are at it. The way Round 2 does their decals and boxes, it makes me want to buy almost anything they offer. I have enough MPC '78 Monaco 4 doors to last the rest of my life, but with the new lightbar and wheels, along with the retro box and new decals Round 2 just did for the CHP version, I REALLY want another one now.

I wonder myself. if you look at #4, even the front edge isn't as nice as the original. There is another alternative. I have found that the Revell '68-'69 hood fits the MPC body with a slight amount of trimming. it's a bit nicer, too. These are very common in swap meet parts boxes. Round 2 could theoretically put some fixes in and release it as a sort of retro annual/drag release. Revell still doesn't offer a Charger 500. I guess if I ran the Round 2 store, I would do this: 1) find that correct hood tool, and work that front edge. 2) fix the rear valence (by removing it from the body and tooling up a new standalone piece). 3) find some of the NASCAR parts (the gas tank shield, some of the roll cage, and some of the Holman Moody wheels have appeared in recent issues of this kit, notably some of the Dukes cars and the Fast & Furious Charger). 3) do a very nice retro box for the Charger 500, with a comprehensive decal set, including stock, street, NASCAR and Drag ("Propane X", see below) options. 4) throw in the new Torq Thrust mags and slicks, and make one of the building options the old "Propane X" Charger 500 drag car, and call that out prominently on the box. If they did that, I would have to buy another one, at least. That is saying something, because I probably have about 15 of these in various forms.