CapSat 6

Here are the hoods: 1) original annual MPC 1968 and 1969 hood. 2) original annual MPC 1970 hood. The Daytona stock cars got a similar, simplified version of this hood. 3) original MPC Dukes General Lee hood, circa 1979. 4) MPC/Ertl Charger 500 hood (circa 1986 only). 5) MPC/ AMT Daytona hood (circa 1988-present).

The yellow one is from the MPC/Ertl Charger 500 kit, the original issue / molded in yellow only, from around 1986. It’s correct for all ‘68 and ‘69 Chargers, including the 500 and except for the Daytona. The white one is the Daytona hood. It’s correct for any ‘69 Daytona, and it has the scoop detail for a ‘70 Charger, as the 1:1 part for a Daytona was actually a pull-forward ‘70 hood. You could also use this hood, with very slight mods to the front edge, for a stock ‘70 Charger. The third hood is from the original issue (around 1979) of the General Lee. There is no underside detail, it has the incorrect ‘70 scoop detail, a sub par front edge (presumably restored from when it was used in the annual ‘70 and Daytona stock car kits) and three hood pins. Later issues of the Charger 500 (I think there was only one, red on the box and molded in gray plastic) and Dukes General Lee used an incorrect hood (‘70 style hood vents) that was similar to the orange hood, but with underside detail. They would have been molded in orange, gray or white (or black, as in the recent “Country Charger”), depending on the particular issue. I gripe about this all the time- I really wish that Round 2 would find the yellow “500” hood if they ever do another release of the 500 or stock-ish ‘69 Charger.

Good: generally, any of the Revell kits. The body shapes are right, the details are fabulous, and they build well (although I have not tried a '70 yet, George P's remarks about the chassis should be considered). The only (very, very small) drawbacks I note with the Revell kits: 1) I like the MPC grilles and front bumpers just a little more. That still would not stop me from building any of the Revell kits. 2) the '68 and '69 share a body necessarily, so the side marker signals are the '69 style in all versions. These have to be filled in and decals used in order to build a '68. That's a very minor knock IMHO, because I remember the days when the only options to build a '68 were either a pricy original MPC annual, converting a Dukes kit (which was a HUGE PAIN), or resin. All things considered, the Revell kits are very, very good. Good: MPC annuals. The bodies and interiors were nearly perfect with these. The body, grille & bumper shapes were nearly perfect, but the grille inserts lacked a little bit of detail. The multiple building options were boss, too. They were state-of-the-art 1968 (then again, so are all of the AMT and MPC kits), so they won't compete with the Revell kits in the engine/interior/chassis departments. Shaggier builts could benefit from a chassis upgrade, either from one of the Revell kits, or from the AMT '68-'69 Plymouth or '70 Dodge Super Bee B Bodies. Good-to-bad: MPC Charger 500 (first release). The same stuff from the annuals would mostly apply to the 500 kit, although by 1986, the body had been modified and unmodified a few times, the engraved emblems, wheel lip mouldings, rear valence and the door scoop details weren't quite the same again. It was still a valiant effort by AMT/MPC ERTL to bring us a replica stock version of a model we never had before then. The '86 release (yellow plastic, orange build on the box) gets a notch higher, as it is the only one I have ever seen that came with a correct '68-'69-500 hood. Bad: MPC/AMT Daytona, AMT/MPC Charger 500's. This tool has been through the mill. Like I said, AMT/MPC Ertl should be commended for trying to make this one nice again with stock building options for the Charger 500 and Daytona. When the Daytona was released (around 1988?) I believe that was the first factory stock model available of the Charger Daytona model. The same comments about the body for the Charger 500 above apply to all of these as well: very, very accurate body shape, with so-so repair work to the scripts, mouldings, and door scoops. Any of these Daytonas suffer from the way the nose mounts to the body. The stock '69 body is used, but you get filler pieces for the lower fender sides. It's not very accurate, and a terrible pain to attach and blend. The end result still doesn't look very good. The Daytona in all boxings gets the right hood for a Daytona, but then again, all of the subsequent kits (500, Dukes, etc) also get that hood. The later 500's (any boxed after '86) go here, as they all got the Daytona hood. Ugly: Dukes of Hazzard General Lees, Fast and Furious Toretto's Charger. Oh boy. Where do I start? 1) any of the Dukes kits up to around 2003 (the Toretto Revision, see below) have the 500/ Daytona rear window. 2) the grille inserts used for any of these kits that use the stock '69 grille and bumper are from the old MPC '72 Charger annual, so they are completely incorrect. 3) they all got Daytona hoods as far as I know. 4) even the "Dukes" parts (the bumper bar, roll cage and wheels) are not really right. They all date to the 1979 issue of that kit, and are not generally regarded as correct. 5) Toretto's Charger was a hot mess- to be avoided unless you want a good parts kit. It came with cut and uncut hoods, "stock" '69 (eh) and '70 (completely useless and horrendous) front bumpers, and some other old NASCAR parts that were included when they opened all of the gates to the tool. They did fix the rear window in the Toretto car, but it doesn't look nearly as right as the old Annuals did. Later Dukes cars (21st century) had the tunnelback body, too, so at least they were more accurate in that regard. They have released the Daytona with the Daytona / 500 rear window after this, so they must have spun off another body tool. BONUS: Toretto face off! Revell diecast kit vs. newer Revell plastic kit. To me, the diecast kit wins. The diecast kit came with more accurate grille and interior pieces. At least, they were more accurate to the car in the first movie. The plastic kit might win out for some builders as it has a little more detail all around, it's easier to find, and also, the car itself changed from movie to movie, so I would rate both Revell Furious Toretto kits as "Good". I still hold a good deal of affection for the old MPC kit. I grew up with them. I would like to see Round 2 cut the rear valence away from the body and tooled a new separate piece (rather than have that split monstrosity that crudely joins with a license plate, no doubt engineered in '79 for the Dukes kit to enable easier bumper mounting or body de-moulding), include the right hood for the 500/ any future "stock 1969 variants", and tool up some correct 1969 grille inserts.

The only issue of the 500 that came with the right hood was the first one from about 1986-ish. That had the ‘68-‘69 style hood. All issues after that (500 or Dukes) came with the Daytona hood (which had the same wider hood vents as a ‘70 hood). I wish Round 2 would find the right hood for this kit, and while they were at it, fix the rear valence, and when using the tunnel back body, do new grille inserts (they have been using ‘72 style grille inserts ever since the original Dukes of Hazzard issue in 1979).

Interesting that you mention the AMT/MPC ‘65 Coronet. I think the chassis and engine for this one ended up in the MPC ‘66-‘67 Charger annual kit. Some of the parts have been modified from their ‘65 Coronet appearance (the firewall is similar but different and still useable, for sure) but I think Round 2 could still use the ‘67 Charger chassis and engine combined with the ‘65 Coronet body and interior, if they ever found them. Also, the stock ‘65 Coronet Hubcaps seem to have ended up in the MPC clear display trailer, so- if the body and interior (and perhaps some of the other goodies, such as the Super Stock hood scoop, etc) could be found, that would be everything they need for a near-stock and drag release. The original ‘65 Coronet annual really was a gem of a kit. The new Polar Lights tool is better than It’s given credit for, but the body still doesn’t hold a candle to the original.

Well that’s evidence. That’s good news. I was just thinking I’ll have to buy one of these anyway!

Uh-oh. The tires in the video are pretty clearly the old Goodyear Radial GT's. Nothing wrong with those tires, except that they won't fit the wheels or wheelbacks that come in this kit. They have a smaller inner diameter than the Goodyear Polysteel Radials that used to come with this kit. I checked the last issue of this kit that I have (circa 2005), and they come with no-name-former Polysteels. One could always buzz out some of the insides of the tires to get them to fit the wheels and wheel backs, but I have the feeling that some modelers will be trying to get these tires to fit the wheels in the kit in vain. It will be nearly impossible without removing some of the material from the insides of the tires. I hope Revell catches this and includes the right tires for this kit. Some modelers could make the GT's work, but others might get a tad frustrated with them. The Radial GT's came with the Hemi Cuda, '70 Boss Mustang, Challenger T/A, 70 Chevelle SS 454, 70 Buick GSX, while the skinnier, larger inner-diameter Polysteel Radials came with the '69 Super Bee, '68 and '69 GTO's, '70 GTX, Road Runner and Superbird, and '71 Satellite & GTX. On the plus side, I always liked the GT's better than the Polysteels because they look a little beefier. Also- to me, the Magnum 500's that came in this kit, as well as in the Road Runners/ GTX's, always looked too large & out of scale. Muscle Mopars only ever came with 14" Magnums. I have sometimes replaced them with the ones that came in the AMT/MPC '69 Charger 500's and Daytonas. Combined with the shorter but wider Radial GT's (or better yet- AMT's old hollow Polyglas GT's), those wheels always looked a little better on 1/24 builds. I'll still have to pick one of these up. The box art is really nice, the new decals are, too. Notice you get BFG Radial TA decals for the tires now. I wish some really, really nice BFG TA's came in newer kits. Fireball Modelworks does some, but it would be nice to see new ones.

That is SUPER nice.

I seem to remember an 82-ish Camaro in that series too... I can attest to the fact that the Hemi in the ‘69 Charger and the engine in the ‘71 Firebird were very nice, although to remove them you would have to cut the lower engine from the chassis plate. The “custom” Charger came with a blower for the Hemi, I think in both versions of the Firebird, you got the stock engine with shaker hood scoop.

These are very imaginative builds. I have a soft spot for this generation of Mopar B-Body. Very nice work, Peter!!!

I don't think so...it was never an uncommon kit. They did a lot of Mopar wagons that I think the masters were derived from the '60 Plymouth, they did some of the replacement parts, and at some point I think they did a '60 Plymouth 2 door kit, but never the '60 Plymouth wagon. If they repopped something as a kit, it was usually harder to find than that particular kit. If you can find the "Modelhaus" '60 Plymouth Wagon kit on the auction site, I'm sure you could find at least 1 or 2 in styrene on the same site every week. I think I have seen several other auctions by the same seller. While decently built, some are not Modelhaus resin kits, or at least, they are relatively common kits that were never done by the Modelhaus, but they all get that "Modelhaus" label. The thinking might have been: Modelhaus= $$$. Stick "Modelhaus" in the subject line, and - cha-ching! I think it would perhaps make sense for some Modelhaus kits to be considered fairly valuable- at least, the ones that were unique (never offered in plastic or by any other caster, like some of the Mopar wagons, etc.). Time will tell, but I do expect that their unique stuff will become pretty valuable. It doesn't make sense for a Modelhaus kit copy of an old annual subject to be worth any more than a clean copy of the original annual subject (for instance - the MPC '68 Coronet. I wouldn't pay more for a resin copy, no matter how nice, than I would for an original).

I think this has always been a pretty nice kit. It would be great if Revell gave it the "enhanced" treatment with some new alternative stock parts, or even a revision to '68 specs. Fireball Modelworks does a nice Six Pack set up, as well as some alternative wheels and hubcaps (I think their '69 14" wheel covers are scaled too large for 1/25 but would look perfect on one of these). Hart's Parts does some parts for these: a bench seat (!), a base Super Bee power dome hood, and a Ramcharger hood.

I did one of those back then, too! I just sprayed Testors Transparent blue onto the body. I think I have some of those packets of Turtle Wax somewhere…

Hmmm...I was hoping for a '72 rear bumper like the movie car, but that's a no-show. At least we got back the 4 bbl intake, carb, and air cleaner. Looks like you could more or less build it stock, too.

Cool idea Tom- I noticed the VW taillights, too. If it were me, I would build a follow-up with an electric motor to display with it, and call them "Heresy" and "Heresy II"...

"Legacy" tooling. There is a lot of it out there. Many kits offered by Round 2/ AMT/MPC are older 60's and '70's era designs. Generally speaking, if the tool for a given subject still exists, this will discourage other companies or even the same company from developing a new tool, since, if the tool is still in good shape, the old one can always be reissued. There are a few exceptions however, the '69 Charger being one of them, as Revell developed a "modern" tool for the '68-'69 Charger about 20 years ago or so. MPC, AMT and Jo Han created "annual" kits back in the 1960's and 70's, from around 1961- 1980. The same basic tool would be used for the same generation of car (for instance, for Dodge Chargers - '68, '69 and '70 kits), and a new tool would be developed for the next generation (for instance, the '71-'74 Charger annuals). Each generation was updated yearly, so some years were offered only once as an annual kit. The annual kits were developed as more or less state-of-the-art in the year they were developed. Dealer Promotional models (promos) were also crated from these basic tools- these were curbside pre-built showroom stock cars in an assortment of factory colors that were sold or given away at car dealerships. Original annual kits and Promos are very desirable on the collector's market due to their sometimes-vast building options, box art, and most of the time, very accurate body shapes. Many of these tools had a much longer production life than the original designers ever intended (if they survived, see below), sometimes being reissued 40 or 50 years later. The recent releases, while being crude by today's design standards, still often have a strong nostalgia factor with long time builders. Here's an example by model. MPC really made the most of their tooling back then, switching and borrowing parts of tools to be combined with other kits, using bodies on Funny Car and NASCAR chassis, etc. Dodge Charger: 1966 - with stock, drag, custom and NASCAR/USAC style racing options. Also, "spy" parts (machine guns, rockets, and interior "controls" were included. I suspect that some of the tool (chassis, some of the engine) was based on those from the AMT (really MPC) '65 Dodge Coronet kit. 1967 - with stock, drag "funny" (a stock body mounted on a stock chassis that was made to tilt at the rear bumper), custom, and NASCAR/USAC style racing options. The body, bumpers, and interior were updated for 1967. Color Me Gone funny car: the '67 body was modified into an altered wheelbase form. A new funny car chassis (which probably was shared with other MPC kits, but I don't remember the specifics) was used. It was only issued once in the late '60's. I seem to remember that at some point, whomever had the MPC tooling back about 15-20 years ago floated the idea of reissuing this kit, but nothing ever came of it. The '67 annual tool mostly survived all of this. The 1967 was reissued in the early '70's as a street machine (sliver on the box) with new 5 spoke mags, and some new drag parts, and M/T slicks, while the custom, racing parts, and some stock parts (wheels) were deleted. In the '80's, it was released (black on the box), molded in black, with new ('80's-style) modular wheels, fat rear tires and side pipes added, along with a supercharger set up for the big Hemi. The custom, racing and stock parts that were deleted last time did not return. In the late 90's, it was released more or less in the same form as it was in the '80's, but in gray plastic and with a yellow built on the box. Just a few years ago, it was released again, in a retro box that looked just like the early '70's release. The old M/T slicks from the '70's were added back, along with new 5-spoke mags that looks mostly like the ones from the early 70's release. That's just the '66-'67 Chargers. The '68-'70 tool's history was MUCH more complicated (the MPC 2nd gen Charger tool had one of the most active and convoluted histories in the history of model cars, thanks in no small part to the Dukes of Hazzard). Here's a short (haha!) rundown of the 2nd gen MPC Charger tool: '68 Annual & Promo, '69 Annual and Promo, '68 and '69 Color Me Gone and Mr. Norm's funny cars, '70 Annual & Promo, #71 Bobby Isaac '70 Daytona stock car with stock chassis, #22 Dick Brooks '70 Daytona stock car with generic NASCAR chassis, '69 General Lee (which took a LOT of restoration, and even then it not done very well), '69 Charger 500, '69 Daytona factory stock, various General Lees again, Fast and Furious, and reissues of the Daytona and 500 in between those. Oh yeah- and one last parting shot, done as the "Country Charger" (basically a Lee kit molded in black with new decals and 5-spoke mags added in). Did I miss any? The first (1979 issue) Lee kits had a racing interior (from one of the Daytona stock cars) with stock bucket seats and dash. Later issues had the stock interior added back, as it was found for the 500 and Daytona kits that were to follow. The General Lee pictured at the top probably still has the old "500/Daytona" window. That was changed for the Daytona in 1970 or so, it was not corrected for the General Lee in '79. It was left that way, correct as it was for the 500 and Daytona variants created in the late 80's / early 90's. The rear window was finally fixed (although it was not as nice as the original annual) with the Fast & Furious release in the 2000's. I started building these MPC General Lee kits when I was about 9. I had to have a General Lee back then, and bought a bunch more to build as street machines & race cars, as it was the only game in town for Chargers in scale back in the early 80's. With some extra parts and some imagination, I was able to do a lot with those kits. While they are basic, they still do come together reasonably well. My biggest beefs with the MPC '69 Charger tool are: 1) the hood is a '70 or Daytona style hood, per the vent design. The correct hood was available in the old '68 and '69 annuals, and the first release of the 500 kit. I wish Round 2 would bring that old correct hood back. 2) the rear valence panel is terrible. It was part of the body mold to start. My guess is that MPC put cuts into it in '79 so that the rear bumper could be inserted easier, it's held together with an oversized (structural? ) license plate, it's terrible as you can see. Round 2 should just cut it free from the body mold and tool a new one. 3) For the '79 General Lee, they added in grille inserts from their '71-'72 Charger kit. The original '69 inserts were nothing to write home about however. Round 2 could always tool up new ones for this kit. As the license for Dukes of Hazzard stuff is essentially a dead issue (maybe rightly so, I won't get into that here), they could do worse than to tool a new hood, rear valence and grille inserts, and try to make it a modern 3-in-1, with a cool box and decals. I suggest you try to have some fun with that kit. Test paint on it, cut it up, do what you like. Make it something that it is not. You could always try to find a 500 grille and make it into a 500.

I didn't know the GTX was out yet! Where did you get them? Did they by any chance tool a new rear bumper ('72 style) for the Plymouth? That El Camino is a gem of a kit as well!

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you'll do with this, Steve! This kit has always looked fairly right to me, I never noticed the grille issue before. I actually have a 1:1 '68 Coronet grille stashed away in the basement. I got it at a swap meet back when they were inexpensive. Is there any way to scan a part (or in the case, 3 assemblies) and make 3D files out of them? I would like to do that in order to create a '69 Charger 500 grille in 1/16 scale, but we could also use a better grille in 1/25 while we are at it.

I'll say this again: I think it would be a great idea if Round 2 developed a Hellcat Challenger or Charger kit with full engine detail...and took two of those engines and put them in a parts pack. There are a TON of old Mopar kits out there that could use a "crate" engine such as this...extra points if they create replicas of the Demon Hellcrate items some other diorama items to go along with the engines. I think a Mopar-branded entry into their "Weekend Garage" series would be a very, very good seller.

I got my order back from Little Motor Kar Company, and it was beautiful!

I checked with Dale a few weeks ago- this pricing ($28 per rack) is current. He confirmed to me that he only does racks, I don't know why he has "by the part" prices on this sheet. The first racks I did were not too easy for me to make, but I think I eventually got it right with a few re-dos. I have heard a lot of goods things about Dale's service and have interacted with him at the local swaps over the years (he sells rechromed bumpers and old kits at some of the local shows). I'm eagerly awaiting the first two racks I have ever sent to him.

I think this is good news!!! It DOES CLEARLY show that Revell is still in our game, product-wise! They're 3D scanning the body- HOPEFULLY, this will ensure that the body shapes are right. Some of their more recent efforts (koffkoff'70HemiCuda) really have been terrible, shape wise (and I'm sticking to that assessment of the '70 Cuda kit- I owned a 'Cuda for many years- I'm thoroughly familiar with that body- and that kit's body does NOT look like a 'Cuda. To say that I'm disappointed with that one is a grave understatement.). I'm a Mopar guy, but this is a car I like, and I'll probably buy one if it's a good kit. It may be something considered common, but it should be a money maker, so it should hopefully justify future investments in that kind of subject matter. Hubcaps? C'mon- Magnum 500 wheels are probably the single most common wheel available in kits today. That's a simple fix. I probably have about 10 extra sets. If they get the body right, for all I care, they can put "teddy bears" in the kit. Seriously, let's support this one.

You know I keep stumping for this...we need a '62-'71 Dodge Pickup kit. I believe I read that Moebius / Model king is doing a ramp for their Ford truck kits soon. The Fords seem to be doing well sales-wise. I think a '60's era Dodge pickup kit would sell surprisingly well.

I had envisioned that this would be the way it would go down. Different casters buying their molds to things that are in their wheelhouse. That's fine by me. The Modelhaus' catalog was so vast, I don't think there was ever a chance of finding one party who could take the whole thing on. It was nice to be able to buy a built or incomplete old American classic model, and knowing "The Modelhaus probably makes the missing parts for this one".

For the '69 Coronet Super Bee kit, I gotta say, the body shape is pretty good, the details are pretty decent, and the grille is MUCH better than the original MPC kit. I think I have to get down to business on one of these. The only real gripe I have with this kit is the wheels. The Magnums are too big for a 14" wheel in 1/24, and the Six Pack package would have gotten heavy duty steel wheels anyway. When they did this kit back around 1982, to prototype it, they probably found a really nice car that somebody decided to run Magnums on to dress it up (which would have been plausible back then- this was before steel wheels became cool). Still- I think this was one of Monogram's best efforts with their initial wave of 1/24 Muscle Cars, and we're very lucky they started doing these kits in the first place. I did manage to cram the Hemi from their '71 Hemi Cuda kit into one of these back in the day. Fireball Modelworks to the rescue again- they do a really nice stock wheel and tire set for this one.