CapSat 6

Now that we're getting Dom's GTX, it's got me wondering what we'll get in the box. I think the most likely scenario is: just a repop of the GTX kit, with the old Satellite hood, 4bbl intake, carb and air cleaner (the intake and cleaner were not stock, but would fit the aftermarket vibe of the movie car somewhat) and new custom wheels and tires. Maybe a big old "noss" bottle (haha!) for the console, and a few other new bits. I wonder what interior bits we'll get? They might tool up a few aftermarket pieces for the interior, then again, maybe they won't. I think Dom's GTX had an aftermarket wheel, so the non-Tuff wheel from the Satellite would not be correct anyway (but it might be in the same tool as that hood, so...we might get it after all). The 2nd F&F '70 Charger kit (remember, Revell did 2 of them) seemed to ignore some features of the movie car for simplicity's sake. The first Revell '70 Charger kit (the diecast) seemed to have a few more details accurate to the movie car that the 2nd version did not have (as the 2nd version shared tooling with the stock '70 Charger). A '72 Rear bumper would be nice, and that's what would match the Movie Mutt , but that's a maybe in my mind. If we get the '72 Rear bumper, a '72 Road Runner front bumper & grille would be nice, but it would not match the Movie Mutt, as that car used a '71/ base '72 grille (which were the same). If Revell did give us a '72 Rear Bumper, they would be part of the way towards a future '72 Road Runner. They could offer it as a 440 6BBL (of which a few were actually made early in '72), which would be a very cool rare musclecar near-ringer. That would seems to fit their pre-German M.O. of adding new parts to older releases to liven them up (as in: Ford Thunderbolt, 429-to-302-to Mach 1 '70 Mustang, '70 GTX to Road Runner, etc.).

True- most of the Monogram early '80's muscle car kits had slight-to-moderate body proportion issues and hiccups with the details. Still, they were great attempts, considering the state of the hobby back then. They were fairly easy to build, had some nice details, and mostly looked right when built. The Challenger T/A's body is definitely wonky in several areas. The Hemi Cuda, Chevelle & GTX (for which the body issues are magnified in the Superbird re-do) also. I'd say the Hemi Cuda is about the worst of them, body-wise (I had a '74 'Cuda for years and know the body lines very well) The roof is too flat and the sides/tail panel are too flat & narrow, for starters. The Satellite/ '71 GTX is good-to-great, but not perfect (I owned two of these cars). The '71 Plymouth front bumper & grille are too flat, but I think this is a tricky area on that car to capture. The Super Bee, '69 GTO and Boss 429 Mustang look pretty good to my eyes, but I could be wrong about them. The later Buick GSX and Talledega look very good also, and by that time, the overall detail was amped up a bit in those kits, so they are the two best in my opinion.

Who can forget the '70 Buick GSX? This was probably the last Monogram muscle car released as a 1/24 scale tool; by the time it was released, Revell and Monogram had merged, and just a little bit later, it seemed that all of their kits were designed by the Monogram design staff, but released in 1/25 scale ('89 Pontiac Grand Prix, '89 Thunderbird, '59 Chevrolet, '59 Cadillac, etc.). The earlier kits (Challenger T/A, '69 Super Bee, Boss 429 Mustang) really were the ones that got me back into building...they were somewhat accurate, had nice detail, and were subjects that would have otherwise been very hard to find. Their Pro Stocks and NASCAR kits were inspirational as well- they were complex, but rewarding builds. Then- a really nicely done 1/12 Camaro??? Too cool. I still wish they would do a 1/12 Mopar of some kind like that kit. Could you imagine a '68 Charger or '70 AAR 'Cuda kit done like their '69 Camaro in 1/12??? Monogram and later Revell were on a MAJOR roll in the '80's.

Faster, Neddy- faster!!!

Had to...

The Yugo was a car sold in the U.S. In the 80's, I thought that one was based on the Lada, which I think was based on an old Fiat. No Lada-branded cars were ever sold here as far as I know. I knew of a college-age girl around my age at the time that had one. As a "new" car, I heard it was terrible.

I won't pretend to know the calculations myself, but there are calculations out there that can determine horsepower from vehicle weight and quarter mile time. I would guess that some homebuilt cars could get to 2000 horsepower nowadays, but that would be a fairly radical build. I think there were blown "street" cars that were built to about 1400 hp even 30 years ago. "Street" driven would be relative. There are some people that would drive almost ANYTHING on the street if they could. It just comes down to what a given driver is willing to live with. There are tales of Mopar Super Stock cars that were street driven (and street raced), even though they might not have been street legal, per se. There are stories of a few Hemi Darts & Barracudas that were nominally street driven when nearly new. I do know of one guy who had a blown and tubbed '69 Camaro in the early 90's, in my old neighborhood. The springs in the back were so light, that nobody could sit in the back seat. He didn't drive it as much as park it, because it had a blower and a fuel cell, so both fuel economy and range (while using Cam-2) were severely limited. It really looked great sitting outside of the Roy Rogers all night Friday night, but in all the months he camped out there, I think I might have seen it rolling under it's own power maybe once. Now, a Hellephant engine is available from Mopar rated at 1000 HP, and with advancements in engine management, the new Hellcats & Demons at 700+ HP are drivable street cars. You can actually drive them for a little while now, too

In that case, they could probably keep the current engine and dig up that old 4bbl intake from the original Monogram "Satellite" release. It would be nice to have that intake and Thermoquad car back, too.

The movie cars most likely used Chevrolet V-8's, so that they could have stunt cars that could be reliable, inexpensive and consistent. That's what they did with at least some of the Chargers used in later movies. Per the movie's dialog, massively ridiculous horsepower figures were thrown out there- like "2000 horsepower", "3000 Horsepower" and "5000 horsepower". No description of the actual engine, though. Basically, it's a magic item conjured by Dom Toretto's sorcery. I think some of the JADA diecasts show a Gen III Hemi with an older 440 Six Pack style air cleaner. If I were try to build one to "movie spec", I would try to do some kind of quad-turbo Gen III Hemi. Most likely we will be getting the stock engine (440 6bbl) with this kit, or maybe the stock block with some kind of crazy intake. I just hope they do a '72 Rear bumper setup. That would complete the outside look of the car, and it would be a nice piece to adapt to other builds.

Man- I was this close to buying a diecast of this, too. I wonder if they will do Letty's AAR 'Cuda???

It would be fantastic if Revell tooled up the correct ‘72 bumper for the F&F GTX.

The AMT Challenger is not too bad to start with, unless you're building a hardtop (separate roof...). The interior is OK, the engine not too bad, if a little simple. Adding a few things and careful assembly do pay off with this one. Please post pics of your completed model when you can!!!

That is looking great!

And- you could always give the Revell 1/25 “die cast” kit a look for parts...that one is sort of a hot mess, though. You would get some upgrade parts, but then you would find that mostly everything else (hood, grille, valences, etc) won’t fit the AMT 1/25 kit, since they are sized differently. The hoods and T/A parts for the Revell 1/25 are a bit strange looking, too. The neat thing about the Revell 1/25 kit is that there are little power window switches cast into the door panels. You might actually find the Revell 1/25 Challenger kit to be an upgrade for the interior, I’m just not 100% sure the stuff from that kit will fit the AMT kit.

Beware- here are my thoughts: - the AMT Challenger interior is Ok. Just ok. The upholstery patterns and configuration are correct for an R/T. It also has a Rallye Cluster, correct for an R/T. - the Monogram/ Revell (1/24) Challenger T/A Kit has a pretty decent interior. I would say better than the AMT’s. The door panels are very nice. The dash is great, although it has a base instrument Cluster (which could be had in a T/A, but I think the R/T got a rallye cluster only). Still, you might not be able to get away from mixing scales with these pieces. - if it were up to me, I would probably try to get either an old MPC Cuda dash (the best one with a Rallye Cluster, shape-wise to my eyes), or one from the new Revell 1/25 Hemi Cuda. While I’m at it, I would grab the console from the Revell Cuda, as the console in the AMT Challenger looks a little weird. The steering wheel, too. And you would probably have to work on the AMT parcel shelf if you’re going to build a convertible. The Revell ‘70 Hemi Cuda has a lot of other detail parts you could use to enhance a Challenger build- wipers, painted mirrors (although note that the AMT Challenger comes with pretty decent chromed side mirrors that could be used on other E and B bodies), suspension pieces, etc, not to mention a really nice Hemi drivetrain, the AMT Challenger’s drivetrain being pretty simple looking. Also: Rallye wheels, better tires, exhaust. The AMT kit has the standard (painted) gas cap...I have used the flip top cap from the 1/24 kit on the AMT kit and it looks pretty good.

Cannonball! The world's Greatest Outlaw Race by Brock Yates. Great read. I consider this one of my favorites. https://www.amazon.com/Cannonball-Brock-Yates/dp/0760316333 Almost anything about Stock Cars written by Greg Fielden: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=greg+fielden&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss I have read excerpts from this book and regret not buying it when it was available for a reasonable cost: https://www.amazon.com/Muscle-Car-Confidential-Confessions-Driver/dp/0760328315/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=joe+oldham&qid=1581622170&s=books&sr=1-1

Accurate street tires for the 1/16 MPC/AMT Shelby Cobra 427 would be welcome. Also, as mentioned before, BFG Radial T/A's in 1/16 scale. Any street/ hot rod tires in 1/16, in a size larger (wider/taller) than MPC's Goodyear Radial GT's (the tires that come in their 1/16 '79 Trans Am kit), but less tall than the MPC Stock car tires found in the General Lee and Petty Stock Car kits (these tires are way too tall). I'm much less into slicks and skinny fronts than I am into street tires. The custom tires you find in the 1/16 AMT kits ('64 Mustang, '55 Nomad, etc.) are just terrible. The Goodyear Radial GT's that come in the MPC 1/16 '79 Firebird are pretty decent, but look kind of small to me.

The Duster kit does not come with a Hemi engine, only a 340 (4bbl and Six Pack intakes).

The Hemi Dart will be a better buy if you want a Hemi. That chassis might work out better as it's a little thinner (that is, the interior floor is not part of the chassis). You will probably have to shorten this chassis a bit, grind down the rear wheelhouses, and cut down the rear trunk quarter floors to get it to fit. It will be a BIG job, but it will look good when it's done. The bonus when using that Dart kit is: you get LOTS of nice extra parts. Each Hemi Dart comes with both Dana and 8-3/4 rears, Hemi/4 speed and 383/440 Auto engines & transmissions, stock Dart hubcaps and nice optional Cragar mags. Little things like separate door handles, side mirrors & windshield wipers you can use on the 'Cuda, too.

Mostly scraping off the rocker panel moldings and GTX emblems, and replacing the emblems with Road Runner logos (as well as this nifty bird head for the grille!). The rocker trim in the GTX kit is GTX only- even the top luxury model (Satellite Sebring Plus) got different rocker trim than the GTX. The stripe packages and some other options differed between both cars as well. I believe that the interior in the GTX kit could stand in for a deluxe interior as optional for a Road Runner. The old Monogram 1971 Satellite kit might be an easier starting point, as that body has no emblems or rocker moldings. Also- that old Satellite kit comes with the base Road Runner (non-fresh air) hood, although the Air Grabber hood is correct for a 440+6 engine. These cars could be optioned with a vast array of equipment: front and rear spoilers (only available in the GTX kit), 440 4bbl and Hemi engines for the GTX, and 340 4bbl, 383 4bbl, 440+6 and Hemis for the Road Runner, full or canopy vinyl tops (also two-tone paint- where the car gets the vinyl top trim for a full or canopy roof but with a painted roof section instead), different kinds of stripes, Bazooka tips for the exhaust (available from Missing Link Resin), chrome or painted racing mirrors (certain car colors only), and sunroof. Road Runners could be had as low option cars, showboats (although GTX's usually fulfilled this need) and anything in between.

WOW! That is a really nice build. You added a ton of little details that look right. I'll bet it smells musty and diesel-y!

AMT '71 Duster, Revell '68-'69 Dart, MPC '75-'76 Dart Sport (distant 3rd). All will need a good deal of grinding and trimming for sure, especially by the trunk floor. Also, the Cuda interior is a bit thick, and the Duster chassis is a platform style (with the interior floor on the top of the chassis plate). The '71 Duster chassis probably would be best, as this plastic is a bit softer than the Revell Dart plastic. The Duster kit also has the advantage of coming with a really nice Chrysler Small block engine. To use the Duster or Revell Dart chassis, you would also need to cut the "engine box", that is the inner fenders, out of the corresponding body, so you would need to find a nearly entire kit. I have put the chassis from the MPC Dart Sport under a '69 Barracuda, it still takes a lot of cutting , test fitting and trimming. With the work that that took, I'd recommend just going for the Duster chassis, as it will be as much work anyway and will look MUCH better than the Dart Sport chassis. It will be a LOT OF WORK any way you decide to go, but it will definitely greatly improve the engine room and chassis areas of the 'Cuda kit.

That's looking great, Perry- keep up the good work!!!

Ghost Rider Charger from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. No brainer- Round 2's '69 Charger tool has practically all of the elements needed (in the custom options from their 500/ Daytona/ Fast & Furious kits) except for maybe the blower scoop & front air dam. It's got a Marvel Super Hero connection which is hot right now- and the box art could be killer!!!

I agree!