CapSat 6

WAY COOL, and GREAT work!!! Captain Satellite approves!

Nice build! Just don't start telling everybody at the model shows that you mis-matched the nose on purpose to make it look like an original car...that was a happy accident, we're on to you!!!

Really nice job on that one, Keith! I like the orange paint & body color bumpers! My call would be to leave the hood scoop unattached...

Nice save! I like the retro stripes and the way the tail panel is body color (it was usually black between the taillights). It looks like something you'd see at a cruise or for sale on Facebook Marketplace!

I made a great trade with my80malibu...thanks Gabriel!!!

Neat! The only things that don’t seem to fit the design are the wheels and tires. I would change those. I might need one of these!

There should be no problems with these - titanium is very strong and light.

I fixed that for you...

Man- wouldn't THAT be nice to have back!!! I wonder if there is a tooling insert that could be used on their fastback body to recreate this? Other than the '69 Cobra Fastback we saw back in the '90's, what might be left of this one???

Some updates: 1) there is a caster on eBay who offers the dually fenders. I have seen these listings several times. 2) Hart's Parts does grilles, hoods and tailgates for '72-'73, '74-'76, and '79-'80 trucks. They are reasonably priced, and I can vouch for their quality and service, as I have ordered from them before.

No idea! But I just had a few thoughts: 1) It's possible that Round 2 could offer multiple building options for a CHP car in the same box, with absolutely minimal changes to the contents (mostly decals and assembly options): regular patrol car (I'm not sure what to call this except for "car with standard lightbar assembly"), slick top, & training car (these looked more or less the same as the slick top: with no light bar, but instead of door shield graphics, they had large black numbers on the doors). With the right packaging, that would make a super-cool collectible! 2) if they do one with the lightbar, then I think the lightbar in the current Goon Car tool would be incorrect. It looks to me like the lightbar from the old "Force 440" kit would be more accurate for a CHP car (and it was much better detailed), so I'd be very happy if they could find and swap in this part of the Monaco tool for this reissue. 3) Round 2 just did a nice set of steel wheels for the 1978 Dodge Pickup kit. Since the wheels in the Goon Car are stupid-wide, it would be nice if they threw these wheels in with the new CHP car too, along with the MPC Goodyear Polysteel tires. It seems that Round 2 will occasionally create a new wheel tool that would lend itself to being included in more than one kit to add value, so this would be a no brainer. If there is a huge flaw with this kit, it's the stupid-wide wheels and tires. Extra points for doing a new steering wheel, since the "Tuff" wheel in the kit was probably never used in a Cop Car.

My understanding is that the Matador body tool is actually shared with the Bobby Allison "Stock" (Race) Car kit. They had to wipe the stock details from the body to bring the race car back some years ago (or perhaps that was the last state in which the body tool was in from the '70's). The race car and stock kits shared their basic body, chassis, & engine. The kits differed in the wheel/ tire, interior, exhaust, engine and engine room pieces they provided with each kit. IF Round 2 wanted to, they could restore the stock details, but then it would hamper their ability to reissue the race car, which they have put out at least 3 times since the '90's. I do remember picking one of the later issues of the race car up, and a stock grille was included in the chrome shot (along with the race grille, which was an unplated piece on another sprue). The first reissue of the race car did not come with the stock grille, it looks like the gates were opened up some time after that first reissue from the early '90's. I guess if I ran Round 2, I would run the race car again once or twice with Retro box art under a "one (or two) run (runs) of fun" deal, then I would have the stock stuff restored to the body, IF the tools for the stock interior, stock wheels, custom parts and engine room could be found. In my opinion, it's almost always easier for a modeler to make a stock body into a race body, than the reverse, and most of the time, a given model manufacturer's race body might differ from how it appeared in real life, which might necessitate further mods, so I'd rather see the stock body details on this one. The stock/ custom Matador kit would make a great companion piece to the Gremlin & Pacer kits we have seen lately.

I think this is one reason that they tooled them up- if it's anything like the situation with their 5 spoke mags (included in their '69 Barracuda, '68 El Camino, others), the new wheel tooling was done as a "value adder", to breathe new life into some of their often-issued Mopar kits. I would not be surprised if we see this combo appear it their Monaco kit (where it would be most welcome), perhaps even as optional wheels in their '74 Road Runner, and other suitable future Mopar releases.

The Force 440 used the 2 door body. After that release, the body and interior were revised to what we have now, the 4 door. This also entailed heavy revision to the quarter panels, rearward section of the roof, and rear bumper/ trunk area. It's doubtful that they would be able to ever bring that two door body back, but I could envision them reissuing the 4 door as a "Force 440" (with new box graphics, and decals much like the originals) for nostalgia purposes. That would be a hot looking cruiser! It would be nice if at the least, they found the lightbar set up that the Force 440 used- it is MUCH better than the one we've been getting with the Monaco since the early 80's...the rest of the police parts are more or less the same as what we've been getting with the 4 door all these years.

Monogram had a nice series of better-detailed 1/32 kits in the 80's: a '69 Charger, Nova, '70 Firebird, an '82-ish Camaro, and a Ford EXP (those are the ones I remember, maybe there were more?). There were two variants of each: stock and street machine. I know the Charger's Street Machine version came with a blower and pro stock hood scoop (and REALLY nice Cragars)! They had chrome parts, basic but good looking engines, nice rubber tires and a nice overall level of detail. Lastly, they were glue construction. I know many of us want to see those old 1/32 drag kits, but with their bodies in two halves (?!?) and no chrome, while they would have some nostalgia value, I'm not sure they would really be a good building experience for newer modelers. Still, I could see where these would be right up Atlantis's alley. They'd probably sell a ton of them. Wouldn't the later kits (with their chrome parts, relatively modern but simple tool design, and greater detail) offer a better building experience all around? While we're at it, MPC had some nice 1/32 kits back then: a Dodge Van, Chevy Pickup, Dodge Monaco Police car (remember that one???), and a Buick Stock Car. They were snap together kits, but had some nice details, too. Now that Round 2 has the Lindberg tooling bank, we need them to put out that old 1/32 Chrysler Cordoba. That one actually looks pretty good compared to some of their other 1/32 efforts. You would have thought that Lindberg reissued just about everything about 20 years ago, but that's one I can think of that we have never again seen...

Dave - great to hear from you! I might have an extra set of these somewhere...I will check overnight and see what I have. These are the same hubcaps that are available in the later Dodge Van kits (roughly 1979-1982), the latest reissue ("Bad Company") should have them, too.

I REALLY hope not! It would be a great opportunity for an accurate Mopar small block in 1/25 scale. Judging by all of the other details in their Hemi Cuda Kit, it should be a nice engine, but then again, Revell had a 440 Six Pack pose as a 340 Six Pack as the optional engine in their 1/25 Challenger R/T - T/A kit!!!

Oh- just a few more notes about my '79 LRE idea... 1) These MPC Dodge Pickup kits always came with Chrysler Big Blocks. We'll politely ignore that, and take a '79 LRE with the big block, as the '78 has always been offered. It would be fantastic however if Round 2 decided to tool up a Mopar Small Block with Auto Trans to replace the underscale ones in their Dart Sport, Volare and Dodge van kits, and the Big Block in their LRE's. Even if it were on the simple side, and just an extra spure of parts they could slip into select Mopar kits, as long as it was accurate looking and nicely proportioned, it would be most welcome. It could even make a nice parts pack! 2) The '79 LRE's had catalytic converters. Do we really need these added to the kit for a '79 LRE?

Thank you! I've sure had quite a few of them! For all of their faults, I really like these kits, & the new one seems to have made a pretty big splash in our little hobby pond!...

I guess some of this depends upon whether or not all or most of the old tooling variations (inserts?) exist for the different building versions of some of these trucks. My belief is: some of the inserts still do exist for multiple variations. I think the challenge for Round 2 has been to identify them or otherwise get them to work with existing tools. I'm going to keep my picks very one-tracked: - 1978 Dodge Warlock pickup - uses more or less the Little Red Express body set up (Utiline short bed), short wheelbase 4x4 suspension, smaller size MPC 4x4 tires, unique "wagon" wheels on their own sprue, short box sized wooden bed rails. - 1978 Dodge 4x4 "Macho Wagon" - uses more or less the current kit's body setup (Sweptline long bed), long wheelbase 4x4 suspension, the same smaller size MPC 4x4 tires & unique "wagon" wheels on their own sprue (as above for the Warlock), and a roll bar for the bed (one piece of which is in the new kit). Also- new Macho Wagon decals. Maybe do a retro box that uses the same design theme as the ones MPC used for their original Little Red, Warlock, Firebird Trans Am, and Volare Super Pak kits, with pictures of the truck from old Dodge brochures. A Macho has never been offered in model form, but undeniably, this would be a popular kit. Bonus points for finding the inserts for the long bed rails, custom hood, brush guard from the "ThundersTruck" longbed, and camper top. -1979 Dodge Little Red Express - issue the same as the 1978 version of this kit, but use the 1979-80 grille, hood and cowl set up. This would be a variant that was never done in scale before. -1979 Dodge Macho Wagon (Simon & Simon?) - same as "Macho Wagon" above, with the '79-'80 grille, hood and cowl, with new decals. A "Simon & Simon" TV truck could be offered, especially if they tool up the right roll bar and grille guard. I think they could find the inserts for all of these variants, especially considering that they were able to come up with the Sweptline bed, chassis, and bench seat interior & steering wheel for the latest issue.

Looks like a great starting point for a rare one!

An all-new 1971 Challenger kit would be a great opportunity for one of the model companies to tool up an accurately- shaped Challenger body. All of the recent Challenger tools have their issues: - The old Monogram '70 T/A (original tooling circa 1982) is too fat and squat. It doesn't look half bad when built, but it definitely does not capture the look of the Challenger body shape. The kit itself is simple in places, but to me, without considering the body proportion issues, I think it builds up fairly well. Because of the body proportions, I would not want a new '71 Challenger based on this tool. -The old AMT Challenger (original tooling circa 1982) has body proportions that are good, except for the separate roof. The rest of the kit, while simple, isn't too bad. IF a new body and interior could be tooled up for this kit that does not have a separate roof (and of course, with good proportions & details), then it's possible that this could be a decent base for a modified reissue, although it still would not stack up to most "modern" (circa 1995 to present) model tools. -The newer Revell R/T-T/A tool (circa 2002?) has it's issues. It's simpler than most modern tools tend to be, and the body sides don't curve right, because it's based on a diecast tool. When assembled, the interior and chassis don't tend to sink into the body the way that they should, so the chassis hangs down unless you do some major clamping before the glue dries. The body overall is good, not great - the proportions are kind of funky. Some of the smaller details are kind of funky, too. I'm not a fan of this one - I would not like to see a modified reissue of this kit. That leaves us with the prospect of an all-new tool for a '71 Challenger. Many would say that we have too many Challengers already, but I would say that we haven't really gotten a good one yet. Multiple versions could be spun off from the same tool- even the '72-'74 "Sad Mouth" Challengers could be given a go...

I think these were "Toys R Us" only...the El Camino in red plastic, I also remember the '71 Duster in purple plastic, and the '70 Monte Carlo in dark green. There might have been others but I don't specifically remember them. The only tell was a sticker on the shrink wrap stating that it was molded in the specific color. The plastic was definitely softer and more rubbery than the gray plastic from the era. It seemed to be polished a little, too. None of these were very common at the time. I had a green Monte Carlo and sold it off and I still have a purple '71 Duster that I built without painting the body.

I’d like to see them reissue the ‘78 Chevy stepside...then again, I’m partial to any MPC kits we haven’t seen in awhile. If there were swapable inserts to that took, it would be nice to see the different grilles, beds & drivetrains. I seem to remember they did a custom dually variant that had some cool custom parts.

I don't necessarily disagree with these statements. Here's what I would say to address them: 1) Limited schedule. This would not be a competition series, it would be an exhibition series. Maybe 6 races during the whole season, put in at some of the least busy and most historic tracks (although there goes my "run them on road courses" idea...). It would be to attract more attention to the whole thing. If I knew they were doing something like this, I'd be more likely to come out for one of these races. As it is, I'll admit it- I'm kind of bored with the whole series right now. 2) Shrinking / graying fanbase- I get that. I also get that right now, Muscle Car era cars are cool with pretty much every demo (thank you, Vin Diesel!). The old timers will want to show up & they'll drag their kids along (who are my age- twist my arm, Dad!), especially if these care are running big blocks, however mild they are. Big blocks make a great sound under full song. The more I think about this, the more interested I am in it! 3) I think they have run 110" since around 1980, before they used to run a 115" wheelbase. Maybe a newer chassis can be lengthened by 5" cheaply enough, or the front suspension mounts could be moved forward. There are several companies that are making new sheet metal for many of these cars, including roofs, you can buy nearly a whole 1969 Charger unit body right now. Perhaps one or more of these companies can develop a body skin package to use. I would imagine all you would really need is a roof, quarters, front fenders, bumpers, decklid, hood & grille, everything else could be fabricated. As long as it still looks relatively stock (no roof chop, or weird sectioning), that would be with the spirit of the thing. I think as long as you had a stock appearing body and a make-appropriate big block, there would be few complaints about the suspension configuration. All you would need is maybe a dozen cars for such a race. Oh, and old-style pit stops: at least one round of pits stops, with no tech after 1980 used... If I had some extra cash, I would want to build one of these cars just for fun. Fly down a track in one of these cars once in awhile- sign me up! I'm sure you could find about a dozen 1:1 hobbyists who might be willing to build up some Mopars, Fords, GM and maybe an AMC Matador out of some of their spare parts to play with 6 times a year. If they didn't want to drive, maybe some of your retired racers would turn a wheel in one of these once in awhile (like the Legends Series). There would be no need to make this a competition series, it would really be more of an exhibition series in my mind. The Legends cars (prewar coupes) some years back created some excitement. Since then, the market, if anything, has absorbed more of the old NASCAR culture, and it seems to me that this could be a welcome addition. Nothing else they are doing right now seems to be working... Now I want to go build a model of one. Dave Van, I'll race that Shoebox of yours in a Mopar some time soon...