CapSat 6

That is a beauty!

I had been thinking something along these lines...how far away from the original intent would we be getting if there was a modern spec chassis (with an emphasis on safety), repro parts for the bodies (and making the bodies look as stock as possible), any engine that could have been had in that car line in any year? It could get expensive to use muscle-era bodies, but then again, if a rusted non-numbers car (307 Malibu, 302 Torino, 318 Belvedere, etc.) could be found, then the basic structure could be used, and for some of these cars, repro fenders, quarters, rockers & trim could be used. Maybe the emphasis should be on "the show" as opposed to competition, so that there isn't an entire field of Hemi and Boss 429 powered aero specials. Finding "the best package" should be discouraged. Maybe race on semi-road courses instead of strictly ovals. I'd like to see as many makes, models and years racing as possible. Variety would make this or break this. As much as possible should be done to control costs - maybe make it so that older Cup cars could be obtained relatively cheaply and rebodied for the series. In my mind, it should be a hobby series, as opposed to a step in the competition ladder. Done right, this could be a real attraction.

Thank you- that's a handy list! I intend to build a '70 Duster 340, like one I saw many years ago that was somebody's driver in the mid-80's in northern Delaware. It was orange, with a bench seat, floor mounted manual trans, dog dish wheel covers, no stripes, and tiny "Valiant Duster 340" decals on the fenders. Even as a teen with no driver's license, I knew that car was something special. I'm not sure that the carb in the Duster 340 kit represents a '71 style ThermoQuad- actually, I'm not sure it really represents anything. & I'm not 100% sure, but I think the 340 that comes in the Duster Street Machine comes with the non-a/c fan belt set up.

These are remote possibilities. Round 2 or Revell could perhaps tool up notchback bodies for their existing ‘67-‘68 kits. The ‘69 Torino fastback is still with Round 2 I believe. The Rebel Machine is probably farther off. The Jo Han kit can still be found, as pricy as it might be.

Good choice! This one was never really done well, and I really like these cars.

A '67 Grand Sport Skylark would be boss! I think Round 2 still has what's left of the '64 Cutlass 442. A pic of a "hanger shot" has made the rounds pretty recently. The body had the windshield frame removed at some point, it would be nice if they were able to restore it. But - c'mon Steven- please allow us ONE more Challenger- we need a GOOD one. PLEASE???

Awww man! We'll have 1,000 replies to this in no time Respectfully: 1) The LS-6 probably won't happen...AMT has one in their catalog, so does Revell. They both have their problems, but they're good enough to run and sell, so there is little motivation to do a new one. The best path to a good one seems to be combining the Revell snap '70 Chevelle body and interior with a more detailed chassis & engine (the AMT '69 Olds 442 chassis is my "go-to" for GM '68-'72 A bodies). The GSX is already available in 1/24, and that kit, while a little simple, is quite nice. You probably just couldn't make a business case for either of these. 2) The '70 Duster: my guess as to why the '71 was done is because of the more aggressive looks of the '71 compared to the '70 (no "shark tooth" grille on the '70, louder stripes on the '71). A few resin casters do a '70 Duster grille, that would be most of what you need to backdate the '71. It's possible Round 2 could tool up a new grille, throw in their new dog dish caps and wheels from their '78 Dodge pickup, and could get another easy variant of their '71 kit. This one could be a maybe/possibly. 3) Early Vegas: before Revell was sold, this might have been a possibility. Yenkos, Pro Stocks, Pro Streets- they could have done multiple variants. AMT / ERTL did a 1/18 diecast some time back, so, maybe this is a good subject to revisit? The MPC kit was modified to become the Vega of later years, and it was no great shakes to begin with. If Revell ever actually revives and becomes something like it was before the sale, this one might be a slight possibility, but the chances as they are now are slim. 4) See #1. Round 2 has the body tool for the '69 GTO Judge. It was last issued as the Arnie Beswick funny car, in 1/25 scale. I think the body is 100% stock, and to my eye it's pretty nice. You could combine the body with the '69 442 Chassis, get a nice Poncho engine in there, and you're mostly to a stock Judge. I think Round 2 having this body tool and Revell having the 1/24 Judge kills the prospect of getting a new 1/25 kit. We COULD however use a nice new 1/25 '70 GTO. Round 2 has the stock '70 kit, which isn't so nice, and it's been compromised by the changes back and forth from stock to circle track car. 5) '70 Trans Am: I could actually see the case for this one. "Old" Revell could have developed an all-new kit, doing different bodies ('70 Formula, '73 Super Duty", "Rockford Files" Esprit, '74-'76 cars). MPC's kits aren't coming back, and multiple variants could definitely be tooled for better sales. Some of the Trans Ams and / or Formulas, depending on the year, were never done by MPC back in the day, so there are some gaps to be filled, too. 6) '70 Challenger. *sigh*. The MPC kit had excellent body proportions, good body details, and substandard engine and chassis (the MPC body has been irreversibly turned into a Funny Car body). The AMT kit has decent body proportions, some body details that were off (& that nasty separate roof!), some added parts for the Vanishing Point version that were terrible, and ok to good chassis and engine. Revell did attempt a 1/25 kit, based on a diecast kit. It suffers from odd body proportions due to the diecast origins, some body details that are just wrong, but a good chassis and interior and an ok engine. It builds as an R/T or T/A, which at first seems genius, until you realize that the same 440 Six Pack engine is used for either version. As much as a great Challenger kit has never been done, and one is needed, I doubt we'll get one now. Our only hope is that one of the manufacturers thinks we need an all-new '71 Challenger R/T and actually does a good job with it. Here are a few of mine. I have tried to keep my list strictly to Muscle Cars. The definition of Muscle Car has broadened considerably over the past 20 years. Remember: no low compression, no non-performance engines, and mostly performance models or packages based on American passenger cars built between roughly 1964-1972 *... 1) '69 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler. Not the NASCAR version, just a straight-up, 390 powered muscle car. 2) '70 Chrysler 300/Hurst. Perhaps the coolest **only full size muscle model ever made. 3) '69-'72 Pontiac Grand Prix. Maybe Round 2 could do a "one run of fun" on that Pimpmobile that this has become, and tool it back to stock form. While they are at it, do a few special bits and decals for a Hurst version! 4) '66 Buick Skylark. See #3. * Cars made after 1972? Colonnade GM cars? 360 Volares? The '70's cars are stretching being called "Muscle Cars" a bit. Their performance just wasn't the same. Some of these models had the same intent though, so my belief is...maybe. A 350 powered Cutlass Supreme would not qualify for me, but a 454 powered Laguna S-3 might. A 360 powered Volare or Dart Sport might qualify, but a 360 powered Gran Fury? No to the Gran Fury, but maybe I would call that one "Cop Muscle"... ** are 427 Biscaynes, 426 Monacos, & 7.0 L Galaxie 500's Muscle Cars? Maybe not by strict definition of their package, but I would say yes, since they have muscle engines, and since that's how some were used. Maybe less the Monaco and the Galaxie for me- those were just full size cars with big engines, really- boulevardiers. A 427 4 speed Biscayne however probably just existed for one primary purpose :)...

I missed that- I was looking at the panels for the cab assembly in the instructions. They show the cap going on the right place on the bedside. It does seem that Round 2 looked this one over pretty carefully when they developed this new release!

Scale Auto Enthusiast Magazine had a feature on him some years ago, that's where I remember seeing some of his builds. In that same article, I also remember he used spare parts (leftovers from other replica stock conversions) to build a nice dark blue early '60's Chrysler custom.

Don’t spend big bucks on that one. The Lindberg/ Palmer one is superior to the old ARII tool. It sort of looks like a Challenger. Years ago, I briefly flirted with the idea of throwing a Monogram ‘70 Challenger chassis and interior under one of these and then thought better of it.

Maybe that’s why they left it off of the new instructions. I guess an enterprising builder can just cut the cap out of the quarter panel on the MPC “Supercharger” ‘74 Charger (which does not belong there...)...

Beautiful!!!

I have been a fan of Mr. Airio's work for a LONG time! I remember he did a '65 Dodge Dart, a '70 Dodge Dart Swinger 340, and several others that we haven't seen in this thread that I really liked. I of course like them all, but love the Mopars that he does! I wish I had 1/4 of his talent. The burgundy Gran Tornio shown in the first group of pics was photographed perfectly- I had to look at it a few times to convince myself that it was a model!!!

I've seen that one before, too. That's a beauty, Steve!!!

I have seen that white Coronet before and I have to say that it's gorgeous! The same for Michael Kroger's cars!

You made that one look good! The proportions of the body are accurate in that kit (which is nearly miraculous, considering that it's an ex-Palmer tool), but the details are a little soft. Still, not a bad start with that kit if you want to build a drag car and/or throw another kit under it (for instance: AMT or Revell chassis & engine). The only other game in town for these Challengers ('72-'74) are the old MPC Annuals, which are getting pricy, and, truth to be told, the chassis and engines in those are hardly any better.

Part # 105 on the old chrome shot. I of course do not have a copy of the new model yet, but I'd say the gas cap is probably still there, maybe the hole in the cab is flashed over. See the link to the instructions for the original 1978 Annual 4x4... https://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/mpc-instructions/automotive-cars--pi/dodge/1971-1980/mpc-new-dodge-picku/1978dodgew150pickup-8.html

Part # 105 on the old chrome shot. I of course do not have a copy of the new model yet, but I'd say the gas cap is probably still there, maybe the hole in the cab is flashed over. See the link to the instructions for the original 1978 Annual 4x4... https://public.fotki.com/drasticplasticsmcc/mkiba-build-under-c/mpc-instructions/automotive-cars--pi/dodge/1971-1980/mpc-new-dodge-picku/1978dodgew150pickup-8.html

It's a shame...that guy had a nice '70-ish Cutlass Convertible, but he REALLY wanted a Fat-Fendered rod...and a Vette's backside...couldn't he have just traded it???

That dash emblem looks to be early 60's. It would be interesting to see if there is a similar decal available in AMT's (formerly Lindberg's) Dodge 330 "Color Me Gone" drag car, or, perhaps you could foil cast one from a Jo Han '62 or '63 Dodge body? I don't want to give you false hope, as I'm not 100% sure about those sources, but that is where I would start.

Beautiful work, great looking car!

That's true. I have them- and they're really well done, highly recommended - but a plastic one would be a lot of fun!!!

Agreed- looking at the Lemans tail panel above, you might just be able to cut a new tail panel out of flat Evergreen plastic or a spare hood/ body, scan and print pictures of the bright piece and taillights, add each picture to some pieces of Evergreen cut to fit, and combine them.

I think it's cool that you're building a Lemans...I haven't often seen these done. I think they looked just as good as the GTO's that were based on them. I'm not too familiar with the '66 GTO kit myself. It would probably depend on how far you want to go, and how skilled you might be, to replicate the Lemans tail panel. Snake's idea of printing a picture of the Lemans panel is not a bad idea- "Trompe L'oeil"- to fool the eye- sometimes works very well in modeling. To go farther with it than that will take some time and effort. If I were to do the conversion, I would first fill in the areas where the GTO taillights are. Are there big square holes where the taillights mount, or just the "vents" that the taillights show through? If the "vents" are molded into the tail panel, I would cut those areas out, and then make flat, rectangular pieces from Plastruct sheet plastic, or even cut from the flat area of a scrap hood or body, glue them into the leftover holes, let the glue set up, then putty them with Squadron white putty or Tamiya Putty, sand the putty smooth, primer and paint. If there are just big, square holes, then just cut the pieces to fit as described above, glue them in, fill them, sand them, primer and paint. The "Pontiac" lettering looks different in each of those two panels. If that difference bothers you enough, you might also want to remove the lettering, or, it might be worth your while to preserve it if you think it would be harder to replicate it more accurately. I might be inclined to leave it as-is from the GTO panel. That would leave you with either a panel with just "Pontiac" lettering, or a flat, featureless panel. Looking at the two different panels, it does also appear that there is a slight character line in the Lemans panel that is not there in the GTO panel. You may or may not want to replicate that as well. I would almost be included to leave it as it is, without the character line. If working with a featureless panel, you could glue a thin strip of Plastruct down the middle of the panel, putty it, and sand it to shape. You would really probably only be able to do this if you removed the Pontiac lettering first. If you wanted to recreate the lettering, you might be able to find a photoetch sheet for a GTO or another Pontiac that will have "Pontiac" letting of about the same size. You could also "foil cast" the letters before you remove them- cover each letter with a thin metal foil, pressing it over each letter to shape, press clay onto the foil, carefully pull the shaped foil off of the body with the clay, fill the backside of each letter with small amounts of epoxy or kit plastic melted with model glue, wait for the epoxy or glue to fully set up, pull them out of the clay, cut each letter to shape, and attach them to the new panel. You can probably Google "foil casting" or look it up on YouTube for details on the process. Lastly, the taillights. Some modelers have taken larger scrap taillights, and carved the needed shapes out of them, or used clear red toothbrush handles to do the same. Once the shapes are carved out & sanded to shape, they can be polished to look glossy again. It's going to take some practice & skill to make the changes you want, but then again, this one isn't overly-complicated. It might be just the right little project in order for you to get some scratch building experience under your belt. I must say that my success with things like this is so-so at best. I have foil cast emblems in the past and it's not very hard at all, although the little letters you might want to do might drive me crazy. Then again, the same little letters done with photoetch might be the same effort. I have modified scrap taillights to make different ones on occasion, and that isn't extremely hard, either. I have never tried the toothbrush handle thing for taillights, but I have read about it and it the techniques makes sense. I have found that once I start on modifications like this, I'm usually pretty encouraged with the initial results, which makes me want to continue. I hope that helps. Maybe this will give you a starting strategy...?

I remember using the Mopar Performance Chrysler Engine blue some time ago (I had some leftover from painting an intake)...it was perhaps too thick for my taste...but maybe Duplicolor is more like their touch up sprays...maybe I’ll get some and give it another try...