CapSat 6

They could just do a "One Run of Fun" issue with whatever they have left of this. I have the feeling that they could probably do a Sweathogs version first with what they have left (as that was the later issue), then backdate it slightly to do the Grand Superfly. I think this could have sales potential now, since there is healty interest in Lowriders and Retro customs these days. Since Round 2's specialty seems to be licensed products, this would fit with their regular product M.O., but even if they didn't want to pay for the licensing, they could just offer it as a generic Retro Custom. Later, if it sells well, they could look at restoring it to stock '72 specs. I would not mind simply having the Dream Machine or Grand Superfly back. I'd be more partial to the Superfly version, but I would buy one, whichever one they would offer.

Beauty! And you do seem to have a nice knack for making the ignition wires look right!

Interesting color. Love the vintage NY Plate!

Nice!!!

A nicer (& I think more period correct) light bar was in the MPC Force 440 Monaco. If they could find that light bar, narrow the steel wheels & include narrower tires, that would go a long way. They seem to like licensing tie-ins- what about reissuing the T.J. Hooker version, or doing a tie-in for "Hunter", or "Hill Street Blues"? I would buy a Hunter kit just for the box art! They could always include a small "Taxi" sign, and offer it with appropriate decals (& throw in a hood scoop and custom wheels for fun)... I got a box of 4 nearly complete Monaco kits at the NNL East two years ago for a price that I couldn't refuse, so I'm taking one of them and cloning the "BigAmerican" car.

Fireball Modelworks does several sets like these...mostly for car applications. The caps in this picture are police car only (ventilated). It used to be that people usually added them to their Mopars because they had a set or two lying around. Fireball does an excellent set of those caps, too!

Also, I’m REALLY hoping they don’t include the 1/20 slick tires (as seen with any annual version that had a 4x4 option, except for the Warlock and FireFighter). It would be nice if they found the wagon wheels from those editions.

It doesn't take some crummy dialogue in a movie to hear stuff like this: I have heard things like this in real life, at car shows and cruises!

The 340 from the Duster kit could be dressed as a 318 or 360 pretty easily. I wish Round 2 would offer that engine separately, as it's the only decent Mopar LA engine in 1/25 scale. In 1/24, at least you have the 340 Six Pack from the Revell '70 Challenger and the 318 from the Monogram '80 Ramcharger, but I think these engines would look out of scale in the MPC pickup. A slant 6 would be neat (take your pick: the one from the Lindberg '64 Plymouth, or even the one from the AMT Deora kit). A modern Hemi would be sweet! Who will take a shot at replicating one of the rare, one-year only Mitsubishi diesel-equipped '78's???

Here we go!!! - I think this will be a very good seller. -The kit itself is ok- it's a vintage tool, with vintage tool limitations. Most of it is reasonably accurate, if simple. My big beef with it is the lack of positive mounting for the grille- it's difficult to mount the grille in any version of this kit, and it's very easy to mount it improperly, by "tunneling it into" the fender sides. The grille is supposed to fit ahead of the fender corners, rather than inside of them. I did get on Round 2's site, sent them a note, and asked that they would look at fixing the tooling to add tabs or some other way of mounting the grille in a better manner. -There is a lot of potential for different variations of this kit. 4x2, 4x4, Sweptline & Utiline beds, bench & bucket seat interiors, different model years to offer, not to mention special packages like the Midnite Express, Warlock and Macho. I really hope that most of the various tooling inserts could be found for this one. -There is always room for improvement- the first things I can think of are: adding the engine and transmission from the AMT '71 Charger, wheels and/or tires from Fireball Modelworks. With a little love, this kit can shine.

As long as it doesn't come with the 1/20 scale racing tires from the original annuals, I'll be happy. The larger diameter Desert Dog 4x4 tires (last seen in the '84-ish GMC 4x4 pickup, and Jeep Commando 4x4 kits re-released recently) will fit the large size steel wheels from the original Dodge Pickup annual kits, so hopefully they use those tires rather than the 1/20 semi-slicks, at a bare minimum. Some of the earlier annuals had both 2wd & 4wd set ups in the same box, using the MPC Goodyear Polysteel(?) tires and stock wheel covers for the 2wd version, and the large steel wheels with the 1/20 racing tires for the 4wd version, so it's possible that they could offer this as a 2wd/ 4wd kit.

The original MPC 1971 Demon was a rare one- it was a mid-year release based on the same tool they used for the 1971 Duster. Once they did their run of 71 Demons, they took the same tool and revised it to produce the '72 Duster annual. That same tool eventually became the '76 Dart Sport, so as far as we know, the original '71 Demon from MPC can't be brought back. As far as I can tell, the same tool was used for the following kits: 1971 Duster Annual 1971 Demon mid year Annual 1972 Duster Annual 1972 California Flash Pro Stock 1973 Duster Annual 1973 Mopar Missile Pro Stock 1974 Duster Annual 1975 Duster Annual 1975 Dart Sport Annual 1976 Dart Sport Annual In any case, there were small errors made when they created the '71 Demon back then- the front wheel openings were never changed from the Duster shape. Real life Dusters & Demons had different shapes here because the Demon simply used the '70-'71 Dodge Dart Swinger front fenders, which had wheel openings that were styled to match the rear wheel openings on the Swinger body. The Duster was a surprise hit for Plymouth, and started out as a Plymouth exclusive- once 1970 Duster sales became evident, Dodge dealers cried out for a Duster clone, so they simply used the Dart Swinger front clip with no changes to create the Demon for 1971. As a result, the Demon front wheel openings did not match the rear wheel openings of the "Duster/Demon" body in 1:1. Also, I think I read here in another thread that there was something wrong with how they did the Demon hood on the '71 mid-year annual kit. ERTL did a 1/18 '71 Duster diecast which they later revised into a '71 Demon (about 20 years ago). To my eyes, they did a terrible job revising it, the Duster looked OK (I have one), but the Demon they did had a very awkward flat shape to the front end. You would think that with relatively modern tooling technology they could get this right, but just take a look at one of those 1/18 Demon diecasts and it's evident that it is just wrong. I hope that whomever takes a shot at doing a '71 Demon will do it right. If it looks anything like the 1/18 diecast, then count me out. I had hope that perhaps Revell would have tackled both the 1970 Swinger 340 and the '71 Demon with all new tools, but unfortunately they might be out of play now...

Sorry about all of the speculation, Tim...just...excited to see this one back!!! The possibility of a utiline short bed is pretty cool, too!!!

A ‘72 Dodge with the Racer’s Wedge rear body would be awesome!

The last issue of these trucks was a ‘78 Lil’ Red Express; Round 2 might also have the ‘79-‘80 Grille and hood (last seen in the “Fire Fighter” shortbed 4x4 and the “ThundersTruck” puller longbed truck). It might be that the ‘76-prior grilles are gone. If you swap to one of the earlier grilles, there isn’t much else to body changes you would need (I think just the earlier lower valence that has turn signal lights in it), so somebody could cast these in resin for a retro fit, or, if the ‘78’s sell really well, maybe Round 2 could retool these pieces...but they will likely start with what they have. I think I have seen the earlier grilles available in resin on eBay from time to time.

They could conceivably do a 2wd Warlock pretty easily, if they found the bed rails and wagon wheels... https://www.nydailynews.com/amp/autos/street-smarts/bizarre-car-week-1978-dodge-warlock-article-1.2197505 https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0513-153852/1978-dodge-warlock-pickup/

Probably true, but notice the name they are using is VERY specific...D 100’s could be had either with Utiline or Sweptline beds, and as a Custom, that’s the base trim line. The Lil’ Reds were based on the mid range Adventurer trim. Maybe they found the bench seat interior last seen in the Monster Trucks, and they’re putting this out more as a work truck? The moldings having been removed precludes this from being put out in Adventurer SE trim, but they could still put it out as a Custom with a Sweptline bed, or, if they find the 4x4 parts, they could do a Macho Wagon eventually... ...either way, since it’s not being identified as a Lil’ Red, I think that something is afoot...

Pics of the John Heyer Body...ignore the lower rear bumpers...I had cut into them to add custom exhaust outlets from a Revell 90’s T Bird...

All I can say is: the 83 Imperial that TKM did was worse than this. Imagine a slush cast body, sort-of K Car proportions in the middle body, with huge overhangs (and the attendant "nose bent nearly to the sky"), and not a straight line on the entire body. To be fair, TKM was a very early entrant into the scale auto cottage industry (these were produced a LONG time ago), offering ambitious and interesting subject matter. I did speak to the owner on the phone once (this was before I actually received my Imperial ), his heart was definitely in the right place...he had a passion for the work and the subject matter. It would have been great if he came along now instead of the early 80's and tried to do these in 3D...

Southern Motorsport Hobbies does the NASCAR version of the 80's Imperial: http://stores.smhracing.com/81-imperial-nascar/ I bought one of these Imperials many years ago from TKM Models. I was just a bit extremely disappointed when I got it. The best way I can describe it is: folk art. I'm sure you have heard about TKM's models before: the caster had good intentions, but the execution was, to be kind, lacking. I cut it up in an effort to make it into something buildable. I had good intentions and a basic lack of skills, too. I have one that was done by John Heyer. It's MUCH better than the TKM piece, but still not what I would call "Air Trax" execution. It's sort of a stalled project - I began building it as a mild street rod. I'll have to post some pics when I get home. Lastly, I started trying to make one out of a Monogram '81 Thunderbird body about 15 year ago. It looked like it was going to work. I had an extra scrap Heyer body (with voids in it) that I was going to use for the nose. Once the SMH body came out, I just bought one of those, so that it could languish in the box with my own attempt. I'll have to find that one and post pics of that one, too. Although I have never really announced this before, I am the King of Stalled Projects- everything is a good idea to me! A skilled builder might be able to combine the Air Trax Mirada with the SMH piece and make a stock one. Hint, hint, Bill G.... ;)

It would have been nearly impossible to sell their business whole...it evolved as a True Unicorn- an improbable, large, high-quality operation operating in a tiny niche. Whatever they were asking for it was probably fair (consider that they had a vast product line), but anybody who would have been interested in in probably would not have had the means (not to mention skill) to acquire it. They were highly skilled, practiced, diligent workers - it was truly a labor of love. They were able to retire on what they made on it, which was very nice (and it's getting tougher and tougher to retire anymore), but I doubt anybody could actually get rich off of that business model. The only shot we might have had at somebody continuing it would have been if the molds and masters were sold to multiple parties- and that is still my hope. Maybe a half dozen or so existing casters could pick up everything. I'm thinking maybe a Mopar specialist could take over the Mopar products, for instance, one of the Truck specialists could take over the truck stuff, etc. It seems that most casters carve out their specialty, and more or less stick with their way of doing business (creating molds, producing & filling orders, etc.). It's definitely a comfort thing, as for most, it's a side business rather than a full time thing. Lastly, it would be daunting for anybody who would want to make that leap from part-time to full-time.

A lot of '68-'70 Chargers are getting the custom treatment these days. I have definitely seen uglier!

Thanks! Not bad for a Mopar Guy, eh? The red convertible was a bonehead mistake- I had 70 on the brain... Then the orange one is an AMT '70, or a resin version of the same... & Multi-car- would that be a Palmer by any chance?

Correction- the multicolored car is a Revell '70 1/24.