CapSat 6

A few of my favorites: -Revell 34 Ford Coupe -MPC '63 Corvette -MPC Petty and Baker NASCAR Dodge Chargers I have a few 1/16 cars in the pipeline for building. I need one of these '63 Corvettes, since I had one when I was about 11. I remember it being a really nice kit. I don't know why Round 2 wasted their time issuing the 64 Mustang Coupe, with it's weird roofline & vent windows- that kit just doesn't look right. The Corvette has a lot more detail, and if they were able to restore some of the custom parts from prior issues (supercharger & wheels), they would have a real winner. Also- any of the old Fujimi Ferraris in 1/16 seem to be quite nice. I had the 288 GTO and sold it off, which I now regret.

Yeah- those tires. I think I saw these in an old "Charger III" show car kit, as MPC's "Racing Tire" for the late '60's. Perhaps they were meant to be sort of an open wheel racing tire from then. They came in two sizes: sorta skinny and sorta wide. These look like the sorta wides. They do look like a truck tire to me. I've got a few in my parts box- and I think I might have used two of the fat ones on the rear of a Road Runner just once. I think Mark is right- the skinnier ones would have come in the original '79 Firebird, and other MPC Camaros & Firebirds from the Late Disco Era.

No problem, Al- I really like these engines, so talking them up is no trouble for me!

Here are some kits to look for: 1) Revell '68 Charger- this issue shown comes both with a really nice 440 4 BBL and a Hemi in each box. The Hemi is almost stock- just the headers & air cleaner are custom. The 440 is completely stock, and is a great representation of a '68-'69 440. Also, the chassis is really nice, adaptable to almost any other '68-'70 B body, you would just need to cut the inner fenders free from the body. The other Charger kits usually only come with either just the 440 ('69 Charger, blue on the box or '69 Daytona) or the Hemi (Landy Drag '68), but they still are excellent parts sources. 2) Revell '68 Dart Super Stock. This kit has two building options: 440 GTS and Hemi Super Stock. The 440 is nearly as nice as the one in the '68 Charger, while it has the added benefit of probably the best Torqueflite auto trans I have ever seen. The only downside to this engine is the A body only exhaust manifolds. You could still use them on a non a-body, they just wouldn't be correct for anything but a Dart or '68-'69 Cuda. The same thing applies as the '68 Charger for the chassis in this kit- it's super-nice and would work with some tweaking as an excellent upgrade for other A bodies. All of the other Dart kits ('68 GSS, '69 GTS) come only with the 440. 3) AMT '71 Duster- this comes with probably the best 1/25 340 available. The stock kit actually also comes with an optional stock six barrel set up. Just know that if you get one of the Duster Street Machine kits (with Viper wheels showing), those only come with custom fuel injection intakes and Magnum (later engine style) valve covers. I'm not 100% happy with the appearance of this engine ( I think it has proportion issues), but it's the best one out there for now. Honorable mention- AMT '71 Charger. The stock kit comes with a really nice 440 4 barrel Torqueflite engine. The chassis is also really nice- suitable for any '71-'79 B Body, or it can be cut down for '70-'74 E bodies. The '71 Charger Street Machine (Orange on the box) utilizes the 440 block, with some sorta-fakey Hemi heads & intake. These are my favorites, anyway...

Lastly- I'm just posting this one for fun. This was a built I found in the swaps at Chryslers @ Carlisle a few years ago. It was painted red, faded and dusty, and I thought at first that it was just a nice clean build of one of the '70's reissues. When I took a closer look at it, it had that blown Hemi sticking out from under the Super Stock scoop. Also, the chassis was butchered to jack it way up in the back, for the massive plastic slicks. At least the body was nice, and I really dug the vibe. Some modeler in the early '70's went to a lot of trouble on this Street Freak. Well- I get it home, and like I usually do with any builts I get, I rip it down as soon as I can, and put the body & hood in the dip. I almost immediately regretted it. I probably could have left it alone, although the paint was pretty beat, the chassis was white and unpainted, and the chrome was really faded and worn. Perhaps I could have detailed it. In any case, I'm going to honor the original builder by repainting it red, and using the basic elements (engine, slicks, rear wheels), while adding some detail, and a straight axle up front. I think I can recapture the original "bad" this old bomber had...

Here's another. These were never really glued together, just kind of set together. You can see the Hemi engine to the left- this is more or less what came in the Annual '69. Not too good, to my eyes. To the right is the 383 that they included, starting with the late '80's issue. This is likely what we'll see in the upcoming kit. I think it's an improvement over the Hemi. I think they copied it from the 440 that came with all of the MPC '71-'76 Road Runners and '77-'78 Dodge Monacos. Not too bad, if a little basic.

Nice builds! I'll add a few. These are oldies, perhaps not as nice... The blue car was built when the late '80's reissue, retooled into a 383 Formula S came out. This will show you the stock version of the kit that's currently available. The red car was built from the "Avenger" Cuda, which was out in the early '80's. This has the '69 front and rear treatments & interior, with '68 marker lights.

I suppose you could. They're pretty thick, so you'd probably want to grind the backs down a bit first. For that matter, I suppose you could just cut away the "center cap" for lack of a better word, and add them to whatever other wheels you want, to make a 6 lug. I have taken elements from different wheels and combined them to get what I need on occasion. I'm glad somebody would find these useful.

Here's a pic of the mags in the current tool. You can also find these in MPC '69 Firebirds from the early '80's- present. They were in the '73 Cougar for awhile, but I think more recent issues had the vintage mags restored.

I'd be happy with almost any Factory stock-style 1/12 Mopar, but I would definitely be more interested in a Muscle-era offering. I would rather see them do a 1/12 '68-'70 Charger than the Hellcat. I think if they did this generation of Charger, there would be definite potential for multiple tool variants (different years, Daytona, 500), but if they had to pick any, I'd like to see them do a tunnel back/ non-NASCAR car first. This Charger could be a scale- up of their current 1/25 kit, while I'd rather not see them do an E-Body- only because every recent E-Body attempt has had serious body proportion problems.

Here's one more pic. The car at the left has the original and reissue chassis and engine bay. The car at the right shows the engine bay from an MPC '71-'76 Duster or Dart. You can see that the inner fenders are simply the wrong shape for an A Body in the one in the left- at least they did this more accurately did this for the Duster, Demon and Dart Sport kits. Going with the stuff from a Revell '68 Dart would be even better.

Here are some pics: 1) Samples of the Custom parts that came with the original '69. These were never in the reissues. Here are the custom wheels, separate hood pins, custom grilles, clear covers for the grilles, blank for the back seat, and custom seats. The hood shown is an original '69- you'll notice that is has stock turn signal indicators on it, which never were on any of the reissues. I think these wheels would be an improvement over the 6-lug custom wheels that made it into the last few reissues. The seats are two- piece Klingon Kruiser specials, but I like them for some odd reason. If they have "found" or are "restoring" parts, these are likely the new ones we'll get. 2) Top to bottom: original '69 body, "68" body from '70's reissues, restored '69 body. Notice the original body has a moulding cast into the upper edge. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a pinstripe, or a factory moulding; either way, it would be a royal pain to paint or foil. It would be best if Round 2 left this off. The '68 body has no marker lens on the front fender (like the fiberglass-fendered Super Stocks), a '68 marker lens at the rear, and '69 grille and taillight areas. Also, the '69 interiors came with these kits. The gray body is the retool into a Formula S. It would probably make the most sense and be the best move for Round 2 to leave the body as-is for the new issue. 3) Close shot of the original '69 body, showing the moulding. Again, I wouldn't want to attempt painting or foiling this! It must have been done for the benefit of the promo way back when.

ERTL did a 1/18 scale 70-1/2 Camaro diecast. I had the Baldwin Motion version. It was pretty nice- it looked like a scale-up of their 1/25 kit, which I also think is a good one. I'm mostly a Mopar guy, but I do have a soft spot for these Camaros.

If a new Hellcat were not offered soon, that would be a big miss, in my opinion. I'd be happy either with a Charger or Challenger- although the Challenger would be more of a natural, since it's a coupe, and it could be based on Revell's excellent SRT-8. Also- while we're talking about big scale/ 1/12- I think Mopar has been left out of that party WAY too long. If Revell is to do a new 1/12 subject, they should either do a new Hellcat Challenger (which could be a nice companion piece to the Shelby Mustang they did a few years back), or if they need a vintage subject- a '69 Charger would be a natural. They could go the extra mile and include Vector mags as a custom option for a little more juice to that release, if you catch my drift. I say this being pretty familiar with their 1/12 Camaro, Corvette and '57 Chevy, which I really liked, while always wishing for a nice Mopar in that scale.

Please see the attached pics. It's been a crazy week for me, sorry these are so late. The first one is an AMT body repair in progress. It's not 100% done. You can see that you would have to glue & blend in the leading edge of the roof, as well as the bottoms of the b pillars. The drip mouldings get destroyed in this process, so you can see you would have to restore them, too. The 2nd pic is of the Flintstone body. Personally, I don't think this one is too bad. Much of the work was on the roof, and it looks neat and orderly to me. The bod would need some cleanup, but if I remember correctly, these were being sold at the NNL East about 10 years ago for $10 each- a bargain then, so if they need a little cleanup, then it's justified for the price. The 3rd pic is the in progress AMT. You can get a sense of the proportions of the body here. I think it captures the look better than most other Challenger kits. The MPC is now rare, and while the proportions are right, some of the details are soft on the MPC. The Monogram 1/24 has some proportion issues. The Revell 1/25 has already been discussed in the kit thread. The Palmer has nice proportions, and decent details, but although maybe not as expensive as the MPC kit when found, it's pretty rare today. The 4th pic is both side-by-side. You can see the SE window here- perhaps it is a little small, but I think it would still work. Nice that the SE variant is available. You can kind of get the sense of the quality of the resin body in this shot, too. Hope this helps.

All of the Barracuda annuals from '65 through '69 had both Slant 6 and Hemi options (cross-ram, Super Stock style Hemi). The reissues of the '69 (Miss Mighty Mopar, Boss Cuda, Killer Cuda and Avenger), still had that Hemi. The late '80's reissue under AMT ERTL was the first with the 383, which, to me, was an improvement over the old Hemi. It looks like Round 2 is going to keep this as a 383 and restore at least some of the old Custom parts. I think that's for the best- that old Hemi was so-so to me. If you wanted to build a Super-Stock style 'Cuda, you'd do better to get the Revell Hemi Dart and use the chassis, engine, and other bits from that kit. Even then- you would still be stuck with a '69 Body, which has a different grille, grille surround, and taillight configuration than the '69. This kit as it is does build as a decent big-block '69. Adding the Hemi back just muddies the waters for the builder, IMHO.

I'd like to see one built. It may be low-if, but at least most of it looks right. If this is the formula it will take for me to get a Bluesmobile, I'm in. How correct is this interior for the '72 Gran Torino? I'm not as concerned with the pattern on the seats as I would be the dash. I might need one of these for a Jo Han '72 Tornio body I have...

...Maybe, on second thought, if you can live with the looks of the Revell kit- considering the separate roof problem in the AMT kit, you might just want to go with the Revell kit. Just keep in mind that the Revell kit is somewhere between 1/25 and 1/24 scale, as shown in the pics above. I've owned and/or been around a few E-Bodies in my time, so when they don't look good in scale, they really irk me.

I'd mostly give it to the AMT kit, with some caveats: - The Vanishing Point parts (new stock hood with no hole, "Hemi" parts for the engine, Rallye wheels) are, well- yuck. The hood looks a little bizarre even compared to the hole-in-hood Yankee Challenge version. You'd be better off filling the hole in the Yankee Challenge hood. Look at them side-by-side and you will see what I mean. The Hemi engine parts are WAY off, laughable and unusable (think: 440 valve covers with little bumps), but then again, Hemis are terribly common in 1/25 scale, so if you must have a Hemi, you could find a better one in almost any other Hemi kit. The Rallyes aren't too bad, but better ones can be had. I think the last VP issue also included the old Magnum 500 wheels (good ones), and the old hood with the hole in it, along with the 440 Six Pack parts, so let's hope Round 2 includes this stuff with the reissue. -The interior is so-so, at best. The Dash is the pretty bad, but once installed, it might not bother you. You could get a better dash from almost any other Cuda or Challenger kit. -You would have to graft the roof onto the body to build it. It's a separate vinyl textured roof, so if you want no vinyl roof, you'll have to knock the vinyl texture off. Also, you would have to bond and fill the leading edge of the roof to the windshield frame. It can be done, but it will take considerable work. -The kit comes with a Dana axle. Not many 1:1 Challengers were equipped this way, an 8-3/4 was much more common. Not too much of a drawback, really. -The headlights look a little funky. Cut the mounting bosses off of the backs, and maybe drill out and foil the buckets to make them look better. To it's credit, I think the body proportions are much better in the AMT kit than the Revell kit. Also, the 440 Six Pack, while basic, at least looks the part. This kit is the only source I know of for Chrome-plated Rallye mirrors (which could be used on many 70's Mopars), and- if you want to build a convertible, as long as the boot is included, it's much easier to go that route than a hardtop with this kit. The chassis is fairly nice, again- looks the part. The Revell kit is just wrong-looking enough to my eyes, but I did build one of the VP diecasts. It looks OK on the shelf, if a little porky. The metal axle thru the block doesn't bother me as much as the shrimpy tires, and the chassis plate that doesn't seem to want to settle in under the body. The details are pretty nice with the Revell kit- the chassis, while still simple, maybe looks a bit better than the AMT kit. The interior is pretty nice. The engine, while simple, has a nice 440 4-BBL air cleaner. You have the option to build a T/A with the Revell kit, and it has everything you need, except for the engine. The 440 block is used - 4BBL for the R/T option, 440 Six Pack for the T/A, while you would need a 340 Six Pack for the T/A. The one thing I really like about the Revell kit is: the interior side panels show power window buttons instead of cranks. Again- there are many 70's Mopar applications for these; they could always be foil-cast from these side panels and used on an AMT '71 Charger or '74 Road Runner, for examples.

I have take the occasional offending model, opened it up, placed it in a trash bag with a can of coffee. The coffee does seem to negate the smoke smell, but then it also imparts a coffee smell. I have also used charcoal powder (available at Bed, Bath and Beyond and places like that). That seems to work as well. I REALLY wish there was a way to tell if these auctions are smoke bombs...when I get models like these, it really grosses me out.

Order it without Chrome if you want to paint it, otherwise, the paint won't stick to it. I used to order the occasional piece from them without Chrome (sending an email to ask about it first), and they were always willing to accommodate...

I don't have any pictures, but I can say that these parts are perfect copies of the original MPC parts, with what is probably better Chrome than most of the original MPC parts you'll find. Buy with confidence.

I'm pretty excited that they might be doing this one in plastic. The body seems right to me- I was going to combine one of the diecast kits with a Revell '69 Daytona hood, and MPC grille insert & interior (from the Modelhaus). Having it in plastic makes it that much easier. I could either leave the doors alone and build it as a non-R/T, or try to cast some door scoops from an MPC kit. I could have sworn somebody did the door scoops in resin awhile back (AFXnScale, maybe?).

Yup- never any Mopars in 1/12 as far as I know. I built the Revell '69 Camaro Z-28 some time ago and really, really enjoyed it, but I think a '68 Charger or '70 Cuda, done along the same lines, would really send me. I would need a few of each! And for those two, there could be further variants: '69 R/T, 500 and Daytona for the Charger, Hemicuda, AAR, and '71 for the Cuda. I think there would more interest in these then Revell would initially suspect.

Beautiful build! I have a '67 that I got many years ago, busted up, that I will eventually turn into a triple black 4 door. The reason? My Grandfather had a 1:1 that way that I have fond memories riding in (and starting up once - with his assistance -as a 6 year old!). 440's, even fully muffled as in these cushmobiles, sounded wicked!