CapSat 6

Aha! No rear bumper guards.

Once again, you notice what I notice! I think the bumper guards disappeared because the Challenger and Duster kits were done as Pro Stocks around that time. Once they did the annuals again, the guards didn’t come back. I’m not 100% certain, but I think the ‘74 Challengers from MPC also did not have rear bumper guards, which would be inaccurate, as I think all Challengers got them due to their rear valance design. I always loved that ‘74 only hood with the 360 callouts!

I have had and built all of these kits at some time or another. The classic Dodge Challenger has always been one of my favorite cars. Here are my hot takes for each of these kits: 1/25 MPC ‘70-‘74 Challenger annuals Hemi engine, 4 speed and Torqueflite transmissions, Stock and Custom building options. The pros: best body shape of all Challenger models offered since. Mostly accurate, if a little soft, stock interior details. Cool optional parts, especially the ‘72’s and ‘73’s, which included very nice gasser parts. Standard / base dash cluster included in all versions. The cons: hard to find (no longer in production, the body became the non-stock MPC Soapy Sales/ Ramcharger funny car), expensive when found, sub standard chassis and engine details. The ‘72-‘74 kits include Hemi engines, which were not available in Challengers from the factory. No side mirrors. Trivia: the ‘70, ‘71 and ‘72 kits came with chrome bumper guards for the front bumpers (1:1 Challenger rear bumpers always got bumper guards due to their design), the ‘73 kits had the larger rubber bumper guards, and the ‘74 kits came with a front bumper with no bumper guards. 1/25 Palmer/ Lindberg ‘70-‘72 Challengers Hemi engine, Torqueflite transmission, Stock and Custom building options. Pros: the bodies have great proportions, just about as good as the MPC kits. Not very expensive when found. Cons: very hard to find the ‘70’s and ‘71’s. Sub standard chassis and engine details. The ‘72 kits have inaccurate or soft body details in regards to the grille, taillight panel, side scoops and hood. No side mirrors. Trivia: the Palmer / Lindberg kits are more or less knock offs of the MPC tooling, so as such, they have the same vices and virtues, although the MPC kits’ details are a good bit better. 1/25 AMT/ Matchbox ‘70 Challengers 440 Six Pack engine, 4 speed transmission, Stock and/ or custom building options (depending on release version), Vanishing Point kit came with optional parts to make the 440 into a Hemi (VERY badly). Pros: body proportions and details (except for the roof, see below), interior details are mostly accurate if heavy handed, chassis and engine room are superior to the MPC kits and can be used under an MPC body pretty easily. The only source I know of in scale for chrome Rallye side mirrors. These kits are pretty easily found. Optional convertible building option. Cons: separate roof is the wrong shape, which makes it very difficult to build as a hardtop, and is inaccurate at the windshield area. The engine isn’t bad, but it’s not very good. The new parts tooled up for the Vanishing Point version are rendered poorly. The headlight mounting (flat areas instead of buckets, with 1/2 moon mounts) looks bad. Lower front pan fits leaving a break in the fenders that is not like 1:1 Challengers. Trivia: these kits come with a Rallye dash, although I don’t like the shape of it. Instead of the flip top gas cap, an accurate standard gas cap appears as one of the body details. 1/24 ARII Challenger: engine= ??? Pros: opening doors, nice box art, nice optional rubber tires and chrome wheels. Cons: everything else. These were designed for a motorized chassis, the body proportions, details, interior, chassis, and engine all only have a passing resemblance to 1:1 Challengers. These are pretty much an imported mass-market toy kit, representative of the low to average/ non-enthusiast product coming out of Japan in the ‘70’s. 1/24 Monogram / Revell ‘70 Challenger T/A: 340 Six Pack with 4 speed, stock or tunnel ram intakes Pros: accurate T/A package pieces, nice engine and chassis details (although simplified), nice interior and body details. Simplified, but goes together well and looks good when assembled. Nice Rallye wheels. Cons: body appears “fat”, so the body proportions are off, but not extremely badly. Simplified, maybe too simple for some builders (but this could be considered a pro, see above). Lower front pan fits leaving a break in the fenders that is not like 1:1 Challengers. Trivia: this kit comes with a nice Pistol Grip shifter, although it mounts in the console like an automatic. The interior was revised for the AAR Cuda that Revell spun off from this tool, so any copies manufactured after about 1995 come with Cuda seats. 1/25 (really somewhere in between 1/25 and 1/24) Revell Vanishing Point and American Dreams ‘70 R/T (diecast kits): 440 4 barrel, 4 speed Pros: prepainted, nice interior and chassis details, somewhat accurate body details. Engine is decent, although simplified. Mostly accurate configuration for the Vanishing Point movie car. Cons: prepainted, simplified assembly, simplified engine, body proportions are off, creating a slab sided look (due to this kit being a diecast). Chassis doesn’t easily settle under the body at assembly- I had a very rough time getting the chassis to tuck up under the rocker panels like it should. Tires look a little shrimpy. No longer very easy to find. Trivia: virtues could be vices with these kits. Some people like prepainted, or simplified, or diecast. Some do not. I built a VP car, and it was mostly an easier experience, except for the chassis issues, so to me it became a wash. 1/24-1/25 Revell ‘70 Challenger R/T and T/A: 440 4 barrel and 440 Six Pack, 4 speed. Pros: nice details, especially the interior, chassis, wheels and decals. These kits come with a nice assortment of stock R/T and T/A parts, so the builder can potentially come up with a mix of both versions and have lots of spare parts left over. Cons: hard to find and more expensive than perhaps they should be. Engine is simplified, and incorrect for the T/A building version. Some of the T/A parts don’t look as accurate or as nice as the ones in the Monogram T/A kit. ALL of the cons of the VP and AD kits above, as they are the same tooling except done in plastic: simplified assembly, simplified engine, body proportions are off, creating a slab sided look (due to this kit being based on a diecast). Tires look a little shrimpy. Also, they might have the same chassis issues as the VP kits above, but I have not built one to find out for sure. Trivia: the only kit I know of at all that has ‘71-‘78 Mopar power window switches engraved on the doors. I have a set put aside so that I can foil cast them. So- no really easy options here. I’m with Sport Suburban here- the best build would use an MPC body with AMT guts, with an engine from a ‘71 AMT Duster, ‘71 AMT Charger, or Revell ‘68 Dart. Still, I think a nice build could be had from the old Monogram T/A, too.

I always saw it, too. I did build some of these some time ago, and I can tell you that when building an AMT Challenger, either doing a black vinyl roof, or otherwise painting it a dark color helps. With Round 2 modifying so many of their old tools right now, I think it would be super worth it if they tooled up a new hardtop body with accurate roof for this one.

Keep trying Mike! I had to go back to Hatboro, PA a bunch of times, they did finally put some kits out after about a week or so. It seems that they just added some Meyers Manx kits within the past few days.

I have been checking several Ollie’s. The one nearest to me (Hatboro, PA) put their kits out late- just a few days ago. They had the Copperhead, Nova Wagon, ‘70 Corvette, ‘64 Galaxie, 41 Plymouth, Slammer Chrysler Concorde, Depot Hack, and some Revell leftovers. Bristol, PA probably had the most I have seen in one place- all of the kits above, pretty much. Hamilton, NJ had a few, Meyers Manx, Camaro 50’s, Slammer Chrysler Concordes, but only one Surf Van left (I bought it), but they also had Coke Dodge D-50 Pickups, which I have not seen mentioned before on this thread. It looks like they put out new boxes of Dodge Ram VTS pickups and Vipers, which I thought were leftovers, but they seemed to be newly put out. I have been checking in at Media, PA, since I have been down there a few times the past few weeks. They only have Revell stuff left over from the last round. Interestingly though, they had some Testors “Camo” paint (flat black and flat gray), for $1.99 a can. I picked some of that up, I’m assuming that it’s just flat model enamel. Will the Testors Camo paint work like their other flat hobby enamels?

Nothing new in Horsham or Media, PA yet…the Media store had a lot left over from last year’s promotion.

I myself would rather see the AMT Capri come back (I just think it’s a better kit all around), and that’s probably more likely, given Round 2’s habit of going into their “tool mine” to rerun these older kits.

Other than the body (which was a repop of their ‘69 Promo body), most of that kit became the L.A.Dart and Hemi Hunter. There are some slight differences in the transmission and roll cage, and of course, this had Hurst wheels while the Darts had Cragars, so if you combine a newer ‘69 body with the chassis from one of the Darts, you get pretty close to this.

The fact is: the chassis in MPC’s Dusters, Demons and Dart Sports was the best A Body chassis available until AMT’s Duster and Revell’s Dart Swinger came out. I have tried cramming these into MPC ‘69 Cudas, for instance. I think for what it is, it still holds up pretty well, and judging by the pics online of the Demon, it looks like Round 2 has made some improvements to the engine room, the exhausts, and the edges where it fills out to the body. The only thing I would do as a builder would be to add lower control arm and sway bar detail to the front suspension. My only real beef is with the engine. It’s way underscale. It’s probably too late in the game for Round 2 to consider it now, but if they came up with a really, really nice stock Chrysler Small Block, they could keep it on one tree, offer it with the builder’s choice of either a ‘68-‘71 Carter AVS or ‘72-up Thermoquad carb, and a few air cleaner and exhaust manifold options, and throw it into any future Dart Sports or Little Red Express kits they do. For that matter, they could offer two in a parts pack and sell as many as they can mold, because if they did a nice one, I would buy a bunch of them, and I think other builders would, too.

Any of that brand of tire that I have ever had in 1:1 have been substandard, to say the least. I have refused to buy this brand for any of my cars for years, because of all of the quality issues I have seen with them. Any other brand that I have had have been much better. I even cringe a little at putting them on my models. I almost expect them to have flats when I leave them on the shelf for awhile.

That air cleaner (the ‘64-‘68 Mopar big block air cleaner) appeared in all MPC Dodge kits with 440’s (Monaco’s, Coronets, and ‘71-‘74 Chargers) and was always wrong. When Lindberg did their ‘64 Plymouth kit with the street wedge engine, they did the same thing (they inverted the creases in the housing, making them raised). A really nice version of that air cleaner can be found in the old Jo Han ‘68 Plymouth Police car. I wish somebody would cast those in resin- I would buy several. I think it would go a long way in improving the appearance of this engine.

I think the slicks that originally came with the Coronet kits were MH Racemasters, which incidentally come with the brand new AMT ‘66 Mustang Fastback. I remember seeing old builts of those Coronets with those slicks. I seem to remember them being kind of blocky and shrimpy, though, so no big loss.

Chad, I did just reread and saw what you have. Your best bet might be to either hook up with a local model club, find some members that like the same kinds of kits, and offer them for sale there, or… …find a car show that is heavy on imports (for instance, if you are into Japanese cars, find a car show that has those, or European cars, etc). it seems like the 1:1 car show people walk in an entirely different lane than modelers do, and when they actually see models of “their” cars, they really respond positively. Maybe give that a try this spring and summer.

I have been selling a few on eBay. I was blown away at the new fee structure - no wonder the cost of almost any kit there has gone up dramatically! It does seem the new business model there is to list high and keep relisting. I have one 20 year old kit that is unbuilt but missing a few non-critical parts listed right now. No takers for weeks. I reduced the price but still with shipping, it’s not worth what I’m asking ($8, plus $11 shipping- it’s probably a $12 kit at a show). I just keep forgetting to take it down. I’m probably going to take it down and offer it as part of a lot (see below). On the other side of that coin, I looked at a similar kit (not the same kit, but same vintage and relative value) at a model show this weekend to see the price. The seller had $20 on it. It’s a kit where it’s maybe $12-$15 all day when mint; his had all of the parts taken off the trees and bagged up so you couldn’t see them, and some assembly was started. I would have given him about $8 for it. You could always get a table at a show. Tables usually run about $30-$50 each from what I remember, although that could vary. You could also try a local car show, a toy show or flea market. Model people do seem to come out of the woodwork for this stuff. It will have to be priced right to go all at once. I have only ever seen people sell through everything they have in a single show when it’s priced low. Just remember that if somebody thinks you have something priced too high, they usually won’t tell you that. They will probably just quietly put the item down and wander away. I think the approach to take would be a tiered one. Sell the good stuff on eBay, and price it accordingly. The common/ cheap stuff- well, if you have any snap together kits, give them to some kids you might know. I’m sure some kid would enjoy a model, even if it is the only one they ever build. The other cheap/ common stuff you have- perhaps group it with like items, get rid of some sprues and boxes, price it inexpensively, and offer as parts of lots on eBay. Or go the show/ flea market route. Near me, there are some used toy shops. They sometimes buy up kits and resell. Whenever they get kits, they sell them pretty quickly. They price them pretty much at retail (or more if vintage), and people grab them. Just like any other reseller, they offer about 40% of what they are worth, or worse if they don’t know what they are worth. All resellers will do this, as they have costs for checking the contents (their labor), putting it on the shelf (rent, utilities for a store or storage) or marketing it (ads or eBay), it sits for awhile and eventually they get what they want for it, or they don’t and they have to reduce the price. Generally speaking, the less time you want to spend on pricing, marketing/ listing/ selling/ shipping, the less money you will get back for them. Having somebody buy the whole collection will usually net less money, because usually they’re buying to resell. Some resellers will tell you that your stuff is too common, or there is no demand, or it’s too new. Sometimes they are just looking for vintage stuff, or some for example might just want hot rods and muscle cars, and want nothing to do with sports cars (or the other way around). So- do you want to sell it fast or get the most for it? Usually one precludes the other. One last thing to think of is: how well do you deal with people? You could be the type to get a table, sell some stuff and actually have some fun doing it. Or you might just get tired of stupid questions really quickly. Would you be up to getting the table and dealing with the public? Most potential buyers are pretty good, but sometimes you will get some people that are tough to deal with. Think about what you really want to achieve. If you want to wring every dollar out of what you have, it will take time and effort. To sell it quick, you would probably have to sell it cheap. Or you might be able to shoot the middle.

There was one vendor at the Philly NNL who had a few of the Holden kits. He ordered them directly from a retailer in AU to sell. He had sold one of them by mid day. I’m hoping they eventually do a 1/24 Valiant Charger.

Yes please! Here are my thoughts: 1) the side markers: leave them off of the body completely, do them as decals for the ‘71, and very, very thin clear pieces for the ‘72. On ‘71’s, they are truly flush with the body. Neither MPC nor Monogram/ Revell have ever really engraved these right. 2) the MPC body is pretty warpy in the windshield area. If this body is found, maybe engineer some reinforcement into it. 3) if I had my choice, I would want something engineered to work with the AMT ‘71 Charger, as long as the body was accurate. The MPC bodies were very nice, but by no means 100%. 4) separate door cards for the interior and bench seat options would be great. There are many variations that could be done- these cars had a ton of options (different interiors, stripes, wheels, engines, sunroof and cassette player, etc…) when new. A fully optioned ‘71 GTX, bare bones bench seat ‘71 Road Runner, and a ‘72 somewhere in the middle would be the way to do these.

For Daytonas- Revell, hands down. The MPC/ AMT kit needs a LOT of work to make it nice. The Revell kit was developed a lot more recently, is much better engineered and much more accurate. If you get the latest release (red car with #94 on the box), you get a nice selection of NASCAR parts with it. If you mean to build it like an old NASCAR competition car, it will still take a lot of work. It will be a significant project. You would need to come up with a full roll cage and front hoop, for starters, as well as suitable tires, wheels, body and chassis / suspension mods. I think the Randy Ayers NASCAR model car board has some tips or a tutorial out there, that can give you an idea of what you are in for. As far as Superbirds go, that’s a tough one. The Revell / Monogram Superbird is nice, but not ideal. It’s based on their GTX tool, dating from the early 80’s, so to me it has some proportion problems. Also it’s 1/24, so finding the right parts (or parts that will look good) might be a greater challenge. if I were to start fresh with a Superbird, I would buy the old Jo Han Petty Superbird. You get a lot of what you need for a NASCAR car right in the box, the body proportions are better, and it’s 1/25. They don’t seem to cost too much more than a current kit these days (depending). Even if you spend twice what a new kit costs for one, you’ll still be saving a bit on spare parts. The one thing I don’t like about the Jo Han kit is that it has engraved markings on the nose to represent where to paint the stock headlight door decals. You would have to fill and sand them, which isn’t easy. Real Superbirds didn’t have those body lines like the Jo Han kit does.

The Philly NNL is on! I highly recommend this show:

Which Bushwhacker? The first army-style Jeep has been offered several times recently (as the Hogan’s Heroes and Godzilla Jeeps). They more or less came with the same stuff as the Bushwhacker, except for the big tires. The 2nd style kit is basically their CJ-5 (which was basically their annual kit in the late ‘60’s and then their Daisy Duke kit), which hasn’t been out in awhile. I would rather see this one return, as they haven’t been out in awhile.

Fireball Modelworks does a gorgeous Mopar 440 Six Pack intake and carbs. They do them both in 1/24 and 1/25 scales. Add to your favorite 440 engine, adjust the details for the engine as needed.

A Dajiban Drift Van would be pretty cool. I think that would almost be a new tool though. My understanding of that generation van is that the engine and or suspension were relocated slightly from where they were in the prior (pre ‘93) vans. Bare minimum, they would need a new body, grille, bumpers, revised rear cap, but also, an accurate Drift Van would be a shorter wheelbase window van. The interior had a different dashboard and steering wheel, and while they were at it, the 5.2 “Magnum” engine is very different from the older LA small block. They would have to add in the requisite Watanabe wheels and big brakes, headers and side exhausts, maybe a wing of some sort for the rear roof. A modern media set up and racing buckets would complete the look. Enough of it would be different that it really would be almost an all new tool. The race goodies could conceivably be used on other cars, and it would be a neat link to JDM machinery and culture. Sign me up for a few!!!

It certainly couldn’t hurt them to pop out some Omni’s and see how they do. Perhaps the changes to the Corvette and Firebird bodies are pretty easily fixed. Those were nice bodies before the Monster Treatment. I would like to see these come back!

Backdating the Dodge Van tool might be dicey. As Tom G. here has noted before, there were nearly yearly changes to the body. Still- a good start might be to work up a 1978 window van body, grille, and rear bumper and release it as a Cannonball Run van. They could add in the new steel wheels from the Dodge Monaco and ‘78 Dodge pickup kits to complete the look a bit. The original Cannonball Run van kit was incorrectly windowless, but they could do a window body, something that was never offered before for a ‘78 kit. The older (‘72-‘73) window body had windows and doors in different locations than they should be for a ‘78, so it would be a truly different body than the old window van was. They could follow it pretty quickly with a stock Sportsman version, with pretty two-tone paint, etc. Once the movie kit money starts rolling in and pays for the changes to the tool, then they could do a windowless ‘78 (maybe with “Street Van” graphics) and then add in some new custom gear for good measure.

Retro box art? As a selling feature? To me, it enhances the product a bit, but it doesn't add much actual value. Personally, I like good box art, but just like any other art, there is good box art and bad box art. Box art being Retro doesn't necessarily make it good. My personal favorite old box art types are: the MPC '68 and '69 year boxes, and the MPC "Special Model" types from 1977-78 (the ones with photos of the real car, which was usually a special performance model, like: the Blackbird Firebird, Dodge Warlock and Little Red Express, Plymouth Volare Road Runner Super Pak, etc.). I'd love to see Round 2 offer a Dodge Macho Wagon 4WD pickup in the same graphic type box that the Warlock and LRX were originally offered. My least favorites were the MPC box art for their annual kits from 1970 and 1971. The graphics on MPC boxes in '70 and '71 were kind of silly to me. Also- I'm not crazy about some of the new retro-ish boxes coming from Round 2 right now: the boxes for the AMT '71 Duster, MPC '71 Mustang, '58 Edsel and '57 Chrysler 300 just rub me the wrong way. I get a LOT more out of the retro/revised/expanded decals that Round 2 is doing right now. When you see a new decal sheet that shows multiple stock stripe options/colors (some never offered before), as well as thoughtfully designed custom graphic options, that's something that adds actual value. The decals sheet in the '76 Dodge Dart Sport is a great example...Hang 10 AND Spirit of '76 graphics on the same sheet!!! So Round 2: keep the revised/ expanded decals coming (and jam in as much by way of stock graphics as you can), and yes, while you are at it, please include as many tires as possible in each box.