Chuck Kourouklis

Tried it a while back based on what I've seen from others, and the Hasegawa factory shortnose fascia is just about a glove on the Tamiya shell. Biggest problem I recall is that you'll have to trim locating tabs from one piece or the other - from the look at the parts above, maybe those two belt-level forward nubs poking proud of the Tamiya shell.

Kool! Kinda dig me these Moebius Chryslers. ?

Eh, not my favorite iteration of Corvette styling, not my least - certainly wouldn't break the deal if I were in the market. Honestly, if we remove "chaotic" from Stef's description above, you have a flawless characterization of the C5 - it wasn't interesting enough even to include that term. Seriously, what. is. UP. with ripping off almost the entire, cowl-forward clip of an FD RX-7 and then slapping a near-formless billboard on its oversized rear? It was the sad-sack-est, blandest, most derivative and uninspired Corvette body style ever. Committee-designed? Hell, that thing looked worse, designed by consumer clinic. None of which is to say I'd kick one out of my driveway. The C5 was a sea-change under the skin, and I like the looks well enough. Just don't love it like a '57-or-earlier C1, or the absolute pinnacle of Corvette styling, the C2 mid-years. Say whatcha want about the 8, at least it's its own car. Of course, the same could be said of the C3, the most excessive styling since Harley Earl splattered headlights and chrome all over the '58. But whatever. These kits are badly overdue. Boxcover models show noses properly hunkered down, just fyi...

Yup. Been looking forward to both. ?

And while we're throwing noodles at the wall, this moves out of the era of Red Wheel's full offering into the time period of their first accessory kit: There's a certain word describing diminished mental capacity, starts with an "r", that polite society is not supposed to use any more - but I can't think of a better word to describe the continuing absence of a boat-tail Riviera in kit form. There's been a swing or two in resin, but nothing on the order of that Tucker 48.

Hmmmm. Hope we get all that same goodness in the stateside boxing. RoG C7s had a definite edge on the decal sheet. EDIT: izzit me, or do they have the convertible illustrated on their coupe boxing?

Quick refresher on what this kit looks like with Round2 tires and Rallyes pilfered from the Sox & Martin 'Cuda that doesn't need 'em... Differentiations between this R/T and the Toretto car:

Actually, Oleksandr, I was just reminded of something once teased and abandoned, that follows a little straighter-on from the Tucker and jives with Red Wheel's penchant for American subjects: A "bullet-nose" 1950 Studebaker with the panoramic backlight. This one is the Studebaker Champion.

x2. Looks REALLY GOOD on first glance - think I count something like 175 parts? Body looks like it could have been scanned. Yay!

GOOD TO SEE YOU HERE, Oleksandr! Far as I'm concerned, welcome aboard - and thanks very much for your perspective on certain things as someone who'd know. In case I haven't already made it abundantly clear, I love this kit, all the more remarkable for what you've worked through in producing it. At the risk of going a bit wide of the topic, the forum has this older thread that's all about the base kit for your next offering...

I do love me the rip Hasegawa's been on lately, for sure. In addition to who knows how many more '70s cars, it'd be SO cool to see them do a Piazza/Impulse and an Alcyone/SVX, for the 287th time. (The E9 BMW omission also isn't getting any less idiotic with the passage of time - but this is a thread about Japanese cars.) ?

Well. When I say stodgy and pathetic, it's relative - to something like this iconic little siren. Doesn't mean I really dislike the "colonnade" Cosmo - it's those A-bodies that truly put the "colon" into "colonnade" - just that it's quite the come-down car after such a comely predecessor. The KIT, though, with its vinyl lines, strategic use of diecast suspension parts, and opening everything was a stunner in the late '70s, quite the revelation next to the plastic-tired Roadrunner Volares and doors-akimbo shoebox Chevy reisues of the time. Reading Adam's description of the RX-3-nope-Savanna - yours for just $250 from your friendly online vendor - it seems Bandai might have moved its game on a bit for the Cosmo.

Dude, I'll show you sexy: HHHHAH! Mazda Colonnade! Just like a mid-'70s GM A-body, it was waayy uglier and more staid than its predecessors, but at least it was slower and more pathetic in every other way. For around 45 years, this has been perhaps my favorite kit of a stodgy, uninspired subject - somehow, it's right inside my line of tolerable mediocrity where A-body colonnades are a county over that line, so wretched I'll just never understand their appeal. Well. Except for the Grand Ams. Maybe. Btw, thanks, Adam. At least the 3's reasonably nice-looking, and you're driving me right back into the online auctioneer's vampire embrace.

I thought I'd read a while ago, especially since these later cars were more Ford- than Shelby-designed, that the very intent of that front end configuration was to preview the '71. Might be entirely off-base, but it's a burr in my recollection somewhere...

A '70, well well! I see the TRX tires just won't perish in the hellfire damnation so drastically overdue to them in anything but a period RX-7, 6-series, or early FOX Mustang (one reviewer has screamed and hollered about this in print since 1996, *cough*), but the Mickey Thompson markings are... INTERESTING, anyway. (seriously, guys, you couldn'a just used the P@!yg!&$ replacements you tooled up for the B-M '69 Camaro, waaayy back in 1991? Hell, if those tires are good enough in Firestone tampo-drag for a '69 Boss, why not this one?) But whatever. This tooling must have been amortized 30 years ago, and they just came up with a nifty excuse to get another one. I'm sure the decals particularly will be fire.

That's RIGHT. Plumb forgot the 1/20 and seeing how I'm enjoying the Salvinos Indy Car right now, I mighta remembered. ?

Well, 'cept for this 'n, right? and MAN, they're goin' for dollars squared right now, if not cubic.

Gotta agree. Could really get with one of those. Seems about as boneheaded a selection as the boat-tail Riv our domestic crew is still refusing to make some money offa...

Yup, awesome! Involved as this tooling is, seems it'd be very wise to wring out another variant or two. Meantime, the news only makes this one more appetizing. ?️

Yup. Nothing yet in injection-molded styrene. There's a couple 2-3 of us think Revell whiffed it BIG time essentially dumbing down the same Crown Vic Lindberg did, instead of producing one of these.

Beat me to it, Mr B.

It is one of the "Mueller Era" kits I like best. First release of the stock version had a bespoke set of tires, unused in any other AMT kit I think. I was hoping that rubber portended a new '67 Eldorado or the like...

Me, I was just wondering if the Flareside pickup will come with Lightning tailgates. ?

Not for nothin', but a nice, loud X2 here. ^^

More interested in those for curiosity's sake than anything else, but yeah, I'll have some new plastic run through that tooling if they sell any. ?