mikos

I want to see more reissues, especially cloned kits that we haven’t seen since they were annuals back in the day. There is really nothing new domestically that appeals to me unless it’s a new full-sized truck. A current gen F-150, Ram and Silverado/Sierra would be nice to have, though! The rest of the endless SUV’s and CUV’s, like in real life, don’t really appeal to me. A new kit of the Toyota RAV4? No thanks. A reissued kit, cloned from an original annual, like the ‘69-‘72 Grand Prix, ‘71-‘73 Caprice/Impala, ‘70-‘73 Firebird Trans Am and ‘74-‘77 Camaro Z28, sign me right up.

One thing that really bugged me about those MPC 3rd gen Camaro /Firebird kits is the non-flush fitting front windshield. In fact, there appeared to be at least a 2-3” scale gap between the top of the windshield header and the surface of the glass. When they converted the kits over to the T-top roof style in ‘83, it looked even worse. Ugh! The MPC Fiero kit has the windshield mount from the outside and preserved the flush looking appearance of the front glass like the real car. The MPC C4 Corvette was half baked as well. I wish they molded the front glass, A-pillars and top roof panel with drip rails in one piece like the Monogram kit. They also tinted this part on the Monogram kit which made it look even more realistic.

Another fact, though not the reason why they cancelled the 301 Turbo, is that had they actually continued with it for the ‘82MY, it probably would have been faster than the all new C4 coming out just around the corner in early ‘83 for the ‘84MY. Cross-Fire injection gets a bad wrap these days, but increasing the FP to 13+PSI by swapping to the ‘85+TPI fuel pump solves a lot of the drivability problems of the early CFI cars. They run great after that if the lid (intake manifold lid cover) has no vacuum leaks.

Thanks Chris!

I agree. I’ve been shot down by even a certain hobby shop owner on here for my affection of Johan subject matter. A new endless Tamiya variation of a JDM Nissan Skyline or a new tool 1976 Cadillac Coupe Deville? I know which one I would prefer. For me, I would like to see more luxo barges from the mid ‘70’s and the restoration/cloning of the stock version of those circle track racers that were hacked up from the original stock tooling.

No door handles on the MPC version?

I’ve seen the promo and snap kit for around a C-note and a half, even below a hundred for a built snap kit. That’s not too spendy when you consider there are many 3D printed kits out there that go for about that price. Unless it's something never kitted in plastic, I’d rather get the promo/snap kit. However, if you wanted engine and suspension detail, you will have to kit bash it with another kit like the Revell ‘76 Torino perhaps. I can see the high prices on the promos, but the snap kits even surpass the price point of the promos sometimes. I don’t know why that is. The snap kits were not that rare, at least in the early to mid ‘80’s. lol! I had one, molded in yellow, which I think most were at that time. They were also molded in white, which I have acquired, from about 20 years ago. I don’t know if they molded them in any other colors, though. However, knowing Johan, it could be any color. Of all the colors they used back then, I really hated the tan/brown plastic. They used that a lot towards the end. It could be polished, but the color just looked drab.

Somebody a while back was selling 3D printed 1/25 scale ‘79-‘85 Cadillac Eldorado’s on eBay. Now, there are none to be found. Does anyone here know who did them and if you can still buy them somewhere? Thanks.

From what I’ve read, the tooling was rented out by AMT/ERTL. They never actually owned the tooling and once the production run was done, it vanished into the big black hole where Jimmy Hoffa lives.

I remember Steve G. at Round 2 mentioning the MPC ProStreet ‘80’s Camaro Z28 would be reissued sometime in late 2025. Well, here it is late quarter 2025 and still no ‘80’s Camaro Z28 ProStreet reissue. Has this been cancelled?

Ugh! No thanks. I’ll run an axle through them just like the old kits. Peg leg, posi lock, or whatever you want to call them, never worked for me unless I wanted it to sit like the Family Truckster from the movie “Vacation”.

I don’t mind the slab chassis, but the goofed up front end concerns me. Maybe it’s just the custom non -stock grill that makes it appear this way? For me, all the detail in the world doesn’t matter if the body details are wrong.

I’m glad SJR has found success with their ‘70’s era NASCAR kits. Compared to being a 1/25 scale snob, I’m also an even bigger snob for stock model car kits. If only that ‘70’s 442 with the slant back front end was offered as a stock issue, they’d make my day. However, I do understand NASCAR is their particular niche.

I’d rather see R2 clone the original MPC kit, warts and all, rather than having no kit of the RR available in 1/25. Also, if they worked with Salvino to give us a Petty #43, it would be 1/24th scale. Yeah, I’m kind of a scale snob. lol!

You may still have to correct the curve in the upper drip rail above the door. In the pics of the real car above, it starts to slope down dramatically when you near the B-pillar of the window area.

This ”they” I’m referring to are the people that argue modified stockers/race drag cars sell better than the stock version when the subject is brought up about restoring the tools back to stock. I would like to see the old circle track/modified stockers from MPC/AMT…the ‘70 GTO, ‘72 Monte Carlo, ‘65 Olds 88, ‘66 Impala, etc, restored back to stock. Obviously, it would be much cheaper to clone an original non molested stock body tool and do it that way. However, hacking up the tooling back in the day was very short sighted. It doesn’t take much for a young builder to radius the wheel wells on a stock body. In fact, on a lot of the real cars that were modified for racing back then, the wheel well shapes remained basically intact with perhaps only the front wheel wells on some of them modified for racing. So, there was no solid reason for them to hack up the body tooling like that. It seems like they did it on purpose to make the tooling unusable for a possible later stock reissue. Even Round 2 has followed this trend somewhat by offering just the “lowrider” build option on the current (Mueller era) ‘70 Monte Carlo reissue. AFAIK, you can’t build it stock. Revell has never offered a stock build option on their popular ‘80’s “notchback” Cadillac. Though, even if they did, I probably would not have purchased it. There were too many problems with the (diecast sourced?) body. It was lowrider/donk or nothing for that one. The ‘77 Monte Carlo from Revell was configured as a “lowrider” from the beginning with its toy like adjustable suspension feature. It wasn’t until nearly a decade later that they finally offered stock wheels/tires to make building a stock version possible. Yes, Round 2 has been making some great kits like their newly tooled cloned Craftsman kits that they have been coming out with recently. I hope the trend continues. However, some here have criticized them for not offering super duper detailed versions of those models. All the detail in the world is not going to turn that mis-proportioned turd of a body into a work of art. That’s why I will take a well proportioned realistic body over a super detailed kit that has a cheap diecast looking body. As you mentioned, Moebius has been coming out with a lot of great kits as well. However, whenever a race or drag version subject is mentioned, people seem to go gaga over them. I guess I was never into those types of cars when it comes to building models. As long as they offer a stock version, I’m happy. However, this trend of offering the race version first and then offering a stock version at a later date concerns me. Why not just offer both versions at the same time, or better yet, offer both build options in a single release. The extra cost to provide that option should not be too prohibitive because many in this hobby have no problem springing for a simplified snap kit style 3D printed kit for much more.

Well, with how bad Revell screwed up the front windshield height on the new tool XKE, you may have a point about measuring off photographs for good results. lol! A little massaging on the upper window line on that ‘58 Plymouth would make it look a lot better.

I’m assuming the “Hot Wheels” ‘69 COPO Camaro will be the previous Yenko Camaro. They seem to be foisting that kit upon up every few years. I wish Round 2 would either fix the body tooling or just clone the original AMT body from an original kit. With Revell’s excellent ‘69 available, there’s no reason to buy that cribbed up version.

I think the best way is to measure the actual car. May have to go to a classic car show, or maybe call up a buddy that has one, but that’s probably the most accurate way IMO.

It looks too low due to the slope of the side windows like Bill mentioned. If you straighten that section out, may need to add/spice in a new drip rail section in that area, it would look closer to the real car. It’s correctable with a little work.

Johan got it done with WW1 era tooling technology and wire axles. Crisp engraving with a well proportioned body. Don’t forget the Gold Cup series which had detail that equaled even some of the best kits made today. I don’t know how those poly caps work, but the peg and stem method used by some makes the wheels tilt in with severe camber which looks unrealistic. I’ve been known to scrap them and use an aluminum rod and tube reengineering effort just to get the wheels to sit right. I’ll gladly sacrifice some suspension detail to get the model to sit right on the shelf without too much work Reviving the Johan name and cloning some of their kits would be great. Round 2 has proven you can enjoy strong sales, as you always like to remind us of, with old simple snap kit style cloned kits. They’re making money so why wouldn’t it be successful for Johan? You just have to get the right people together to make it happen. For me, I’m not interested in another variation of the MKIV Supra or some endless JDM Skyline variant. I want to see some of those old big Detroit icars again like those wonderful old Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles and Plymouths. I don’t think I’m older than dirt, but even when I was much younger, I still liked those old Johan kits and the subject matter they did. I do wish they were healthy enough (back in the day) to have done a ‘79-‘85 Eldorado variant and update their ‘77-‘79 Deville tool to the restyled “notchback” Cadillac for 1980. However, I know they were barely on life support at the time and the promo contracts (which would be the only way they would be done) were nearly all dried up.

I would love to see some of those old kits from Johan cloned again. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.

That part snaps in from behind with a horizontal runner connecting (molded) with the two tail lights together. I’ve never seen a missing tail light assembly from a ‘75 Johan Cutlass unless it was an opened snap kit with missing parts. It’s kind of bewildering that they would choose this particular part to have done in 3d print.

Nice, but those are actually incorrect for the “‘75” Olds Cutlass.

It’s ironic you say that because many stock kits have been sacrificed to make the custom race versions. In many instances, the tooling was permanently hacked up making a stock version never possible again.