mikos

I know the AMT ‘70 kit fits. It actually fits better than the stock hood. Just a little trimming needed. To be perfect, you have to sand down a little bit where it meets the character line coming from the center hood dome bulge near the bumper. However, the headlight pod lines are pretty much spot on. In the pics, this wasn’t done yet, just a little edge trimming.

The multi-piece 6-slot rally wheels already exist in the new MPC ‘79 Nova kit. The flat hood can be found in the AMT ‘70 Z28 kit and now the (Stranger Things) ‘80’s Revell Z28 hardtop kit. The 231 V6 can be emulated by the V6 engine in the mid ‘80’s MPC Fiero GT kit and the old ‘89 Firebird GTA Pace Car kit minus the turbo. The simulated cross-lace wheels would have to be new, though. The ‘73-‘80 Deluxe wheel-covers can be found aftermarket in resin (non chrome plated) on Ebay. No way Round2 would give us all those options for the early ‘80’s Camaro Z28. We’ll be lucky to get a semi-stock reissue out of the Pro Street release. Unless the correct hood is found, we probably get the same ‘78-‘79 style hood like in the Pro Street kit. Better than nothing, I guess.

I guess it’s hit or miss with Revell. The ‘80’s Hurst Olds Cutlass/442 was very well done. One of my favorites!

It bothers me too. I know some people don’t care, but I can find huge multi-page threads talking about minor engine details or wrong seat patterns/interior parts on other kits to the brink of exhaustion. If it was just the flat upper window side rail we had the fix, that wouldn’t be too bad. However, the front wheel wells are super elongated in shape compared to the real car (or even the Johan kit) so those would need to be fixed as well.

Does HL still do the 40% off coupons? The local store by me stopped doing that a few years ago.

I remember reading that it was because Fisher Body was having problems installing the wraparound glass with the ears (the corner edges of the glass) constantly swiping or wiping off the window adhesive when they tried installing the glass on the body. This delayed the introduction of the wraparound glass until they found a workable solution that kept the glass adhesive intact in those areas. I like the non wraparound rear window on the early models. The later ones that came with T-tops with the wraparound glass look good too. The T-top option with the wraparound glass gave the greenhouse an airy C-pillar targa top look that looked very modern back then.

No, you’ll pay the same tariffs as the rest of us. Remember, you’re soon going be the 51st state. (just kidding) lol!

For a second there, I thought my screen was going bad. lol! Wow! I never knew they made them in that color. Looks like a ‘79.

A smaller fear could happen, though. Trump is proposing tariffs on goods coming from China. In what way that could affect prices on model kits, I don’t know. However, if he goes through with it, expect your wallet to be a lot lighter as prices go up significantly.

No problem. I’m not a huge fan of the Pro Street model kit. I’d only be interested in the parts that could be pirated to make a stock Z28. My dream is to make every color/stripe variation offered in ‘80-‘81. I’m thinking it’s basically the same as the annual without the stock wheels/tires and decals. I don’t know if any special parts were included for the “Pro Street” issue, but I do know that the annual kits had a ton of race car parts in them to make a custom street machine or oval track racer. When the Thunder-Z and Pro Street came out, I wondered why they used the old ‘78-‘79 style hood. I figured MPC must have somehow lost/damaged the tooling for the later style hood. There seemed to be no other major change in parts between the ‘79 and ‘80 annual except for the remolded front fender vents, new style hood, and the addition of rear wheel fender spats/flares like on the Trans Am.

You can use the AMT Z28 hood as well, but there’s no scoop. So, only non Z28’s can be made like the base, LT and Berlinetta models. To make a Z28, you need the unique “air-induction” style hood that was only available in ‘80-‘81. The Cheverra snap kit has it, but you’d have to sacrifice that kit (or body) to make the MPC kit. Also, you’d have to find a Chevy small block for the engine since the Pro Street still had the old big block from the early ‘70’s. MPC never changed it even after the big block was no longer available in the Camaro after ‘72.

I have a few rebuilders and an extra hood as well. However, for those that don’t have rebuilders or the ability to cast small parts, the hood will be a major setback. There is/was a resin kit of the ‘80-‘81 Camaro Z28 available, but I don’t think the hood was offered separately. The recent AMT “Cheverra” snap kit could work since it’s 1/25th scale and has the stock air-induction style hood. Unfortunately, you would have to cut it out and sacrifice that kit to make the Pro Street into an accurate ‘80-‘81 Z28. Even if you wanted to make a Pro Street ‘80-‘81 Camaro, you would need the stock hood since the later style fender vents are molded on the body in the MPC kit. The ‘78-‘79 Z28 had different style front fender vents than the ‘80-‘81’s. He didn’t mention the hood because the “Pro Street” will be a straight reissue of the original version from the early ‘80’s. If they do a stock version, they would need to tool up a new hood unless they can find the original tooling mold. This makes me wonder what happened to the original tooling mold after the ‘81 annual was released. It must have gotten misplaced or damaged somehow and they just borrowed the ‘78-‘79 style hood because they had that tooling mold insert laying around in the tooling bank. Some might say, who cares about the hood. However, if you’re building one of these kits, you would know. The ‘78-‘79 NACA style hood would look out of place with the later style front fender vents. Tooling up a flat hood wouldn’t work because those models(base, LT, Berlinetta) did not have the front fender vents. Of course, they could tool up a flat hood and then make the air-induction style scoop as a separate add on part. That would be great, but I don’t see them spending that much to convert the Pro Street into a stock Z28. New wheels and tires is probably the limit in what they would want to spend after the Pro Street is reissued.

They goofed up on the side window drip rail by filling in the T-tops. It’s similar to the same thing they did on the ‘71 Olds 442 except that never had T-tops. For some reason, they don’t seem to be able to the get proper side window shape correct in these classic cars. On the Camaro, it looks really bad because that is a major design element of the 2nd generation F-body. The designers wanted the upper side window shape to look like a long cape unfurling in the wind. Right out of the box, you have to correct this mistake. If you don’t, it looks really noticeable like the blue car build up posted above and you can see it from a mile away. The MPC version has its faults too, but it looks way better in this detail than the Revell kit. Sure, I realize you can easily correct it with some careful file work and some plastic filler. However, why should a builder have to correct the basic shape of the side window openings on a model car? When does it end? If we keep going down this rabbit hole, it won’t be long before they just give us a big blob of plastic to where we have to carve out our own model car body’s from it. I will say that the Revell kit does look good otherwise. However, if we keep accepting these mistakes, they will never improve.

It’s been like that since the original release of the Camaro Z28 “Pro Street” in the early ‘80’s. Every issue released after the original 1981 annual, “Thunder-Z” and “Pro Street” Camaro Z28 had the ‘78-‘79 style hoods in them. This makes me speculate that shortly after the original 1981 annual was done, MPC somehow lost the tooling insert for the “air-induction” style hood. So, they just swapped in the ‘78-‘79 style hood since the tooling was still available. I’m thinking Steve G. will not comment on the exact details of a stock 2 in 1 version before the “Pro Street” version is reissued. A stock version, if there is one, will probably depend how well the “Pro Street” version sells. Still, the stock ‘80-‘81 style hood will be the most difficult part to duplicate unless you just want to make a hybridized ‘78-‘81 Camaro Z28. The correct steel wheels can be found in the AMT ‘70.5 Camaro Z28 kit (or if you prefer the RPO N90 aluminum wheels) you can find them in Revell’s ‘80’s Monte Carlo SS kit.

Will the stock ‘80-‘81 air-induction style hood be included in that future 2n1 version? The Pro Street is a hybrid of sorts because it has the later style ‘80-‘81 fender vents with the older ‘78-‘79 NACA style hood. Since the fender vents are molded with the body, I don’t see those being changed to go along with the current hood. The easiest fix would be tooling up a new ‘80-‘81 air-induction style Z28 hood. That is, if the original tooling for the ‘80-‘81 hood is no longer available. It seems the stock ‘80-‘81 air-induction hood vanished sometime after the original ‘81 annuals were released. All of the subsequent Camaro Z28 street machine versions after that, the “Thunder-Z” and “Camaro Pro-Street” had the earlier ‘78-‘79 style Z28 hood in them.

Thanks for the update Steve. Better late than never. Hopefully, it will sell very well to do a stock ‘80-‘81 Z28 someday.

The MPC Camaro had their problems too. The passenger side window shape goes a little goofy about half way back. It’s a relatively easy fix, but it’s something you still have to deal with to be accurate. Also, sometime in the mid ‘70’s or so, the rear wheel well shape gets a little funky too. The later the model year, the more the rear wheel well shape gets bad. However, this doesn’t mean I would not want to see a reissue of the early ‘80’s Camaro Z28 again. Steve G. @ Round2 stated that the ‘80-‘81 Camaro Pro Street (last issue of the original tooling) would be reissued again, but nothing as of yet. I don’t know what’s going on, but maybe they found the tooling to be too far gone to be reissued again. I certainly hope not.

The top of the windshield/roof area looks depressed or warped. The 3d printed models are great, but I’d rather see a plastic injected model kit at a lower cost. I’m not a huge fan, but if they released a model kit of that car I would be in for a couple of them. We need more “big” cars from the ‘60’-‘70’s made in 1/25th scale plastic.

Nice kit, but $187 for basically a curbside model with no chrome? Yikes!

Yeah, that roof looks really bad. Also, I don’t like how the wheel well shape looks either. They seem to be too round and not enough elliptical like on the real car. The old MPC Camaro kit wasn’t any great prize either, but I think with a few tweaks here and there it could be made to rival the Revell kit. That’s why I’m holding out for the ‘80-‘81 ProStreet Camaro Z28 to be reissued by Round2.

The only way that could be done is by making the whole grill on the ‘72 an insert. If they do the ‘72, it will probably be an SS version where the whole grill was black inside. What I think would be a good idea is to modify the lightly engraved turn signal lights in the fenders into separate insert pieces (which would look more realistic) so that both model years can be done easily. I’m not talking about offering both versions in a single kit. Sure, that would be great for us Chevelle fans, but it would be bad for Round 2 decreasing their profit potential. If they modify the turn signals into separate pieces, both model years can be represented depending on which turn signal inserts and which grill/bumper that was offered. If the ‘72 Chevelle SS reissue sells really well, they can reissue the ‘71 by switching out the turn signal inserts and grill/bumper assembly for that version. I don’t know if the seat pattern changed between those two years, but they can clone the ‘71 interior bucket and seats if they want to be accurate. Just switch them out as needed depending on which model year Chevelle that was reissued. They can also emphasize the “LS6” on the ‘71 since that was the last year for that engine option. Just some thoughts…

It didn’t look a Collonade, but from what I could see of the shape, it had more of a ‘66-‘67 GM A-body shape to it. Perhaps a cloned stock ‘66 Buick Skylark? That would be nice.

A Collonade from Pontiac in the ‘70’s would be much curvier under a tarp.

The pillars look a smidge too thin compared to pics of the real car. I understand the windshield molding and side window drip rail molding visually thicken up this area. However, when looking at pics of the real car online, it seems the body colored area of the pillar is just slightly wider or thicker than the pillars rendered on the model. Maybe it’s just an optical illusion.

If we don’t have a dehydrator, how long do we need to wait for it dry? A week?