Carmak

There is a FB group called "Scale Survivors" that is focused on plastic model car kits built during the first golden era (before 1980) that have survived in their original built form. I have been collecting survivor builds for decades. Most of my survivors were found locally by word of mouth. The majority of my survivors were acquired from the original builders or their heir. I really like the charm and nostalgia of a vintage kit built when new (often by a teen or young adult).

Hypothetically, if someone was going to make a 65 Falcon or Comet wagon would the 61 Ranchero be the correct windshield size to start with?

I looked into the original 1974 Dodge Charger Color and Trim Book pages to see if either of the upholstery designs used in 74 were correct. I discovered this funky cloth insert was available in 74 on the buckets. This is definitely going to find its way into a build!

This is really interesting Steve. What jumps out to me about your buckets is the center button with center pleat. This COULD explain the softer headrest detail - maybe??? I just looked up the upholstery pattern in 1:1 Dodge Chargers in 74 and there is no center button/pleat (it is unchanged from 73). It is possible that Dodge had INTENDED to change the pattern in 74 but the change did not make it to production. MPC may have run some promos and kits with the proposed pattern and then corrected it to remove the center button/pleat. The only 74 promo I could find a pic of that clearly shows the seats (see pic) does not have the center button/pleat.

Some more observations and comparisons of 72-74 annual bodies and interiors plus the 72 NASCAR Baker body and the early 73 NASCAR Petty body and hood. All bodies look to have the same trunk emblems. Both 72 bodies have the same C-pilar emblem with no rocker trim, both 73 bodies have the same door emblem with ribbed rocker trim and the 74 door is very slightly changed from 73 but with the same rocker trim. Both 73 hoods look the same except for the hood pins on the Petty hood. All interiors look to the same basic upholstery patterns, but the headrest shape are looks to have changed in 74 (and the Super Charger). The Petty Charger body has the posts blocked off but still has the station wagon cut line that the 73 and 74 annuals have.

I will try to get some pics up tonight.

Some observations on the MPC 72 and 73 Charger stock car kits. *The 1972 Baker Dodge Charger kit (the white #11 car). All of the examples I have seen (I have 3) are essentially stock 1972 Charger Hardtop bodies with door handles, sides markers, wheel lip trim and emblems. The bodies do not have the Charger Rallye door indents (the MPC 1972 Charger annual kit represents a Charger Rallye). These kits also have flat hoods. I am not 100% sure all versions of this kit use a stock body. Please comment if you have seen one that has been modified to cover the door handles. As Jens demonstrates a couple posts up this is a great body to kit-bash with the AMT 71 R/T kit. *The 1973 Petty Dodge Charger kit (first version of the kit/early examples) The very early examples of this kit use an essentially stock 1973 (1974?) Charger Hardtop body with door handles, sides markers, wheel lip trim and emblems. This version of the kit has a flat hood. I have one example of this body and I have seen one other. The modified body version (that also has a bulge hood) is much more common. If you can find this body it would be great to kit-bash with either a Super Charger kit or the AMT 71 R/T kit. The Baker kit can often be found at a very reasonable prices as a rebuilder. The early Petty kit with the stock body can be hard to find in any condition.

Nathan, This might be something you could try to tackle yourself. You would need to modify the center of the front bumper, make an open headlight grille, remove the center rib in the taillights (or scratch build them as the shape is very simple, and remove the hood scoops. Someone recently started 3D printing open headlight grilles for the 69 GTO which would help. Since the GTO was based on the LeMans model things like the seats are the same.

I would say Fords big cars and specifically commercial cars are an exception. I am speaking of car like the Focus and Escape. I know someone with a very high mile Escape so there are exceptions to that as well.

Nice info Bill! If you look carefully just below the ends of the torsion bars you can see where the tool cut was done. Notice there are two gussets in this area between the rockers and the floor on the Coronet chassis and only one on the Charger chassis.

There is another option. The original 71-74 MPC Charger bodies fit on the modern 71 AMT Charger platform. The hood, bumpers and clears interchange as well. I am thinking a partial clone using original 73-74 Charger body and bumpers. You would need a new body, bumpers, seats and interior side panels. Everything else from the 71 Charger. Not perfect but fairly close.

Steve got Encephalitis and nearly died. He was in a coma for 5 months. He had to sell his house and 1:1 cars. I am really glad he hung onto his models.

So, I am a design engineer at a medical device company. While I would never say engineers should be without blame, I would say you need to walk a mile in our shoes to appreciate the world we work in. Just some of our typical challenges are: Component cost, Assembly cost, Weight, Component interaction, External and internal envelopes (the space available), Fastener visibility, Serviceability, Lifecycle. Toyotas are designed to be serviced by car owners (who are frugal). Lincolns are designed to be serviced by technicians for customers that are perceived to be affluent. The Lincoln air filter is not bad engineering, it is an intentional decision by management. On the topic of the Ford plastic intake manifold, Ford might be the best at designing vehicles that last to the third owner and then fail on multiple levels. They study the market carefully, so their cars satisfy the original buyer and are reliable enough to command good prices as a late model used car. Once they get to a third or fourth owner there is no value to Ford if the vehicle is reliable.

Within the last few days Steve Magnante has released multiple new Model Car posts on YouTube. They are about the Resin JoHan Powell truck (two posts), a 70's AWB Cadillac build and a new Revell 71 Mustang AWB build. He also re-released an older post about Jo-Han 66 Cadillac Ambulances and Hearses. Very happy to see that Steve has recovered with enough dexterity to build models again!

There is at least one decision maker at Round2 that is an active member of this board. His name in this forum is "SteveG". You may also meet Steve at events the Round2 displays at. The best place to ask questions about possible future kits is in the "Car Kit News & Reviews" section of this forum. Before you ask about future kits take a look at the many posts where original vintage and new "clone" molds are discussed. Some things to keep in mind about the plastic model car BUSINESS and how it has changed since the golden area (late 50's to early 70's): * Plastic model cars were one of the most popular hobbies in the late 50's to mid 60's and they sold in fairly high volume * Model kits known as "annuals" (a model car made the year the car was new) were typically repurposed molds used to make dealer promo cars. The dealer promo car molds were paid for by the car companies. Therefore, the model kits companies were not having to fully pay for their molds. You 59 Buick is essentially an unassembled dealer promo car. These two factors meant that model kits were good business in this 60's. Today's kit volumes are a tiny fraction of the 60's and there are no car companies paying for molds of cars from 60 years ago, so the model kit business is much more challenging than it once was. Having said all that doom and gloom Round2 is actively making new molds of cool old cars. They recently announced a new mold of the 1960 Chevy station wagon. Part of the reason they did this is the very high demand in the collector world for the 1960 Chevy wagon kits that survive from the 60's. Over that last few years they have made new molds for other very desirable vintage kits such as 1960 Ford truck, 1963 Ford truck, 1964 Chevelle, 1968 Coronet and 1971 Dodge Demon. I am sure there are other cool things in process at Round2.

There are two versions of that kit you are building. You have the first version which is a 72 Chevelle. The second version was changed into a 70 Chevelle to more accurately represent the actual car. The second version body was then used in the Super Stocker series before being "restored" back into a mostly stock Chevelle that was just recently re-issued as the SSlasher. The pics below are the second version box lid (the red ribbon in the lower right corner is different) and the 70 Chevelle body in that kit.

I found this locally (Iowa City, IA area) a few weeks ago. This is pretty high on my "didn't expect to ever find" list.

Nice build Nathan! The hubcaps really make it stand out, well done.

I realize I am late to this thread but I would like to add to what Chris V has said about this kit and post some pictures. This kit was originally designed by Tom Daniel. Tom was one of Monogram's key car/truck kit designer for a large portion of the 60's and 70's and this kit was one of his more popular designs. Tom Daniel kits were not designed to have high detail or accuracy; they were designed to have a "LOOK" that could be achieved by a typical (kid) builder. The Badman is somewhat unique in that it is a modified re-issue of a 3 in 1 type 55 convertible kit issued in the early 60's. Most Tom Daniel kits were new tooling. Unfortunately Tom Daniel and Monogram (now Revell) parted ways and over the years some of the unique Badman details were removed/replaced. Steven Guthmiller is correct that almost every model builder of a certain age probably built a version of this kit. Below are pictures of the original Badman kit (with its red glass and scoop) and the original Monogram 55 Chevy modified to create the Badman.

For a common muscle car (68-72 GM A body) the difference in wheelbase between 1/24 and 1/25 is about 3/16".

Really like the hint of pearl on the seats. Nice!

I see the 66 Belvedere sedan will be available again soon but as I read the posts I had a thought: Elwood Engel took control of Mopar design in the early 60's. The all new 1965 C-bodies were pure Engel. The heavily refreshed 1966 B-bodies shared a lot to the design ques from the 1965 C-bodies. This is very clear in the roof design. The JoHan 68 Fury squad car roof has a similar shaped C pilar with a character line running parallel to the window opening like the 66-67 B-Body sedans do. The Fury C pilar does have a steeper angle and it looks a little thicker to my eye so it would NOT be a slam dunk roof swap.

Saw that car last year at the Detroit Autorama. Very well done custom! They even have faux late 60's magazine articles as part of the display.

I saw that car in that exact spot last year as well. Very well done conversion. IIRC the interior was done stock. Some stock wheels and it could pass for a faux prototype.

I have used it for years for very specific applications. I DUST it on interior pieces to achieve the pearl look of some 60's vinyl. I have also DUSTED it on flat black vinyl tops. The key here is to DUST it on! Practice on a test piece.