pettyfan43

The Scale Auto Site was pretty cool a couple years ago, then they started changing how it was run, then the politically correct ###### started running rampant. They actually posted that if you built the General Lee, and you posted a picture of it, the roof could not be visible, this was within a year and a half of a 2 part article by my buddy Ken Hamilton on building THAT CAR and setting up the Jump Diorama! I remember this VERY WELL because the Sherrif's car in those two articles was MINE! To me is was "Do as I say not as I do!" I buy the magazine just for Ken's column anymore. I do buy Model Cars because the buildups and such are much better! I think the quality of MC is much better as well. SA is not a magazine so much as a brochure anymore!

http://rc2.com/investor/financial/2007/Rel...relim_Q4_06.pdf They are at this time planning to go through "2007 business as usual with the Model kit side, then they are done." They have said some of the new stuff like the Foose line WILL be affected. I take this to mean, forget anything new. This Info comes from Tom Carter of Hobby Heaven and most of you know he has friends in the upper management at RC2. This is what he has been told. The link above is from RC2 themselves. The Die Cast side is pretty much finished with market saturation and the escelating cost of Zinc being the two main factors cited. I know there have been many complaints about AMT quality (or lack thereof) but I SURE didn't want to see them go under, BUT when you start looking at the quality issues and the generic engines and lack of detail on a LOT of their new stuff and even modified reissues, I guess it was bound to happen.

Well, I painted the Charger Daytona today. All I can say is apparently they get their plastic from the same place Revell gets theirs. BE CAREFUL what you paint these things with, I have no clue what to tell you if you want authentic colors on the car. I just hope what I have will strip well enough to save the kit. This thing is too expensive to become a pars car.

There are a couple areas that the Revell kit is better (Bottom of hood detail comes to mind);BUT the Testors car is more impressive in several places, the seperate headliner, the seperate headlight buckets and lenses. The Charger does lack in one area, they did not shade the front and rear windows where the black areas should be, BUT the glass fits in from the OUTSIDE instead of the inside so the glkass fits the body flush like the real car is. The kit is packed VERY well with pieces of Cardboard covering the smaller more fragile parts that could get damaged. They are Not completely the same kit, as are the 1:1 versions, the Dayona has a different grille and the front and rear spoilers. They have cast different parts for the different parts on the 1:1 car. I MUCh prefer the the way Testors handles the headlamp setup versus Revell. Testors gives you a seperate bucket (UNPLATED) and lenses, where the Magnum uses a one piece headlamp unit and you have to paint around the lenses. The really cool part, is that the Company that makes these kits, JLloyd International, is the parent company of Lindberg, who is to release the SRT8 version of the Charger this year, if it is based on the same tool as these kits, it will be a DEFINITE Must have kit. The Testors cars are VERY VERY NICE, I am aboiut to get a Daytona together (in Purple or Orange, not sure which yet). I REALLY hope this car builds as well as the Revell car. The Parts count is a good bit higher than the Revell Magnum. I'm looking forward to finding out how they compare as builders. These kits are a little bit cheaper than the Trumpeter kits and compare favorably from what I have seen (Better proportions and more realistic details). I'm going to find out how well the pretty parts fit together.

The Plastikote does a pretty good job of keeping the plastic in good shape. I had a real problem with the Magnum, specifically on the right door, looked like somebody threw a 1/25 scale baseball into the door! The reat of the car was perfect. BTW I have that one almost done, the repaint came out without the bad spot and the car looks pretty good. The good news? This kit is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It truly is a really well engineered kit. EVERYTHING fits together very well and the car actually sits much better than the one on the box. Nothing on the car made for night mares. There is even a set of Chrome METAL exhaust tips. I reccomend the car wholeheartedly! It really is a gorgeous kit.

I totally forgot to introduce myself. I'm Chris Louden and I do know several of you, either personally or from other boards. I am on the Hobby HEaven board pretty frequently. I had made a post about the new Revell magnum and Bill Geary sent me an email with the pics of his and when I got mine painted the first time, he suggested I let everybody know that I was having the crazing problem with the kit. So sorry to just jump in like that. Good to meet you all. Chris

Ed Sexton From Revell Customer service has sent a message to Hobby Heaven regarding two threads including one started by me, about the issues regarding the plastic. They would like to hear from Modelers and their problems. Here is the text of the message thread at Hobby Heaven : Maybe there will be an end to this issue pretty soon. Please help out if you have had issues with the new revell plastic.

Just beware, it is molded in that crappy rotgut plastic! Make sure you have a preferred method for dealing with using real paint on it. This is VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!!!!!