Chuck Most

Love it, love it, love it. Good thing you can't outrun a radio. I'm wondering when Round 2 will reissue these- they've been on a roll lately with the long-lost late '70's and early '80's MPC releases!

I get what you're saying. You might like the first one I did a bit better. If I ever find another one of these I might try some of the custom parts on it. Like you said, there won't be another '70 Eldorado kit, so I'm going to enjoy 'em.

I'd normally agree with you, but in the case of this particular kit... if this one was representative of all of these kits the fact that it will never come back might be a good thing. Half of the parts to the (Oldsmobile) engine were short shot, the chassis was warped into a frowny-face, there was so much excess plastic on the bottom of the firewall it looked like an old open-mold resin casting, and the chrome plating was thick and blotchy (though that last problem may have been due to age). The decals are awful, though that's true of almost every Johan kit I've ever had. The first one I built was the same, minus the short shot engine parts. All things considered, this one can stay dead. I'd gladly take the Toronado though, even if it shares the same maladies as the Eldo.

So... here's the idea. An abandoned old custom Merc project revived with a Cummins 4BT engine and 3/4 ton running gear. To that end, I cobbled up a 4BT by starting with the block from a Revell '41 Chevy pickup, and 8-bolt wheels from Scenes Unlimited fitted with SATCO Dunlop tires. The stock Mercury suspension is still there underneath but it's the look that matters this time. Other than some cutting and repositioning to house the engine and the fender-exit exhaust, the basic Revell kit was just built out of the box.

I have (well, had) a couple of incomplete Johan '70 Eldorado kits laying around. I built one as a junked-out stocker, and disposed of the other one by doing it as a Wasteland Weekend cruiser. I lifted the suspension and used wheels and tires from a Revell '77 GMC, lights and a few other doodads from an Italeri truck accessories kit, and a resin skull to decorate the hood. The other items were modified from kit parts or made from scratch.

I bought this Revell Cougar some time ago as a parts donor, and decided to use the rest as a junker. To that end, body damage was added, a mismatched set of wheels was fitted, and the entire car was hosed off in a dull backyard blue paint job. It's a decent companion to the Rotten Pumpkin '73 Cougar I built a few years back.

Yes, yes, and yes... though that last one may be a bit iffy because Fred retired about a decade ago. The sheet came with graphics for both SC/Rambler color schemes, several scripts, air cleaner graphics, and things like that. I had a pic of the sheet at one point but I can't seem to find it. I nabbed that sheet off ebay for about ten bucks a few years back.

That's not a model, it's a family artifact. FYI- The latest reissue of the NASCAR Coke stock car has the stock grille, as well as many of the stock engine parts. That's the one with the model photoshopped onto a race track on the box, the earlier one with the plain grey background does not contain the unused stock parts.

Yeah- this kit is garbage. But you wrung a pretty nice model out of it. I had one I had grand plans for- Fred Cady decals, some nice aftermarket red line tires, the works. I ended up starting to make it into a drag car because I realized I'd never be happy with the results.

I had so much fun building the Pinto 4x4 wagon, I decided to try another one. The MPC body was cut down into a pickup body style, and perched on top of a Revell Bronco chassis. The Bronco 302 was retained but the EFI setup from a '92 Mercury Cougar was added. The plow is from the '77 GMC, and the '77 Arctic Cat El Tigre 6000 is from the Ice Patrol Jeep pickup.

They toned it down somewhat. That's actually refreshing for a change. It's still a bit "in your face", it's a Ram and that's kind of the point, but it's already less eyesore-inducing than the previous gen. I just don't want to know the MSRP...

I've got a few sets of the old solid AMT Firestones to use instead

So, it's the Texaco version with new decals and retouched box art? Sigh... I'm a tad let down but I think I'll probably still get one.

Yes and no, kinda. The chassis, axles, inner wheels, and a few other doodads are shared, but most everything else is unique to each version. The Daisy Duke Jeep is closer to a '55-'69 CJ-5 with the F-Head "Hurricane" engine. I think at one point that kit did contain parts to build it as a military M38, some of them might still be lurking around as spares in the Daisy Duke version.

Almost exactly three and a half inches.

The original...

I love the idea (you had me at "Thunderbucket" ) and I love the finished product even more.

Lovely! I like the mismatched hood and cab.

Here's the Ice Patol kit, minus the snowmobile. (Patience... I'm working on it. ) I deviated from box stock a bit by using the spot lights, wheels, and tires from an Aoshima Nissan Pathfinder, and a winch from an MPC Deserter. The whole mess was coated in a backyard camo paint job. Traces of the factory orange paint are still visible in the engine bay and interior.

So... you have a junkyard derelict Dodge Ramcharger that coughed up it's chassis for another project. But it's a shame that the body and interior are still mostly intact and usable... why not do something with it? So what if most of the floor is rusted out- just fabricate a new floor with a body shop, slide a tube chassis with air suspension under it, and stuff in the biggest wheels possible (From a Revell 2014 Mustang in this case). In other words, the exact opposite of what you'd expect someone to do with a junky old Ramcharger...

I've heard several people point out the inaccuracies of the Revell Bronco's body. I think I found an easy way to fix it. Wheels and tires came from a Revell Dodge Ramcharger, while the brush guard and (modified) side steps are from an Aoshima Nissan Pathfinder.

Does sort of sound like the Scout, but that had vinyl tires.

Could be the Scout reissue- are you remembering the entire inside side wall being molded with the inner wheel half? Some rolling stock from Fireball (or Scenes Unlimited) would be just the ticket for any version of this kit.

Any version of this from the '90's would have had the Goodyear Wranglers from almost every '70's Monogram 4x4 kit. The original tires (Honcho and Dude versions) did have some terrible soft rubber tires and some really awful toy-like, under-sized wheels. You might be thinking of the earlier Honcho kit, though don't quote me on this.

As far as I know, none of these ever came from Revell with chrome parts. There was the initial Honcho (molded in black), the "Dude" version (molded in red and including a separate topper cap for the bed), and the Pink Poison. Other than having clear parts (rather than smoke tinted) for the windows and headlights and different wheels/tires, they're the same kit. I seem to remember reading somewhere that in the late '70's and early '80's Revell was trying to cut costs by releasing kits that did not include chrome plating. As far as the sled goes- is anybody out there reproducing the Arctic Cat El Tigre graphics from the original Ice Patrol kit? They look fairly complete and accurate for a '77-ish El Tigre 6000.