1972 Pontiac GTO

[95neon]

Building the infamous MPC '72 goat and needless to say, it's been an adventure. Painted up the body after shaving off lots of rough edging and flash, cut the hood scoops open and smoothed out hood edges. I filled in the two sink marks in the trunk, though there is still a faintly visible putty lump (I use nitro-stan for real cars). I primed the body with rust oleum and painted with testors metallic blue (pretty close to factory "Lucerne blue") white lettered the tires and painted the black interior and wheel detail. Just started foiling, and I hope to have more pics on the way now that I got my iPad squared away!

 

 

[drodg]

Good start.

[Snake45]

Take a good look at the fit of the rear bumper. In many issues of this kit, it's WAY wider than the body. Some guys have taken a slight section out of the middle of it and greatly improved the look of the finished model.

[AC Norton]

Take a good look at the fit of the rear bumper. In many issues of this kit, it's WAY wider than the body. Some guys have taken a slight section out of the middle of it and greatly improved the look of the finished model.

.....so very true...even the 72 annual mpc original suffered from the same problem, when I built it in 1972.  unless some resin maker offers an improved bumper for this kit, as Snake mentions, the width is a problem....the Ace.....

[kruleworld]

Take a good look at the fit of the rear bumper.

yes, this is required fixing.

[95neon]

THANK YOU for confirming my suspicions, in a test fit I noticed it was WAAAYY to wide, I will try chopping mine down

[Mr Stock]

That paint is looking good Tim, nice colour, I have always left this kit on the shelf due to the horror storys Ive heard about it Lol.

 

[dragzz]

the paint work came out looking great 

[ProStreetOnTheStrip]

when I first got the re-release of this, I didn't  even bother to build it, it would be too much hassle, I just sold it, and bought me some better style gto kit

[95neon]

It's not as bad as it sounds, some detail is lame and the motor is TERRIBLE I'm not a super experienced modeler and the only thing I find concerning is the rear bumper and front pan fit.  Mpc usually has really accurate bodies, so I think this goat will build into a decent looking model

[95neon]

Painted the wheels today, left the rims chrome to represent the popular "beauty rims"   Also white lettered the tires. Also attached is a pic of the undercarriage after some paint. I didn't prime the underside--big mistake

[slusher]

Nice detail painting on the wheels and tires....

[95neon]

Haven't done much to this car over the past few months, as I've had better kits to build but I figured I'd get this nightmare over with...

almost done foiling the trim, did wood grain and chrome on dash, rubbing out orange peel on the body, motor mostly assembled

some major issues: there are locators in the interior for the front seats but they are in the wrong spot, and the wheels don't line up with the fenders of the body... Ugh

feedback welcome, hopefully I can get this puppy wrapped up someday...

 

[Roadrunner]

I like the color, but then I'm real partial to blue.

[DumpyDan]

looks good, nice dash detailing

[6bblbird]

I "built" one of those for a club contest about a year ago. Terrible kit. I finished it but could not stand to look at it!

I gave it to a young kid. He loves it!

[Sledsel]

Not a great kit, but I'd rather have a repop needing work than paying big $$$ for a vintage. A little patience and it will look good... and you are well on your way with it.

[95neon]

Thanks for all the replies, now that Christmas vacation has started I can really get moving on this beast. 

Finished foiling the window trim today, installed glass

then started grinding out the terribly placed seat locators (I'm not too concerned about the pin marks on the interior because they won't be seen once the car's together)

next step: fix the wheel placement (I need to get the front wheel pins out somehow as they're stuck in their holes...

[Reeves Racing]

Thanks for all the replies, now that Christmas vacation has started I can really get moving on this beast. 

Finished foiling the window trim today, installed glass

then started grinding out the terribly placed seat locators (I'm not too concerned about the pin marks on the interior because they won't be seen once the car's together)

next step: fix the wheel placement (I need to get the front wheel pins out somehow as they're stuck in their holes...

You could drill them out and then use some styrene rod or some sprue to make new pins.

[Bob Ellis]

Something happened to this kit, but I am not exactly sure what. I almost think the rear was narrowed, or the bumper was widened. I thought an original '72 would help, and then again, maybe not. I suspect MPC tweaked this kit for another purpose.

Still, the kit is fine and with some skill, it turns out great.

Anybody notice the embossed box inside the chassis on the driver side? The frame originates from 1966 when you could build a Funny Car and that is the locator for the Funny driver's seat. That frame works on all the 1966-72 MPC GTOs.

[95neon]

You could drill them out and then use some styrene rod or some sprue to make new pins.

i managed to tap to tap them out with some pliers and centered the incorrect wheel, re using the original pins. 

 

Something happened to this kit, but I am not exactly sure what. I almost think the rear was narrowed, or the bumper was widened. I thought an original '72 would help, and then again, maybe not. I suspect MPC tweaked this kit for another purpose.

Still, the kit is fine and with some skill, it turns out great.

Anybody notice the embossed box inside the chassis on the driver side? The frame originates from 1966 when you could build a Funny Car and that is the locator for the Funny driver's seat. That frame works on all the 1966-72 MPC GTOs.

I did notice the little square but I was not aware of its origin.  I love learning the history of different kits. 

Yes something is messed up in the rear, I will just trim the bumper and hope for the best...

[95neon]

Here's a quick mock-up, front wheels fixed but I still need to move the rears forward. 

Still need to finish up under the hood...

 

 

[louie]

Hi 95neon, that is looking great. I've not built one yet but you are giving me inspiration to. What a great looking car the GTO is (all years ) . I have been following this since you started the post and I'm glad to see you back at it. Thank you for sharing this with us and keep up the good work.       Jeff 

[charlie8575]

Wow, you did some good work with that.

I would've seriously considered swapping in the running gear from a Revell '72 Olds and the engine from a Revell '66 GTO with this kit's 4-bbl intake. 

Charlie Larkin

[Sport Suburban]

I also have a few of these started in different stages. These kits will really test you skill and patients. The interesting part is the rear bumpers. I have an original 1971 GTO kit and that bumper is too wide also but it has 1971 on the plate. All the 72 rereleases also have the really wide bumper but the 1970 GTO kit has a narrower rear bumper that also fits these kits and looks right. I have three of the 1988 issues of the 70 GTO. As much as the two kits share it is interesting that the bumpers are different widths.