Any opinions on the Jimmy Flintstone '70 Challenger body?

[Monty]

I recently asked for informed opinions about the available 1/25 '70 Challengers on the market and was disappointed to learn that AMT/Round2/Whoever never got around to fixing that goofy roof, and Revell's version is based on a diecast and has the characteristic body issues that come with that. The pics also show that it's probably closer to 1/24 in scale.  

Since both kit bodies will require styrene surgery to correct their flaws, I'm considering using a resin body from Jimmy Flintstone instead. (I'm assuming he got the details and proportions down.)  So...did Jimmy get his version right?  If you've used his resin body can you post up some pics?

Bonus question: will the shaker hood from the AMT kit work on the resin body if I decide to go that way?   

Edited September 18, 2015 by Monty

[Sport Suburban]

I built one many years ago. The Jimmy Flintstone body is an RT/SE with the small rear window and vinyl top. It is not the cleanest casting and will require some work and thinning. That is to be expected with a Flintstone body. I'm pretty sure the shaker hood does fit the body but I did not use it. I don't believe the rest of the body has any corrections that I can recall from the AMT body. I can post pics of mine after I get home.

[Snake45]

Someone on here built one about the time I joined this board, about a year ago. It came out quite nice.

I have one of those bodies, It looks very good to me (but I hasten to add that I am NOT an expert on Challengers) and the AMT parts seem to fit very well. I hope to actually build it someday.

I haven't checked to see how the kit glass fits. This is almost always a concern with the Flintstone bodies, as they can be too thick in this area. Otherwise, I don't foresee any problems with either its construction or its eventual appearance.

ETA: Found the thread on the one Mopar-D built for you:

Edited September 18, 2015 by Snake45

[louie]

Has anyone ever done story in a magazine or online about what is exactly wrong with the amt challenger roof and fixing it. I believe that the amt roof is separate from the body but as I am definitely not an expert in challengers is why I ask. Would probably make for a great article if it has not been done. Thank you.     Jeff

[10thumbs]

I don't know about the Challenger body, but I have 3 others from him and they're atrocious.  Really poor.  The size is strange and looks odd.  Body lines are wavy and there's so much porosity and ugly fins that of the three, I only used one.  Lots of work though, never again.

[CapSat 6]

Please see the attached pics. It's been a crazy week for me, sorry these are so late. 

The first one is an AMT body repair in progress. It's not 100% done. You can see that you would have to glue & blend in the leading edge of the roof, as well as the bottoms of the b pillars. The drip mouldings get destroyed in this process, so you can see you would have to restore them, too.

The 2nd pic is of the Flintstone body. Personally, I don't think this one is too bad. Much of the work was on the roof, and it looks neat and orderly to me. The bod would need some cleanup, but if I remember correctly, these were being sold at the NNL East about 10 years ago for $10 each- a bargain then, so if they need a little cleanup, then it's justified for the price. 

The 3rd pic is the in progress AMT. You can get a sense of the proportions of the body here. I think it captures the look better than most other Challenger kits. The MPC is now rare, and while the proportions are right, some of the details are soft on the MPC. The Monogram 1/24 has some proportion issues. The Revell 1/25 has already been discussed in the kit thread. The Palmer has nice proportions, and decent details, but although maybe not as expensive as the MPC kit when found, it's pretty rare today. 

The 4th pic is both side-by-side. You can see the SE window here- perhaps it is a little small, but I think it would still work. Nice that the SE variant is available. You can kind of get the sense of the quality of the resin body in this shot, too. Hope this helps.