Information on Monogram's Exotics Series

[Motor City]

You must have a lot of catalogs, Casey.

[garagepunk66]

On 8/24/2017 at 11:40 AM, Zoom Zoom said:

Love the 1/24th Monogram sports cars. Just finished a couple of the reissued RX7's, one I can't show yet (race version) and this one, built as a base-model using steel wheels/Dunlops from a Fujimi early GTR wheel & tire parts pack:

Here's what I did w/the 924, I researched and built a Martini Edition, making my own stripes digitally and printing them using a laser printer on decal film. It's easy when the base color is white. 

These are really, really nice builds of these kits. Just beautiful

[Casey]

From the '78 Monogram catalog:

[stavanzer]

I wonder where the molds are for these kits are now. That Merc 450 Sl/Rallye and the little Capri II/ Group II would be great to have. The Triumph too.

The others have options from other manufacturers, but those are just really sharp kits. I had the Midnite Capri. Wish I had another. So-So Car, but a great kit. They should all be popular, as 2'n'1s. 

[Bob Johnson]

Hi Alan, the idea of the 1/24th scale sports car series was twofold:   Establish a category that would gain shelf space in the Auto kit selections with mass merchants.. These were shelves dominated by AMT, MPC, and Revell to some degree.  The choice of subjects was totally different and the goal of each kit was to create a model that was easy to assemble... The second goal was a result of the Monogram 1969 Z/28 Camaro.  we learned that we did now understand how to model full-fendered contemporary cars.   So, the body shapes of the first four subjects were experiments in interpreting body contours and it was done so with two seminars conducted at Monogram Models in our conference room guided by GM Director of Design Chuck Jordan... he was a dedicated model builder and taught our design staff and pattern makers about how to interpret body shapes and contours when the visual point of reference was so different between a full-size auto and a 2X pattern (1/12th scale for 1/24th scale kits).   A note of interest...  The 450SL was like Bob Reder's 450SL,,,, the Capri II basis was my 1976 blue metallic version....  the Datsun was a natural as was the Porsche 911....  I contacted VW of A and spoke with the late Bill Oursler who worked in PR.. he set us up with a new 924 at Porsche Audi O'Hare and Mike Cook at British Leyland in NJ set us up with the TR-7.....  A neighbor's dad found the Chicago Auto Show Light Ivory 924 outside a Chicago are shop several years ago,, it was an early build car and I was able to find a Monogram 924 for him.... still one of the best Porsche shapes ever built!!! The 308 GTB was based upon the fiberglass-bodied 308 owned by GM and maintained by GM Design.   No, these kits did not satisfy the experienced builder, but, they "bought shelf space" in K-Mart, Toys-R-Us and smaller chains like Shopko, Rose's and Meijer Thrifty Acres......     Hope this helps.... I hope that Atlantis has these molds..  particularly the 924 and 308 Ferrari

 

Bob Johnson / Holland, MI

[steveracer]

Bob Johnson.  Awesome, just awesome insight.  Thank you.  

I have so many parallels to this, it is just great to read.

[Bob Johnson]

Steve.. tell us more..please!!  BJ

[stavanzer]

Thanks for the history, Bob!

I too really hope that Atlantis has these molds. I believe in today's market, Atlantis could sell them as  2'n'1 kits and really do well. The ones I built went together Sooooo Smoothly. They were just great shelf models.

[The Junkman]

What's the consensus on the Porsche Carrera RSR?  Can it be made into an accurate/acceptable RSR?  I've got a couple of random kits back in the stash and am wondering if I should just unload them.

[Bob Johnson]

The Porsche was the most difficult body even though we had "good lines" from Hans Ernst at Porsche AG... "Roundy bodies"... my words .. like the VW bare simply very challenging to sculpt..  The biggest change with the 911 is to junk the "one size fits all tires"... that was a budget constraint we had to deal with..ONE tire size...  There are many good tire choices these days.... BITD (back in the day), I built a race version using a set of MPC hollow tires,, the rears were from a "Dirt Modified".... I extended the rear wheel wells and they looked superb!!   The race version has the IMSA front air dam.....  Have at it!!

[Spottedlaurel]

Fascinating to read more about these kits and to see the catalogue scans, plus great to see some built-up examples. So good to hear Bob's view from the inside on them.

I built the yellow TR7 road car as a youngster, sadly only the wheels/tyres and instruction sheet appear to have survived. I do have a plan for the wheels and I'd love to get hold of another one of this kit someday.

In more recent years I've picked up the 308 (actually the Revell reissue) plus road and race versions of the 280Z. The Ferrari built-up nicely with lowered 'suspension' and staggered wheels and tyres from Tamiya/Fujimi kits.

I had a lot of fun with the road 280Z, adding arch flares, wide Fujimi wheels and making a few minor mod's. It's amusing to compare it to Tamiya's newly-tooled 240ZG kit, yet it still does a great job of capturing the essence of the 1:1. I'm looking forward to building the other one at some point.

The wheels on both Zs are really nice. I used the road car's slot mags on a Datsun Fairlady Roadster, and the racer's 4-spokes on a Datsun 1200 truck. In both cases I think I used the Monogram tyres too, they look just right on smaller 1:24 cars.

[Zoom Zoom]

14 hours ago, Bob Johnson said:

Hi Alan, the idea of the 1/24th scale sports car series was twofold:   Establish a category that would gain shelf space in the Auto kit selections with mass merchants.. These were shelves dominated by AMT, MPC, and Revell to some degree.  The choice of subjects was totally different and the goal of each kit was to create a model that was easy to assemble... The second goal was a result of the Monogram 1969 Z/28 Camaro.  we learned that we did now understand how to model full-fendered contemporary cars.   So, the body shapes of the first four subjects were experiments in interpreting body contours and it was done so with two seminars conducted at Monogram Models in our conference room guided by GM Director of Design Chuck Jordan... he was a dedicated model builder and taught our design staff and pattern makers about how to interpret body shapes and contours when the visual point of reference was so different between a full-size auto and a 2X pattern (1/12th scale for 1/24th scale kits).   A note of interest...  The 450SL was like Bob Reder's 450SL,,,, the Capri II basis was my 1976 blue metallic version....  the Datsun was a natural as was the Porsche 911....  I contacted VW of A and spoke with the late Bill Oursler who worked in PR.. he set us up with a new 924 at Porsche Audi O'Hare and Mike Cook at British Leyland in NJ set us up with the TR-7.....  A neighbor's dad found the Chicago Auto Show Light Ivory 924 outside a Chicago are shop several years ago,, it was an early build car and I was able to find a Monogram 924 for him.... still one of the best Porsche shapes ever built!!! The 308 GTB was based upon the fiberglass-bodied 308 owned by GM and maintained by GM Design.   No, these kits did not satisfy the experienced builder, but, they "bought shelf space" in K-Mart, Toys-R-Us and smaller chains like Shopko, Rose's and Meijer Thrifty Acres......     Hope this helps.... I hope that Atlantis has these molds..  particularly the 924 and 308 Ferrari

 

Bob Johnson / Holland, MI

Some of my favorite kits of all time; as a teen they were easy to build to look really good, so good I bought a second 911 kit to spray in a different color back in the day. Now as a seasoned adult I find they hold up with the test of time shape-wise and are fun subjects to revisit. Bonus is they're often available for less $ than what a fresh reissued would cost. 

[The Junkman]

2 hours ago, Bob Johnson said:

The Porsche was the most difficult body even though we had "good lines" from Hans Ernst at Porsche AG... "Roundy bodies"... my words .. like the VW bare simply very challenging to sculpt..  The biggest change with the 911 is to junk the "one size fits all tires"... that was a budget constraint we had to deal with..ONE tire size...  There are many good tire choices these days.... BITD (back in the day), I built a race version using a set of MPC hollow tires,, the rears were from a "Dirt Modified".... I extended the rear wheel wells and they looked superb!!   The race version has the IMSA front air dam.....  Have at it!!

Thanks, you give me hope.  I know I've got a set of wheels/tires and a collection of Brumos markings that can be made to work.

[Bob Johnson]

JUNKMAN:   NICE MUSTANG!!   Fit the wheels and tires to the chassis.... then open the wheel wells to fit the tires...

You will be fine!!   RAJ3

[Spottedlaurel]

Here are my renditions of them:

 

Low parts count but the shape looked good to me.

 

The 280Z road car, complete with the Roadster that ended up fitted with its wheels. As  took the bumpers off it highlighted the rather square rear end, so I did a bit of surgery there.

The little Datsun Truck that ended up with the 280Z racer's wheels. Even out of all my Japanese accessory set wheels and tyres I couldn't have chosen anything better for it.

[stavanzer]

Man, Sharp Builds. The Z Car and the Ferrari are simply superb!

[Rob Hall]

Those look sharp. Never built the Monogram 308.  I built the Revell 308 (and Maserati Bora) as a kid, was molded in black. 

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Nice to hear from you, Mr J!

The 308 is my favorite; where it diverges from the 1:1, it flatters the subject - not an easy feat with a 308.  I really love it.

Also find it interesting that the 924 was the most challenging - for my money, it's decisively the most accurate of the group.

(woops, wrong Porsche)

Edited November 25, 2021 by Chuck Kourouklis

[Bob Johnson]

1 hour ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Here are my renditions of them:

 

Low parts count but the shape looked good to me.

 

The 280Z road car, complete with the Roadster that ended up fitted with its wheels. As  took the bumpers off it highlighted the rather square rear end, so I did a bit of surgery there.

The little Datsun Truck that ended up with the 280Z racer's wheels. Even out of all my Japanese accessory set wheels and tyres I couldn't have chosen anything better for it.

The four-spoke Americans were designed to fit Datsun "Z" cars.... I needed a 1/24th scale set to fit a Revell 914... so it would look like my 1971 914.... kinda slipped in in the mold set..

[Motor City]

Bob Johnson,

I'm trying not to get too far off topic.  Were you also involved with the 1/24th Monogram 1978 El Camino Black Knight?  

[Can-Con]

A couple pics of my 308 with a Tamiya tire/wheel upgrade. What a great looking kit. 

Hopefully, they will be reissued sometime soon. Great little "cleansing the pallet" kit for between more involved builds.

[Zoom Zoom]

11 hours ago, Bob Johnson said:

The Porsche was the most difficult body even though we had "good lines" from Hans Ernst at Porsche AG... "Roundy bodies"... my words .. like the VW bare simply very challenging to sculpt..  The biggest change with the 911 is to junk the "one size fits all tires"... that was a budget constraint we had to deal with..ONE tire size...  There are many good tire choices these days.... BITD (back in the day), I built a race version using a set of MPC hollow tires,, the rears were from a "Dirt Modified".... I extended the rear wheel wells and they looked superb!!   The race version has the IMSA front air dam.....  Have at it!!

Here's one I built last year with a few parts from my stash of Fujimi parts (wheels, tires, fog lights, mirrors). Fun project! 

[Bob Johnson]

43 minutes ago, Zoom Zoom said:

Here's one I built last year with a few parts from my stash of Fujimi parts (wheels, tires, fog lights, mirrors). Fun project! 

Bob Downie.. I know you from somewhere!!  I have NEVER seen this model look THIS GOOD!!!!!  WELL DONE!!  Bob Johnson

[Bob Johnson]

2 hours ago, Motor City said:

Bob Johnson,

I'm trying not to get too far off topic.  Were you also involved with the 1/24th Monogram 1978 El Camino Black Knight?  

I was and not much memory as to that model or vehicle.. we had a  very good contact at GM Design and held confidential

data very closely to protect GM and those who trusted Monogram to do so...  tell me what you are interested in..

[Motor City]

16 hours ago, Bob Johnson said:

I was and not much memory as to that model or vehicle.. we had a  very good contact at GM Design and held confidential

data very closely to protect GM and those who trusted Monogram to do so...  tell me what you are interested in..

At that time, the only other intermediate-sized models were MPC's Monte Carlo and Monaco.  Do you recall how it was decided to pick that model?  I thought it was a great choice.