1/16 MPC '79 Pontiac Firebird

[Hawk312]

Has anyone seen this one yet? It was in their September video, but I am not seeing it anywhere.

[Matt T.]

Any day now, I’d think.

Model Roundup shows “October” arrival (not “Late October” like some other kits). 

[Casey]

Did anybody buy and open one of these up, yet? 

[CapSat 6]

Did anybody buy and open one of these up, yet? 

Me. What do you want to see or know about? Let me know and I'll photograph/ post within the next few days.  It's a nice one- screaming chickens in 3 colors!

[Mr mopar]

Me. What do you want to see or know about? Let me know and I'll photograph/ post within the next few days.  It's a nice one- screaming chickens in 3 colors!

Let's see what's inside the box PLEASE !

[Casey]

Me. What do you want to see or know about? Let me know and I'll photograph/ post within the next few days.  It's a nice one- screaming chickens in 3 colors!

Everything.  Pics of the decal sheet would be appreciated, and the tires, too, though I am pretty sure Mike W confirmed they are the same ol' Goodyear GT Radials. I'm curious how the chrome plating is on the snowflake wheels, too. 

[CapSat 6]

I took some pics, but for some reason they won't upload. I'll try again tonight... 

[CapSat 6]

[CapSat 6]

[CapSat 6]

[CapSat 6]

[CapSat 6]

[CapSat 6]

[CapSat 6]

[Hawk312]

Whoaaa!!

I am in trouble. I will be buying multiples of this one!

Some observations:

First, I am *very* surprised to see full Trans Am lettering. I was not expecting that at all. I am building the old Trophy Series Turbo Firebird, and all of the letters to spell "Trans Am" are scattered throughout the decal sheet. I guess as long as "Trans Am" isn`t on the box art, they dont have to worry about licensing for the name? The springs for the working front suspension are still there, which is interesting. The snow flake wheels and the tires appear unchanged compared to the Trophy Series kit, which is good IMO. The tail light panel is not correct, just like the old kit. 

I am really loving the decal options in 3 colors!!!

 

[Rob Hall]

Interesting about the 'Trans Am' decals..the box art says 'Firebird' but I can see the 'Trans Am' lettering on the side of the car in the box art photos online.   They must have secured licensing.  IIRC, the 1/25th '79 reissue a year or two ago just said 'T/A' on the box..

[Casey]

Thanks, Bill, perfect. 

 

I am really loving the decal options in 3 colors!!!

Yeah, the decal sheet is going to sell a few kits on its own. Really not much new in the rest of the parts, but that was expected, and really, fine.

[Faust]

Of course, for personal reasons, I do love the red bird! 

I will keep my fingers crossed they can get the Turbo Version, with the correct bird, out sometime, as the decals do look stunning!

On thing I do not like, though, is the red tail lights. 

Why, oh why to mode and toy companies KEEP making the tail lights on these cars RED. They're NOT red unless illuminated. They're BLACK. only the reflective strip at the bottom is red. Green Light's '80 Turbos all suffer from this (in multiple scales as far as I can tell) and it is such an unnecessary mistake to make. 

If the tail lights were just moulded in the same tinted/smokey colour used on a lot of other Round 2 kits then everything would be fine. 

The rest of the kit is largely good, it seems. However, they kept the embossed "fire chicken" between the back seats, and that's on the '79 Tenth Anniversary cars only. So, that'll have to be sanded, and might well ruin the surface texture of the seats. 

At  least the spoiler is right, and the T-tops are right. So often, replicas use the wrong style of T-Top. On this type of T/A, they should extend right to the door opening. That is usually wrong, too. Greenlight's small and large Turbo T/A replicas fudge that up spectacularly (so bad that I won't even buy the big one!).

Overall, it looks cool. As the owner of a real one, I'd love to get my hands on the Turbo version and really see how good the details are! Casting the "disco dash" in chrome was an interesting touch, too!

[Joe Handley]

Finally opened the 1/16 '79 Firebird I bought a few weeks back, thought I'd take a few pics of the baggies to post up here.

 

[Hawk312]

Thanks for posting these!

I have to get at least one of this kit. I really like the decal options, and am really impressed to see we have real Trans Am lettering not spaced out all over the sheet. 

The only thing I wish they would have included would be the turbo parts from the Trophy Series version...and maybe the lights. 

But this is great, none the less. 

[highway]

Though I love Trans Ams, the only disappointment in this latest issue is that AMT did away with the 10th Anniversary markings and also noticed the Turbine wheels for the anniversary edition is also blocked off on the chrome. 

 

 

[Casey]

The decal sheet alone makes the kit tempting, but then I remember all of the kinda-sorta close details that abound in this kit, particularly in the chassis/floorpan, and I have to pass. 

[eyceston]

Hey Mike, any chance you can assist with what pieces were painted which color?  It looks like you obviously know your stuff about building these models, but the fact that they left the paint colors for parts unlettered, it is very annoying.  The fact that they listed the colors needed and what they would be labeled like in the instructions, but then never used them is pretty poor.  Any help would be appreciated!

[Dave Darby]

15 hours ago, eyceston said:

Hey Mike, any chance you can assist with what pieces were painted which color?  It looks like you obviously know your stuff about building these models, but the fact that they left the paint colors for parts unlettered, it is very annoying.  The fact that they listed the colors needed and what they would be labeled like in the instructions, but then never used them is pretty poor.  Any help would be appreciated!

Not Mike, but the colors listed on instruction sheets often are arbitrary. Your best bet is to Google the car you are trying to replicate.  Ebay auctions are also good sources of reference photos. 

[pack rat]

20 hours ago, eyceston said:

Hey Mike, any chance you can assist with what pieces were painted which color?  

1 hour ago, Dave Darby said:

Not Mike, but the colors listed on instruction sheets often are arbitrary. Your best bet is to Google the car you are trying to replicate.  Ebay auctions are also good sources of reference photos. 

 

Like Dave said, the instruction sheet color references are a very basic guide to getting a decent-looking model out of the box.

One of the first things I do when planning a build is sit down and Google pics of the subject, then dig out my (very large) collection of painted spoon samples to come up with the various paint colors to use on the kit.

I have rarely, if ever looked at an instruction sheet color chart (I didn't know this kit had one).

It wouldn't be easy to list the various colors used on this particular kit; MANY different colors/finishes are used on a box-art kit in particular (see pic) to emphasize the detail. 

Having said that....The body is Tamiya TS-21 gold decanted and airbrushed, then clear-coated with Testors Wet Look clear (also decanted). The interior is a combination of Tamiya AS-15 tan and TS-46 light sand.  The engine is (I think) Tamiya TS-23 light blue.  

Pretty much every other color used on the kit would be from the collection of spoon samples shown in the pic.  I still have my notes on this build; I used 23 different rattle-cans on it before I picked up a brush....I don't keep track of the various bottled colors used.

Before any rivet-counters comment on the exclusive use of hobby paints, there is a reason for it.  If people ask for guidance re paint to duplicate a box art kit, it's more convenient for them to be referred to their LHS/hobby supplier for plastic-friendly TS-23 light blue, for example, than to send them to an Automotive supplier for GM engine light blue.