MPC Dodge 'Country' Charger Open Box Review

[hpiguy]

This is MPC's release of the 'Country' Charger in 1:25th scale.
It's basically a direct re-pop of the long running General Lee kit, all the General Lee parts are included and you'll get an optional set of Torq-Thrust wheels and new flag decals with various names and numbers in the same font as the General Lee car. 
This is molded in all black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVSucSDHmbA 

 

[Mr mopar]

Thank you Chris .......................... But Round2 what are they doing molding it in BLACK  (NO Thank you) !

[Rob Hall]

Thank you Chris .......................... But Round2 what are they doing molding it in BLACK  (NO Thank you) !

Better than orange, I suppose.  Though some previous GL versions were molded in white.  

[Mr mopar]

Better than orange, I suppose.  Though some previous GL versions were molded in white.  

Not really Black,orange,red, yellow are not fun to paint over ! white would have been better .

[Matt T.]

Nice box art with '68/'69 hood. Still an incorrect '69 500/'70 hood in the box though.

Thanks for the great video review. 

[Daddyfink]

They should have just brought it back as the Charger 500 with a Stock Car option. 

[Classicgas]

PC has gone too far.

[Bob Ellis]

This kit is good to restore older MPC Chargers.

[stavanzer]

Meh!  I'll spend my $$$ on the '75 Datsun instead.

Thanks for the preview Chris.

[Chris in Berwyn]

The decal choices are hysterical!  General Washington with a 13 star flag, General Grant, etc.  I was thinking a nice build would be the DOH General Lee with General Grant t-boning into the roof!

[Joe Handley]

The decal choices are hysterical!  General Washington with a 13 star flag, General Grant, etc.  I was thinking a nice build would be the DOH General Lee with General Grant t-boning into the roof!

Think I was going to troll like that, it would have to be called General Sherman.

[1972coronet]

I feel that a Frank Zappa decal set would've have been the pièce de résistance : The Duke of Prunes !

[crowe-t]

Round 2 should have picked up an original MPC 1969 Charger annual kit and scanned the body to make a new tool.  It could have been sold with the original 1969 annual artwork.  The original 1969 Charger body was really nice.

[CapSat 6]

I'm wondering, with Round 2's love for licensed subjects, why they did not simply issue these kits as either "Death Proof" or "Drive Angry" Chargers? You can actually build either car pretty faithfully right from the current kit contents (hood and grille inserts nothwithstanding). Those are two movie boxes I would probably pay for!!! They could also do something pretty close to the Ghost Rider car featured in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., if they used most of the custom parts from their "Fast and Furious" release several years back. 

FREE MARKETING IDEAS, Round 2!!! I mean, practically all of the parts are there! 3 new releases from this old tool!!

I might just have to make me up some fake boxes!!! ?

[CapSat 6]

Round 2 should have picked up an original MPC 1969 Charger annual kit and scanned the body to make a new tool.  It could have been sold with the original 1969 annual artwork.  The original 1969 Charger body was really nice.

It's somewhat the same body as the original '69 Annual. The scoops in the doors, the cowl vents, the emblems, front fender edges and the rear window have been revised back and forth quite a bit since 1969, so these areas are not too good anymore, but the basic body still has a good shape. Yeah- maybe starting all over would be best?  

The problem is: people like me have been buying this kit, warts and all, pretty consistently over it's run. It's a sentimental favorite of mine, since I first started building as a kid in the '70's. I built TONS of these, converting many of them to stock '68's, Daytonas, race cars, & street machines (fat tires, traction bars, loud paint, the works) back when they were the only game in town.

I think they'll always have some buyers, so there is no real incentive for Round 2 to do any heavy revision to the body. We're lucky as it is that RC2 revised the back window back when they did the Fast & Furious car. I just wish they would find the Charger 500 hood (aka- the real stock one they included in the first issue of the Charger 500 kit, circa 1987), and the original '69 Grille inserts (not the '72's we've been getting all this time). 

 

[crowe-t]

The revised rear window that RC2 did definitely made the kit better but it's shape and size isn't accurate.  When the MPC '69 Charger body is compared to a '69 1:1 Charger or to the Revell '69 Charger it's apparent the rear window is too small, not angled correctly and the shape is too squared off.  Also the molding is too wide.

Laste year I built an MPC '69 Charger and I was disappointed with the rear window when I opened the box.  I removed the molding, re-shaped the window and changed the angle slightly so it's a bit more steep.  I also re-shaped the rear pillars.  They were too rounded on the sides.

I attached some pictures showing what I did.  The 1st picture is a comparison of the MPC '69 Charger's rear window(right side) to a Revell '69 Charger's rear window(left side).  The MPC window is noticeably smaller and the shape is off.  The 2nd and 3rd pictures show the re-shaping I did.  

The last picture is an original MPC '69 Charger annual body.  This picture is one Marc(mpcmotorsports) sent me a while ago.  The rear window is correctly shaped.  

It's too bad that someone at RC2 didn't look at reference pictures of actual Chargers when they 'revised' the rear window.

I'm currently building an MPC 1/25 Snap General Lee kit and the rear window is similar to how the MPC (glue kit) looks now.  It's better but still not accurate. 

Edited September 22, 2017 by crowe-t

[CapSat 6]

Michael, I agree with all of your points. And you did a great job correcting that body. Now I know it would be worth the effort!

[doorsovdoon]

Here's a couple of pics of the original box art from the 1968 MPC annual Charger I cleaned up the other day. No idea why I find this old worn out kit so fascinating, and a personal favourite of mine. Maybe because it's 'survived' such a beating over the years? The current Country Charger, and the recent Daytona tin box release is so bad I half think Round2 knock them out just to troll the guys who say "Please, stop... it's already dead" ?. I doubt R2 will restore the moulds including all the custom parts that came with the original, probably impossible to repair and more economical to make new moulds. We also have the far superior Revell version now, but there's no denying how good the lines are on the original MPC annuals, and how cool are those custom parts?!?

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by doorsovdoon

[Mr. Metallic]

Anybody have the custom body parts from this kit and want to part with them, let me know. 

[doorsovdoon]

23 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

Anybody have the custom body parts from this kit and want to part with them, let me know. 

 

I could do some resin copies for you. The only part I don't have though is the louvered window.

[stavanzer]

How soon before we see this kit again?

I'll bet there is a re-pop, (molded in white this time) with maybe a few lost parts restored by opening all the sprues & a correct hood, in the pipeline. Add new decals, some pad-printed tires & slicks and those 5 spoke mags, and you'd have an all new kit. I do wish they'd fix the hood issue though. Heck, give us two hoods. Couldn't hurt. You could get a 3'n'1 kit out of kit out it pretty easily. Stock, Drag, NASCAR. (Well, kinda-sorta NASCAR) Speaking of Racing, any way they could find the insert for the 4 spoke racing steering wheel?

If you don't put any Flags on the decal sheet, and show the car only in white, black, blue or yellow colours, the dreadful heritage would be mostly invisible, except to us old fogies. Given that the Revell '69 is not currently on the market, i think it would sell well enough.

[mikos]

I think Round2 should clone an original promo with the hood cut out for the glue kit.  Then, just have that and the (retooled but not totally correct) snap kit version.  I like the snap kits because they’re molded in color and they remind me of the old promos which are hard to find and very expensive.  However, if Round2 cloned an original body for the glue kit, I would buy one even though I have the Revell version which looks great too.

They should just retire the DoH based Charger body.  The tooling is worn out and the revision RC2 did was not accurate enough.  It probably would have been better if they just left it as is, the Charger 500.  Round2 revising it again to look more accurate wouldn’t make sense.  I think a new cloned body is needed.  If they did that, I think it would sell very well unless Revell pulled their Charger out of mothballs.  However, having all those cool customizing parts in the MPC kit would give them a leg up over Revell kit if they ever decided to reissue their version.

Edited August 30, 2023 by mikos

[doorsovdoon]

I think the original annual hood is long gone after it was modified from the '69 to the '70. I have an original '68 and '69 hood, and the Charger 500 hood, and they are very different, although they do fit either car. The 500 hood has engravings for an intake cutout and doesn't have as much of a 'peak' at the front. I think the hood in the current Country Charger is used because it fits better over the grille than the 500 would. I don't hold out much hope for seeing the custom parts making a comeback cos the sprues have been heavily modified, note in the pic below the anti roll bar on the annual has been turned into a sprue on the Charger 500 kit! 

Edited November 5, 2023 by doorsovdoon

[iamsuperdan]

I hope it never comes back. This has got to be the worst kit I've built. These molds are so old and worn out, it's ridiculous. This is the sort of kit that if someone gets it as their first kit, they'll immediately quit the hobby and go buy an XBox instead.

Worn out details, sink marks everywhere,  non-existent part numbering, vague instructions, goofy decals.

Not one redeeming quality.

 

Round2 can do so much better. Palmer could do better.

[mikos]

I think Round2 needs to do the (General Lee/City Slicker/Coca Cola) Charger snap kit with stock wheels/tires and some stock decals.  That would be a nice addition to their recently released cloned Craftsman style kits.  

For the old (ex General Lee) Country Charger glue kit, I think they should just clone an original annual body and use that instead.  Then, if need be remake some of the custom parts that the original annual kit came with.  They would have the late ‘60’s Charger market covered since it doesn’t seem like Revell will be reissuing their Charger kits anytime soon.  

Edited November 6, 2023 by mikos