Monogram 66 Malibu Street Rat

[Jantrix]

These kits were hands down favorites as a kit. Lots of attitude, big engine, hood scoops, tilt front and sidepipes. Everything I loved. I'd like to build them again, but a Google search reveals it's been some time since they were reissued.

Also I seem to recall some fitment issues? Can anyone fill in the blanks in my aging memory?

If anyone has a complete kit, please shoot me a PM if you'd trade it.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Jantrix

[Casey]

There are some poor fit areas, similar to the Monogram Badman '55 Chevy, but nothing you can't overcome with patience. The grille-to-body was always a PITA as there wasn't much surface area to mate the two together. I don't think the Street Rat version has been reissued since the '80s.

The 5-slot wheels on the Street Rat version are still some of the best available, and would be the reason I would chose that kit over the SS version. Those flame decals are pretty sweet, though. 

[Snake45]

The fit of the front end is pretty bad. Takes some fitting. 

The roof on both examples I've seen was flattened in. Requires fixing. 

The front frame is weird. As I recall, the axle/shocks mount to...what would be sheet metal, not to structural members. 

I have one I've worked on off an on for years (decades?). Recently got in the mood to play with it, and can't find it. But I remember at some point comparing the body to the Revell '67 and finding them remarkably similar in size. This was of interest to me because I eventually want to do a '67 Elky by grafting a Revell Chevelle front end onto their '66 Elky body. But I'm cheap and frugal and wondered what I can build from the leftovers. It occurred to me that I could graft the Mono '66 rear end onto the leftover Revell '67 body to make a nice '66 without dealing with the Mono '66 body problems. 

Now, Confession Time: I love the '66 Chevelle, and have a couple of the Lindberg kits in the stash, but about a decade ago I bought a cheap (Maisto? Welly?) '66 Chevelle diecast that looks SO good that it's been happily holding down the '66 Chevelle slot on my shelf ever since. Most of these you see are black, but mine's a lovely Marina Blue. 

[BigTallDad]

Just looking at the box art (comparing the two) the flared out rear tires on the Street Rat version are too flared-out for my taste. Reminds me of some of the pancaked wheeled rice-burners I'm seeing now.

[russosborne]

This is one of my favorites as well.

There have been several of the black version on ebay, but they aren't cheap. I had forgotten the red version was basically the same kit. I always had the black ones in the past.

Can't help with the fitment other than an easy fix is to show it with the front end tilted forward. Yes, it's cheating, but it works.

Russ

[Fat Brian]

I had both of these kits in my early modeling career but neither one got finished, I still have the engines and wheels from both though. The red car has a great supercharged 427 and big and little Halibrands. I'd love to see them back out.

[Snake45]

Wow, I didn't realize these kits were gone. Seems like only yesterday I saw them on the shelf at KMart or Michael's (along with the black version of Badman), but I guess it must have been at least 3 or 4 years ago. 

I know I bought a second one at one of those places within the last decade, to go along with the one I bought in the '70s. I remember opening it up to see if the roof was flattened in on that one too. Yup, it was. At the moment I can't find either of them, but you know how that goes--I'll find them the next time I'm looking for something else. 

[stavanzer]

About 2 years ago I sold a box full of these kits and parts at a swapmeet for $10.00. Two complete kits and a bunch of spare parts. Both boxes were trashed, but the kits were complete.  If I had known they were valuable I'd would have not sold them. Now, I will have to pay ridiculous *Bay prices to get another pair.

Revell could do worse than to bring this kit back.

[Geno]

I picked mine up at a model show in Toledo for $12.00. It was the black version. This is the route I went using the '64 GTO chassis. I wanted a stock '66 to add to my 1/24 diecast collection. I'm going to use the chassis and other parts plus the parts from the '64 GTO and do a GTO street machine. I heard all the horror stories about this one but I wanted to show folks it can be made into a nice model given a little work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how it compares size wise to the Monogram 1/24 '64 GTO.

 

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Geno

[glusnifr]

On 3/9/2018 at 2:10 PM, Jantrix said:

These kits were hands down favorites as a kit. Lots of attitude, big engine, hood scoops, tilt front and sidepipes. Everything I loved. I'd like to build them again, but a Google search reveals it's been some time since they were reissued.

Also I seem to recall some fitment issues? Can anyone fill in the blanks in my aging memory?

If anyone has a complete kit, please shoot me a PM if you'd trade it.

i have the 66 ss kit ( the black one,its open but complete ,ive had it for a long time,,im willing to trade ,im doing a large carhop drive in diorama ,,and i need 1/25 scale people ,rockers ,babes ,ect ,if interested let me know what you got

[Fat Brian]

1 hour ago, Geno said:

I picked mine up at a model show in Toledo for $12.00. It was the black version. This is the route I went using the '64 GTO chassis. I wanted a stock '66 to add to my 1/24 diecast collection. I'm going to use the chassis and other parts plus the parts from the '64 GTO and do a GTO street machine. I heard all the horror stories about this one but I wanted to show folks it can be made into a nice model given a little work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how it compares size wise to the Monogram 1/24 '64 GTO.

 

 

That looks great, I've wanted to do a similar conversion and didn't think about using the GTO chassis. Where did you get the stock hood from?

[Geno]

Hi Brian,  I cut out the section where the hood scoop went and grafted in the section from a Lindberg '66 Chevelle hood then scribed the hood lines in as I built this as a curbside. I never liked the grille, so I cut it out and used a photo-etch grille as well as the rest of the PE set from Model Car Garage. The wheels came from a Monogram '70 Chevelle kit. The GTO chassis worked great, if I remember correctly all I had to do was some minor filing at the front of the chassis to fit the shape of the Chevelle front end and a little surgery for the shape of the rear seat fitment. The separate outside door handles, wipers, mirror and antenna were just spare parts box items.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Geno

[Fat Brian]

1 hour ago, Geno said:

Hi Brian,  I cut out the section where the hood scoop went and grafted in the section from a Lindberg '66 Chevelle hood then scribed the hood lines in as I built this as a curbside. I never liked the grille, so I cut it out and used a photo-etch grille as well as the rest of the PE set from Model Car Garage. The wheels came from a Monogram '70 Chevelle kit. The GTO chassis worked great, if I remember correctly all I had to do was some minor filing at the front of the chassis to fit the shape of the Chevelle front end and a little surgery for the shape of the rear seat fitment. The separate outside door handles, wipers, mirror and antenna were just spare parts box items.

Thanks for the info, this made my job a lot easier.

[Geno]

You're welcome Brian. Anything else you might want to know about the build just let me know. I'll be glad to help.

[Fat Brian]

4 hours ago, Geno said:

You're welcome Brian. Anything else you might want to know about the build just let me know. I'll be glad to help.

It's going to be a while, I have to track down another Chevelle kit first.

[mikemodeler]

7 minutes ago, Fat Brian said:

It's going to be a while, I have to track down another Chevelle kit first.

I might have most, if not all, of the black Chevelle kit that I would LOVE to get rid of Brian! I'll check this weekend and let you know.

 

 

[Fat Brian]

2 hours ago, mikemodeler said:

I might have most, if not all, of the black Chevelle kit that I would LOVE to get rid of Brian! I'll check this weekend and let you know.

 

 

Wow, you sound pretty motivated to get rid of it. Let me know what you find, as long as you've got the body, bumpers, and glass it sounds like the GTO kit provides the rest. I've still got the engine from the kit I had as a teenager.