Rereleased Chevy Impala SS

[Casey]

17 minutes ago, Ben said:

You guys may like getting fooled on packaging but I don’t!

Most of us understand mistakes are sometimes made, but we also realize there is a difference between artistic license and gross misrepresentation. Nobody is intending to mislead in this case. If that's not clear to you, don't buy the kit until you do some online research to verify what's inside the box matches your expectations. There's no excuse in this day and age for not being an educated consumer.

[Ben]

7 minutes ago, Casey said:

Most of us understand mistakes are sometimes made, but we also realize there is a difference between artistic license and gross misrepresentation. Nobody is intending to mislead in this case. If that's not clear to you, don't buy the kit until you do some online research to verify what's inside the box matches your expectations. There's no excuse in this day and age for not being an educated consumer.

By “educated consumer” you mean I’m supposed to know exactly what’s in the box before I open it? Or would an educated consumer be very skeptical about something after being burned two other times by the same company.

[Casey]

37 minutes ago, Ben said:

By “educated consumer” you mean I’m supposed to know exactly what’s in the box before I open it? 

Yes.

[57peppershaker]

1 hour ago, Ben said:

 If I sold you a Corvette kit and in the box was was a Chevette kit, that would be wrong, right!? 

But its an Impala in an Impala box so not a mis-advertised kit. Some minor details are different but still not the complete kit.

[echoxrayniner]

I generally try to just pop open one of Revell's online instruction sheets that would come with the kit to judge the parts on, but for the most part things like having the artist trace off a wrong model year car for the box and not having slightly deeper set wheels(hell, I bought the lowrider kit at once point not even realizing that this was the particular kit that didn't even have stock wheels to begin with), it's unfortunate that its not 100% accurate but **** happens.

[russosborne]

Not that anyone will care, but I totally agree with Ben.

If the kit inside the box can NOT build the car on the cover with only the parts in the kit it is misleading at best.

While the "artist" may not know any better, certainly the people at the kit manufacturer should, and it should be corrected before it goes into production.

Russ

[MrObsessive]

I don't get too crazed over small kit differences, but I can see Ben's point. One very classic example was when AMT reissued the '57 Chevy (new tool) in different box art. Now on the box sides was the model built up as the 2 door hardtop we all know and love. However, on the main box top what did they show?? A two door sedan which to the unsuspecting (like a lot of casual buyers), they'd be woefully disappointed because what they thought they were getting turned out to be anything but.

Another example was MPC's (or AMT at this point) reissue of the '69 Charger 500. The box art car showed the model with what looked to be separate headlight lenses. When you got the kit home.................SURPRISE!! You got a kit with molded in headlights which I'm sure ticked more than a few modelers off. Obviously, the builder of the box art car thought the model looked much better with separate lenses-------guess they didn't get the memo letting them know they should build the kit AS IS with the parts provided them.

[Rob Hall]

19 hours ago, Ben said:

By “educated consumer” you mean I’m supposed to know exactly what’s in the box before I open it? Or would an educated consumer be very skeptical about something after being burned two other times by the same company.

Since kits like the Impala SS are reissues, I already know from the original issue what to expect in the box.  

[Casey]

I don't recall any complaints when Revell didn't include three complete car kits in this release, nor when no hood tie-down was found inside the box.  

[SfanGoch]

You neglected to mention the Bel Air bodies mistakenly packed instead of the 150 one.

[Darin Bastedo]

11 hours ago, Casey said:

I don't recall any complaints when Revell didn't include three complete car kits in this release, nor when no hood tie-down was found inside the box.  

That might be because in bold print in three languages it clearly stated " 1 Plastic Kit" 

 

Edited April 21, 2018 by Darin Bastedo

[SfanGoch]

Therein lies the problem, only three languages. A native Gujarati speaker wouldn't have known that.

[Casey]

11 minutes ago, Darin Bastedo said:

That might be because in bold print in three languages it clearly stated " 1 Plastic Kit" 

A-ha! You have no answer for the hood tie down!!!

Excessive use of exclamation points aside,  I was trying to point out that there is nothing misleading about one panel of the box which features a drawing. There's plenty of information available regarding what is found inside the box if one puts forth the effort to look.

[1972coronet]

... I must inquire  in response to the hood tie-downs : does that kit also offer a crowd of early 2000's hipsters as shown on the box ? How about the dirt ?

What if I was younger than the age 14 minimum age "requirement" to not only purchase the kit , let alone build it ?

I want to see the return of the c.1983 Turtle Wax which was included-in the Monogram 1969 Super Bee , and the 1970 Challenger T/A ! The California Sun is a relentless beast on metallic paints !

Edited April 21, 2018 by 1972coronet

[Richard Bartrop]

This is why I'm fine with just putting a photo of the completed model on the box.  If the manufacturers really want to put some money into the kit, put it into the stuff that goes in the box

.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Richard Bartrop

[echoxrayniner]

Man that reminds me, remember how AMT Ertl put pictures of the actual car on the front and side of the box through the nineties for friggin' near half of their releases? Boy that was a fun minefield. "Detailed interior" under a shot of the actual interior of the car, YEAH I BET GUYS. Say what you will about misleading box art... At least the side of Revell's box still shows what you're buying, instead of a glorified car ad on a box with a total mystery within.

Fortunately more often than not the kits were excellent but if you want a misleading box example, theres the head sinner itself.

Edited April 21, 2018 by echoxrayniner

[mikemodeler]

21 hours ago, Casey said:

I don't recall any complaints when Revell didn't include three complete car kits in this release, nor when no hood tie-down was found inside the box.  

I was disappointed when I bough this kit as it clearly states "2'n1" and there was only one kit inside, talk about misleading!  

[Daddyfink]

13 hours ago, Casey said:

A-ha! You have no answer for the hood tie down!!!

 

But, It does comes with a ton of hood tie downs!  

[chadrob30]

Anyone remember the '68 Roadrunner fiasco from a few years ago? AMT packaged a bone stock Roadrunner in the Pro Street labeled boxes....luckily my Hobbytown owner knew this and I didn't waste my time or money on it.

[sfhess]

"Picky, picky, picky."

 

[socal76]

Ben, please don't take this the wrong way, but I will guess that you are old enough to have seen previous issues of this kit. And since there is no mention of any new parts, why would you think there would be new parts tooled up? And go back to the posts regarding AMT's use of 1:1cars for their box art. Did you expect a real car in the box? After all, you did say what is shown on the box is what should be in it! Be that as it may, I do agree with you about the BBS wheels in the two kits you mentioned. I was lucky enough to see both kits open to know the wheels were not in those two. I was more disappointed in one of the Ford pickup kits that had directional wheels all going the same direction. So two wheels were right and two were backwards. Monogram Super Swampers that had directional tread, two right two backwards. Monogram wrinkle wall slicks (and other manufacturers) one the right direction and one the wrong direction. The list could go on. The manufactures may not get everything right, but which would you rather have (especially with today's aftermarket) a kit with what most consider a minor flaw, or no kits at all because they try to fix every flaw and go bankrupt in the process? The molds are made by humans and I have yet to meet a perfect human.

I hope you noticed I did say minor flaws. Everyone's definition of minor could be different. Remember the fiasco when Revell/Monogram released their Pro Modeler Charger that looked like it had been chopped several inches? That flaw was obvious to anybody who knew about the car and as such was not minor. But they did correct it. So keep an eye out for major flaws and worry about the minor flaws a bit less.

Ben, also keep an eye out for posts by Casey, among others, that post pics of many of the new and reissued kits contents, and Revell's postings of instructions. It can help with what you might purchase. I know of one kit I really was interested in until I saw it was right hand drive only and the dash would take more work than I wanted to do.

 

Edited April 26, 2018 by socal76

[Chuck Kourouklis]

While I can certainly sympathize with Ben's frustration about boxcovers - there was a really bad run when Racing Chumps was apparently taking any modified model a builder would send them and slapping it on the cover of an AMT box - I'm gonna call out and flatten ths false inconsistency between shrugging off boxcover deviations and harping on The Kit That Must Not Be Named.

A near 10% deviation in roof height is something Ray Charles could detect from six feet under ground.  To anyone who knows the subject, it looks just as badly botched as that first ProModeler '69 Charger.   It is NOT a "tiny" problem.

[Agent G]

I wish they would have re tooled the side view mirrors of the '95-'96 models.

But I'll take it.

G

[1972coronet]

... I just can't wait to bash it with the 1991 Caprice and make a 1994 9C1 ( likely in L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. "A.B.C." ( "Artesia / Bellflower / Cerritos" ) livery) .

[Agent G]

21 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

... I just can't wait to bash it with the 1991 Caprice and make a 1994 9C1 ( likely in L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. "A.B.C." ( "Artesia / Bellflower / Cerritos" ) livery) .

You won't need that much from the '91 for the '94. Eliminate the spoiler mounting depression and the Impala SS emblems. If LASD had bucket seas, just sand off the SS from the kit's buckets.   

You can take the interior and engine from the '91 and combine it with the SS body for a '93 as well. 

I've driven nearly every year of this car in one form or another.

G