Dick Landys 68 Charger

[PlymouthFan]

Well I’m pretty sure it’s been reviewed before so this is more of a discussion for a “68 Charger” the body looks an awful lot like a 69

[towtruck]

the biggest difference is the '68 has round side marker lights and the '69 has rectangle side lights. the hood may be different but that is to change.

Edited June 13, 2018 by towtruck

[PlymouthFan]

1 minute ago, towtruck said:

the biggest difference is the '68 has round side marker lights and the '69 has rectangle side lights. the hood may be different but that is to change.

The Marker lights is what we noticed whenever we unsealed the kit

[gtx6970]

Thats the way its molded.

1969 body and they give you decals to replicate the 68 side markers.

otherwise there is zero difference between 68 and 69 , including the hood

[towtruck]

'68 thru '70 chargers are some of the best looking mopars ever. owned a '70 white one with gold lace on the sides an hood back in the late 80s. (sigh) nuttin' special 318 automatic black interior sure wish I woulda kept it..

[Sport Suburban]

3 hours ago, gtx6970 said:

Thats the way its molded.

1969 body and they give you decals to replicate the 68 side markers.

otherwise there is zero difference between 68 and 69 , including the hood

Yes that is they way Revell offered it. The body is 69 and you filled in the markers and used decals for the 68 markers. Also this body does not have a vinyl top! The later issue stock 68 kit has no markers on it at all.

[Snake45]

I always thought Revell overdid the "flares" around the fake reverse-scoops on the doors on this body. To my eye, the old MPC body is more accurate in this area. Am I right or wrong? 

It doesn't look like it would be easy to work these down to a more accurate appearance, either. 

[randyc]

"68 had round taillights.  And the marker lights.  Otherwise the real cars were pretty much identical, right?  

[sfhess]

10 minutes ago, randyc said:

"68 had round taillights.  And the marker lights.  Otherwise the real cars were pretty much identical, right?  

There was a vertical split in the middle of the grille on the 69 Charger.

[CapSat 6]

These kits appears to have always been engineered to be offered either as '68's or '69's from the beginning.

The stock '69 kit came out first- it initially had a body that looked like it had a chopped top. It was awful. To Revell's eternal credit, they revised the body pretty quickly, making it a running change in kit production, and also, offering replacements for anybody who bought the ones with bad bodies. I had bought 4 of them when they first came out, as I was really psyched for this kit. They actually sent me 4 whole replacement kits. It was probably easier for them to do it that way, since not only the body, but the glass was also revised.

The Landy '68 kit came out soon after. It had the same carryover '69 body, complete with '69 style indicators in the fenders. This time, they wiped the vinyl roof detail, though. These kits did come with stock '68 seats, grilles and tail panels, so all you had to do was combine them with the stock hood, wheels, and engine from the '69 kit and you had a stock '68.

Later, the body had the indicator lights filled in, and decals were supplied either for the '68 or '69 style lights. This was a concession to not having to change the body tool every time each variant was issued. It's a small matter to me, because these are really excellent kits.

Somebody should do the '68 marker lights in resin, since they're raised just a little bit from the fender surface. I would buy a bunch of those.   

  

[Luc Janssens]

1 hour ago, CapSat 6 said:

Somebody should do the '68 marker lights in resin, since they're raised just a little bit from the fender surface. I would buy a bunch of those.   

Why not drill the holes, put in aluminum tubing and fill with clear mixed with amber/red?

 

[CapSat 6]

38 minutes ago, Luc Janssens said:

Why not drill the holes, put in aluminum tubing and fill with clear mixed with amber/red?

 

That's an option. I have tried it and it always looks a little homemade to me. My pickiness is greater than my actual skill in this regard. I think the little resin bits would end up being easier and looking better. Maybe I'll try to do some myself, doing some foil castings from a Revell Dart or MPC '68 Coronet... 

[gtx6970]

8 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

Why not drill the holes, put in aluminum tubing and fill with clear mixed with amber/red?

 

This is what I did to turn a recall 69 Dart into a 68 (before the actual 68 came out)

Pics tomorrow.

[Robberbaron]

11 hours ago, CapSat 6 said:

Later, the body had the indicator lights filled in, and decals were supplied either for the '68 or '69 style lights. This was a concession to not having to change the body tool every time each variant was issued. It's a small matter to me, because these are really excellent kits.

  

Really wish they'd left the '69 side markers on the body, since I believe they're inset a bit.  Don't see any practical way to recreate that without a ton of work now, but filling them in and creating the '68 side markers seemed more doable.

Glad I got one of the '69s before they did this change.  I'm guessing they must have been getting a fair number of complaints about this issue from buyers of the '68 kits - so they split the baby and now it's not really accurate for either version (if you don't consider the decal solution accurate)

Still great kits overall, though.

[1972coronet]

Mr. Mike made the 1968 marker lamps / bezels out of pins , and the finished product looks amazing ! 

The 1969 reflectors ( they did not illuminate ) would be tougher to replicate ; they are , indeed , recessed .

[randyc]

22 hours ago, sfhess said:

There was a vertical split in the middle of the grille on the 69 Charger.

Yep, didn't remember that.  Then 70 went to the hoop grille.  Not as pretty, imo

[gtx6970]

My  Landy Dart conversion. I started this right before the actual 1968 kit came out. My body was already done, so all I had to use were the grill and tail lights from the newer kit

 

Drilled a very small hole in the body. inserted and super glued aluminum tubing in from the backside.

Polished the exposed tubing then filled it with elmers glue and painted that with testors stop light red .

It looks SO much better then smooth decals , IMO

I can get better / closeups pics if needed

 

 

[Luc Janssens]

1 hour ago, gtx6970 said:

Drilled a very small hole in the body. inserted and super glued aluminum tubing in from the backside.

Polished the exposed tubing then filled it with elmers glue and painted that with testors stop light red .

It looks SO much better then smooth decals , IMO

It looks fantastic Bill!

 

[Snake45]

Bill, those side lights look perfect and the technique sounds like something just about anyone can do. 

[sfhess]

3 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

Mr. Mike made the 1968 marker lamps / bezels out of pins , and the finished product looks amazing ! 

The 1969 reflectors ( they did not illuminate ) would be tougher to replicate ; they are , indeed , recessed .

In 68 reflectors were allowed on the rear quarters (Ford did this) but from 1969 on all side lights were illuminated.  Some manufacturers molded the lenses so they would act as reflectors as well as marker lights.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

You're RIGHT, Bill. They look fantastic.

As does the rest of your model.

*edit* - yeah, heck with it.  Luc really came up with the best word, so I'll just repeat it.

Edited June 14, 2018 by Chuck Kourouklis

[1972coronet]

8 hours ago, sfhess said:

In 68 reflectors were allowed on the rear quarters (Ford did this) but from 1969 on all side lights were illuminated.  Some manufacturers molded the lenses so they would act as reflectors as well as marker lights.

Apparently , Chrysler got it backwards :

1968 = Side Marker Lamps 

1969 = Side Marker Reflectors 

Someone at Chrysler misread the edict which read ( to paraphrase ) "1969 models must have side markers which also have reflectors " believing that 1969 models' side markers only had to reflect --- they missed the "...and illuminate" part . So , while the side markers from 1969 models look like their 1970-1971 relatives , they do not interchange one bit .

[sfhess]

14 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

Apparently , Chrysler got it backwards :

1968 = Side Marker Lamps 

1969 = Side Marker Reflectors 

Someone at Chrysler misread the edict which read ( to paraphrase ) "1969 models must have side markers which also have reflectors " believing that 1969 models' side markers only had to reflect --- they missed the "...and illuminate" part . So , while the side markers from 1969 models look like their 1970-1971 relatives , they do not interchange one bit .

That's really interesting.  I just looked at some eBay listings for the 69 side markers and you're right - they are just reflectors.  I always assumed that they were illuminated as well.

Ya learn something new every day.

I still think the 68 Chrysler corporate side marker lights were the coolest of any, but the GM "logo" rear side markers were really cool too.

Edited June 15, 2018 by sfhess

[PlymouthFan]

On 6/14/2018 at 9:40 AM, gtx6970 said:

My  Landy Dart conversion. I started this right before the actual 1968 kit came out. My body was already done, so all I had to use were the grill and tail lights from the newer kit

 

Drilled a very small hole in the body. inserted and super glued aluminum tubing in from the backside.

Polished the exposed tubing then filled it with elmers glue and painted that with testors stop light red .

It looks SO much better then smooth decals , IMO

I can get better / closeups pics if needed

 

 

That’s a wonderful looking build it’s one of the plans I’ve got for building as many Chrysler drag teams as I can and as many cars as possible (my s&m collection is at around 10 cars so far)

[gtx6970]

8 hours ago, PlymouthFan said:

That’s a wonderful looking build it’s one of the plans I’ve got for building as many Chrysler drag teams as I can and as many cars as possible (my s&m collection is at around 10 cars so far)

Thanks,

I used to have several S+M cars. but for some reason felt compelled to sell them several years ago. ( one of those duh moments I guess ) And have not built any replacements. To think of it, I think the ONLY S+M car I have in the case is an old Built 69 Roadrunner and a 73 Duster buildup

Ive got A Landy 68 Charger ( built from the original MPC annual )  and a Landy 65 AFX . Also have the Butch Leal Duster and his AFX car as well