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Posted

I never do On The Workbench posts. I'm usually too lost in the build to bother with pictures. But, with all the "new year new me" crap, I figured what the heck, let's see if I can keep disciplined enough to keep this up!

I'm not a huge fan of 60s muscle cars, but the Charger is one that just connects to me for some reason. Probably a mix of those Duke boys and Dennis Guilder.

So this one is MPC's Country Charger kit.

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From what I understand, it's a rebox of the General Lee kit. I'm guessing with the flag flap over the past few years, Round2 couldn;t properly produce that kit, so want to keep the tooling going with...something. And that's where this kit comes in.

Initial thoughts:

  • maybe MPC/Round2 should have let the tooling die. So many mold lines and flash. I'll spend more time cleaning up parts than I will doing actual assembly.
  • those decals. Wow. Is anyone going to actually build this kit with those decals?
  • Pretty simple kit, should be an easy build.
  • Colours will be a little euro in flavour. Definitely going for a sort of restomod feel with this one.

So I started with shooting everything with a coat of Tamiya primer. Molded in black...ugh.

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One bonus of doing it this way, it helps when cleaning up mold lines. 

Has any Charger kit ever been made that didn't have those ugly mold lines on the rear fenders? Took care of those right off the bat.

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Front fenders had a really pronounced edge as well. So knocked those down.

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The kit came with two sets of wheels, I'll be using the Torque Thrust wheels. Although some bigger rubber would be more apt, so i might look aftermarket for a set of staggered wheels with rubber.

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And I'm serious, if anyone wants this decal sheet, PM me your address. I'm keeping the gauges, but you can have everything else.

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Anyway, until the next post...

 

 

Posted

Excellent. This is the Charger kit I have had an eye on. (Also a Dukes fan of old, but not really interested in going full General.) Will be interested to watch - provided you stick to your New Year's resolution! ?

Posted
21 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Has any Charger kit ever been made that didn't have those ugly mold lines on the rear fenders? Took care of those right off the bat.

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No, and neither has any other model car I can think of.  B)

Posted

Nice work so far on cleaning up those mold line Dan.

I'm a bit confused! When I was a kid, I built the AMT Genereal Lee. The bodyshell on that was from the Daytona 500 - so had the wrong back window (if I remember correctly). This MPC kit has the correct bodyshell. So, is this really the same tooling as the General Lee?

Maybe, I've got it wrong?

Posted
41 minutes ago, beeRS said:

Nice work so far on cleaning up those mold line Dan.

I'm a bit confused! When I was a kid, I built the AMT Genereal Lee. The bodyshell on that was from the Daytona 500 - so had the wrong back window (if I remember correctly). This MPC kit has the correct bodyshell. So, is this really the same tooling as the General Lee?

Maybe, I've got it wrong?

The c.1979 ( ad seq. ) MPC General Lee did , indeed , have the backlite from the 500 model (and the headlamp doors / grill from the 1972 Charger) . I can't recall if the backlite / pillars were restored to the regular Chargers' flying buttress pillars / tunneled-in backlite .

The kit being built here is a new-tooling from a few years ago , and it's a curbside ( e.g. , no under-bonnet details , etc. ) .

Posted

I admire you for tackling this kit. I've got the MPC Dukes kit but after building the Revell 69 Charger I don't think I could ever build the MPC offering. Will be looking forward to more....

Posted
6 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

I admire you for tackling this kit. I've got the MPC Dukes kit but after building the Revell 69 Charger I don't think I could ever build the MPC offering. Will be looking forward to more....

Yeah, it's nowhere near the Revell or Testors kits in terms of quality or detail, buit should build up nice enough to look good on the shelf.

I have an MPC General Lee kit that I'll get to eventually.

Posted

Hacking my way through.

Body is painting, and I actually got the look I was aiming for. 

Tamiya AS18 Light Grey, with Tamiya TS79 Semi-Gloss Clear.

Bit of polishing and should be good to go.

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Will get the chrome trim masked and painted next.

Did some mockups, and noticed that the fit of the bumpers is not what one would call precise. Ah well, will figure it out.

 

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