MPC 72 Pontiac GTO

[Rotorbolt73]

Taking a break from other builds and started messing around with this one. 
10 dollar kit from Ollie's. Old MPC 72 GTO..I've heard that nothing fits and ..yep..they are right. 
Did some research on it. Come to find out it shares like at least 75% of the kit with the mpc 67 gto kit ( recent " weekend warrior" release) Except for the body and interior tub..it's practicaly the same parts trees between the two. 
Only thing with this particular issue is it does not have all the cool optional parts from earlier issues like the roll bar, blower and headers..not to mention the drag strip " Christmas tree" Dio accessory . Which I wish this had! I'd rather build it as the drag version. But..This kit is stock only pretty much. Only options are vector mags and stripe decals.
You can tell how the trees were cut into sections that those options were originally molded but purposely deleted by cutting them out by hand when this reissue was made. 
Anyway , the chassis used in this is the 67 gto one and it a little long and the wheelbase is definitely off. It doesn't sit well in the interior tub and body and shifts around too much.
But it can be fixed with some problem solving skills. Since I build junk parts and gluebombs, it's something I like..keeps my mind sharpened. 
So I'm gonna show how to build this and fix the fit problems. It's actually easy.
Follow along as I turn this into something buildable .

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by Rotorbolt73

[Bills72sj]

I will be following. I have heard about the rear bumper being too wide. I did not know about the 67 chassis thing. I want to build every GTO '64 to '74. I am missing '71, '73 and '74. I will probably convince a '72 to become a '71. (maybe get her a fake ID)

[Rotorbolt73]

Ok, First order of business, shorten down the chassis plate. Easy since the back side already had a scribe mark molded in showing where to cut.
Note: save this piece. You'll see why later.

[Rotorbolt73]

Now start filing and sanding the 72 interior tub to better fit against the 67 chassis. Out of the box , the driveshaft tunnel is too narrow . Use a rat tail file to open it wider . Also file down the upper door edges and " firewall" top section flat  to fit the body better at the sides and cowl.

[Rotorbolt73]

There is a molded in fender engine bay rectangular flat  brace that is removed. Save that piece. You will need to cut sections from it to make spacers so the body and chassis plate solidly touch  each other so to level up and stabilize everything and give you a good strong glue point. Put the spacer plates on the two inside trunk posts ( won't be using the kit screws) and spacers on top of the front inner wheel tubs.

[Rotorbolt73]

There is a gap on each side between the body and chassis plate . To fill this gap, cut out two section lengths from the parts tree sprue ( I used the engine parts tree) and clean them down with a file to remove all the little nubs. Glue these sprue sticks to the inside of the body edge to make the inner rocker panels. This takes up to gap and allows the chassis plate to snap into place and holds everything together quite nicely.

[Rotorbolt73]

Also note back side of firewall install in pic above. The fire wall sits too far back per the kit directions . There are two slots on the top sides. Fill these with flat tab plastic cut from the parts sprues. Then cut a length of sprue to brace the backside. Since it's moved forward to mount to the cowl edge like it's supposed to be , you will need to file a clearance on the heater box to clear the wheel tub and remove the molded in master cylinder also.

[Rotorbolt73]

File down the back side of the front wheel tubs for more clearance and wiggle room for adjustments as things get kinda tight here.

[Rotorbolt73]

Now to fix the wheelbase problems. Start at the rear by drilling a 1/8 hole at this point.

Drill though and cut off the outer edge to give you a C notch.

 

[Rotorbolt73]

The rear end, driveshaft and exhaust are molded in one piece. This makes the tail pipes hang down way to low when installed in one piece. To fix it, cut it up into their individual sections.

The tail pipe will have a notch . To strengthen it, cut a small piece of round tube from the kits front wheel mounts and glue into the notches. It's ok to cut from this cause you won't need the full length.

[Rotorbolt73]

Since the kits rear differential is basically just one half and kinda looks incomplete, I opted to dig in my parts box and use a full solid rearend . This one happens to be from the Revell 69 Camaro kit. You can use the kit center section by cutting a length of sprue for the new axel tubes and glue the kit differential item on top. But I chose this route as it looks better. The rear axle sits in the C notches.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Rotorbolt73

[Rotorbolt73]

Trim up the kit control arms and test fit everything. Looks much better!

[Rotorbolt73]

Here is a shot of the chassis installed in a mock-up to check the fit. It snaps into place and the scratch built inner rockers hold everything together nicely!

 

[Rotorbolt73]

Moving to the front wheels , you have to drill new holes towards the rear, moving the wheels back to center them in the wheel openings.

Using the front wheel mounts again , cut off pieces to fill in the old holes. Then glue the mounts to the inner wheel halves with the small mount holes, ( there are two different wheel backs).

[Rotorbolt73]

Cut off the outer axel plate ends of the Camaro rear and trim off the leaf spring mount nub. Take the kit inner wheel halves with the large hole and drill it out with a 1/8 bit to allow the Camaro axel tubes to press in. You can adjust your rear track width to whatever rims and tires you want . While I was at it, I glued in some parts box coil springs for better detail but not necessary.

[Rotorbolt73]

The kit comes with a set of mismatched tires ( left 4) for the " big n little" look. The wide rear tires are actually smaller diameter than the fronts and I wanted all 4 to match. So I found two tires ( right ) in my parts that closely matched the fronts but just slightly smaller in diameter . So the kit fronts will become the rears and parts box tires for the front.

[Rotorbolt73]

Mock up test fit check of the tire clearance and new corrected wheelbase. This is as close as I'm gonna get. Looks good.

[Rotorbolt73]

Ohh..that piece I cut off the rear of the chassis in the first pic above . 
You will need to use that to fill in the large open gap between the radiator core support and grille to better "look" like how the real cars do. Cut the two mounting posts off the back, trim some small notches on the edge and glue on the front edge of the kit radiator support.

Engine bay showing the filled support gap in the front.

[Rotorbolt73]

Quick check of the ride height and levelness to make sure all 4 wheels touch the ground. Which they do. Rear sits a little higher for that hot rod rake.

Far as I can tell, the major issues with this kit have been remedied . Minus the parts box Camaro rear end , the problems were solved right out of the kit box. Rest of assembly should be pretty straight forward.

Now the kit is buildable. Don't let the nay sayers tell you otherwise. Just takes a little skill to tackle the issues .

Stay tuned.

[Bills72sj]

WOW! Thanks for the tutorial! I just spent 2 hours editing out all the html garbage so I could print this out and put it in my kit box.

[1930fordpickup]

Wow, that looks great.

[bisc63]

Ha! Nice work here, good modeling basics applied superbly, and the ol' Goat is shaping up beautifully. More!

[magicmustang]

On 1/26/2020 at 1:38 AM, Bills72sj said:

WOW! Thanks for the tutorial! 

X2!! I saved this tread for future reference when I get to mine.

What are you going to do about the rear bumper being to wide?

Edited January 27, 2020 by magicmustang

[Bills72sj]

Remove just enough from the middle and live with the seam.

[Rotorbolt73]

7 hours ago, magicmustang said:

What are you going to do about the rear bumper being to wide?

Yeah, it's a little wide. Only way I see  to fix it , is to cut it into three sections. Left and right taillight sections and center licence plate section . You would have to remove  just under 1/16 of material  from each side of the center section. Then glue back together and the bumper should be flush on each side with the body . Would work great if the chrome was stripped and painted body color. More difficult to conceal the two join seams for chrome .

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do that . Not like the rest of the kit is " correct".