'80s Monogram kits are pretty good kits

[JollySipper]

I'm currently working on two kits from Monogram that were tooled in the '80s. The '87 Thunderbird and the '86 Monte Carlo SS.....

Both of these kits are exceptionally nice kits! and both are subjects that interest me.......... It has me wondering what all kits were contemporary to these. Would there be a list of the kits that Monogram tooled up around this time? I'd like to get more of these in the future........

If you guys have pics of kits that were tooled in the '80s, please share!

Edited March 3, 2020 by JollySipper

[Faust]

If you go to my page, the Sprue Lagoon, you'll see I have a number of kits from this time period.

I agree the T-bird is nice, and I have the aeroback Monte, but haven't built it yet. I have built the SVO and the GTA. I was more impressed with the Stang than the T/A, sadly.

I think they're good, maybe not as fine as MPC though. Yes, MPC has fit issues galore, but they were great for interior detail and separate engine bay bottles and accessories by the end of their life. 

[Roadrunner]

I have no idea when the Monogram '70 Challenger T/A was produced, but I see it as a great kit, and own a few.

[espo]

Both of these kits are very well done. They also had a Mercury Cougar issued at about that same time frame. That one had a V6 engine and I used the independent suspension on another build. 

[VW93]

The Buick Grand National  Buick GNX's were also tooled in the late 80's.

[Mike999]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Both of these kits are very well done. They also had a Mercury Cougar issued at about that same time frame. That one had a V6 engine and I used the independent suspension on another build. 

I think that was a Revell 1/25 scale Cougar, not a 1/24 Monogram.  Revell did Cougar kits for '90 with a regular top, and '92 with a half padded top.  The '92 was an XR-7 and even came with the special XR-7 wheels.  Which would look good on a lot of builds. 

[niteowl7710]

2 hours ago, Mike999 said:

I think that was a Revell 1/25 scale Cougar, not a 1/24 Monogram.  Revell did Cougar kits for '90 with a regular top, and '92 with a half padded top.  The '92 was an XR-7 and even came with the special XR-7 wheels.  Which would look good on a lot of builds. 

It was, that was part of a three kit "set" of modern car annuals with a Motor Trend tie-in that were '90-'92 T-Bird, '90-'92 Cougar and '89-'91 Grand Prix. Revell also had a Hot Rod Magazine license that was used on quite a bit of things during that time frame.

[64Comet404]

For cars tooled in the 1980's by Monogram, a builder had a number of choices. This is going from memory, so I may miss a few.

Mustang: 1983 convertible, 1985 SVO

Corvette: 1981 snap kit, 1982 Collector's Edition, 1984 snap kit, 1985 coupe, 1986 convertible

Camaro: 1981 snap kit, 1983 snap kit, 1985 snap kit

Firebird: 1981 snap kit, 1982 T/A, 1983 T/A, 1985 T/A

Chrysler: 1982 Charger snap kit, 1985 Shelby Charger snap kit, 1985 Daytona snap kit

Fiero: 1985 

Monte Carlo: 1986 SS

Thunderbird: 1987 Turbo Coupe

I didn't list many of the kits introduced after Monogram and Revell merged in 1986, so there are probably many more to be added.

 

[Jantrix]

I'm sure there are exceptions, but I find Monogram kits, although simpler than some, go together extremely well. Some, like the tri-five kits, suffer from propertion issues but other than that are great kits.

[JollySipper]

You're right, Rob.... They're detailed without being overly so, not many too-small parts........

How about muscle car kits? Wasn't the A12 Super Bee an '80s tool?

[Dave Van]

Even the dogs, Chevy Citation, build well without issues and look like the real car. 

Many of the kits of that era are designed by Bob Johnson. I got to see first hand his process when he did the design work for a car that a friend owned. I have a few of his drawings. One from that era....

 

[Erik Smith]

Wasn't the '70 Plymouth GTX from this time period in Monogram's history? The '69 440 "Six Pack"? The '70 Challenger T/A? I remember as a kid really liking those kits (vs the crappy Revel and MPC stuff from the 80s, which I for some reason like now). The colors they molded them in are kind of a pain now, then I didn't mind.

[espo]

11 hours ago, Mike999 said:

I think that was a Revell 1/25 scale Cougar, not a 1/24 Monogram.  Revell did Cougar kits for '90 with a regular top, and '92 with a half padded top.  The '92 was an XR-7 and even came with the special XR-7 wheels.  Which would look good on a lot of builds. 

You may be correct about the scale, but what I found this morning digging thru the stash may muddy the water a little. First the Cougar kit I mentioned was purchased at a swap meet as a partial kit. My memory wants to say it was a Monogram but I can't find the old box at this point. Maybe with a brief description you can figure out what it as. The kit was done in Black plastic and the body didn't have a vinyl roof and just standard alloy wheels and no XR7 markings. I also came across a Revell #7166 T-Bird SC in 1/25th. The box is still sealed, but the info on the side mentions a Super Charged V6 and Aero Wheels & Body parts. The box art shows a built kit that looks to be a later model T-Bird than the one JollySipper posted picture.   As for the Monte Carlo SS kit, while it says 1/24th it matches up with all of the 1/25th kits on my display shelf. I bought several of these kits when they came out since we had a new "86 SS in the garage that we ordered new and sold it in 2002.  That kit was also done in black plastic and that may be the reason that I associate the Cougar and T-Bird kits with the SS.  

[1972coronet]

Muscle Car Series , c.1982 , ad seq :

 1970 SS-454 Chevelle

1969 1/2 Super Bee

1970 GTX 440 Six Barrel

1970 Challenger T/A

1971 "Satellite"

1970 BOSS 429

New Vehicles Series , c.1986 , ad seq. :

1986 Monte Carlo SS

1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe

By c.1987 , the Monogram 1970 BOSS 429 was modified into the Shelby GT 500 , then marketed under the Revell banner . The 1989 Thunderbird Super Coupe was a great kit ; very advanced for its time (still stands up today) .

As a side note ; I clearly remember when that 1986 Monte Carlo SS was released ---- I was overjoyed when I saw a stock 'Carlo !  I initially saw a built example in the display case in a hobby shop in Buena Park ; this was around my birthday (April) . The example I saw in the case was so cleanly built that I said , "Someone put a lot of work into making a stock Monte Carlo out of a NASCAR kit !" . Then the shop's owner told me thqat it was an out-of-the-box build of the new Monogram kit .

In retrospect , it's funny to see the 1987 Turbo Coupe being relegated to Basic Builder status ! That kit was state-of-the-art in 1987 ! 

 

[Rob Hall]

I built a lot of Monogram kits in the 80s, pretty much all the muscle car kits, 80s cars, and many of the NASCAR kits.   Monogram was a staple of my model building from age 10 to 19 or so..really didn't get into Revell much until they started doing new tools in the late 80s.

[Snake45]

10 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

Muscle Car Series , c.1982 , ad seq :

 1970 SS-454 Chevelle

1969 1/2 Super Bee

1970 GTX 440 Six Barrel

1970 Challenger T/A

1971 "Satellite"

1970 BOSS 429

And to this list I'd add the '71 Cuda and the '69 GTO Judge.  (And the '70 Superbird, a GTX derivative.) 

Actually, I consider these kits to be a generation earlier than the TBird and Monte the OP is asking about. These kits, while pretty good and much appreciated at the time, all had flaws of various types. Monogram was dipping its toe in the water of classic muscle/American kits. Each was a little better than the last, but several of them don't hold up too well today. 

I think maybe the Monogram '65-'66 Mustang fastback series (starting with the GT350) dates closer to the last part of the decade, and that one still holds up pretty well today. To me its major flaw is it's 1/24 scale instead of 1/25 (as were all Monogram kits of the day). I could be wrong about the intro date, though. 

I do think the 427 Cobra dates to the era under discussion, though, no? That's a nice kit that also holds up well. How about the '69 Talladega? 

[1972coronet]

32 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

And to this list I'd add the '71 Cuda and the '69 GTO Judge.  (And the '70 Superbird, a GTX derivative.) 

Actually, I consider these kits to be a generation earlier than the TBird and Monte the OP is asking about. These kits, while pretty good and much appreciated at the time, all had flaws of various types. Monogram was dipping its toe in the water of classic muscle/American kits. Each was a little better than the last, but several of them don't hold up too well today. 

I think maybe the Monogram '65-'66 Mustang fastback series (starting with the GT350) dates closer to the last part of the decade, and that one still holds up pretty well today. To me its major flaw is it's 1/24 scale instead of 1/25 (as were all Monogram kits of the day). I could be wrong about the intro date, though. 

I do think the 427 Cobra dates to the era under discussion, though, no? That's a nice kit that also holds up well. How about the '69 Talladega? 

I obviously overlooked the '71 'Cuda (and its 'Street Machine' derivative from 1984) , the 1969 Judge ( with brake drum fins none-the-less ! ) , and the Superbird (1988 ) . The 2-in-1 / 3-in-1 variations from c.1985 of any of those kits were nice as well ( I can't go on without the  mention the fact that all except for the GTX received those ugly , dime-a-dozen Centerline wheels ! ) 

The 1965 GT 350 , and the 1964 GTO (both c.1985) were outstanding kits at the time . I agree that the 1965 & 1966 Mustangs have stood the time test ( 1/24th scale not-with-standing ) .

The Cobra kits are from c.1988 or so , 1990 at the latest .

[CapSat 6]

Who can forget the '70 Buick GSX? This was probably the last Monogram muscle car released as a 1/24 scale tool; by the time it was released, Revell and Monogram had merged, and just a little bit later, it seemed that all of their kits were designed by the Monogram design staff, but released in 1/25 scale ('89 Pontiac Grand Prix, '89 Thunderbird, '59 Chevrolet, '59 Cadillac, etc.).

The earlier kits (Challenger T/A, '69 Super Bee, Boss 429 Mustang) really were the ones that got me back into building...they were somewhat accurate, had nice detail, and were subjects that would have otherwise been very hard to find. Their Pro Stocks and NASCAR kits were inspirational as well- they were complex, but rewarding builds.

Then- a really nicely done 1/12 Camaro??? Too cool. I still wish they would do a 1/12 Mopar of some kind like that kit. Could you imagine a '68 Charger or '70 AAR 'Cuda kit done like their '69 Camaro in 1/12???  

Monogram and later Revell were on a MAJOR roll in the '80's.     

[Dave Van]

The 89 Thunderbird, Cougar and GP are all Revell 1/25 scale as the Monogram kits were 1/24. Bob had his hands in all of them. I built a 89 Cougar IMSA version from a test shot, as Bob wanted a  to pitch it as a kit. 

Bob and Gary Schmidt at Hot Rod National model contest photo the Cougar. Needless to say the project never made it.....it was to be a long line of other road race cars. Oh well....

[Motor City]

The GP kit first came out as an '88 kit, when it was Motor Trend's Car of the Year, and the first FWD GP. 

[Dave Van]

46 minutes ago, Motor City said:

The GP kit first came out as an '88 kit, when it was Motor Trend's Car of the Year, and the first FWD GP. 

Correct......I should have remembered......a good buddy bought the first one the dealer got......after it was about 5 years old it suffered many issues......both door handles broke......they were up in a B pillar IIRC.

[Plowboy]

There was also the '81 Turbo Trans Am. The '79 Camaro Z/28 with dual washer reservoirs and no battery. I built about all of the Monogram kits in the '80s. They were simple with the one piece suspensions/exhaust. But, they also looked the part for the most. 

[Erik Smith]

Mopar people...

I don’t think the 71 Satellite has ever been reissued...? What’s the difference between the satellite and the GTX? I would like to see the satellite again...

[Dave Van]

I'd take a few more Satellites......... 

[Fat Brian]

The Satellite hood is supposed to be in the upcoming Fast & Furious version.