'80s Monogram kits are pretty good kits

[Geno]

22 minutes ago, alexis said:

Fine Work, Geno!  I really like the '66 Chevelle.

Thanks Alan, this one was challenging to say the least, especially starting out as the street rat version.

[CapSat 6]

12 minutes ago, Geno said:

Thanks Bill, I appreciate that. Most of my builds are kitbashed to some degree to improve upon the original lol. Just havin' fun. ? 

You're welcome. You're having fun and killing it, too! All good!

[Luc Janssens]

1 hour ago, JollySipper said:

A pre-facelift T- Bird? That's something I wish there was a kit of, I had a real one in my teens.......... there was a promo made, but I'm not sure who made them.

No promo I'm aware of, but there was a resin conversion kit by AAM;

[1972coronet]

2 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

The funny thing is, that back then when it was announced in the '86 Catalog they showed a black '86.

I remember that ! Haha !  When @tim boyd's review / build of the '87 Turbo Coupe came out in S.A.E. in late '86 / early '87 , he mentioned the '86 'Bird ; to paraphrase :   "It appears as though Monogram dispatched the factory gofer to find a Thunderbird to take a photo of for the catalog. "

[tim boyd]

3 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

I remember that ! Haha !  When @tim boyd's review / build of the '87 Turbo Coupe came out in S.A.E. in late '86 / early '87 , he mentioned the '86 'Bird ; to paraphrase :   "It appears as though Monogram dispatched the factory gofer to find a Thunderbird to take a photo of for the catalog. "

Yikes!    I said that?   Maybe that wasn't too long after I visited Monogram and the team there showed me their Tim Boyd kewpie (sp?) doll with needles stuck in it....that visit was shortly after I had taken them to task in my SAE '57 Chevy kit comparison article for the proportions (or lack thereof) in their first 1957 Bel Air kit.  I never quite figured out if they were trying to be funny or instead send me a message.  Details of the whole episode are more than a bit foggy, some 37 or so years after the fact.   Still, relations improved (fortunately) a great deal later on.....TIM 

Edited March 5, 2020 by tim boyd

[Snake45]

13 minutes ago, tim boyd said:

...showed me their Tim Boyd kewpie (sp?) doll with needles stuck in it...

That would be a voodoo doll, not a kewpie doll. 

[1972coronet]

49 minutes ago, tim boyd said:

Yikes!    I said that?   Maybe that wasn't too long after I visited Monogram and the team there showed me their Tim Boyd kewpie (sp?) doll with needles stuck in it....that visit was shortly after I had taken them to task in my SAE '57 Chevy kit comparison article for the proportions (or lack thereof) in their first 1957 Bel Air kit.  I never quite figured out if they were trying to be funny or instead send me a message.  Details of the whole episode are more than a bit foggy, some 37 or so years after the fact.   Still, relations improved (fortunately) a great deal later on.....TIM 

I don't have the verbatim quote , but it was definitely along those lines . I got a good laugh out of that one ! Haha .

I remember more of the article / review / build of the then-new T.C. , as I bought and built numerous copies of that kit because of your enticing article and wonderful work .

[Motor City]

5 hours ago, Luc Janssens said:

No promo I'm aware of, but there was a resin conversion kit by AAM;

Unfortunately, the last Thunderbird promo was from AMT in the early 1970s. 

[randyc]

On 3/4/2020 at 12:45 PM, Dave Van said:

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....

I tried so hard to make this build.  Failed.   But it would have been a big hit with me and easy to modify the existing Mustang chassis, right?    That was what I was working with.  I still run across it occasionally when going through my junk stash.  Loved the road racing kits.  Built most of them.  

Great topic, btw.  I got back into model building in 86 or 87 after high school.  So many of these were cureent and interesting to me.  And yes, generally they were pretty easy to build into reasonable replicas.  I've built hte MCSS at least 4 times.  And still have a nice burgundy notch and silver aero in my display.  I think I have a couple unbuiilts left.  Built most of the other kits on this thread.   Except maybe the GTX and Thunderbrid SC.  I always liked the Cougar better.  

It really was a good time in the hobby.  We got several new issues a year from all of the companies, didn't we?   We get really nice kits now but only a couple new tools a year now?  

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by randyc

[Daddyfink]

Their race cars where something else as well

 

[Dave Van]

1 hour ago, randyc said:

I tried so hard to make this build.  Failed.   But it would have been a big hit with me and easy to modify the existing Mustang chassis, right?    That was what I was working with.  I still run across it occasionally when going through my junk stash.  Loved the road racing kits.  Built most of them.  

 

 

What killed the project was the Cougar had a different WB and thus chassis. They'd done it if just a body....like the Trans Am Camaros.....which are based on the IMSA Mustang kit. 

[Dave Van]

13 minutes ago, Daddyfink said:

Their race cars where something else as well

 

 

Another Bob Johnson designed kit....one of the most underrated kits tooled.

 

[Fat Brian]

4 hours ago, Dave Van said:

Another Bob Johnson designed kit....one of the most underrated kits tooled.

 

Not by me, those are incredible kits. With the increasing popularity of Fox bodies I'd love to see this kit again even without decals.

[Dave Van]

42 minutes ago, Fat Brian said:

Not by me, those are incredible kits. With the increasing popularity of Fox bodies I'd love to see this kit again even without decals.

Yep...those are Indycals decals.......thx

[randyc]

22 hours ago, Dave Van said:

What killed the project was the Cougar had a different WB and thus chassis. They'd done it if just a body....like the Trans Am Camaros.....which are based on the IMSA Mustang kit. 

Ah, okay.   I don;t remember mine that much.   The body work killed me at that point in my experience.   I was close, but not close as I wanted and needed to be.  But couldn't they have scaled the Cougar body to fit, like they did the BOPs in the NASCAR line?  I always felt those were poorly proportioned in scale.   I woulda bought the Cougar.  Like I did the BOP NASCARs.  But thanks for the information.  I did like my Mustang and Camaro builds.