Renwal Revivals- a cult following

[Paul Payne]

The Renwal Revivals have had a cult following since they were introduced in 1966- 55 years ago! These 7 kits are unique to our hobby and are eagerly sought after. This thread intends to bring everything about these kits together in one place.  I have been fortunate enough to have eventually found at least one of each of these- some built junkers, some clean builds, some unbuilt, and two projects involving restyling. My first restyling, started over 30 years ago, was of the Duesenberg- at that time I was obsessed with opening doors, as well as opening rear cowl and trunk- the kit includes a fanciful V-12 engine which Duesenberg never made, so a Monogram Duesenberg engine was included in the modifications. I also added a sectioned Monogram grill and a continental spare tire. I didn't really care for the Packard front end, so I also started rebuilding it, but admit to never really thinking it through. The roof and rear deck have a fabric texture but unfortunately have some sink marks- have not figured out how to fill them and and restore the texture- maybe sand smooth to make the body all metal.

I would love to share thoughts and pix about building, restoring, and modifying these kits, as well as reaching out to resin casters to recreate missing parts and builders who would be willing to loan parts for reproduction. I have heard that some forum members reproduce model boxes, and also photocopy instruction sheets. Let's pool our resources and see what happens!

Another exciting possibility is is that maybe- MAYBE- the tooling for all these still exists and could be resurrected! Let us hope- and earnestly request the possible new owners to make this happen!

So here are some pix of mine- enjoy!

[SfanGoch]

Revell obtained many Renwal toolings which were later reissued in the Renwal Blueprint Models series. Perhaps the Renwal Revivals tooling was part of the haul when Peter Vetri bought all of that tooling after The Hobbico bankruptcy sale.

[ChrisBcritter]

From the original December 1963 Esquire article which debuted these designs:

Don't know why the Packard was rendered in black and white only.

[Bucky]

I was always intrigued by these Renwal kits. I have one of each, except the Jordan and the Pierce Arrow. I actually have two Mercer kits. One has the body parts molded in white, the other has the body parts molded in red.

[Richard Bartrop]

I'm still amused by that complaint about how "modern" i. e. 1963 cars all look the same.

I have the Stutz, and while I've heard so many times that the tooling is gone,  I won't be unhappy should I get proven wrong.

The Bugatti was eventually built on a shortened Type 101 chassis, which was largely identical to the Type 57.   The engine actually looks fairly close to a Type 57, and I'm wondering how much of the hardware from Heller's Type 50 you could use to improve it.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I have a couple, but I'd like to have 'em all. The Exner-esque styling, though outlandish, has always appealed to me.

[pack rat]

I've been able to find the whole set but I passed on buying the Duesenberg and the Packard; to me they just looked too homely to add to the stash, but this mockup looks kinda cool. 

Edited September 24, 2021 by pack rat

[Paul Payne]

Mike, glad you like it, most of the basics are there, but still need to work out the front suspension and possibly axle skirts under the front fenders- something sort of like 30's Indy and GP cars. I now have a centrifugal supercharger for the engine, at least! NOT looking forward to making, installing, and adjusting all those hinges! BTW, the tires are from a 1/32 scale semi truck. For a project like this, I gather a lot of potential parts, then gradually pare them down to the ones that work best. This project is over 30 years old- when I get to it again, it will not only qualify for a bring out your dead, it may qualify for fossilization! That putty should be dry..................

[larman]

I always liked these. I had decent built ups of the Playboy and Packard and an unbuilt Mercer with no box at one point.I foolishly sold them years ago. It would be nice if they were reissued, but I doubt it will happen....

[Bucky]

A '66 Stutz built-up sold on eBay today for $36.00. It looked like a fairly well built model, too.

[Paul Payne]

When I was at the Hoosier model contest and flea market this summer a vendor had a couple of built ups in that price range- I had already spent my allowance and they would have been duplicates but looking back I wish I had stretched my budget.

[Scott Colmer]

Excellent thread, Paul. I am wondering how much massaging it took to get your Pierce Arrow to looks so nice. 

Chris - The Esquire magazine did not have the Pierce Arrow? I would love to see front and rear styling renderings.

 

When I was reading Larry Greenberg's Atlantis interview in MCM issue 209 there was mention of the Renwal molds. Hmmmm.

 

Scott

[Snake45]

Some of those bring to mind some of the "bling-bling" superfly '70s conversions of Eldos, Grand Prixs, a few Vettes, and so forth. 

[Paul Payne]

The grand classics were grand in part due to their engines- Duesenberg with a dual overhead cam straight eight with 320 hp, Packard with the twin six,, Bugatti Royale with a 775 cubic inch  300 hp straight eight, Marmon and Cadillac with big V-16's, Auburn with a V-12- the modern interpretations never had very impressive engines. Regarding the Pierce Arrow, some careful disassembly, Future, and reassembly was all it really took on an original clean build- the parts cars either have broken windshield posts and the other one has a lot of glue damage around the windows-tube glue seems to bleach that nice maroon plastic.

[keyser]

Posted in other thread, reposting here for Paul. 

Cool these are getting interest. A few threads on here. 
The Pierce, Duesy, and Packard are huge. Monogram Duesenberg length. Need 20-22” wheels to keep them looking normal with more modern tires. 
The Jordan, Bugatti, Mercer, and Stutz are closer to 64 Impala size. Mercer smallest, real car based on 289 Cobra but bigger than Monogram 1/24 427 Cobra. 

There are color flips, suspect for non painted variety. Likely molded in single colors and trees separated and mixed in packaging. 
Stutz was red over black, and also black over red. Duesy was dark tan over light tan, and vice versa. Mercer white over red and red over white. Bugatti was light blue over white and white over blue. Packard same with dark and medium green. Jordan’s were dark and light blue mixes. Only car I’ve not seen a flip is the Pierce. All seem to be maroon. 

I’ve got color flips of all unbuilt, and builders many one owner in progress. Updating to more modern running gear, fixing some details on a few, Bugatti especially. Fun kits. 

I’ll see about some pics when I get time. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

I hope that these can find the light of day. I remeber when these came out and it would be neat to get them again.

[Paul Payne]

Keyser, when you get a minute, would love to see some pix of your projects!

[Gramps46]

Thanks to all for sharing the pictures and info.  When these were new I remember them but they were not in my lane so never collected them unfortunately.

[Bugatti Fan]

I can remember these when released all those years ago. As far as I can remember they were only issued once. I suspect that the moulds are long gone like the old Merit racing car kits.

I would dearly like to obtain the Bugatti. If anyone has an old built up that I can fully restore please private message me. Even if it is only an old body with lots of bits, even it all wheels missing that would be ok. I would like to give it a ground up restoration and gift it to the Bugatti Trust Museum over here in the UK. If anyone can help me with this it would be most appreciated. Thanks

[FredRPG]

On 9/23/2021 at 11:13 PM, ChrisBcritter said:

Don't know why the Packard was rendered in black and white only.

Just the way they paginated and printed magazines back then.  Color was more expensive to print and a waste on pages with all text, so the magazine was broken down into sections.  Depending on how it was bound you could have a b/w page in the middle of a bunch of color pages.

 

[Casey]

[Mark Mattei]

Some Renwal Revival store displays.

[stavanzer]

I really like the looks of the Mercer roadster! Sharp looking car. Hard to believe that it has been longer since the revival, than the revivial was from the original.

1913 Mercer Raceabout.

1963 Mercer Revival.= 40 years.

1963 to present (2022) = 59 years.

Similar numbers for all the others.

[Bugatti Fan]

Revell has released some ex Renwall kits of other subjects I believe, so maybe they have the moulds?

These Revival kits are so rare now. Maybe someone will take off from original kit parts and retro kit them in resin or maybe 3D print new kits.

I have been seeking a glue bomb of the Bugatti  to restore and give to the Bugatti Trust Museum here in the UK . So if any of you guys can help, please message me.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Bugatti Fan

[Casey]

On 4/4/2022 at 2:44 AM, Bugatti Fan said:

Revell has released some ex Renwal kits of other subjects I believe, so maybe they have the moulds?

I suspect the ex-Renwal molds all went to Atlantis, at least those they wanted. Atlantis has released a handful (maybe fewer) ex-Renwal kits, so it would be worth your time to send Atlantis an e-mail and ask them.

I think the last Renwal kit Revell re-issued, a decade ago, was the 1/32 Teracruzer: