1/8 Revell '79 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

[Fantom]

12 hours ago, WillyBilly said:

Bringing this back from the dead. I have owned several 1/8 scale Monogram cars. 65 Corvette, 80 Turbo Trans Am, 82 Camaro Z28 Pace Car. The two that eluded me was the 85 Camaro IROC, and 85 Corvette. I now finally have the 85 Corvette. (Boy did these things get expensive.)

I must have this Revell version of the 79 Trans-Am. (Boy did these things get expensive.)

Plans include lighting both vehicles, and 3D anything that could be improved. 

 Check out the group 1/8 scale detail on Facebook…Jamison Swimm makes a ton of upgrades for this kit…rims, derail parts, complete engines, even a trans kit to back date the car…I used many of his parts on my build

[Ragtop Man]

On 12/3/2022 at 4:42 PM, Steve.Wilson said:

You'd need the rear lights / bumper too.

Amen to both - the '77-8 is the icon TA, but had the 7" honeycombs, and not the deeper offset 8" included in the kit.  (That said, in the day, anyone with an SE who could track a set of the WS6 wheels down would do it in a heartbeat.)  

With the turbo wheels in the '79, and a decal sheet, you have the 10th Anniversary, last of the red hot lovers, so to speak. The Turbo 350 is not correct for the Pontiac engine, but again, 3D. 

Have contemplated reproducing the '80-81 Turbo specific parts, but, that is not a cheap date. Requires a LOT of mold rubber and knocking a bunch of parts off the trees. Not sure the market is strong enough to make it a breakeven proposition. 

[Steve.Wilson]

Just a small update on my own T/A project.  Due to display space limitations, I've decided to call off my build - before it's even started.  I've pawed through the parts a bit, but I already have far more kits to build than I have years left on this planet.  I'll probably let the kit go for pretty much what I paid for it plus shipping.  And if anyone needs real Mayan Red for their '79, I've got a can of that too!

[WillyBilly]

Finally, broke down and ordered the Trans Am. It will go with my 85 Corvette. I think 1/8 scale cars were around 30 bucks back in the 80s. Paying 6 times that almost seemed irresponsible, and childish. I did it anyways. LOL

Edited December 29, 2024 by WillyBilly

[WillyBilly]

Mine showed up from Germany Wednesday. Funny to compare the kits by size. I still need to find another 82 Camaro or get the 85 IROC. 

 

[WillyBilly]

On 4/18/2022 at 11:37 AM, Jordan White said:

I'm curious, does anyone know Monogram's reasoning for going to 1/8 scale instead of say 1/12 scale? I am going to assume it is because they wanted a large scale kit to stand out, and since they were already working on the 1/16 scale kit, they were easily able to just double all the dimensions.

I believe Monogram started making 1/8 scale models in 1965 with the introduction of the 1965 Corvette. It has been re-popped a few times including as a Revell kit in the past ten years.

[phirewtiter]

Monogram started out around 1962 with the release of the Big "T" series of kits followed by the Big Deuce. The XKE Jaguar and the Corvette came after. 

Edited Saturday at 08:53 PM by phirewtiter

[Ragtop Man]

The Monogram book by Thomas Graham has the who-shot-john on the 1/8 adventure. 

Revell had the idea to do a large scale version of the SBC engine as an assembly kit unto itself. - with multiple build options. They also had a 1/4 (!) scale slant 6... but I digress. 

The engine kit was a hit, and soon the mailbags were flooding the lobby with "great piece, what do I put it in now?" At some point, leadership reached out to Darryl Starbird with the idea -"hey, make a big hot rod taht kids will like so that we can scale down to 1/8."  Thus was born the Big T.  Their timing was fortunate, and the kit was released in time for holiday sales were it broke all the records. Even today, it is a dour modeler indeed who looks at that original package and doesn't get the "holy cow!" jolt.

As long as you were patient, and followed directions carefully, you could have a serious conversation piece. The versions that spooled out built on the idea - Drag, Tub, etc - then branched into the Vette and Jag.  Real problem with 1/8: More than one or two of them eat up all the space on the shelf.... eight will take up the space of the real thing (well, not really, but you get the rub.) 

[Ragtop Man]

On 8/2/2022 at 12:29 AM, Oldcarfan27 said:

Actually, the spats and spoilers were wind tested back then and were found to actually work at keeping the tires on the road, where you want them! The hood scoop was also able to pull air form the high pressure area at the windshield, whereas the Formula scoops weren't as effective at getting air from the front of the hood.

The 400/4 speed engine in the T/A 6.6 was rated a 220hp which was good performance for the late 70s. With 320 ft/lbs of tourque it was faster than pretty much anything else available in 1978-79, including Corvette, Mustang and Camaro. And that was off the showroom floor, anything that could be done to the earlier 400s to boost performance, could still be done to the last ones. T/A 6.6 heads were from the earlier 350 Pontiac engine  (labeled 6x heads) and had a lower deck, increasing compression in the bigger engine and boosting performance. That, along with other tuning tricks, gave the Trans Am respect in an otherwise dismal period.

Ask drivers who had one and they'll tell you, the car felt stronger than numbers would have you believe. 

The '70-74 were about as extreme as a muscle car / pony car got in the era. Road testers like C&D were in seventh heaven with the handling and acceleration - "A hard-muscled, lightning-reflexed commando of an automobile that can't be duplicated anywhere in the world for even twice the money..." 

FWIW, Jamison is on the case with some popular items for the other iconic versions of the F-Body - '77-78 nose {Smokey} , perhaps others - and there is a drop dead 1/12 3D SD 455 that would seem to be easily upsized to 1/8.  Add in a blindingly expensive sheet of Ray's Decals and you have the makings (assuming you assiduously collect the bits) for all the 'headline' '78-'81 cars - '77-'79 Special Edition, 10th Anniversary, Turbo TA Pace Car, SE, and Indy Pace Car. 

[Carmak]

1 hour ago, Ragtop Man said:

The Monogram book by Thomas Graham has the who-shot-john on the 1/8 adventure. 

Revell had the idea to do a large scale version of the SBC engine as an assembly kit unto itself. - with multiple build options. They also had a 1/4 (!) scale slant 6... but I digress. 

The engine kit was a hit, and soon the mailbags were flooding the lobby with "great piece, what do I put it in now?" At some point, leadership reached out to Darryl Starbird with the idea -"hey, make a big hot rod taht kids will like so that we can scale down to 1/8."  Thus was born the Big T.  Their timing was fortunate, and the kit was released in time for holiday sales were it broke all the records. Even today, it is a dour modeler indeed who looks at that original package and doesn't get the "holy cow!" jolt.

As long as you were patient, and followed directions carefully, you could have a serious conversation piece. The versions that spooled out built on the idea - Drag, Tub, etc - then branched into the Vette and Jag.  Real problem with 1/8: More than one or two of them eat up all the space on the shelf.... eight will take up the space of the real thing (well, not really, but you get the rub.) 

I am planning to visit the Speedway museum next year and really hope to see the surviving pieces from the Revell large scale SBC project the moved there from Utah.

I few years ago I found an early issue unbuilt Big T (with the black wall tires) and I had a "holy cow" moment!

Storage is a legit issue. I was lucky to find the perfect vintage display scale for my 1/8 survivors.