1/8 Revell '79 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

[Steve.Wilson]

On 9/8/2022 at 10:16 AM, 69H.O.Firebird said:

I'd buy a printed nose for a 1/8 scale 77-78 trans am.

You'd need the rear lights / bumper too.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Steve.Wilson

[Can-Con]

3 hours ago, Steve.Wilson said:

For those pining to replicate the T/A in a color other than black, black or black with decals to match, there IS a place you can get them.

https://rayskits.com/product/1979-pontiac-firebird-trans-am-2/

I had a Mayan Red T/A brand new back in 1979 loaded with the manual shifter and no T-tops.  This will be a fun conversion.  The kit is available via Amazon, ships from the UK.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B09Q6BV3X1?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I paid $172US, and now the price has ticked up a bit, so be warned - Amazon prices are fluid.

That's great but it's for the 1/25 kits,

Ray was working on the decals for the 1/8 kit when his wife took ill a few months ago. I'm sure he will get around to them in good time.

BTW, he was also working on a sheet for the '81 T/A with their unique 2 color bird decals only used that year.

[Fantom]

1 hour ago, Can-Con said:

That's great but it's for the 1/25 kits,

Ray was working on the decals for the 1/8 kit when his wife took ill a few months ago. I'm sure he will get around to them in good time.

BTW, he was also working on a sheet for the '81 T/A with their unique 2 color bird decals only used that year.

If you use the drop down menu…they are available in 1/8. I just ordered a set.

[Steve.Wilson]

I ordered a set as well today.  Ray was very upbeat last week in a reply to an inquiry about 1/8 scale sets, but the info on his wife explains why a follow up email has been slow in coming.  Still - with orders coming in and just over three weeks left before he sends off his next batch of orders, there's plenty of time for things to settle out.

[Can-Con]

16 hours ago, Fantom said:

If you use the drop down menu…they are available in 1/8. I just ordered a set.

 

16 hours ago, Steve.Wilson said:

I ordered a set as well today.  Ray was very upbeat last week in a reply to an inquiry about 1/8 scale sets, but the info on his wife explains why a follow up email has been slow in coming.  Still - with orders coming in and just over three weeks left before he sends off his next batch of orders, there's plenty of time for things to settle out.

Oh, cool.  ,,I haven't been in touch in a couple weeks. 

[Can-Con]

16 hours ago, Fantom said:

If you use the drop down menu…they are available in 1/8. I just ordered a set.

 

16 hours ago, Steve.Wilson said:

I ordered a set as well today.  Ray was very upbeat last week in a reply to an inquiry about 1/8 scale sets, but the info on his wife explains why a follow up email has been slow in coming.  Still - with orders coming in and just over three weeks left before he sends off his next batch of orders, there's plenty of time for things to settle out.

Um, you guys want to post a link to that page? The latest refrence I could find to the 1/8 decals was on the Facebook page from 4 days ago saying they wern't available yet and it would be a couple months for them.

[Steve.Wilson]

4 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Um, you guys want to post a link to that page?

Hehe.... conversation movin' fast!!  I already posted that, but no worries, here it is again:  https://rayskits.com/product/1979-pontiac-firebird-trans-am-2/  👍

 

[Can-Con]

15 minutes ago, Steve.Wilson said:

Hehe.... conversation movin' fast!!  I already posted that, but no worries, here it is again:  https://rayskits.com/product/1979-pontiac-firebird-trans-am-2/  👍

 

That's the 1/25 sheet, not the 1/8 sheet he was working on. I don't know what the difference would be seeing as it says "other scales available" but ??

Anyway, the one I was referring to was the one listed as "under development - September" on this page

https://rayskits.com/coming-soon/

Specifically for the 1/8 kit, but like I said above, I don't know what the difference would be.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Can-Con

[Steve.Wilson]

I have good news...  see the lower right.  He's taking orders now - I've been in email contact.  Out of respect, I should also say that I didn't see his big orange notice about his girlfriend's passing until just now, but he did say he was aching to get back at it and since I had an email from him last week --- time heals all, and maybe things are looking up for the guy.  Hope so.  That's a bad break!

Edited December 5, 2022 by Steve.Wilson

[dbostream]

If you have bought this kit was your hood warped? Watched a youtube build and the hood didn't fit very well.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

I think the hood's been warped in each of the five of these I've had - maybe that first issue from 1980 as the Turbo was the cleanest.

Haven't checked this one yet, but I have high hopes the gray plastic will take a little better to the hot water treatment...

[Stef]

3 hours ago, dbostream said:

If you have bought this kit was your hood warped? Watched a youtube build and the hood didn't fit very well.

I got the brown one back in 1991, and my hood was warped. The hood was, and prolly still is, very thin and brittle for its size.

While trying to correct the warp, a huge corner snapped off. Take extra care, and you should be fine. All the best to you.

 

[echoxrayniner]

On 12/5/2022 at 2:02 AM, Steve.Wilson said:

I have good news...  see the lower right.  He's taking orders now - I've been in email contact.  Out of respect, I should also say that I didn't see his big orange notice about his girlfriend's passing until just now, but he did say he was aching to get back at it and since I had an email from him last week --- time heals all, and maybe things are looking up for the guy.  Hope so.  That's a bad break!

Thanks for the screenshot explaining it, picture's worth a thousand words after all! Also shot ya' an email regarding the colors, just to make sure the bird's colors match the Firebird as best they can!

As for the general remarks. The artwork's still for the 1/25th & 1/24th scales as it generally gets the point across, though I still will upload color variations and the far more detailed 1/8th artwork to each drop down choice eventually. Bit of a hassle to get everything functioning as it is with the twin choice thingy. For two weekends in a row I got dragged off by family to give me some escapism from the loss I had to endure three weeks ago so I tend to pick up the plethora of mail in the days after. Seriously, apologies for not getting back to any of y'all sooner.

I had it mostly finished back around the time when my girlfriend had her stroke and slowly when the opportunity arose added pieces of upgraded art(generally, making it equal to the Revell kit decals and going further) and managed to at least get it done last month. Been getting anywhere between ten to thirty requests a week for it so I'd say its about time. That being said though, this one only made it due to it being largely done before my life took such a drastic turn, the remainder of the 'Coming Soon' page is basically now at a point where I can't make any promises, though. I was a third of the way with creating the 10th Anniversary hood bird with the elongated wings, having measured the whole thing out so it sits flush with the hood and the wrap around the A pillars but, yeah... It got stalled, much like the rest. So the regular ol' shaker variety bird will be the only 1/8th scale design I'm doing for the next few months until things get settled.

I oughta mention though, few things that I was requested or came up with to make life easier on this behemoth of a friggin' model are a dash pattern and a single cluster of gauges that can be placed before putting the plate over it as right now you're meant to... kinda either guess or do it in reverse, plate first and awkwardly fenagling decal gauges through. Accurate plates were a big thing too, and I purchased a plotter with a de/embosser tool that'll allow me to get raised letter plates for at least the 1/8th scale some time in the future.

Once I get back at it in a while, I'm not 100% certain which 1/8th set will take priority as I'm being asked to do just about any version equally but the '81 version is high on my own list simply due to how ungodly rare and kind of alien the artwork for the hood is. I'll keep an ear to the ground for the requests, base it on that. Likely will be the 10th Anniversary, hah.

 

Edit: Also should add. I've worked with the hood piece for a few hours on and off the body and perhaps I'm just a very lucky soul but mine's flush with the body. Granted, mine was wedged under everything else in the box and it has a thinning amount of plastic from the front to the rear, that might be why its so prone to warping.

Edited December 6, 2022 by echoxrayniner

[Faust]

On 3/31/2022 at 2:45 PM, Bob Ellis said:

My 1/8 1979 Firebird kit was a non turbo shaker hood. 

That makes sense. The turbo was only on '80 and '81 cars. it had the different engine, different hood and larger hood bird with the head facing the other way, so the "fire" could breathe up the turbo scoop. 

[heinz74]

if you have a seriously warped hood..like i had in my kit..just contact Revell Germany via email through their spare parts division..Revell service team ,service@revell.de ,the woman you are dealing with from then is Petra Slansky

allow up to 6 weeks for delivery to the US  ,2-3 weeks for europe..

i got me a nice new hood ,fully packed in a cardboard box with bubble rap within a week,free of ANY charge (mind you ,i live in the Netherlands)..this hood fits waaaaay better than the one supplied in the kit

i guess i'm not the only one complaining about fitment ..this was so horrible i wanted to put the lid back on the box and quit..and heating it ,or warm water thing wasn't gonna fix it..

so i'm back in the race again..great shout out to Revell Germany..

 

[dbostream]

6 hours ago, heinz74 said:

if you have a seriously warped hood..like i had in my kit..just contact Revell Germany via email through their spare parts division..Revell service team ,service@revell.de ,the woman you are dealing with from then is Petra Slansky

allow up to 6 weeks for delivery to the US  ,2-3 weeks for europe..

i got me a nice new hood ,fully packed in a cardboard box with bubble rap within a week,free of ANY charge (mind you ,i live in the Netherlands)..this hood fits waaaaay better than the one supplied in the kit

i guess i'm not the only one complaining about fitment ..this was so horrible i wanted to put the lid back on the box and quit..and heating it ,or warm water thing wasn't gonna fix it..

so i'm back in the race again..great shout out to Revell Germany..

 

I agree Revell customer service is great. I have asked for replacement parts a few times and never any problems.

Any chance you can show a comparison of the old and new hood?

[heinz74]

nah ,sorry..

i need to work out to get photo's up here..

but it was bad..the edges of if ,stood up about 2mm at the A pillar..not doable ..ever..

[Steve.Wilson]

FYI - The American distributor of Rays Decals has posted on a T/A Facebook group that their printer has gotten caught up with all of the decal printing and should be sending out decals ASAP.  Joe Morgan gave me permission to reprint the contents of his posts...

Quote

Neal Aldenhuysen sent me some pictures today that should interest everyone. These are all 1/8 scale Trans Am decal sets that he got back with the October & December Orders. They look great to me! I have 2 sets of the Charcoal/Red set coming with my order later this week. I have more ordered in the coming months. If you want to get on the list to reserve a set, drop me a PM!

* * *

I am trying to take over customer correspondence for Rays Kits Decals because it has been a major challenge for him. His girlfriend Vicky had been handling all emails and correspondence, but then she was debilitated by a stroke in September. Tragically she then passed away in November. I am a “stay-at-home-dad” so reaching me by PM or email is far easier (Sunbird93racer@yahoo.com). I can then answer most questions & solve most problems for customers. Thru the end of March (at least) he is having all orders internationally come thru me. That way I am the only customer he is trying to supply, and then I can handle all the customer service for him. This gives him more time to focus on new designs and art. Depending how things go, this might be the plan even further along as well. We’ll see.

* * *

Great news if you ordered directly from the website. Those decals just arrived in The Netherlands last Thursday & Friday. Since then he has been working every waking moment to cut/process/pack well over 300 total sets of decals. Once done, he is beginning to ship orders based on order date. I’m betting that all of the orders will be shipped by the end of this week, or beginning of next. We are very sorry about the delay, but the printer was way behind & finally caught up. They were put behind with supply chain issues (decal film delays) and equipment breakdowns that shut them down for 6 weeks. Apparently now they are finally back up to speed. Thanks for your patience!

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Steve.Wilson

[Casey]

On 9/8/2022 at 12:16 PM, 69H.O.Firebird said:

I'd buy a printed nose for a 1/8 scale 77-78 trans am.

I'm a bit surprised nobody has done this, for the 1/16 MPC '79, too. Yes, there are interior and other differences, but a new nose, headlight buckets, grilles, rear bumper, tail light lenses, and trim and you'd probably satisfy the vast majority of customers.

Good to see this one return after a long absence. 🙂

[Steve.Wilson]

There's a Facebook group for the '78 parts - just gotta dig a bit there.  Good luck!

[tbill]

Finally got one of these the other day, didn’t want to miss out on this one like I did on the 65 vette….

 

[redscampi]

8 hours ago, tbill said:

Finally got one of these the other day, didn’t want to miss out on this one like I did on the 65 vette….

 

 

I grabbed one right after they were reissued. I didn't want to wait and be victimized by the eBay sellers.

[dbostream]

13 hours ago, tbill said:

Finally got one of these the other day, didn’t want to miss out on this one like I did on the 65 vette….

 

I also missed out on the Corvette. Got the Trans Am the other week. Forgot how huge a 1/8 kit is.

[tbill]

7 hours ago, dbostream said:

I also missed out on the Corvette. Got the Trans Am the other week. Forgot how huge a 1/8 kit is.

I know, it is large and in charge, lol.