Return of the 1/25 MPC '68 Coronet/Super Bee RT Convertible...

[Can-Con]

10 minutes ago, Justin Porter said:

How long were AMT kits during the Ertl days shipped with Firestone Wide Ovals with their markings molded upside down? I, for one, am happier for blank sidewalls than for incorrect ones. 

If your talking about these tires, they're not wrong. The real tires were made like that too.

[drodg]

Got mine today from Model Car Roundup.  

[CapSat 6]

7 hours ago, SteveG said:

I hear you on the slicks. The molded branding was removed, but they again were otherwise matched to the original vintage drag slick shape although these are solid not hollow.   I'm certainly open to adding a pad print but we've been restricted on lot of the vintage style tires due to licensing issues.  For example, we can no longer print the words Polyglas, Blue Streak, Speedway, GT and others.  I've repeated asked if we can explore new brands but so far it's been a dead end. 

-Steve

I think the slicks that originally came with the Coronet kits were MH Racemasters, which incidentally come with the brand new AMT ‘66 Mustang Fastback.

I remember seeing old builts of those Coronets with those slicks. I seem to remember them being kind of blocky and shrimpy, though, so no big loss. 

[1972coronet]

3 hours ago, SteveG said:

Licensing is the "third rail" of the model kit industry.  You don't want to mess with it, we're too big of a target. 

On the next issue of the kit, I'll do something different with the tires other that whitewalls. Maybe pad print red lines on both the stock tires and the slicks.  I have about a year to sort that out.  I do appreciate the feedback even when it's not all sunshine and rainbows. 

-Steve 

Thank you kindly for your response. 

Certainly I'm not alone in my deep appreciation for this (and other great) kit. You folks really knocked it out of the park here !

[Rob Hall]

5 hours ago, stavanzer said:

I'd rather have Fisk or Cooper than a blank tire.

Alan

I remember Fisk and Cooper.  My Dad had Fisk on his ‘67 Cougar and Coopers on his ‘69 Mustang at one time…

[Rob Hall]

6 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

I, too, love the inclusion of Cragar GT's; another favourite of mine. 

Same goes for the separate hood for the custom version(s) -- and that clear scoop is awesome !

I want to build one with that scoop and the intake tubes…

[VRM]

I think this is a GREAT kit, but I would make some corrections for future releases as most of them are really easy.

My biggest letdown was the decal sheet, which could have easily addressed the biggest fail (IMHO) of the kit.

These go on the interior on the upper part of each door.  They are about 15 inches long and are pretty obvious by their absence.  The interior is otherwise really good and looks like it will build up very well.  The lower metal door frame is not defined very well, but I dont think it will be all that visible even in a convertible.

Next up on the decal sheet (as a nice to have, not something wrong) would be the Dodge lettering for the rear panel and the dual accent pinstriping in red, white, and black.  Those would be a lot more useful than all the flowers.

Finally, my last nit is the air cleaner...the raised ridges looked 'off' when I opened the kit, but it was not until I went and looked at one that I saw what was wrong.

 

None of these things will prevent me from buying a kit - it is fantastic (4.5 out of 5 in my book) and I hope we get the 68 Bee and 69 variants as well.  I'm in for at least 3 of each. 

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by VRM

[CapSat 6]

1 hour ago, VRM said:

Finally, my last nit is the air cleaner...the raised ridges looked 'off' when I opened the kit, but it was not until I went and looked at one that I saw what was wrong.

 

That air cleaner (the ‘64-‘68 Mopar big block air cleaner) appeared in all MPC Dodge kits with 440’s (Monaco’s, Coronets, and ‘71-‘74 Chargers) and was always wrong. 

When Lindberg did their ‘64 Plymouth kit with the street wedge engine, they did the same thing (they inverted the creases in the housing, making them raised). 

A really nice version of that air cleaner can be found in the old Jo Han ‘68 Plymouth Police car. I wish somebody would cast those in resin- I would buy several. I think it would go a long way in improving the appearance of this engine. 

[ChrisBcritter]

7 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Maybe try to get 2nd tier Manf's. (Big "O" Tire, Les Schwab, Hercules, or something Korean. Or Maybe a defunct Tire Brand could be licensed from one of the current Biggies who hold the trademark., (Western Auto, Cooper, Fisk, Guardsman)

I'd rather have Fisk or Cooper than a blank tire.

Alan

Atlas may be a good choice as well. The name apparently now belongs to some Chinese outfit - I found them this afternoon while looking for the odd sized tires my '02 Cougar takes (215/50R16). A lot of gas stations sold them way back when, and their Bucron tires were very popular with street racers due to their very soft rubber compound.

Edited March 18, 2023 by ChrisBcritter

[Bills72sj]

It is good to hear these kits are finally in hand. Hopefully my preordered kit will be on its way soon. It could come with NO wheels and tires and I would still be happy as I have plenty.

[niteowl7710]

2 hours ago, Bills72sj said:

It is good to hear these kits are finally in hand. Hopefully my preordered kit will be on its way soon. It could come with NO wheels and tires and I would still be happy as I have plenty.

Yeah I have to chuckle that prior to 10 days ago this was a $350-400 unobtanium annual kit and in short order this forum has turned it into a whingefest about tires...as the popular insult of the day around here goes whenever a kit is critiqued...Are you guys modelers or kit assemblers?

[Mr mopar]

8 hours ago, VRM said:

I think this is a GREAT kit, but I would make some corrections for future releases as most of them are really easy.

My biggest letdown was the decal sheet, which could have easily addressed the biggest fail (IMHO) of the kit.

These go on the interior on the upper part of each door.  They are about 15 inches long and are pretty obvious by their absence.  The interior is otherwise really good and looks like it will build up very well.  The lower metal door frame is not defined very well, but I dont think it will be all that visible even in a convertible.

Next up on the decal sheet (as a nice to have, not something wrong) would be the Dodge lettering for the rear panel and the dual accent pinstriping in red, white, and black.  Those would be a lot more useful than all the flowers.

Finally, my last nit is the air cleaner...the raised ridges looked 'off' when I opened the kit, but it was not until I went and looked at one that I saw what was wrong.

 

None of these things will prevent me from buying a kit - it is fantastic (4.5 out of 5 in my book) and I hope we get the 68 Bee and 69 variants as well.  I'm in for at least 3 of each. 

 

Hopefully Round 2 will see this and make the correction on the next decal sheet when the hardtop comes out ! 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Mr mopar

[Justin Porter]

17 hours ago, Can-Con said:

If your talking about these tires, they're not wrong. The real tires were made like that too.

I stand corrected. I just recall how it was a repeated refrain in the Strictly Stock reviews that it was a major flaw with those tires in the AMT kits of that period. Revell was often equally criticized for reusing their Michelin TRX tooling frequently on 1/25th scale muscle cars.

[1972coronet]

7 hours ago, niteowl7710 said:

Yeah I have to chuckle that prior to 10 days ago this was a $350-400 unobtanium annual kit and in short order this forum has turned it into a whingefest about tires.

That was my first thought as well. Like, "You can please some of the people..." kind of thing. 
Concurrently, I feel that some of the balking  isn't from the stance of "I'm-overlooking-the-strong-points-and-focusing-only-upon-flaws".
Now, are there certain further improvements to the original that Round2 et al. would have made ? 
Certainly.
But, I'm not focusing on any of them. I'm enjoying the heck out of this kit, especially since it's drastically improved over the original.
And is one-twentieth the price.

[TonyK]

Not that anyone cares but....I've enjoyed the many comments on how great this kit is but it doesn't do much for me other than maybe the trailer. It could be because I don't like convertibles. Having said that, you guys have almost convinced me to buy the kit. ?

[iwantmodels]

Hi, 

I'm new here, more of a lurker.  I wanted to say a special thank you to Mr. Steve G.  Thank you for all your hard work in bringing the MPC 1968 Dodge Coronet R/T, the AMT 1968 Pontiac GTO and the AMT 1966 Ford Mustang back.  I just got all three today.  Man am I happy!!!?

 

[gtx6970]

Where is the best source to get a few of these .

I aint paying 45 or more on Ebay with shipping

[VRM]

1 hour ago, gtx6970 said:

Where is the best source to get a few of these .

I aint paying 45 or more on Ebay with shipping

I picked up 6 of them Wednesday, and by Friday my distributor was already sold out.  The retail cost is listed at 41.99...that Ebay price might be going up soon.

[Rob Hall]

At the show yesterday vendors had them for around $32-$35 IIRC.   I've seen them on eBay anywhere from $30 to $40.

[niteowl7710]

14 hours ago, gtx6970 said:

Where is the best source to get a few of these .

I aint paying 45 or more on Ebay with shipping

45 with shipping is a decent price given the shelf price is around $35 and USPS Priority on a single kit runs $8-13 depending on how far you are from the shipper.

[Pjj]

Model Roundup is sold out until some time in April.

[stavanzer]

5 hours ago, Pjj said:

Model Roundup is sold out until some time in April.

Ugh! I did not move fast enough. I'll have see what happens next,

[charlie8575]

On 3/17/2023 at 11:39 AM, SteveG said:

I hear you on the slicks. The molded branding was removed, but they again were otherwise matched to the original vintage drag slick shape although these are solid not hollow.   I'm certainly open to adding a pad print but we've been restricted on lot of the vintage style tires due to licensing issues.  For example, we can no longer print the words Polyglas, Blue Streak, Speedway, GT and others.  I've repeated asked if we can explore new brands but so far it's been a dead end. 

-Steve

That's very disappointing.

I remember one discussion I had with a gentleman whose son worked for Cooper. At least as of 2011 when I had this discussion when I was in an entrepreneur contest, and developed the concept for my own model company, this man (he was one of the judges), had told me that Cooper was very anxious to expand brand awareness.

Although they didn't supply OE, and still don't, Coopers might be an interesting choice. I would also suggest talking to the firm that now owns the Armstrong name. I seem to remember that at least some cars came with them from the factory.

Michael Ramp, who is on Facebook, works for Continental-General. I wonder if he might be able to help you get something with them? Generals would be the correct tires for many GM cars from the 1930s-at least the late '60s/early '70s, after which it was primarily Uniroyal, but Generals were still seen.

I remember being told Firestone was pretty reasonable (and not especially expensive) to deal with. Has that changed?

On the main subject, grabbed my Coronet this weekend. GREAT job with it! I really liked what I saw.

Charlie Larkin

[charlie8575]

On 3/17/2023 at 3:29 PM, stavanzer said:

Thanks For the Answer, Steve. Straight from the Horse's Mouth, as it were.

Maybe try to get 2nd tier Manf's. (Big "O" Tire, Les Schwab, Hercules, or something Korean. Or Maybe a defunct Tire Brand could be licensed from one of the current Biggies who hold the trademark., (Western Auto, Cooper, Fisk, Guardsman)

I'd rather have Fisk or Cooper than a blank tire.

Alan

Given how desparate the remnants of Sears is for revenue, getting some of the old Sears tires brands like Guardsman, RoadHandler, SuperGuard GT, and others, might be an easy (and very inexpensive) deal to work. And where many of those tires were made by Cooper, you could very easily work that in, too. The Michelin, Goodyear and Bridgestone-produced ones may or may not be as easy or inexpensive.

Fisk, as I seem to remember, was bought by Goodyear, but given how they seem to be behaving, it might not work well. That said, even Fisk isn't appearing in reproduction tires for antique cars, they might be happy to make a few bucks and cut a deal.

As always with matters like this, there's no harm in asking.

Charlie Larkin

[stavanzer]

Charlie. Discount Tire now owns the Fisk Name, and Trade Dress. I had a set on my Pickup about 2005.

It might be worth digging up more info on them. They could be used on Pre WW2 AMT/Mpc Kits, any way.