No talk about the Round2 1971 Dodge Demon ?

[VRM]

I hope AMT has designed this with correct 71 door panels, and it would be very nice if they happened to fit the Duster kit as well.

The door panels in the AMT 71 Duster kit are for a '72.  It would be great to have accurate door panels for both '71 and '72.

[bobthehobbyguy]

3 hours ago, BobbyG said:

I have used the Duster kit on my 69 Cuda with little bit of triming on the chassis and easy fit on the engine compartment. So I am certain the Demon will be an easy mod. My point though is why Round 2 can't use the  Duster chassis, engine and compartment tooling for the Demon. 

 

Because there is no practical way to do it.

As stated round2 would have to run both kits for the parts.

Second newer tooling has has been designed for swapping out  inserts. 

If the duster parts have to modified to work for the demon then the tooling wouldn't work for the duster anymore. And I can just image the uproar if the builder would have to modify the parts themselves. That's  not something everyone would want to do or be capable of.

The best option is buying a duster and demon kit and kit bash your own. As far as the duster body and interior you could either trade it or maybe build a drag car or prostrate or protruding from it.

Also recreating and modifying the duster tooling would be costly. Tooling is one of the more expensive parts for a kit.

[stavanzer]

Bobby G, (and others) Partial answer to your questions about why the two kits cannot be combined. 

It is two of these...One Tool Bank for each kit. Run separately.

Then, the older Duster tooling needs to be removed, and half of it discarded, and combined with the new tool Demon components. Not Impossible, and could be done, but costly and wasteful. Better really for you to do it yourself. Round2 Is getting those folks who want the superdetailed new chassis and new body, halfway there by you combining both kits.

For everybody else who just wants a Demon for the shelf, they have filled the bill.

These kits will sell out fast, I predict.

Edited May 1, 2023 by stavanzer

[Justin Porter]

Have to agree with the others. It's cost prohibitive given that it appears that many of the Ertl generation kits weren't designed with modular use in mind. Unlike Revell which has this sort of "plug and play" design which gives us multiple kits from a single bank of tooling. AMT under Ertl appears to have tooled whole kits as singular entities. 

It's a shame because those Ertl kits really do represent a high water mark for American classics in model kit form but unfortunately it seems they will remain an aberration in the AMT line.

[Luc Janssens]

6 minutes ago, Justin Porter said:

Have to agree with the others. It's cost prohibitive given that it appears that many of the Ertl generation kits weren't designed with modular use in mind. Unlike Revell which has this sort of "plug and play" design which gives us multiple kits from a single bank of tooling. AMT under Ertl appears to have tooled whole kits as singular entities. 

It's a shame because those Ertl kits really do represent a high water mark for American classics in model kit form but unfortunately it seems they will remain an aberration in the AMT line.

Ertl did siblings, but it was a more stock-custom thingy.

But they were different times back then.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Luc Janssens

[BobbyG]

1 hour ago, Justin Porter said:

Have to agree with the others. It's cost prohibitive given that it appears that many of the Ertl generation kits weren't designed with modular use in mind. Unlike Revell which has this sort of "plug and play" design which gives us multiple kits from a single bank of tooling. AMT under Ertl appears to have tooled whole kits as singular entities. 

It's a shame because those Ertl kits really do represent a high water mark for American classics in model kit form but unfortunately it seems they will remain an aberration in the AMT line.

Those ERTL era kits were a great period for the hobby and some of the best subjects and designs. Too bad the tooling isn't modular as you stated, it would be more econical to produce multiple versions and related subjects. Revell got it right. But keep in mind, Round 2 has both the 68 RR and 69 GTX kits with the same base tooling, the exceptions are body and interior panels. That is the point of my opinion. As for the Demon, kit bashing is the only way to go a step further for accuracy and detail, which I have no problem with,you  just have to buy another kit to do so. The expense of the kits today will prohibit buying an additional kit...that's all.

[bobthehobbyguy]

A couple of points. First the Demon was MPC where as the duster was AMT. At the time the market was totally different. 

Second although the cost of kits make it expensive to buy two get get a more detailed demon it still beats spending a hundred or more for the Demon plus the current cost for a duster kit.

Besides the duster body could be traded off or used to kitbash another project. There's no reason to throw it away.

[SteveG]

Take a look through the latter half of the thread on the AMT Supernatural '67 Impala to get an idea of the difficulties in updating one of the Mueller era kits.  One board participant referred to it as "unbuildable" although most here were certainly kinder in their review.   Converting the Duster tooling to a Demon is just not as easy as one would think. 

-Steve

[Justin Porter]

32 minutes ago, SteveG said:

Take a look through the latter half of the thread on the AMT Supernatural '67 Impala to get an idea of the difficulties in updating one of the Mueller era kits.  One board participant referred to it as "unbuildable" although most here were certainly kinder in their review.   Converting the Duster tooling to a Demon is just not as easy as one would think. 

-Steve

Thank you. That's exactly the sort of thing I was referencing. I also recall reading that there was a huge amount of unexpected difficulty in creating the full bumper Camaro from the Mueller era 70 1/2 split bumper tooling.

[michelle]

they said that it is based on the original kit but the whole thing is a brand new tooling like what they did with the  68 coronet convertible  
and that it is supose to be out in q3 this year 
 

[deuces wild]

Yep! What she^^^^said...

[Luc Janssens]

2 hours ago, michelle said:

they said that it is based on the original kit but the whole thing is a brand new tooling like what they did with the  68 coronet convertible  
and that it is supose to be out in q3 this year 
 

Much much better, was comparing the photo's of the 3D Generated print to an original kit and the real car while at a friend, and IMHO the Kats did a superb job. Really looking forward to picking this one up when available.

[iangilly]

As a curbside builder, I'm fine either kind of chassis/ engine bay. I'm  just happy to have a kit that isn't $400+ or a resin.  This kit will sell crazy good, I know I'll buy at least 6.

[Mark]

The Coronet convertible kit is fantastic.  Every time I give it a look, I notice more improvements over the original.

[SteveG]

3 hours ago, Mark said:

The Coronet convertible kit is fantastic.  Every time I give it a look, I notice more improvements over the original.

Thanks Mark, not everyone is lucky enough to have the original kit to compare it to.  I lost count on how many improvements were made to it over the original design. 

I'm hoping that the new '71 Demon kit will be looked at in the same light as the Coronet.  It too will have numerous improvements over the original issue. 

-Steve 

[1972coronet]

42 minutes ago, SteveG said:

I lost count on how many improvements were made to it over the original design. 

The positive mounting points are one of the biggest improvements (i.e., the manner in which the exhaust manifolds or headers mount to the heads, for an instance). The decal sheet is outstanding; huge improvement over any MPC offering of that time ! Then there's the separate headlamp lenses (though I wish that there were two extra included, as I managed to lose one on my [mediocre] build), which are always better than moulded-in / plated offerings. 

Good call on the two extra front wheel mounting pins, too !

[Mark]

I like the way the chassis fills out the space inside the body. One thing I can't stand with some kits is when the chassis lacks inner rear wheel houses, letting you see through to the other side of the car around the rear wheels.

I picked up a second '68 convertible, I was thinking about swapping as much as possible into a '70 to create a '70 convertible.  For a bunch of years I thought there was a '70 Coronet convertible annual kit (there wasn't).  I might try to build it the way I imagined it looked like on the box.

 

[charlie8575]

I thought the Demon looked really good on the table. I'm definitely going to get one, maybe two.

Charlie Larkin

[Mr mopar]

I see the Demon is now listed on Stevens web site !

[deuces wild]

Will the Revell '68 Dart chassis fit the Demon or Duster body????... I'm just curious...????

[stavanzer]

5 hours ago, deuces wild said:

Will the Revell '68 Dart chassis fit the Demon or Duster body????... I'm just curious...????

Good Question.

[Rob Hall]

On 5/2/2023 at 4:55 PM, Mark said:  For a bunch of years I thought there was a '70 Coronet convertible annual kit (there wasn't).  I might try to build it the way I imagined it looked like on the box.

 

Though there wasn’t a kit, pretty sure there was a ‘70 convertible promo.   I do have a resin ‘70 R/T convertible body I got maybe 15 years ago. 

[Stef]

15 hours ago, deuces wild said:

Will the Revell '68 Dart chassis fit the Demon or Duster body????... I'm just curious...????

I'm not sure how similar the MPC Demon and 75 Dart were, but if this helps... back in 2016, I bought the Round2 75 Dart reissue, along with the Revell 68 Dart. I planned to stuff the 68 chassis up inside the 75, and there was no easy way for it to work. IIRC, the wheelbase was off, the 68 had a much wider track, and a couple other things I've forgotten that just made it really impractical. So I just built the 68, and one of these days, I might get around to the 75.

I also built the excellent 71 Duster many years ago, but don't have it anymore to compare to my finished 68 or unstarted 75. Hope this helps.

[deuces wild]

Ok, thanks Stef...

[Mark]

There were no '70 Coronet promos, hardtop or convertible.  

For some reason, I can't include the post I'm responding to...