Revell 1970 Plymouth Superbird: Finished

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

 

This is my finished build of Revell's kit of 1970 Plymouth Superbird. A distinctive and memorable car due to its extended streamlined nose cap and a rear spoiler that, being taller than the roof of the car is literally "over the top". Additionally, the bold decals and bright color schemes of Chrysler's High Impact Paint or "HIP Colors" as Chrysler referred to them, worked together to create a striking visual impression that undoubtedly drew attention wherever one of these cars showed up.

 

 

This was a fun kit to build. The casting quality, fit and assembly of the parts was good, on par with the usual level of quality expected from Revell kits. I did encounter one problem which I'll address next but otherwise, it was a satisfactory build.

 

 

The one standout difficulty I did have was a warp in the hood. I spent probably three or four build sessions using hot water to try to straighten it. But combination of the warp affecting several planes of the hood and the plastic's inherent shape memory, prevented me from getting it straightened out. Aside from that one issue, I'm quite satisfied with the overall build experience.

 

 

One of the features provided in this kit are decals for the side marker lights. The decals represent the surrounding metal trim and the recessed lenses. It is a little bit of a challenge to get them to settle properly into the recessions for the lenses but once in place they look much better than if I had painted them in silver, amber and red.

 

 

The "Roadrunner" badge came from the kit decals and the other two, a cartoon Roadrunner and dealership badge are from @Superbird McMonte. a member of our Model Cars Magazine discussion board. Revell also provided decals for the locks on the trunk and doors but I decided that dotting them with a silver Sharpie would be the easier way to go. The "Plymouth" script on the back was also colored with a silver Sharpie instead of using the kit-supplied decals.

 

 

The engine and surrounding bay are on the simple side but still nicely represented. With some detail painting and a couple of decals provided in the kit, the under-hood area shapes up quite nicely.

 

 

The front end is one of the stand-out features of this car, the standard bumper and grill being replaced by the streamlined sheet metal nose cap and bold decals. The two large black decals are provided in the kit, the cartoon Roadrunner I bought as part of a set from Slot Car Fever by Cheyna on Etsy. The nose cone fits quite nicely but the warp in the hood makes it look otherwise.

 

 

Here's a shot of the famous rear wing spoiler. The "Plymouth" decals are provided in the kit. The Roadrunner cartoon decal is a two-part decal consisting of a white base decal and a colored overlay. It's included in the set I bought from Slot Car Fever by Cheyna on Etsy.

 

 

Another shot of that famous nose cone. I wanted to show off the driving lights here. The lenses are cast in clear styrene and there is a cavity behind their location. But strangely, the directions in the kit call for them to be painted flat black and installed that way. Most of the Superbirds I saw during my research had driving lights in this location. The Revell designers were probably aware of this feature and decided to extend the option to builders wishing to take advantage of it. I decided to take advantage of opportunity. I dry-brushed the grid on the front of the lenses and painted the borders with flat black. I then painted the cavity behind the lenses with Molotow chrome ink, installed the lenses and ta-da! Driving lights!

It looks like they should check the camber before the next track day.

 

 

All of the images I found in my research showed the frame and sheet metal of the car's underside painted the same color as the body. It made my job a little easier. Nice looking chassis detail too.

 

That's another one for the display case. On to the next build!

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to offer comments, critiques and criticisms.

David G.

[Brudda]

6 minutes ago, David G. said:

Hello Everybody!

 

This is my finished build of Revell's kit of 1970 Plymouth Superbird. A distinctive and memorable car due to its extended streamlined nose cap and a rear spoiler that, being taller than the roof of the car is literally "over the top". Additionally, the bold decals and bright color schemes of Chrysler's High Impact Paint or "HIP Colors" as Chrysler referred to them, worked together to create a striking visual impression that undoubtedly drew attention wherever one of these cars showed up.

 

 

This was a fun kit to build. The casting quality, fit and assembly of the parts was good, on par with the usual level of quality expected from Revell kits. I did encounter one problem which I'll address next but otherwise, it was a satisfactory build.

 

 

The one standout difficulty I did have was a warp in the hood. I spent probably three or four build sessions using hot water to try to straighten it. But combination of the warp affecting several planes of the hood and the plastic's inherent shape memory, prevented me from getting it straightened out. Aside from that one issue, I'm quite satisfied with the overall build experience.

 

 

One of the features provided in this kit are decals for the side marker lights. The decals represent the surrounding metal trim and the recessed lenses. It is a little bit of a challenge to get them to settle properly into the recessions for the lenses but once in place they look much better than if I had painted them in silver, amber and red.

 

 

The "Roadrunner" badge came from the kit decals and the other two, a cartoon Roadrunner and dealership badge are from @Superbird McMonte. a member of our Model Cars Magazine discussion board. Revell also provided decals for the locks on the trunk and doors but I decided that dotting them with a silver Sharpie would be the easier way to go. The "Plymouth" script on the back was also colored with a silver Sharpie instead of using the kit-supplied decals.

 

 

The engine and surrounding bay are on the simple side but still nicely represented. With some detail painting and a couple of decals provided in the kit, the under-hood area shapes up quite nicely.

 

 

The front end is one of the stand-out features of this car, the standard bumper and grill being replaced by the streamlined sheet metal nose cap and bold decals. The two large black decals are provided in the kit, the cartoon Roadrunner I bought as part of a set from Slot Car Fever by Cheyna on Etsy. The nose cone fits quite nicely but the warp in the hood makes it look otherwise.

 

 

Here's a shot of the famous rear wing spoiler. The "Plymouth" decals are provided in the kit. The Roadrunner cartoon decal is a two-part decal consisting of a white base decal and a colored overlay. It's included in the set I bought from Slot Car Fever by Cheyna on Etsy.

 

 

Another shot of that famous nose cone. I wanted to show off the driving lights here. The lenses are cast in clear styrene and there is a cavity behind their location. But strangely, the directions in the kit call for them to be painted flat black and installed that way. Most of the Superbirds I saw during my research had driving lights in this location. The Revell designers were probably aware of this feature and decided to extend the option to builders wishing to take advantage of it. I decided to take advantage of opportunity. I dry-brushed the grid on the front of the lenses and painted the borders with flat black. I then painted the cavity behind the lenses with Molotow chrome ink, installed the lenses and ta-da! Driving lights!

It looks like they should check the camber before the next track day.

 

 

All of the images I found in my research showed the frame and sheet metal of the car's underside painted the same color as the body. It made my job a little easier. Nice looking chassis detail too.

 

That's another one for the display case. On to the next build!

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to offer comments, critiques and criticisms.

David G.

Very nice!!! Great build. I have a friend who has two. Two lime green cars with 440’s he bought them when no one wanted them . Actually the dealers had a tough time selling them, but a few years later , they were selling for a little more than a new pinto. So he bought 2. At the time they were very big cars compared to what was selling at the time. Now he has a gold mine. I even worked on his.  The front nose is steel, which surprised the heck out of me. Cool build sir. Great job. 

[JollySipper]

This looks really nice! I read somewhere that the rear wing would have worked if it was only about 6" tall........ but it wouldn't have had the same impact on the competition! That's why they made it so tall........ 

[Keef]

Absolutely beautiful build of an iconic Mopar!!! 

[espo]

Great looking paint finish and body decals. Your body to front nose cone fit is better than MoPar was able to do back then. 

[atomicholiday]

David, that turned out just great.  Outstanding build my friend.👍

[Hi-Po]

Good looking build of a great iconic car.  A high school buddy of mine bought one brand new in late 1969 and he was the talk of the town.  Never got a ride in it as I was drafted shortly after he took delivery of the car.

[Classicgas]

Nice.

[Yeah Nah]

Nice work on one of the most distinctive cars of that era.

[karbuildr]

Beautiful build. Outstanding details, great paint, your vinyl roof looks excellent. Very well done.

[Dragonhawk1066]

Nice work!

[PappyD340]

Very nice!

[charger74]

It looks great 

[ChrisR]

Looking great!

[David G.]

19 hours ago, Brudda said:

Very nice!!! Great build. I have a friend who has two. Two lime green cars with 440’s he bought them when no one wanted them . Actually the dealers had a tough time selling them, but a few years later , they were selling for a little more than a new pinto. So he bought 2. At the time they were very big cars compared to what was selling at the time. Now he has a gold mine. I even worked on his.  The front nose is steel, which surprised the heck out of me. Cool build sir. Great job. 

Thank you Bruce. I envy you the opportunity to see not just one but two of these cars in person. I don't recall that I've ever seen even one up close. What tremendous foresight and good fortune your friend had. I do recall the Chryslers of that era being some of the biggest cars on the road.  I have a memory of standing next to a gray '73 Chrysler Imperial, much like this one, thinking, "Ghad, this thing looks like a steel ingot!" The kind that steel mills ship to rolling plants.

Thanks again for the kind comment.

-D-

19 hours ago, JollySipper said:

This looks really nice! I read somewhere that the rear wing would have worked if it was only about 6" tall........ but it wouldn't have had the same impact on the competition! That's why they made it so tall........ 

Thank you for your comment TJ. I've read a couple of different stories regarding the wing. In addition to the version you mentioned there was one that I read saying that the wing had to be high in order to provide effective downforce. This was  due to the need to clear a vacuum bubble and near the rear of the vehicle. Similar to what would be created behind the cab of a pickup truck at freeway speeds. This one makes sense to me given the size and shape of the car. It would be cool to put one of these and its stock version to a modern wind tunnel test to see what's what.

Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it.

 -D-

18 hours ago, Keef said:

Absolutely beautiful build of an iconic Mopar!!! 

Thank you kindly Keith.

-D-

18 hours ago, espo said:

Great looking paint finish and body decals. Your body to front nose cone fit is better than MoPar was able to do back then. 

Thank you David. Partial credit should go to Revell for their design and manufacturing. I think we've all experienced working with decals that for all intents and purposes should fit but for some reason just... don't. 

I appreciate your comment David, thanks again.

-D-

17 hours ago, atomicholiday said:

David, that turned out just great.  Outstanding build my friend.👍

Thank you so much Jeremy.

-D-

17 hours ago, Hi-Po said:

Good looking build of a great iconic car.  A high school buddy of mine bought one brand new in late 1969 and he was the talk of the town.  Never got a ride in it as I was drafted shortly after he took delivery of the car.

Thanks Terry, I'm glad you like it. It must have been great to see one of these in person, it's a shame that you didn't have the chance for a ride.

Also, thank you for your service Terry.

-D-

14 hours ago, Classicgas said:

Nice.

Thanks Lee.

-D-

13 hours ago, Yeah Nah said:

Nice work on one of the most distinctive cars of that era.

Thank you Garry, I appreciate that. Your avatar suggests that you may be a Mopar fan.

-D-

13 hours ago, karbuildr said:

Beautiful build. Outstanding details, great paint, your vinyl roof looks excellent. Very well done.

Thank you for your kind words David.

-D-

12 hours ago, Dragonhawk1066 said:

Nice work!

Thank you Craig.

-D-

11 hours ago, PappyD340 said:

Very nice!

Thanks Larry.

-D-

9 hours ago, charger74 said:

It looks great 

Thank you for your kind comment Eric.

-D-

1 hour ago, ChrisR said:

Looking great!

Thanks Chris, I appreciate that.

-D-

 

[FLHCAHZ]

Very nice work David! Sure looks like the 1:1 

[David G.]

13 minutes ago, FLHCAHZ said:

Very nice work David! Sure looks like the 1:1 

Thank you for your kind comment Chaz, I appreciate it.

David G.

[happy grumpy]

great looking superbird. Along with the Dodge Daytona, they are still drawing attention. You did it justice.

[shoopdog]

Fantastic job on this iconic muscle car!

[SpikeSchumacher]

Very nice David 👍👍

[Chuckyg1]

That came out good. Nice work on the vinyl roof. When I was little, (many, MANY years ago), one of these went by while waiting for the school bus. What an awesome sight, It's as clear as if it happened yesterday.

[deuces wild]

Beautiful!.... I have the Petty edition of this kit in my stash.🙂👍

Edited December 12, 2023 by deuces wild

[David G.]

16 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

great looking superbird. Along with the Dodge Daytona, they are still drawing attention. You did it justice.

Thank you Mario. Yes, they are two very unique parts of automotive history and I'm glad to have one in my collection.

15 hours ago, shoopdog said:

Fantastic job on this iconic muscle car!

Thank you Keith.

12 hours ago, SpikeSchumacher said:

Very nice David 👍👍

Thank you very much Mathias.

11 hours ago, Chuckyg1 said:

That came out good. Nice work on the vinyl roof. When I was little, (many, MANY years ago), one of these went by while waiting for the school bus. What an awesome sight, It's as clear as if it happened yesterday.

Thanks John. The roof is just DupliColor Universal Flat Black. It seems to have the perfect sheen for vinyl tops.

2 hours ago, deuces wild said:

Beautiful!.... I have the Petty edition of this kit in my stash.🙂👍

Thank you Guido. I remember seeing Petty's car driving in the races on TV when I was a youngster. That was probably my first exposure to these iconic cars. They were a beautiful shade of blue.

 

Thanks again to those who took the time to share their thought with me.

David G.

[Anglia105E]

What an excellent build this is David G., . . . Reading your summary of the completed build, I was surprised to see so many decals supplied by Revell, and particularly those areas that you would have expected to paint yourself. Beautiful colour for this car, and I can see that you have done your research meticulously at every stage . . . You have done your best with the warped hood, and you didn't resort to glueing the hood in place to make a curbside.

Well done !

David W.

[Tom99]

Very nice!