1/25 MPC 1980 Camaro Z28

['70 Grande]

With Round-2's announcement of releasing the 1/25 1981 Camaro Z28 kit, I thought I'd go into my kit vault and pull out this MPC-version of what I believe is essentially a previous issue of the same kit. 

I thought I'd restart my build of this kit and pass along my thoughts as I go through the process, thinking some of the things that I point out here might be useful to others that purchase the upcoming Round-2 reissue.

First, some reference pics.

['70 Grande]

If you spotted the #7 handwritten over the hood on my kit's box lid, then you know what I paid for this kit at a swap meet in Chicago back in the mid-1990s... $7.00!

I want to start this process by posting about the kit's body. 

Overall I think the body is a really good representation of the 1:1. I'll start with the challenges that come when fitting all of the separate pieces to the body. 

First pic shows the passenger side with just the front end piece glued in place. The front end piece fits pretty well but getting a good, strong joint means that glue joint needs cleanup work. 

The 2nd pic shows the driver's side front and rear fender flare pieces glued in place. It is sorta unclear exactly how these flare pieces should be fitted, but following 1:1 reference pics, I positioned them as shown in the 3rd and 5th pics; hanging below the bottom edge of the front and rear fenders. This also allows these front flares to lineup properly with the flare piece that extends underneath the front end piece so these pieces are all flush across their bottom edge with each other.

The 4th pic shows the attached flare; it has a rounded edge at its top but that is actually true for the 1:1 as well, (although it's a bit exaggerated in 1/25)!

The 5th pic shows how I positioned the rear flare piece slightly below the bottom edge of the body, per 1:1 reference. 

Edited Saturday at 04:09 PM by '70 Grande

['70 Grande]

Next, the rear spoiler piece.

As with the many releases of these AMT and MPC mid-70s to early-80s Camaro kits, the rear spoiler piece can be a tricky fit. 

I attached a few 1:1 reference pics to show you how this spoiler piece should look. 

The 4th picture shows the underside of my kit's piece; it has several places where there is excess plastic that pushes the spoiler away from fitting flush on the trunk lid and down the sides of the rear fenders. The light areas in this pic show you places where I removed excess plastic.

The last pic here shows you that the rear spoiler piece is actually too wide to properly fit the kit body... more to come on how I'll attempt to correct this.

Edited Saturday at 04:36 PM by '70 Grande

[espo]

Thank you for your tutorial on this kit. A thought on the rear spoiler being too wide. Since the 1:1 Camaro spoiler is three parts anyway, maybe cut the ends off where the trunk line is and then remove the needed material from the center section too correct the width. This may also better represent the natural opening between the ends on the trunk lid and fenders.   

['70 Grande]

espo: that's my exact plan... just gotta breakout my razor saw and start posting pics! 

One wacky thing about the kit spoiler piece is those molded trunk lines are raised, (not cut-in), so using those for making the needed cuts solves that problem. 

Edited Saturday at 06:29 PM by '70 Grande

[Can-Con]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Thank you for your tutorial on this kit. A thought on the rear spoiler being too wide. Since the 1:1 Camaro spoiler is three parts anyway, maybe cut the ends off where the trunk line is and then remove the needed material from the center section too correct the width. This may also better represent the natural opening between the ends on the trunk lid and fenders.   

 

50 minutes ago, '70 Grande said:

espo: that's my exact plan... just gotta breakout my razor saw and start posting pics! 

One wacky thing about the kit spoiler piece is those molded trunk lines are raised, (not cut-in), so using those for making the needed cuts solves that problem. 

That's what I did on mine too. 

Should have probably narrowed that bumper a bit too but it was built over 35 years ago, no easy access to reference pics back then.

['70 Grande]

Can-Con

After explaining and posting about the rear spoiler, narrowing that rear bumper, (with  1:1 reference pics), will be the next thing I post about.

Your White Z28 looks excellent and will provide me with some inspiration!

Edited Saturday at 07:37 PM by '70 Grande