Revell 2026

[Chris B]

I still have this one unopened tucked away in my stash

[mikos]

On 11/16/2025 at 8:02 AM, Mark said:

That truck was issued alongside the Captain Hook wrecker back in the day.  I don't remember what it was called, but I do recall the box art showing it from the rear which ignores that unique grille.  It looks interesting but I'll pass, having a Captain Hook in paint right now, and a Sneaky Pete (different kit altogether, but in the same "big rig" territory) in prep for paint.

Mojave Mule is neat, but either TD will get it shelved, or Revell will bring him back into the fold.  Or, maybe that one was done under a different contract which would give Revell the right to issue it without his name on it.

The early Eighties Revell Camaros weren't as good as AMT's or MPC's.  The engine is a lump with characteristics of Chevy and Pontiac V8s.  The 1:1 Trans Am was supposed to get the 301 Turbo V8 (the '80-'81 Birds had it only to get it ready for the '82) but GM cheaped out and forced Pontiac to use the Chevy (or, "GM Corporate") engine.  All three (AMT, MPC, Revell) kits had the Cease-Fire (er, "Cross-Fire") injected engine with a manual transmission.  Again, GM cheaped out and didn't do emissions testing on that setup, requiring the automatic with that engine.

Another fact, though not the reason why they cancelled the 301 Turbo, is that had they actually continued with it for the ‘82MY, it probably would have been faster than the all new C4 coming out just around the corner in early ‘83 for the ‘84MY.  

Cross-Fire injection gets a bad wrap these days, but increasing the FP to 13+PSI by swapping to the ‘85+TPI fuel pump solves a lot of the drivability problems of the early CFI cars.  They run great after that if the lid (intake manifold lid cover) has no vacuum leaks. 

[mikos]

On 11/17/2025 at 2:04 PM, Chuck Kourouklis said:

Oh, the Revell kit had its strong points for sure; I seem to recall it being the least fiddly to build, and although they were square-shouldered (again better executed in 1/16), I appreciated at least the ATTEMPT at proper Eagle GT tires.  As for drip rails, MPC just seemed to be in the habit of slopping those over in the early '80s - Corvette, half-done Fiero, especially those late, unlamented EXP kits, all looking unfinished in the greenhouse.

Yeah, see, I think it's all been Z28 till now.  If Revell found the patterns for its 1/16 Berlinetta, it may have been just cost-effective enough to do the new nose - OR, maybe as you observed, it was something tooled but never released.

Hmmph, kinda getting excited about that one now...

One thing that really bugged me about those MPC 3rd gen Camaro /Firebird kits is the non-flush fitting front windshield.   In fact, there appeared to be at least a 2-3” scale gap between the top of the windshield header and the surface of the glass.  When they converted the kits over to the T-top roof style in ‘83, it looked even worse.  Ugh!  

The MPC Fiero kit has the windshield mount from the outside and preserved the flush looking appearance of the front glass like the real car.

The MPC C4 Corvette was half baked as well.  I wish they molded the front glass, A-pillars and top roof panel with drip rails in one piece like the Monogram kit.   They also tinted this part on the Monogram kit which made it look even more realistic.

Edited 14 hours ago by mikos