Chi-Town Hustler

[Ben]

I've heard from several reliable sources the MPC Harrell Camaro is the most accurate funny car of that era. Of course, it hasn't been reissued and seems to have disappeared. The other Camaro funny car kits including the AMT Funny Hugger and its variants, the Revell Camaro which was reissued as the Jungle Jim car, as well as the MPC USA-1 Camaro and its variants are all lackluster attempts that require major work to make them accurate.

Mike

I consider kits like the Funny Hugger to be "drive by" kits. As in, to me, it looks like the people that developed the kit were driving around and saw the funny car. From there they drove back to the drawing board and designed the kit. No getting out and taking measurements. Just the philosophy of "hey it looks like that funny car we saw they other day"!

On the Dick Harrell Camaro you can tell a lot of time and effort was given to produce as accurate of a replica as could be done back then.

[1972coronet]

As much as I've heard about this kit , never once -- until now -- did I realise that this is a new moulding !

Needless to say , I am impressed with it . Certainly , its origins date-back to the excellent Funny Car kits from Monogram during the 70's ( and there's not a single thing wrong with

that ! ) , which is why I believed it to be a "generic" reissue ; its chassis looks like the Mongoose-turned-Cop-Out ( Tom Daniels' custom ) Duster .

I agree 100% with the assessment regarding the critiques of a new release . This is one fine effort by the folks at R-M ; its alleged "short-comings" ( e.g. , the contemporary wheels ) are such small apples .

I'm certain that their R&D folks had a bit of a time trying to recreate a vintage-but-restored-with-updated-parts Funny Car . The provided , vintage photos ( IRWINDALE !!! ) are case-in-point : just look at different rear wheels and their changes throughout the car's tenure ; gold , then aluminum .

It's quite difficult to attempt to recreate or replicate a vintage race car : Sponsor changes ; colour changes ; tyre and wheel changes ; year-to-year changes ; and multiples of the 'same' car ( refer to Match Race cars of Stock / Super Stock / Pro Stock classes ) much like the Sox & Martin cars , plus changes for different sanctions and classes ( Modified Production to Pro Stock to Stock , ad infinium . )

Thanks , Len , for your review and photos

[Len Carsner]

Slixx shows the correct color choice as HOUSE OF KOLORS-KANDY APPLE RED #K1101 OVER PEARL WHITE.

The next question is which decal sheet is best. I noticed the rear wheels have beadlocks. Guess that's one thing I'll be changing. Also, I wish Revell would have left off the molded in seat belts. I much prefer to use photo-etch.

Mike

In a discussion we had with the shop that painted both the original and the tribute car they told us they used HOK Orion Silver (BC02) as the base color, and Candy Red (KK11) for the body color. Orion Silver was also used for the bumpers.

We'll be looking at suitable, reasonably priced substitutes for these colors.

Len C.

[oldscool]

OMG! A Pinto body had not occurred to me until you mentioned it. That would be great! Can you say Keeling and Clayton?

oldscool

[iBorg]

Before we get excited about a Pinto let me remind you of two things, (10) Jo-han Pinto and (2) Barracuda. For every successful Pinto there was five Cudas. No manufacturer has every done a late body Cuda, accurate or inaccurate. If you want a CUDA, your only choice is resin. If you want a second generation Camaro, kit bash a Funny Hugger/JJ Camaro with the AMT Camaro. Of course another great body to kit would be a decent ram air Mustang.

Mike

[oldscool]

Before we get excited about a Pinto let me remind you of two things, (10) Jo-han Pinto and (2) Barracuda. For every successful Pinto there was five Cudas. No manufacturer has every done a late body Cuda, accurate or inaccurate. If you want a CUDA, your only choice is resin. If you want a second generation Camaro, kit bash a Funny Hugger/JJ Camaro with the AMT Camaro. Of course another great body to kit would be a decent ram air Mustang.

Mike

Yeah, I know the Pintos weren't very commonplace but they were just the doggone wildest looking things.

oldscool

[Brett Barrow]

Tamiya Clear Red (TS-74) over Tamiya Mica Red (TS-39) makes a very nice and much easier to apply "faux" Candy Red finish. I stole that from a Tim Boyd article in the other mag.

edit - Mr Boyd also added a layer of TS-13 Clear over the Clear Red so that any sanding or polishing would not change the intensity of the red layer.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Brett Barrow

[iBorg]

Ken....

I'll send you my address for your unwanted Revell Camaros. Takes a bit of work but its worth it. As for your comment concerning the MPC Cuda. I forgot about the Dunn and Reath. That's one made of golden unotanium. I don't know if it was really a funny car body. Both the MPC second generation Camaro as well as the Don Schumacher Cuda were really stock bodies with molded on hoods. I'm not sure if they qualify as decent attempts. The Monogram Snake Cuda isn't bad but I question the scale. Maybe 1/22?

Mike

[Dragline]

I'll have my own at weeks end. I will then TEAR off the cello and go right to work. I put up all my other projects and cleared the bench in anticipation.

I'll be doing mine in "vintage" form. I already have the rear wheels ready to go. Looks like quite a bit of chrome stripping for all thse aluminum surfaces and tanks. I have my Metalizers on stand-by.

I'm going with the solid color of the original car on my build.

Kudos to Revell for the chute tags too. Nice touch.

Quite a few more rubber fuel lines than on the restored car as well. I'll be replicatiing those as well.

Good Times on the bench just ahead.

Bob

[horsepower]

In a discussion we had with the shop that painted both the original and the tribute car they told us they used HOK Orion Silver (BC02) as the base color, and Candy Red (KK11) for the body color. Orion Silver was also used for the bumpers.

We'll be looking at suitable, reasonably priced substitutes for these colors.

Len C.

These actual colors are still available from Black Gold, or any of the other retailers that carry the HOK line, they are also available in an approximate match in the Kustom Kolor line of paints that are still available from the hobby shops that still have some of the stock on hand. closest match I've found is to use Gloss aluminum Tamiya for the base, & there is a "Candy Red" in the "metalcast" line from Krylon that is a real good match. I have found that it is better to either decant this red, or switch to a spray nozzle from the Tamiya line as the Krylon is designed to spray a much larger area at a higher pressure than is needed for small items.

[ratnasty]

I got my Chi-town today and was disappointed that the body builds up into the NEWstalgia car only . So I have cut mine up because I wanted to build the orginal car . Here are pics of before and after . I still have a little to do to get it the way I want it

Chuck

This is the body out of the box

This is mybody after the mods

[Fuel Coupe]

Great work Chuck. Much better.

quick question Chuck, where did you get those plexi glass blocks. I know there was a guy selling those on ebay but cant find them.....

[ratnasty]

Shane thats where I got mine . I'll see if I still have his name . It was a year ago thou.

Chuck

[Jim Kampmann]

Chuck,

Looks great! Did you just graft the Polar Lights Charger sides into the Revell body? I was thinking of using the PL body and cutting the scoop from the Revell hood. But then I'm partial to those kits!

Thanks,

Jim Kampmann

[ratnasty]

Yes Jim I cut out the whole side and graffed in a new side from a polar lights car , this way the tin plate will fit the windsheild area and the rear tail is still correct. the rear spoiler on the polar lights is to tall . the whell base on the cars are real close if not dead on

Chuck

[iBorg]

I'm hoping to get one of these tonight for my birthday. So, to get this correct you changed the sides. Why not just use the PL Charger body and change the hood and sand down the spoiler height?

Thanks,

Mike

Edited September 22, 2010 by iBorg

[Chuck Kourouklis]

I'd hazard a guess that the greenhouse is much closer on the Revell car - it just seems to look more like the vintage body shells in that area than the Polar Lights cars did; slimmer C-pillars and a more obvious downward cant from rear to front.

Actually looks as if Chuck blended the strongest areas of both body shells for the vintage style.

It's also interesting that the front fender cut-outs of the Revell shell better match those of the vintage Hawaiian. The rears will need a much more angular cut, but conveniently enough, Revell has already hogged out this area some inside the body shell. I'm guessing this is primarily for a scale thickness effect in the body shell around the wheel arches, but it'll also make it easier to trim that gentle arc away from the rears if that's what we need to do.

Once again, we have hiccups in the execution; but man, I'm so blown away by Revell's design work and the processing quality in this kit - especially the frame, which isn't as squared off for mold considerations as you'd expect. Really diggin' mine.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Yeah, and I'm trying to recall if any of Revell's most recent dragsters have something close to those valve covers...

[Chuck Most]

I've never seen any ribbed, Mopar branded Hemi valve covers,in neither styrene nor resin, but I think Ken is right- SOMEBODY's bound to have a set out sooner or later.

[Hondo]

Good points so far by everyone.....

Especially, don't slam Revell for this kit. It's better than nothing at the hobby shop.

The differences can easily be corrected, depending on which version you build.

You younger guys never had the thrill of seeing the F C & M original do their 1/4 mile burnouts......

It was awesome !! Even Jungle Jim drove this car a time or two.

A couple things:

This offset driver chassis was unique to this car. Not on any others, IIRC.

I don't see myself buying "a lot" of these for that reason. Now the upcoming Hawaiian Charger, yes. It will have the normal Logghe style chassis. Can be used with other bodies.

Also, I do not remember the original CTH having metallic paint, just plain red.

Thanks Revell for bringing back some early model funny cars.

(If anyone needs pics of the original CTH or any other funny cars, PM with your email)

[Brett Barrow]

I just got my grubby paws on the kit today and I have to say that I'm very impressed with the kit, in slack-jawed awe maybe is a better description. I don't know what this thing is meant to represent exactly, old, new, or in-between, but the tooling is very fine and sharp, Tamiya-esque I would go so far as to say. It doesn't really feel like anything Revell has ever done, it's like a new company almost, right down to the way the sprues flow into the parts. Some folks had speculated that the front tires were just plain Revell muscle car tires, that it not the case, they are smaller and skinnier, I'll be happy to report, I think the tires are the same as what's coming in the new reissue Mongoose Duster as well.

I just got in from a concert and I'm tired and going to bed, but if there is anything in this kit you guys want nice close-up pictures of let me know, I plan on taking some pictures after work tommorrow.

It may not build into a perfect CTH, but I think it bodes very well for the more generic Hawaiian kit due out in a month or two, that should be much better received because of it's suitability as a donor kit for aftermarket bodies and decals.

[Hondo]

A couple things to keep in mind in that regard ...

One is that old photographs are notoriously unreliable as color references because a number of factors — lighting conditions, film type, degradation of the photos over time, etc. — can effect how the colors look.

Another is the '60s-'70s drag cars often changed in appearance from race to race. Fiberglass bodies were frequently damaged or destroyed and replaced. So, it seems entirely possible, if not likely, that the CTH could have been painted different shades or types of red during the course of its racing career.

Best rule of thumb ... unless you're planning on displaying your model on the hood of the 1:1 car you're replicating, most of the time, "close enough" really is close enough!

Good point, Ken.

The old photos do make the shades change due to light and age. The old car and new car are two different shades of red though.

Bodies were sometimes replaced a few times a season, plus this CTH chassis was raced about 2 years. I'm going by my love of older funny car history and seeing it in person back then. On the Slixx decal set, there are different decals for the grill for the different configurations. Plus they used M&H tires and then Goodyears also before there were "tire contracts."

It's a model car & a hobby........ Build it like you want and have fun.

[oldscool]

If we are lucky, Revell will do a vintage body for the Hawaiian and we can just use that body combined with the CTH hood, tin and windshield to build the original CTH. So if you wanted to build a Hawaiian and an original CTH you would end up buying 3 kits. I'm thinking this is exactly what Revell is banking on.

oldscool

[oldscool]

Yep, that's my biggest fear. If so I won't be buying a single one. This is the second let down in a row for me from Revell after the Hemi dart.

oldscool

[Doughnut]

Wow, just reading all the responses here makes me both mad and disappointed. Not at Revell, but at the modeling community represented here. Revell has come out with probably the best funny car chassis to date, along with fantatic wheels and other parts, and a body that seems pretty spot on to the nostalgia car they were trying to replicate, and all you guys do is blast it in post after post. You've even gone so far as to start criticizing the Hawaiian based on what you think Revell will do, even though no ones seen the model.

Bottom line - It's a fantastic kit. It will build into a beautiful model of the car it is meant to represent. The only part I'm going to search for is the photoetch valve covers, which as we all know would have added cost to the final kit, and then everyoe would be bitching about the price.

If you want an accurate replica of the car as it raced back in the day, wait a week and someone will offer a replica resin body. For me, I'll stick to building the nostalgia version as it was photographed above in my neighborhood (Mopars in the Park - Farmington, MN).