Harold Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Here's one that's waiting for the engine to be finished. Its the Polar Lights Coronet, and judging from my research, it's purty durn close. I've been building it with the same care I usually take, and added my usual flourishes: the right wheel- tire combo, a lowered stance, posable steering and a mildly detailed motor. The color is Plastikote Dark Brown Metallic with Dupli- Color clear. I do need to make some overlays for the visors out of thin sheet (.010).
george 53 Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Personally, I LIKE that kit. I put it up to an original AMT Coronet 500 kit, And I couldn't see anydifference. They looked the same to me. the parts ALL interchange, at least the CHROME does. Wheelbase is the same, interior is too. I don't know why some think it's a lousy kit. I had a buddy in High school who's older brother had that car! VERY nice build.
Mike Kucaba Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 The brickbats are that it is JUST purty darn close.As for me, it looks DARN close!! I gave one to a neighbor who owns one and I mentioned that many people complained about it's accuracy,he couldn't believe it. I think PL would've received better reviews had it been a straight on unbuilt kit. Just sayin' everyone's entitled to their opinion.
High octane Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Nice job on that Coronet,as it is one of my fav cars. I have several of the PL Coronets in my stash.
whale392 Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 I have a stash of these kits (owning a real convertible and a hardtop). I like them. Sure, they aren't 100% accurate, but I don't care. I have swapped engines and chassis to help some of this, but overall these kits are great. My real cars are both Harvest Gold, the 'vert with a Black top/interior (original 318Poly/727...now 440+6/Hemi 727) and the Hardtop with the White/Gold interior (originally a 361/727...now a 440/727).
mr moto Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 Great looking build! The color looks really classy on the Coronet. As far as the kit's accuracy, I have a slight problem with the contour of the side trim compared to the real thing but, that said, I still have a couple of the kits stashed away for future builds.
whale392 Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 Yes Mark, I agree with the rear springs being out of scale.......and this really WAS a glorified snapper so I expected that. The side trim is a sticking point for a lot of people. The angle is off, but I live with it (or fix it on a later build). The taillights depict the Coronet500s well (and only the 500s got those, as the 330s and 440s taillights were different), and the trunk dress panel is close enough. The grill doesn't have the correct taper from center to its edges...barely noticable in scale. Interior has little issues, but again correctable or live withable. This IS a glorified snap/simplified glue kit after all. Look at the later model GTO they did.........same deal. Now; your Taxi looks cool and all and with no disrespect intended, would never work in 1:1. And you have thrown some SERIOUS discrepencies into it by building it as such (although I will admit to thinking of doing a Taxi-look to my convertible and picking people up at MCO and taking them to their destination in style! ). As we have become spoiled by the ever-increasing detail level of todays kits, we look back on older kits with some disgust. Being as I own 2 of the REAL cars, I look at this kit (discrepencies and all) as a blessing to have at least raw material to start with. 80% I can live with and work the other 20%. Good looking build Harold.........maybe I'll dig out my vert and get back to work making the model of my car.
whale392 Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) Well Mr.Moore, considering I own 2 of these cars, I think I can be a pretty darn good judge of these kits when compared to the REAL cars. I do NOT need to go see a friend to compare.....I can compare them directly to MY REAL cars, and I WILL do just that. While you have your opinion, I have mine and we will have to disagree. I do not have to rely on foggy memories and 'I think, let me go look at so-and-so's car', I can walk to MY cars and compare. As to your comparing it to equal timeframe kits, I can agree. Polar Lights did indeed screw up almost every offering they put out. Did they have the research and Developement dollar that the big companies did? Well? And don't I hear complaints about the 'Big' companies botching kits up in the very same time frame? YUP! So step off your horse and accept these kits for what they are/were. They are full of inaccuracies, and if we want to go there; your vuanted JoHans,Revells, and AMT/SMP kits from the 'Golden' 60s and early 70s are too. C'mon, you want me to take metal axles and holes in the engine blocks seriously. Oh, and Chassis plates instead of real suspensions? Great idea to have lowering blocks for chassis pin-points and screws to hold it all together. GREAT TECHNOLOGY! Yes, they had great body detail...........that's it! Every generation will look at their kits as the best. 10 years from now we will look at what was released today and complain as to how inaccurate it was. This 'hobby' has become full of those who 'demand' absolute accuracy. Remember that when you pay $25-$30 for a kit now. R&D isn't free. So, I am done 'peeing and telling you it is raining'. As wise as you are, I am sure you can tell the difference. Now, back the the 'horribly inaccurate' 65 Dodge Coronet500 vert build, already in progress. (And if you have anything else you would like to point out, we can do so in PM, so as to NOT clutter this build thread any further) Edited January 20, 2011 by whale392
Harold Posted January 20, 2011 Author Posted January 20, 2011 There are a few things about this kit that I had to address. I removed the gussets from the trailing edge of the hood opening and separated the engine compartment from the interior shell. The transmission pan is off dimensionally, but its nice to see automatic- equipped cars, so I can live with that. My main gripe was the ride height, but that's my gripe with a lot of other kits. I do like the parts breakdown on the chassis, which made it easy to make spindles and give the car poseable steering. The interior is darn near close, and all I really did was trim it out (hey, it even has a gauge cluster decal, which still seems to be absent from some newer kits). As for the grille, I'll be carving out the headlights and installing a set of baby moons from behind for headlight buckets, and throwing on a set of clear lenses. It already looks good parked next to my other '60's muscle cars. The wheels and tires were exchanged for a set of big and little AMT Eagles and I pirated the wheels from the Model King '71 T- Bird. Now I want to finish my Turbo Charger- a Revell '67 Charger with the engine from JoHan's Turbine Car (and Chrysler came this close to building an initial run of 500 of 'em).
whale392 Posted January 20, 2011 Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) No problem Mark, and no worries. (insert appropriate linguistic stresspoint font here) Harold, keep at this kit. Fixing its ills will bring about a very nice representation of this oft-forgotton Mopar. Edited January 20, 2011 by whale392
Harold Posted January 31, 2011 Author Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) Well, its finally nearing completion. Aside from a few foil touch ups and finishing the hood, I can almost say its done (almost, but not quite). I wasn't thrilled with the windshield or the visors, so once again I made a windshield out of a 2- liter Faygo bottle (mmmmm....Black Cherry). I then made a new pair of visors from some .015 sheet and linked them together with a small piece of .020 by .040 strip, which also gave me a spot to mount the inside mirror (which is why I have to re- foil the windshield frame). The interior is bone stock except for flocking and a few Detail Master pieces- a CD player with a CD hanging out of it, a pair of keys, a pair of shades on the console and a tach face from a street rod instrument set. I even made a turn signal stalk from a piece of wire. The engine has a Detail Master distributor. I also cut the pulleys apart from the belt and file a groove into each one. I then made a fan belt out of some masking tape. You can also see the hinge I made for the hood out of OD/ID brass rod and tube. I really hate chrome headlights, so I carved out the chrome lenses with a X-acto knife. I then epoxied the baby moons from a '56 Ford to the backside of the grille and added a set of lenses from a '58 Edsel. Edited February 1, 2011 by Harold
walt francis Posted February 1, 2011 Posted February 1, 2011 All I can say is SWEEEEEEEET MOTHER OF GOD that is NIIIIICE !!!!!
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