1/25 Revell '70 Plymouth HEMI 'Cuda 2'n1

[tim boyd]

1) Has anyone compared the new Revell body side-by-side with any of the MPC or JO-HAN '71-'74 bodies?

2) Has anyone test fit the base hood from the '74 MPC (AMT) Barracuda promo/kit on the new Revell body?

Casey....

As to question #1, yes I did this in quite a bit of detail when I first got my hands on the new Revell kit. I also compared all three bodies to some 1.1 scale photography I had shot specifically for this comparison, and also compared the three bodies to a couple of the Danbury Mint '70 'cuda diecasts.

It was an interesting analysis....and as a result I no longer consider the MPC kit to be the single best 'cuda body. That honor (in my mind) now lies with the JoHan kit. The second surprise was the several areas where the new Revell kit was superior to both of the other kits, including the front door forward cutline as it nears and meets the A-pillar. The third surprise was that all three of the bodies don't fully capture the intricate combination of panel surfaces and sculpture in the tailamp cove area of the 1/1 scale car (the Revell body is probably the closest here, but it is not fully correct). My final conclusion was that if I was building a super-accurate 'cuda model now, I would actually start with the Revell body rather than the MPC or JoHan body, and work to accurize the body from there (e.g., reduce the width of the wheel flares, etc.)

Regarding question #2, one of the differences between the MPC and Revell kits is that the Revell front header panel (that runs from the top of the grille to the front of the hood) is much more realistic in the Revell kit - the MPC body incorrectly foreshortens this panel. That means that the hood from the MPC kit might be too long for the Revell body (although you would think it would be easy to shorten it to fit). If I get a chance I will do the actual comparison and report back (unless someone else does it first!)

Best regards...TIM

[RodneyBad]

Johan Hood on the Revell Cude

Little wide and a bit short.

A little Flash a missed chroming.

Edited December 3, 2013 by RodneyBad

[Casey]

Thanks Tim and Rodney for the info and pics.

I did do some cleanup regarding the discussion of the 1:1 options and similar posts, so I tried to keep those posts together in the 1:1 Reference Pics section, and added the link to that topic in post #1 of this topic: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82337&hl=%2Bplymouth+%2Bhemi

[1972coronet]

Thanks Tim and Rodney for the info and pics.

I did do some cleanup regarding the discussion of the 1:1 options and similar posts, so I tried to keep those posts together in the 1:1 Reference Pics section, and added the link to that topic in post #1 of this topic: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82337&hl=%2Bplymouth+%2Bhemi

Thanks , Casey . Great idea , especially in light of the contentions surrounding the "New Kit Reviews" section .

[1972coronet]

I'm yet to compare what parts from the ill-fated recent , modified reissue of the {{gulp}} AAR 'Cuda (2007) may fit on the new 1970 HemiCuda .

"Why ?" , you ask ...

Not completely certain of this myself . I guess that I'm hoping to utilise the 2007's tail lights as the basis of making some clear lenses from them ... I think that they're chrome (yes , it's been 6 years since I've even looked at that "Brother of Frankenstein" kit !)

[Drake69]

I'm yet to compare what parts from the ill-fated recent , modified reissue of the {{gulp}} AAR 'Cuda (2007) may fit on the new 1970 HemiCuda .

"Why ?" , you ask ...

Not completely certain of this myself . I guess that I'm hoping to utilise the 2007's tail lights as the basis of making some clear lenses from them ... I think that they're chrome (yes , it's been 6 years since I've even looked at that "Brother of Frankenstein" kit !)

Well I know the AAR hood is a little too wide than the engine bay, but it is the right length. That's as far as I've gotten.

[drodg]

Still waiting on my first 3..2 off of eBay from reputable vendors (GMS Customs and Model Car Mountain) and one from Model Roundup...hopefully within the week.

Me too on the vendors from EBAY. I don't think mine is shipped yet and I thought it would be by Saturday.

[caine440]

Same here from GMS.

It has not shipped as of yet but they did tell me it was shipping soon.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

You may be in luck, John - it appears the '07 kit's taillights are very close in size, actually a touch smaller. Looks as if they'll go in with some clearance, actually, and the shape is about right:

Pardon the rush cellphone pic, but the '07 1/24 lens looks as close to a drop-in fit as anyone can reasonably expect for a 1/25 body developed five years later.

Personally, I think a fine-tip red Sharpie will make very short work of the chrome pieces. But if you just gotta have a clear lens, that last attempt at an AAR might at least have this use, anyway.

[drodg]

Got a call from my LHS this am they have a Cuda in. I am picking it up today.

[1972coronet]

You may be in luck, John - it appears the '07 kit's taillights are very close in size, actually a touch smaller. Looks as if they'll go in with some clearance, actually, and the shape is about right:

Pardon the rush cellphone pic, but the '07 1/24 lens looks as close to a drop-in fit as anyone can reasonably expect for a 1/25 body developed five years later.

Personally, I think a fine-tip red Sharpie will make very short work of the chrome pieces. But if you just gotta have a clear lens, that last attempt at an AAR might at least have this use, anyway.

Thanks much for your info and for the photos , Chuck

[tim boyd]

To all of you who sent me PM's on the 'cuda kit build - sorry for not responding, I just "discovered" your messages today.

I have now responded to all PM's that were in the cue and hopefully you now have your answers. Thanks for your interest and best regards....TIM

[Dragfreak]

Has revell fixed the chroming issue and decals folded over issue or are people still having problems with this?

[brodie_83]

I dunno, but I might wait a little while before picking one of these up just because of the chroming and decal problems they're having...

[1972coronet]

Has revell fixed the chroming issue ?

I can only account for my kit ; its plating appears to be just fine . Perhaps I'll have to further scrutnise the chrome pieces ... ( )

Decals folded over issue; are people still having problems with this?

The decals in my example weren't necessarily "folded-over" ; rather they were at a concave position , with one end of the sheet resting on the boxes' lower-half's base , and the opposite end resting on the lower box's side .

Not really an issue per se . Just open the kit , remove the decal sheet from its imposition , and then lay the sheet flat against the bottom , under the instruction sheet.

[drodg]

I have two of them and I am working on one. I think the chrome appears fine on mine.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Two here too. Best I can make out, only chrome problems occur in one kit, along the sprue and not the actual parts.

More me looky, more me likey. Getting ever more convinced the slight body deviations can be dispatched in pretty short order; only real headache'll be confirming the engine location and shoving it back against the cowl if necessary.

[Casey]

only real headache'll be confirming the engine location and shoving it back against the cowl if necessary.

It's too far forward?

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Seems to be - an awful lot of the bellhousing visible there - but I'm not having an easy time finding the 1:1 shots to say fer sure one way or the other.

Thing is, jacking with that stuff will also affect the alignment of the shaker scoop in the stock hemi, and that may ultimately prove more trouble than it's worth.

[stevez]

Any one post the instructions?, Revell site doesn't have them yet.

[Casey]

I received my kit today, and while my decal sheet was curled up the side of the box, it was curled up the end a bit:

No folds nor permanent damage, so not a big concern at this point.

There was little to no flash on any of the parts in my kit, but the chrome was a bit frosty(?) in a few spots, as if the undercoating wasn't perfectly even. The frosty areas look like moisture which has yet to evaporate, but it's not. You can see it best on the front license plate backing area, molded with the front bumper:

Here's the only flash I could find, around the main sprue feeder section:

As far as the individual parts are concerned, everything looks very nice. I saw nothing excessively out of scale, no skimped over details nor parts which were overly simplified. The Shaker hood and scoop parts look very nice, the Raisin Bran hood's scoops are crisply defined, too:

I have to look at the twin-scoop hood a bit closer to determine of the bulges are a tad too high, and the "spears" at the leading edge of each might be a bit too prominent, too, but I haven't gotten too in depth on that yet.

Moving on to the body shell, the first flaw become obvious, and it was mentioned by Chuck K and others previously- the wheel lips. They are way too prominent, and I'm not sure why. When viewed straight on from the side they look fine:

Maybe a little too thick, but nothing grossly out of scale, especially when compared to an AMT '74 promo body. When viewed from above, looking directly down upon the top of the wheel arch, we see the problem clearly:

They almost look to be flared, and they are definitely too prominent for stock. Even taking the stainless wheel lip trim thickness into account, the wheel lips are still too thick. The wheel trim is engraved into the lips, so removing some material from the wheel lips to make them less prominent is going to remove the engraved wheel lip detail entirely. I don't know if the MPC/AMT '74's wheel lips are 100% correct, but they sure look much more correct and proportionate than the Revell '70's do. Here's another shot of both bodies' rear wheel lips:

And two shots comparing the front wheel arches/lips of both bodies:

The very thin drip rail was mentioned by someone else previously, too, and here's a close up comparison shot of the AMT '74's and Revell '70's drip rails:

Both are very thin/shallow, so again I'll have to do some research to see what's correct in this area. I think some scribing to add a shadow line where the molding meets the roof would add a little visual depth and give the drip rail more definition.

[Casey]

Here are a few pics of the AMT '74 promo hood semi-roughly cut out (it was molded with the body shell) and placed on the Revell 1/25 '70's body shell. The AMT hood is too wide, and will need a sharper, extended "tip" at the front to match the Revell body. The length/depth appears to be near perfect, and the contours along the sides of the hood and the Revell body's fenders is very close, but will need some slight tweaking to make it perfect.

A few additional comparison shots of the Revell '70 and AMT '74 body shells:

In the below pic, the Revell body was slightly elevated, bringing it a tad bit closer to the camera lens and exaggerating it's size a bit, but the Revell body is definitely wider than the AMT body. Whether or not that's correct/accurate, I can't say.

[Rob Hall]

Interesting the differences that result in tooling a subject 40+ years apart. I've got all the MPC '70-74 annuals and reissues and the Johan '71s but they are all in storage so I can't compare easily, likewise for the Monogram 1/24th '70 and '71s.

[Casey]

I forget what this part/section is called to which the oil filter mounts, but I think this is the first time it's been fully molded on a B-series Mopar big block like this:

The bucket seats have nice detail which will still be visible after a coat of primer and paint:

Dash/instrument cluster surround detail:

[Mike Chernecki]

Yesterday I received my kit from GMS Customs (ordered Nov 19th). Like the above comments I have a curled decal sheet, flash in the same places and the chrome plating is missing from one spray angle on the backside. Otherwise it looks like an awesome kit.