1/25 MPC Bounty Hunter Mustang F/C

[azers]

Just picked up the new kit of the bounty hunter. Nice kit. Kit comes with two sets of front wheels a set of spoked and the halibrands. My example is a little wavy around the side openings. The chrome tree is plated nicely but shows flash on some of the pieces but very usable. No warpage on the frame. The exhaust pipes are going to need to be drilled out, there is also some flash on them that need to be removed. The decal sheet is really nice and complete. The printed slicks are really nice. Actually thinking about moving this up near the front of my build list.

[1320wayne]

Is this the same chopped top body that comes in the Blue Max kit or is it different?

[Tye Brown]

Can't wait to get mine man I have 6 on the way I have some nice decals I'm going to use on mine & the first one I'm going to do man is the Brand X Mustang YEAH BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

Any photos??

[azers]

I don't have the blue max kit to compare. The top does appear to be chopped though. Maybe one of the other members here might be able to compare bodies.

[my80malibu]

Can I get a picture?

[azers]

I will try and post a few pictures tomorrow.

[Edsel-Dan]

Wonder if this means we will get the Shirley Muldowney Bounty Huntress Plymouth kit too??

I built one Way back than. Still have it some where

[gtx6970]

I have both the MPC Blue Max as well as a Revell version.

I'll ck body height on them both this afternoon

[kitswapper]

It's the same body.but they took the old MPC wide slicks and redid them with no raised hollow Goodyear lettering, now they are smooth with pad printed Goodyear on them. Also the kit has newly tooled Halibrands for the front, but it's the same old bad body, the decals have been redone and are nice.

[iBorg]

I agree with Jim. The Mustang body really deserves to be done nicely. The only Mustang that has been done well in plastic is the non ram air body by Jo-Han. The MPC body looks undersized but has decent details. The Revell body is so off it is hard to list the problems with it. Both the MPC and Revell bodies are ram air bodies. The Jo-han is a flat hood. I can make the Jo-Han body into a ram air although it is a challenge. The MPC will never be the correct size (it seems to be 1:28 scale) and the Revell body is useless.

If they corrected the slicks, I really need a BUNCH of these.

[azers]

I don't normally collect or build funny cars or dragsters, nut the early years appeal to me. Unfortunately i am not well versed in whats good or bad in kits. I was thinking about picking up the blue max but not going to now. Does anyone know the actual color of the car in some pictures it looks white and some it looks pearl white.

[THarrison351]

Wonder if this means we will get the Shirley Muldowney Bounty Huntress Plymouth kit too??

I built one Way back than. Still have it some where

I built that kit too, but don't have it anymore. I think if the mold still existed it would have been released again. I'd buy one if they did though.

[JPolli]

After doing a mock up of the newly released MPC Bounty Hunter Connie Kalitta Mustang F/C, the front axle seems a bit too wide. When you drop the body down on the chassis, the front tires protrude way too much. This is a different front axle than the one in the Blue Max kit. Has anyone experienced this?

[kitswapper]

Worse thing is and always has been the inaccurate mustang body, it's as bad as the Revell one, neither is a good representation of a Kirby Buttera body.

[brad4321]

How is this kit? I can't find a review, an instruction sheet, anything about what's inside, or how good it is. I want to buy it, but.......

[Daddyfink]

If you have the MPC Blue Max, you have the Kalitta car. MPC did the same as Revell and used their tools for various cars. But, they are a step above the AMT 70's Funnies!

I think they also did the Vel's Parnelli Jones Mustang, The Hot Rod Magazine car, Shirley Muldowney and another one I can not think of at the moment.

[Chris in Berwyn]

So I just checked my Blue Max, Kalitta and Challenger/Soapy Sales MPC kits. All three have similar but different chrome trees. Even tho the Kalitta has the same width axle as in the Challenger, they are two different axles! Unfortunately they must hav put the tree from another car in the Kalitta kit I am in the same boat as you Not sure what i am going to do, but thanks for finding this error before i did! Chris

[tim boyd]

I am building the kit right now. There are suprising changes from the earlier Blue Max release. The entire front suspension is different, being a variation of the original Locgghe coil-over design rather than the torsion-bar style in the Blue Max kit. Like J noted above, the front axle appears to be just a skosh too wide to allow the tires to tuck under the body - I removed the axle hub flanges on both sides of the axle to allow the wheels to move slightly inboard, that will appear to do the trick. I like the body, I find it far more period- accurate than the one in the Revell Blue Max reissue a few years back, at least from what I remember (always dangerous, that). Of course, I still like the original JoHan Mickey Thompson Mustang as well.... TIM http://public.fotki.com/funman1712/tim-boyd-on-line-mo/tim-boyd-on-line-ho1/

[John G - Retro Hobby Inc.]

Folks,

We recreated the Connie Kalitta Bounty Hunter kit from parts matching an original MPC kit. The front suspension parts are different from the Blue Max version, as is the gauge cluster and some other minor things. The front axle in the Kalitta kit was retooled, copied from an original part. If you all feel it really is too wide, I can look at having it narrowed for future production runs, but it may be too late. I hope you can work with it as is.

John Greczula

AMT/MPC

[JPolli]

Tim - Removal of the axle hub flanges, I think will remedy the problem. Thanks for the suggestion.

John - Narrowing it for future production runs would be great!

[VERNON]

^{I'm currently working on this car along with a couple other projects. My goal on this project was to build it somewhat box stock. I never realy cared for the body in this kit, but found if you work with it a little you can make it a bit more acceptable. I'll try to post pictures from home one evening this week.}

^{I sanded the sharp angle off the the top of the rear roof area to give it a smoother look. Then moved to the front fenders.}

^{To me the top of the front fenders look a bit to high, so I started sanding that area down to make it look a little sleaker.}

^{There is quite a bit of plastic in this area, but still work slowly to get the right look and not cut through the plastic.}

^{The windshield appears to be a little narrow & low, so I filled in the molding lines around the windshield and began to sand the a-pillars a little, I also increased the windshield height just a touch. You've got to be carefull here as you still want to be able to put the kit windshield in. Of course you can get a little more radical and make your own windshield.}

^{These are very minor tips and probably not noticed by everyone, but I know they have been done and look pretty good to me.}

^{I 'm was happy to see some info on the front axle here as I have only cleaned up the mold lines and stripped some of the chrome for the rest of the kit.}

^{I do love the rear slicks in this kit and have bought a couple more just for the slicks.}

^{Overall I'm pretty happy with the kit, even though it's a little more of project than I planned on. It's still nice to Round 2 reissuing these great old kits.}

^Vernon

[gbdolfans]

To John,Thank you so much for these kits.I just got the Bounty Hunter and LOVE it.Waiting for the Grove Mustang as well as my favorite the Candies & Hughes Cuda.

Any word on the Cuda??

We all should be very happy to have these kits coming out!!!!!

George

[gtx6970]

I love the old kits and will keep buying them as I see fit. and will deal with the in-accuracies ( if any ) as I see fit

keepem coming

And Thanks

[johnbuzzed]

If you have the MPC Blue Max, you have the Kalitta car. MPC did the same as Revell and used their tools for various cars. But, they are a step above the AMT 70's Funnies!

I think they also did the Vel's Parnelli Jones Mustang, The Hot Rod Magazine car, Shirley Muldowney and another one I can not think of at the moment.

How about AMT's MoPower funny? I have one that I bought new back in the early '80's and it looks good to me- but of course, I haven't done any test-fitting yet...

[gonzo64nova]

Anyone have any photos of the kit's components?