New Revell 1/25 2013 Camaro ZL-1 (pre-painted)

[Brett Barrow]

Picked one of these up yesterday, I'll try to take some photos later today, surprised no one has started a thread on it yet.

Looks nice, like a hybrid between a snap kit and a full-detail glue kit. Reminds me a lot of the old AMT "Craftsman" series which were promo-style chassis but with engine bay. The Inferno Orange metallic paint is really well done, but is let down by the mold lines which were not removed from the body before painting. Serious modelers will no doubt want to strip and clean up the mold lines and repaint them (and it's possible Revell will offer these unpainted in the future). For the money (less than a standard Revell full-detail kit) I think these are very well done. The windows have the black borders prepainted as well. The chassis and interior parts are molded in very dark grey and a metallic black.

Highly recommended to beginners and to advanced modelers who will strip and clean up the body casting.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Brett Barrow]

Scan of the back of the box to give you an idea of what the kit is like. They say 48 pieces, that looks about right. Note that the windows lack the black border on the prototype, the kit has them already done.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Darin Bastedo]

Do you think the body would drop onto the full detail kit?

[Brett Barrow]

I don't have the full-detail kit, so I don't have one to try. It is thin and doesn't have any big mounting lugs or anything. After checking out the instruction sheet for the other kit I would think so.

[Danno]

Sweet!

[Rob Hall]

Where are the quarter windows?

[Brett Barrow]

Where are the quarter windows?

Kit has them, the prototype on the box didn't.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Brett Barrow]

Mold lines Have to say I've seen worse on show tables...

Edited August 26, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Brett Barrow]

Edited August 26, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Brett Barrow]

There is one piece of bad news, the supplied metal axles do not properly fit the front wheels, the hole in the front wheel is too large. I've already sent Revell and email letting them know. Rears are fine. I was really hoping to get a quick mockup shot with wheels and tires. Ride height looks a little high (typical with Revell) but due to the simple nature of the kit should be an easy fix. I'll have to wait untill I get my workbench set up at my new place to fix the front wheel issue - I was really hoping this was something I could crank out in my office today!

And there are no decals at all, not for the emblems or gauges or even license plates. The emblems are tampo printed, though. A couple are misaligned (the ZL1 on the hood), but the good news is they are actually molded into the body and not just printed on.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Brett Barrow]

Oh, forgot to take a picture, but it does have side mirrors painted in body color. No separate mirror faces, though. You'll need to foil or paint them.

[kelson]

I'm still on the fence about buying this kit,i would love to see someone do a side by side comparison with this kit and AMT's 2012 ZL1 kit.

Edited August 26, 2014 by kelson

[unclescott58]

Great review Brett. I love that you took lots of photos of everything. Good job. And it looks like a nice kit.

Scott

[Rob Hall]

Having an engine gives this the edge over amts curbside, imo

[Brett Barrow]

Forgot to get one of the wheels/tires. The "ZL1" engraving on each wheel seems to vary from legible to barely detectible - I intentionally picked the worst one. These will need to be stripped of plating and undercoat and hopefully the engraving will be sharp on the raw plastic. The real wheels aren't chrome or polished anyway, they're argent with the flats on the spokes machined.

[Brett Barrow]

Having an engine gives this the edge over amts curbside, imo

Plus no vinyl seats and the body is one piece - no separate front and rear fascias to worry about the seams.

[martinfan5]

I have to say, better than I was expecting, I see this as Revells way to compete if you will with Round2's Show Room Series, I wonder what stripping method will work with the paint, and does sort suck that there are no decals.

[Exotics_Builder]

This kit's chassis reminds me of some of the 60's offerings from such as AMT where suspension and often exhaust were molded in. I will be trying to fit this to a full detail chassis and see what the results will. It has yet to show up at my LHS where I was on Monday.

[Brett Barrow]

This kit's chassis reminds me of some of the 60's offerings from such as AMT where suspension and often exhaust were molded in. I will be trying to fit this to a full detail chassis and see what the results will. It has yet to show up at my LHS where I was on Monday.

There's nothing that looks like it would interfere. Certainly looks way easier than putting the snap Mustang Convertible on the glue chassis. I'll snap a picture of the inside of the body shell when my battery recharges.

Note that these are only shipping to RPP shops this first month, the full shipment of the ZL1 and Challenger pre-paints won't hit non-RPP shops and full distribution until next month.

[Danno]

Note that these are only shipping to RPP shops this first month, the full shipment of the ZL1 and Challenger pre-paints won't hit non-RPP shops and full distribution until next month.

RPP program sounds like a violation of 'anti-trust' restraint of trade prohibitions.

Wonder why some big distributor, like say, Mega Hobby or the like, hasn't challenged it.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Danno

[Rob Hall]

Checked the rpp lhs last night. Didn't have any of the new releases yet.

[Brett Barrow]

RPP program sounds like a violation of 'anti-trust' restraint of trade prohibitions.

Wonder why some big distributor, like say, Mega Hobby or the like, hasn't challenged it.

It works through your distributor. And remember that the biggest distributor of all, Great Planes/Hobbico, owns Revell. You buy an assortment - either the "small" or "large" and you get a certain quantity of all that month's new kits regardless of subject, you can't pick and choose, you get them all. If you sell out of one then you have to wait for regular distribution. You're billed by your distributor, ships direct from Revell's warehouse. It's a good program, we can't do it because we don't have a brick-and-mortar store. Brick-and-mortars have plenty of challenges and onlines have plenty of advantages (I've done both) so letting brick-and-mortars have new product 2 weeks early is no skin off our back, especially when they're forced to buy it all including reissues. The ones taking advantage are the ones buying it under the auspices of a brick-and-mortar store then turning around and selling on eBay.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Brett Barrow]

As is the case with almost anything I touch, disaster strikes! I was trying to pop off the hood hinges to get a pic of the underhood detail and wound up breaking a corner of the hood off. Oh well, I'll fix it and strip and repaint it, which I was planning to do anyway, but I was looking forward to mocking it up with the factory paint and letting it set on the shelf until I got around to it. Totally my fault, I was trying to pop the hinges back through the slots instead of just snipping the pins off with a sprue cutter.

Here is the underhood detail, the hood also has detail on the underside, I just didn't snap a pic of it (yet)

And the inside of the body shell for those contemplating a full kit chassis swap

[unclescott58]

By the way, I like the fact that the boarders around the windows is prepainted. I have found this to be a pain in the, you know what, in the past.

Scott

[Luc Janssens]

Looks neat, 'bout the mold lines, removing them at the factory before paint, probably will bump the price up too much.

Personally I would add an extra set of wheels to the kit, to give the modeler options, but again that too has a cost factor.

Anyway, hope the design of the kit will be the bait to get more novice model kit builders into the game and repeat buyers...