Fast and Furious Eclipse w/4g63

[86_SR5]

While I'm waiting for my skylines body kit to dry, I've decided to strip down and rebuild my Revell-Monongram (NO RELATION TO: AMT) Fast and Furious 98 eclipse. This car is almost perfect, it resembles a real eclipse with the 4g63 DOHC turbocharged motor, the intercooler is molded into the body, no big deal, only thing it needs is a wastegate. Other than that this car is perfect. The AMT is a joke compared to this, and for 16bux it's well worth it, you may want to strip the metal body of it's paint if you want to do it in another color, but other than that it's real good as far as quality, btw it doesn't have the roof scoop (not that a front engine 4wd car needs one. Here's some pics, for those of you who plan to build an evo and put a motor in it, I highly reccommend this kit for the engine alone.



Engine mounted, turbo and mani mounted



Close up of the 4g63 sportin it's blue and chrome turbo



Perfect ride height wouldn't you say?



Did I mention it's AWD?



Installed: Intake manifold, turbo breather with filter, and air pipe routing



Blurry pic, sorry.
That's it for now, more later.

[SuperStreet reader]

nice build its a really good kit it was my bros 1st kit andonly sofar he is 9

[86_SR5]

yeah, much better than the AMT kit, although I thought of buying another one of these revells and droping the motor into the AMT so I could customize the paint on the other car.

[Midnight Racer]

Looks good.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Good job so far!

Revell is the only company it seems that makes diecast models that are worth owning and building. They kept the body simple, didn't dumb it down w/silly opening doors w/monster hinges. Everything else is engineered like a plastic kit.

More to the point, this diecast model thoroughly destroys AMT's incredibly poor Eclipse which came out long after Revell's kit. The AMT model is one of the worst wastes of tooling and styrene, yet nobody on the business end seems to care...it's just about milking the license for $$, accuracy be damned. Let's just say I don't buy much of anything AMT any more.

And what does Revell do? They're taking this model, and making a plastic body for it.

Vote w/your wallet. Revell cares about their buyers, they concentrate on making profits by making good products. AMT/RC2 cares only about making money from licensed products, they don't care if the products are inaccurate if they think they will sell regardless.

[86_SR5]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoomMX-5

Good job so far!

Revell is the only company it seems that makes diecast models that are worth owning and building. They kept the body simple, didn't dumb it down w/silly opening doors w/monster hinges. Everything else is engineered like a plastic kit.

More to the point, this diecast model thoroughly destroys AMT's incredibly poor Eclipse which came out long after Revell's kit. The AMT model is one of the worst wastes of tooling and styrene, yet nobody on the business end seems to care...it's just about milking the license for $$, accuracy be damned. Let's just say I don't buy much of anything AMT any more.

And what does Revell do? They're taking this model, and making a plastic body for it.

Vote w/your wallet. Revell cares about their buyers, they concentrate on making profits by making good products. AMT/RC2 cares only about making money from licensed products, they don't care if the products are inaccurate if they think they will sell regardless.

true, that's why I only buy AMT models that freinds have built and would reccommend such as the 69 396SS Chevelle, that was a descent kit, i built.

[Layla's Keeper]

Yeah, it was a sad day when the Dyersville kit engineers were fired. After the gorgeous separate frame kits like the 1957 Chrysler 300C and the 1966 Buick Riviera, I was constantly eagerly awaiting the next list of releases from AMT/Ertl (god I miss using that name). I remember seeing that they were going to release a bullet-nose Studebaker and immediately wrote them promising to buy three (one to build as a gasser, one to swipe the engine out of for a replica stock Avanti project, and one to build as a modern custom). I actually thought that if their trend kept up I'd get a modern kit of a 1969 AMX!

Then Racing Champions came in, bought them up, fired the tooling staff, and released disappointments like the 1958 Plymouth Belvedere (decent, but lacking) and the new Ala Kart (huge ugly sinkmarks on the underside of the fender/running boards unit, rippled chrome, undersized Red Ram hemi, incorrect striping decals). Now there's all the licensed bullsh*t that is more in tune with MPC's mid-70's releases.

AMT/RC has lost a customer here, too. Thank god Revell-Monogram still listens to us.

As a side note, Zoom-Zoom, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to John Mueller, would you? He was the lead guy on the AMT tooling staff from the release of their 1/16th scale Cord 812 to the release of the 1962 Ford Thunderbird kit and was responsible for the increase in detail and accuracy during that period of time.

[sweetwhiteCAV]

I am definetly not happy with my eclipse, if had payed more than $10 i would be furious but, im just gonna stay away from AMT in the future....

[86_SR5]

If you'd have bought the one like mine, you wouldn't have the roof scoop, or the option of paint, unless you sanded and sanded or dipped it in hydrochloric acid, which have some of in my shed, I think it's been diluted (hasn't eaten through the paint can it was given to me in yet )

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by Layla's Keeper

As a side note, Zoom-Zoom, you wouldn't happen to know what happened to John Mueller, would you? He was the lead guy on the AMT tooling staff from the release of their 1/16th scale Cord 812 to the release of the 1962 Ford Thunderbird kit and was responsible for the increase in detail and accuracy during that period of time.

John freelances now. He was involved in some more AMT/RC2 kits (I don't know how much, but probably w/their '56 TBird that is awesome...he would never do something so bad as that Eclipse), but recently was involved in the kit design for Trumpeter's upcoming '60 Bonnevilles and '63 Novas. He also designed the upcoming Lindberg '65 Coronet and GTO. So he's still out there designing kits.

[Layla's Keeper]

Lindberg's still alive????? And doing a 1965 Coronet???? Sweetness! Is that a 1965 GTO, too?

I'm liking this news a ton. Last new Lindberg kit I bought was their 1966 Chevelle and I loved that one. Plus I want that Trumpeter 1960 Bonneville. Mueller's kits have always been brilliant.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Whoops, I meant Polar Lights!

And the GTO is a '64, not a '65. And they're also doing Herbie the Love Bug.

The new cars are supposed to be "high tech" snap kits, w/about 100 parts. I'm not worried about detail, Mueller knows what we expect. They're supposed to have some very cool features for anyone interested in conversions.

I guess I was typing too fast yesterday...

[Layla's Keeper]

Ahh.. I see then. Well, Polar Lights is cool too. I like their vintage Funny Car kits, especially the Gas Ronda & Blue Max Mustangs.

Heck, there've been some sweet snap kits. The Revell NSX and Chevy Caprice come to mind. I'll probably end up buying these too.

At the least they'll be strong bodies for slot car racing.

[supramike420]

hey one thing-get bigger rims/tires

[86_SR5]

Originally Posted by supramike420

hey one thing-get bigger rims/tires

That's the downside to this, it has no tire meet. I have rubberbands thicker than this. I'm gonna see about getting some fatter tires my LHS carries.