Revell 1/25 scale '67 Plymouth GTX Terry Sumner

The Kit

An in-box preview of this kit was done in the August issue.

As Al stated, this kit represents Revell's effort at including parts to make a drag version or a very hot street machine. The only engine option provided is the venerable 426 Hemi. The 440 Commando is not included. Also, the only transmission option is the 4 speed manual. The kit includes 5 parts trees, the body, the chassis, 2 chrome trees, 1 clear red tree, one clear tree, 4 Goodyear Polyglass GT F70-15's, 2 Goodyear Blue Dragon 10.0 X 15 drag slicks and one decal sheet. All parts except the glass are molded in white.

The chassis is very nicely molded with no flash at all on my sample. The gas tank is molded in but the exhaust is not...a definite plus!

The "glass" parts are all in separate pieces.

The 426 Hemi is a pretty nice little kit in and of itself. It consists of 19 parts. The block and transmission are molded together in the usual way with the trans and bellhousing already attached. The joint is split down the middle. The oil pan is separate from this molding. Heads and intake manifold are separate and molded in white. The valve covers are chromed and have the factory stock wrinkled finish. The dual 4 barrel carbs are chromed along with one of the 2 provided air cleaners. The other air cleaner is in white and Revell call this one the "street version." There are separate radiator hoses, heater hoses, and distributor. The alternator is chromed and mounts to the belt setup with a separate alternator bracket.

The engine compartment is fair. The fenderwells are molded with the body while the firewall is a separate molding. The radiator housing is separate from the radiator itself and a shroud is also included separately. Included in this area are a master cylinder, a chromed windshield washer motor, and a well-detailed battery. A cool can, a windshield washer tank and a horn are also included.

The body itself is crisply molded with no flash. The only detraction is the usual mold separation lines and 4 nasty mold sink marks in the headliner. The identifying emblems are molded on and are nice and crisp. Separate windshield wipers, in chrome, are included along with chromed door handles and gas cap. The front end consists of a chromed main grille/headlight assembly with a separate bumper. To the rear is a one-piece affair for the entire thing. The hood is the stock hood with 2 scoop options. One option is the 2 side-by-side narrow scoops and the other is the wide scoop, ala Ramchargers, albeit smaller.

The interior is the built up variety popular now. The side panels are one piece and glue to the sides of the interior "tub". The dashboard consists of 2 pieces with nicely molded details. Steering wheel is fair as is the console and shifter. The console itself is completely chromed. The pedals are a separate molding and attach to the firewall instead of hanging down from the dash, as they should. There is a chromed dash mounted tachometer included as well as a chromed rear view mirror. The bucket seats are molded in 2 pieces...a front and a back.

The Build

I chose to build my GTX in a street machine version. One could call it the drag version, but I chose to use all 4 of the Polyglass GT's instead of the slicks. I started out by getting the tires ready. I first removed the flash on the tires and then dipped the sidewalls in a shallow dish of Future floor finish. Future is my preferred method of obtaining the gloss coat needed for decal adhesion. After a few minutes in the dehydrator, I applied the redline stripes Revell included on the decal sheet. I found that these decals were just a bit too large in diameter. This made the stripe run right over the tire lettering when it should have fallen inside the lettering. Pressing on, I used some decal solvent on them and they laid down nicely. A coat of Dullcote and they were done. The chrome rims appeared to me to be the Keystone Kustomags type. Since I always liked those rims, I used them.

Next I prepared the body for painting as well as the chassis and related parts. I decided that I wanted to use those gaudy yellow stripes on this model, just to see if I could get them to lie down satisfactorily. So I first laid down some Variprime on all the parts and then a few coats of Black Acrylic Lacquer that I had obtained from Leon Tefft's Cobracolors line before he ceased doing business. 4 coats were laid down in a half-hour! The parts then went into the dehydrator and after an hour, 4 more coats of PPG clearcoat were applied. Then came the decals. I was full of trepidation at first, because of past experiences with kit decals and their refusal to lie down and respond to decal solvents. However, these decals were different. They did indeed respond to some SuperSet and after a little prodding, settled down nicely into all the corners and crevices. After the decals dried a day or so, I applied a few more coats of clear, then eventually rubbed the finish out a little. Next came the Bare Metal Foil for the chrome trim on the car. Lastly was the installation of the glass. I took the glass and dipped all the pieces into a jar of clean Future. When these parts were dry, they were like real glass....very clear. But that's not the reason I dip them. The real reason is that I like to use superglue to attach the glass parts but this can cause major fogging or the parts. So to eliminate this fogging, I first dip all glass parts in Future. Doing this eliminates any fogging caused by the application of superglue to clear plastic parts.

The engine was assembled in the normal manner. First the halves followed by the heads and water pump piece. I hand painted Testor's Chrylser Engine Red to the block and used Testor's Metalizer to the trans. I also metalized the intake manifold, headers, exhaust system and master cylinder and set them aside. I chose to leave the rocker covers chromed because this was a street machine and many such cars had chromed covers. But these covers would look great if stripped and painted factory flat black. Even though this was supposed to be a quick build, I couldn't resist at least adding the spark plug wires. So I broke out the Radio Shack blue wire, drilled some holes in the valve covers and distributor, along with the coil, and inserted the wires. Looks a lot better than without!

The interior was next and was painted in flat black enamel. In order to impart a nice semigloss sheen, I simply rubbed a little skin oil onto the surfaces. The details in the dashboard were picked out with an artist's silver pencil and some silver paint. The interior also gets adorned with the chrome nameplate that rests high in the middle of the rear seat. The side panels were detailed in the same manner and then the whole thing was assembled to wait for final assembly. Make sure you paint the underside of the interior tub, as part of this piece will show from the bottom.

Next was the chassis. All the parts were assembled per the kit instructions. This built up into a very detailed chassis. Just remember to place the exhaust system in first because if you forget, you won't be able to get the rearend assembly in place. Luckily, I did it right this time. (unlike another time where I boo-boo'ed this part!)

Final Assembly

Final assembly fell along the lines of normality. No major surprises, but there were a few minor details to work out. Installing the engine in the chassis revealed that the driveshaft was just a tad too short. The forward yoke BARELY makes it into the transmission tailshaft. Also, the exhaust is just a bit too long where the 2 pipes attach to the exhaust manifolds. A little judicious trimming took care of that.

I also found that after gluing in the radiator support structure, the hood would no longer fit. It seems that gluing that structure in place draws the nose of the body inward a bit. I though maybe I had attached the support structure in the wrong place so I removed it and rechecked it. It had been in the correct location, so back in it went. I then sanded the edges of the hood a bit and ended up with a nice tight fit. The rest of the assembly went normally. I used some Black-it-Out from The Detailer line to accentuate the front grille. I added the chrome items on the car including the door handles, windshield wipers and gas cap. The last item was the front bumper for the exterior. I then finished the engine compartment by adding the radiator hoses and heater hoses. Then it was time for the battery. I couldn't resist adding the battery cables to the battery so out came the Radio Shack detail wire again. Then I went to place the battery in it's place, and what's this??? It would not fit! It was quite a bit too large to fit in the space provided. Out came the X-Acto knife for some more trimming. I included a photo to show just how much trimming I had to do to get it to fit in.

Conclusion

Overall, I really like this car model kit. I didn't do any measuring, but it builds into a model that looks faithful to the GTX's that I remember that were running around my home area in the late 60's. I don't know of any Hemi powered GTX's back then, but the 440 ? Yep, there were a few! One of 'em even tried to run down my 427 powered 66 Chevelle. To no avail I might add! (chuckle)