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The £10 Charger challenge


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Hi

Here is my first car WIP I’ve done. 

This will be a bit down and dirty, as will become apparent, but a good trial before I crack on with my other car kits. 

 

So, I have been building up a stash of car kits, mostly US muscle cars. 

The one I have the most of is my favourite, 68-70 Dodge Charger, of which I have 6 kits ;)

The MPC General Lee kit is legendarily bad. It’s one good feature is the 69 bodyshell. While this shell is not the best, the rest of the kit is pretty much garbage 

The 68 Revell Charger is a peach. 

That is unless the previous owner slathered the sprues in some sort of primer with a brush and damaged the screen pillars :(

This kit cost me £10, the inspiration for the thread title

 

£10 Charger£10 Charger£10 Charger

 

I got the MPC in a swap and initially only planned to use the General Lee parts on another Revell kit. 

I couldn’t bin the rest so started to do bits on the shell as a test mule and to see if I could improve it. 

I reinforced the rear valance and made a spare Revell bonnet fit as the MPC one is too narrow. The Revell is wider so was easy to get a satisfactory fit. 

 

£10 Charger£10 Charger

 

Test fit of the MPC shell on the Revell chassis 

 

£10 Charger

 

Fits Like A Glove :D

All the pick up points appear to match perfectly. 

 

However, the MPC has the inner wings on the chassis, the Revell on the shell. Only one thing for it

£10 Charger

 

Chop the damaged Revell shell and cut out the inner wing section......

 

£10 Charger

 

......and test fit with the MPC shell on Revell chassis

 

£10 Charger

 

God damn it’s gonna work...... so far. I know the interior tub fits but neee to check the sides, dash and firewall

 

The £10 Charger Challenge is on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A front clip change. This is beginning to look like Overhaulin' or Gas Monkey garage!

At least you don't have rust to contend with. (Although the pillars were accident damaged......)

Will this one be a 'General' or are you heading for a mild custom?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k-P3EMuKq4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dxp1a4YxeM

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41SxI8Em1JU

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxAmWIYtx6Q

 

There are probably more out there. I hope something helps you.

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I did think about swapping the front clip but too much to go wrong. If I got the inner wings wrong, I hadn’t lost much. I have got a replacement shell on order from Revell but now this appears to be a goer, I’ve got other plans for that. 

 

It won’t be a General but it might have some orange on it somewhere. 

Also won’t be a restomod, I’m thinking more Roadkill General Mayhem but obviously 69 instead of a 68

 

Thanks for the links, liked the 3rd one with the 69 being rescued after 20 years :)

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a powerful car with a strong character ! a Great project. 

 

from memory it seemed to me that Dodges have a particular engine sound i think (?) like a monster swallowing the bubbling high octane lead-gasoline alive and enjoying it !

what is the scale ?

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17 hours ago, Chris1886 said:

Looking good

Will follow this one closely as I'm building the 68 revell version at the moment.

 

Yep I’ve been following yours too ;) you have good taste in cars and kits

 

So today I had a go with some more test fittings. 

I was expecting trouble with the firewall and front bulkhead/radiator support. 

Nope......slotted straight into the MPC shell 

 

£10 Charger£10 Charger£10 Charger

 

It’s so close to fitting perfectly I’m really not going to worry about making it any better. 

 

My main problem so far is the Revell chassis sitting lower at the front than the back

 

£10 Charger

 

This appears to be the Inner wing section I cut from the Revell shell being too high. Once I shave the top or bottom ( not decided which will work best) the front end should move further into the shell. 

 

Next, what to do with a now spare 68 grille?

 

£10 Charger

 

Find some suitable spare sprue, in this case Airfix Vulcan clear sprue, and mock up a prototype 69 grille

 

£10 Charger

 

Most definitely not the finished product, more a proof of concept. 

The Revell grille is a lot better than the MPC so this will find its way onto the car. 

 

Lastly for now, what do you do after spending far too much time trying to make the MPC rear bumper fit the shell it’s designed for to find it still doesn’t fit at all????

Yep, try the Revell one which surprise surprise, fits first go 

 

£10 Charger

 

Next stop, test the interior for fit

 

 

 

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Coming along nicely. I like the grill idea.

Were you asking for wheels/tyres? I can't remember.

If you post pics of the sort of thing you want 

I will dive into the car spares boxes & see what I have.

Likewise, any other bits you need?

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Cheers Pete

 

Yes I do have a wanted ad up, it’s somewhere among the depths. 

 

Its mostly tyres that I’d be interested in, especially slightly wider ones, the ones you sent me with the Vector wheels were perfect. 

Of all things, I need a pair of door handles but anything Charger/Mopar related I could be interested in 

 

Next on the list ( and not muscle car related) is some 10” steels or minilites for the Tamiya Mini. I want to get a Mini started soon as,but don’t like those weird alloys Tamiya put in the kit. 

 

Cheers 

Chris

 

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Only had chance to do one job since the last update. 

Got the top 2-3mm of the inner wings cut down and refitted. 

The chassis now fits a lot better 

 

£10 Charger

 

£10 Charger

 

Edited by chrisrope
Different picture
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Small steps, too much blinking work getting in the way :(

 

Fixed the firewall bulkhead to the flimsy inner wings I cut from the Revell shell. Plenty of Tamiya quick set has firmed them up and at the right alignment. 

 

£10 Charger

 

£10 Charger

 

Need to do a bit more dry fitting and checking. Then I can decide between gluing the bulkhead/wing section to the shell or the chassis. 

I’d prefer the shell but need to get it in exactly the right place 🙈

 

As you can also see, I’ve made a start on the 440 engine and transmission 

 

Cheers

Chris

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update time. 

 

Had this week off for half term and managed to get some work done on the Charger. 

Splashed on some basic colours to the chassis, exhaust and engine/transmission. 

 

£10 Charger

 

Also so built up the engine bay with the firewall, inner wings and front bulkhead 

£10 Charger

 

Now kinda wish I hadn’t as the shell is now very hard to fit onto the chassis but doable.....just

 

So, with that in mind, I feel the colour scheme needs to be kept simple as possible. If I spend an age painting it then ruin it levering the shell on, I wouldn’t be happy. 

Some Vectors have been cleaned up ( cheers @Pete in Lincs) and thinned to open up the wheel holes. 

 

£10 Charger

These now need painting properly :)

 

Interior basecoated

 

 

£10 Charger

 

Finally, a test of some Poundland spray paint. 

 

Orange test paint

 

Orange test paint

 

Ta

Chris

 

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Feel like I’m being tested. First my own mistake with the chassis build making the body hard to fit, now this. 

Word of warning, avoid £1shop 151 Orange spray. Started well with a fine mist coat, went to apply a second, spattering and the can ran out of propellant with 3/4 of the paint left :( Luckily just on the bonnet 

 

 

£10 Charger£10 Charger

 

So I now have a browny orange half painted shell  😂

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24 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Shame about the bonnet, but the shell is looking good.

 

It didn't look too bad but I probably shouldn’t have primed in grey, it really did look more brown than orange. 

 

I had my tea and a beer and went over it with some old sanding blocks to cut the paint back

 

£10 Charger£10 Charger

 

All smooth again so re-prime and carry on ;)

 

 

 

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Odd as this may sound, but apart from the bonnet (which has a bit too much white for this) I reckon you've accidentally created a very good representation of the desert patina common in the desert states there, especially on the roof, boot and right hand side.

 

Shame about the loss of propellant - I had the same issue with the Trabant but you've done exactly the right thing to get it sorted. Good luck!

 

 

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I agree with the desert finish.

In the extreme, we had guys that left Riyadh to drive to the coast for the weekend, when they got back 

either the front or one side of the car might be down to bare metal. Factor in new headlights too!

 

Chris, got the paypal, thanks very much.

Regards

Pete

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Bit of a ‘mare :(

 

Managed to snap the front valance beyond satisfactory repair. So I decided to cut it off to use the 68 valance from the Revell kit

 

£10 Charger

 

Found the first bit that doesn’t ‘fit’ to line up with the MPC shell. Saying that , it’s not the shell but the chassis sitting too deep at the front but I can’t get it into the shell any further. The MPC is a lot slimmer and pointier than the Revell shell at the nose. 

 

After the paintwork horror and now this, I’ve not chucked the toys out the pram but I have put them back in the box ;)

 

£10 Charger

 

 I’ll keep tinkering with it to see if I can make it all fit, but for now I’ll move along with something else

 

 

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