Revell Dominic’s ’70 Dodge Charger (07693) 1:25

[Mike]

Dominic’s ’70 Dodge Charger (07693)

Fast & Furious

1:25 Revell

 

 

There’s a little-known petrol-head friendly film franchise called The Fast & The Furious that started out with Vin Diesel and the late lamented Paul Walker in a film by the name of “The Fast and the Furious” that now extends to nine films with a two-parter as 10th and 11th of the saga, plus a spin-off movie with two more planned, one with the ladies in charge, and one for the men.  I lost touch with it after number 2, as it I felt it was getting a little extreme in terms of what a car can do on the open road without CGI and wires helping out.

 

After tempting the car-buying public with a display in 1964 and a concept car in 1965, Dodge turned that into the first Charger by 1966 by fine-tuning it, knocking off the rough edges, and using some pre-existing components from their existing range to keep costs from spiralling.  By 1970 it had been redesigned and far exceeded sales expectations, having become quite popular, one might say.  The design was tweaked to include a full-width front grille with no central divider, and an unusual slant-6 engine joined the engine options, which had been carried over from the first generation largely unaltered.  It wasn’t suited to racing however, so a more aerodynamic bodyshell was created and given the name Charger Daytona.  Americans love to fiddle with their muscle cars, which is almost anathema to us over here in the UK, as our insurance would be null-and-void if we install even the smallest of upgrades and don’t tell them so they can hike up the price.

 

The specification of the movie vehicle changed from scene to scene, and film to film, but the constant was a fake supercharger bulge in chromed plastic on the bonnet, with an alleged 900bhp being generated between the plastic and the real engine.  Yeah. Right.  This is Hollywood though, so we’ll let them off.  It looks nice, and the shiny chrome contrasts well with the black of the bodyshell, with the fat tyres on the rear wheels completing the look.  Of course, lots of different bodyshells and engines were used during production of the various films that it appeared in, but we’ll ignore that.

 

 

The Kit

This is a rebox of an original kit from 1997, but it has been treated to new parts over the years in order to represent other variants, such as the 1970 model that we have here.  It arrives in an end-opening box and has seven sprues of white styrene plus three bodyshell parts, two small chromed sprues, a clear red sprue, a clear sprue, four soft black tyres, four “screws” and a colour instruction booklet with colour profiles on the rear pages.  Time has been very kind to the sprues, and there is plenty of detail moulded-in.  Pretty much the only thing that points to the age of the sprues are the few misaligned ejector-pin marks on the headliner inside the bodyshell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the engine, which is well-detailed and includes the transmission, with the alleged supercharger that sticks through the bonnet attached to the top.  The exhaust manifold has four exit pipes on each side, merging into a single wider pipe that connects to the exhaust later on.  The pulleys are installed on the front of the engine with paint and/or decals to add a little detail.  A pair of front seats are made up with nice upholstery and piping detail on the front shell, and a back panel added to each one to complete them.  These are installed on the floor pan, which has a cranked shifter and an anti-roll bar that has a fire-extinguisher strapped to the cross-bar, and a V-shaped brace that leaves the cab via a slot in the rear of the compartment.  The dash is painted and decaled, has the steering wheel on a short column inserted, plus a chromed dial above the column, and two clear dials inserted from behind into the binnacle.  The footwell is another insert that has the four pedals (four????) on the left, and what looks like a heater matrix or aircon unit on the passenger’s side, then the sub-assemblies are brought together around the floor pan, adding the door cards, which are moulded as one piece per side, and the two layers of dash/pedal box.

 

The main bodyshell has the headliner moulded-in, which has those ejector-pin marks to deal with first, then after painting you add the windscreen, rear window, plus the quarterlights on the front sloped of the doors, together with a central cabin light and a chromed rear-view mirror.  The windscreen has the sun-visors moulded-in, and those should be painted before you close up the model.  The third body part is the chassis, which separates the floor pan from the road, and this is fitted with the stub of the steering column, then a few detail parts are fixed to the front face of the firewall on the cab, after which the whole body can be put together with the engine slotted into the space between the wings.  At this stage the front end is a bit bare, which is next to be rectified by adding in the front panel, radiator with decals included, and the complex front axle and suspension ironwork.  At the back, the two leaf-springs are added to the rear axle and inserted into the rear of the vehicle, joined to the transmission by its drive-shaft, and adding a pair of shocks that damp down the movement of the back axle under power.

 

She’s not going to go very far without wheels, so the kit includes two pairs of chromed hubs that slip inside the tyres, and are fixed to styrene hubs at the rear by the “screws” that are actually blunt pins, by friction alone.  These glue into the wheel wells, with the big ones at the back so people don’t laugh at you.

 

Attention turns back to the engine bay, adding the battery, some hoses, one needing a hole drilling to fit, the underside of the bodyshell and that full-width super-shiny chrome grille, the centre of which is painted matt black.  A pair of clear “blinkers” are added under the front after painting them orange, the chromed door handles, fuel filler cap, and two windscreen wipers finish off the front (the bonnet comes last), with a rear panel, clear red rear lights and tiny round clear ones underneath, then the chromed bumper covering the lower half.  The rear number plate is chromed, but needs painting black, which seems a waste of time, but never mind, eh.  The bonnet has a large hole in the centre, and around it there is some nice detail on the underside, which has two hinges added at the rear edge, then is slotted inside the bay, clicking into position and allowing you to leave the bonnet open or closed.  The last part is a chromed wing mirror for the driver’s side.

 

 

Markings

You can paint the model any colour you like as long as it’s black.  That’s if you want to be true to the movie car anyway.  From the box you can build the black beastie below:

 

 

 

Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.  There are a lot of seatbelt decals, stencils, stickers and even tie-downs for the bonnet and boot (sorry Americans), although the purists might want to make those a little more 3D.  You have a choice of three numberplates for your Charger, all from California, but the black option is distinctly of the vanity variety.

 

 

 

Conclusion

A nicely timed reboxing of a decent kit that builds up into a good replica of the smoke & mirrors of a Hollywood cash-cow franchise.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Currently, Revell are unable to ship to the UK from their online shop due to recent changes in import regulations, but there are many shops stocking their products where you can pick up the kits either in the flesh or online.

 

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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