1/24 1969 Pontiac GTO

Great looking kit. Parts are nice and clean cast. Looking forward to building this one.

I've built this before & it's first rate just like I remember,love the decal sheet, only complaint is I wish it had Tempest decals & the correct front end for that option, now that would be very cool,so if you're reading this Revell... A factory color chart would be cool too...

It would seem that Revell is again attempting to squeeze another run out of an overly worn mold. Is this the price we have to pay for getting kits based on classic cars that are no longer in the public eye? I'm guessing that either their current mold for the Pontiac GTO has some overly worn parts that are being substituted for with parts from other kits, or they're trying to make a stock GTO into The Judge because that would perhaps generate better sales. Regardless of the decisions they made to make this reissue possible, here are a few examples of the negative impact on the kit: At first glance, what I would call the main part of the radiator shroud seems to be installed at the bottom of the radiator! From other cars I've built, if there is a radiator shroud part, I fully expect to see it installed directly on the radiator with the main part at the top. Molding the fill tube to the shroud might also cause some confusion, especially for newbies. I would think it only natural to note this in the instructions. Usually, when an assembly isn't complete until later, the instructions will note, see part X, or see step #X. So, before you start to panic, insert the chassis into the body, to see how the shroud becomes complete when the two assemblies are joined. Also in the engine bay, the radiator wall is surely not the original part. It features tabs at the ends that are not the same - one faces toward the side wall of the bay, while the other side looks to work best next to the bay wall. Even more curious is that if a modeler is going to proceed with gluing it this way, it will produce a radiator wall that just does not look straight. And it will probably require both hands to apply the cement and finger-clamp the whole thing together. Another strange decision involves a bumpout in the engine bay, where you're supposed to install the battery. Well, someone designed this bumpout incorrectly, because if you wanted a full-size replica of a battery here, it simply would be too tall, doubtless keeping the hood from closing. So, what did they decide on so that they didn't have to redesign the engine bay? You get a battery which is only the top couple of scale inches, and you're supposed to glue that onto the battery bumpout. Ask me if I was impressed... Perhaps it's simply too much to expect out of the cost-conscious owners of Revell, but I would have proposed to make this a 2-in-1 kit. That way, the new parts could be designed to mate up with the rest of the kit! Perhaps The Judge license is the key? While this could make the kit more appealing, how many shortcuts did Revell have to take in order to make up for the cost of the license?! As it stands, whether you're building a stock GTO or The Judge, you're getting the same cobbled together kit. And to me, that's very disappointing. And don't get me started about the cost of a new box, and all the artwork that went into it. If that didn't impact the actual cost of the kit, I'll eat my shorts! Perhaps Revell (and Round 2, etc.) should be required to make a full disclosure, or use the original box, so that modelers would know instantly that it is a reissue rather than a new kit. That would only be fair to the customers who keep them in business. Any consumer groups out there?