What is your favorite Third Generation Camaro & Firebird kit ?

[Phildaupho]

This is the project that got me thinking about third generation Camaros in particular and starting this thread

1987 Camaro - Players GM Challenge Series - WIP: Other Racing: Road Racing, Land Speed Racers - Model Cars Magazine Forum

Edited December 14, 2020 by Phildaupho

[the other Mike S.]

On 12/13/2020 at 4:14 PM, Phildaupho said:

This is the project that got me thinking about third generation Camaros in particular and starting this thread

1987 Camaro - Players GM Challenge Series - WIP: Other Racing: Road Racing, Land Speed Racers - Model Cars Magazine Forum

0

It's a shame MPC never did those Iroc-Z wheels correctly.  The promo was even worse because they just used the old Z28 style wheels from '86-'90 on those models.

The kit and promo were unique for '85.  They had those style wheels on them.  They were fairly accurate except for the way too thick rim bead/edge near the tire.  If they made that thinner, they would look pretty decent.  Except for the Pegasus "IROC's", which are a little too large in diameter for a stock size, no one has made a decent looking "factory sized" wheel for those cars.  

[Phildaupho]

15 hours ago, the other Mike S. said:

It's a shame MPC never did those Iroc-Z wheels correctly.  The promo was even worse because they just used the old Z28 style wheels from '86-'90 on those models.

The kit and promo were unique for '85.  They had those style wheels on them.  They were fairly accurate except for the way too thick rim bead/edge near the tire.  If they made that thinner, they would look pretty decent.  Except for the Pegasus "IROC's", which are a little too large in diameter for a stock size, no one has made a decent looking "factory sized" wheel for those cars.  

Thanks Mike for the interesting information about the wheels. The longer I work on the AMT '87 kit the more I think the AMT '83 is a superior kit in many ways and wonder why AMT did not just update the '83 to later configurations.

[Phildaupho]

On 12/14/2020 at 7:05 PM, the other Mike S. said:

It's a shame MPC never did those Iroc-Z wheels correctly. 

Mike - I did not pick up on the fact that I think you were inferring that the AMT '87 I am working on is based on an MPC kit but I found an article Tim Boyd did many years ago which confirms this. I have since done some detail painting on the wheels and I am pretty happy with how they look. I have also tried to correct other MPC deficiencies with parts from the AMT '83 

[the other Mike S.]

On 12/19/2020 at 4:58 PM, Phildaupho said:

Mike - I did not pick up on the fact that I think you were inferring that the AMT '87 I am working on is based on an MPC kit but I found an article Tim Boyd did many years ago which confirms this. I have since done some detail painting on the wheels and I am pretty happy with how they look. I have also tried to correct other MPC deficiencies with parts from the AMT '83 

They do look much better when detailed up like that.  Back in the day, I thought about converting the MPC '82--'84 Camaro Z28 wheels to the '85-'87 IROC style by modifying them.  Unfortunately, I never got around to it. 

The MPC kit wheels would be a better choice because they would scale out to what a 16" rim would look like.  Why do I say this?  If you look at the "custom" wire mesh wheel option in the early MPC Firebird kits, they were used for the "stock" wheel option in the '87-'92 Firebird GTA kits.  The '82-'84 Camaro Z28 wheels and the custom/GTA style wheels are the same diameter when you place them back to back on each other. 

So, the stock Z28 wheels in the '82-'84 Camaro MPC kits were actually what a 16" wheel would look like, not a 15" wheel. Another thing that bothered me back in the day, but that's another story for another day. lol!.  However, if they were modified to the IROC style rim, they would look almost exactly perfect for a 16" wheel.  Actually, I'm surprised no resin caster has ever offered a '85-'87 IROC style wheel based on the old '82-'84 Z28 wheels. 

Edited December 22, 2020 by the other Mike S.