"Orange Clunker Car" - MPC General Lee

[crowe-t]

Here's a build I finished last year.  I know it's another General Lee but I had some fun with this one.  I built this using a Round 2 issue of the MPC General Lee kit but did a lot of modifying and used parts from a Revell '69 Charger.  Even some of you non-Dukes fans might like some of what I did.   The front wheels steer using the Revell parts.

This build sort of represents how the car looked in the early Georgia filmed episodes.  The push bar is scratch built and the decals represent the early look of the car.

Here are finished pictures and I'll show some in-progress pictures.  It's painted Testors Custom Lacquer Hugger Orange with Testors Custom Lacquer Ultra Gloss Clearcoat on top.

 

Here are some pictures showing some of what I did during the build up.

I started by re-shaping the rear window to more closely match the '69 Revell Charger which is very accurate in this area.  The MPC GL's rear window is too small and basically a rectangle.  I enlarged it and re-shaped the top.  In this first picture a Revell '69 Charger is on the left side and the MPC Charger is on the right side before the window was modified.

I used parts from a Revell '69 Charger chassis I picked up cheap on E-Bay.  I considered using the Revell chassis but it didn't fit well with the MPC interior tub.  

 

 

I closed off the rear area.  This area wasn't too sturdy out of box.

Edited September 5, 2024 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

I used a hood from an MPC Charger 500 kit which is a correct '69 hood.  The MPC GL kit comes with a 1970 hood for some reason.

 

I sanded down the inner engine compartment wells and scratch built the shock towers and used a firewall from a Revell '69 Charger.

 

New grill inserts were scratch built using some ribbed sheet.

 

The rear end and exhaust from the Revell Charger were also used.  The exhaust did need to be cut down around the rear to fit the MPC chassis.

 

A magnet was glued under the trunk area for the CB antenna.  I wanted to be able to remove the antenna in case I needed to pack it away at some point.

 

I scratch built the pedals and used the heater core from a Revell '69 Charger.  Arm rests and molding were added and a hole was drilled for the 'Charger' emblem.  These were all missing from this kit.  This car has a 727 Automatic Transmission so a new shifter was made.

Edited September 5, 2024 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

Here's a couple pictures of the interior.  The roll bar and CB radio were scratch built.  I added some styrene to the top of the dash where it meets the windshield, raised it up and angled it to more closely match a real Charger.  The MPC dashboard sat too low and there was no angle at all.  

 

 

 

The engine is a 440 with a 727 transmission.  I got this from a friend and don't know exactly what kit it's from.  Possibly an AMT kit.

 

I sprayed the bottom gray with some Testors Acryl Neutral Gray lightened a bit with white and misted the body color over the edges.  I was a bit heavy handed with the body color but this was the first time I tried this.  The front engine compartment area was masked off and sprayed the body color both inside and underneath.  It's not factory correct but I had seen a restoration of a real '69 Charger done this way and I liked how it looked. 

Edited September 5, 2024 by crowe-t

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Very Impressive!! I didn't realize that the round 2 release was a different body than the MPC. The original MPC release had the 500 back glass. I never liked that. I like what all you have done here! This is one of the best General Lees that I've ever seen. Great Work!!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Very fine looking modifications and upgrades. 

[ChrisR]

Very nice!

[espo]

Beautiful build. With some of the build pictures you can better appreciate the finished build. I would like to use that interior color on a model I'm working on now. What paint did you use ??

[crowe-t]

Thanks guys!

Brian - This body with the indented rear window was actually used for the AMT/ERTL Fast & Furious Charger.  Round 2 released all of these kits with this body.  However the rear window isn't correctly sized and shaped.  I opened it up a bit and re-shaped it and feel it looks a bit better.

David - Most of the interior(seats, door panels, floor) are painted with Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow.  The dash board, steering wheel, front kick panels and rear speaker deck are painted with Testors Acryl Leather with a few drops of Dark Tan mixed in.  Tamiya Desert Yellow really seems to match the look of the Saddle Tan interior of a '69 Charger.  The dash board, steering wheel, front kick panels and rear speaker deck were a bit darker in a 1:1 Charger.

Edited February 23, 2017 by crowe-t

[Reeves Racing]

That looks great. A lot of skill and craftsmanship.

I am not a Mopar guy so this may be a dumb question.

If the Round 2 body and chassis are so bad why not just build the whole car out of the Revell kit?

 

[stavanzer]

Nice Work. One of  best 'Generals" I have seen.

[crowe-t]

Thanks Mitch and Alan for the kind words!

Mitch - I had fun modifying this kit and working out some of the kinks.  The Round 2 body isn't all that bad.  In fact the height of the grill and slope of the nose is more accurate than the '69 Revell Charger.  There is something about the MPC body I like. Some of the Revell Charger's details are also a bit heavy handed.   That being said the Revell Charger is a much better and more accurate kit.  The MPC kits chassis is crude but it dates back to the 1968 Charger release.  This was a bit of a challenge and fun to do.  I like projects like this.

Edited February 23, 2017 by crowe-t

[slusher]

Excellent General build!!!

[TonyW]

That has to be one of the cleanest General Lee builds I have seen. The improvements are well thought out and very convincing.

[crowe-t]

Thanks Carl and Tony!

[Hubert Rollins]

That's super nice... I admire all the pains you took to get it right....

[Funkychiken]

A lot of work went into this, and its turned out late

[Hmann68]

Home run on that build! You put a lot of work into it and it shows. An iconic car from my fav childhood show!

[Dominik]

Here it is! And i missed it - thank you Mike, to give me the hint to your General.

As you know, i am working on the same kit, with nearly the same modifikations...your early General looks reeeeeeeealy realy good to me. Great Job Buddy! Great Job!

 

[crowe-t]

Thanks guys for the nice words!

[echo]

You did a wonderful job, thanks for the work in progress photos. I'm not that familiar with the Dukes car and would have overlooked the subtle changes you did to the body & frame.  The casual observer would assume the kit came that way, your building skills make it seem like it came that way, nice build !

[High octane]

What a great lookin' General, and I just love dem Mopars!