MPC 1981 Jeep CJ5 Golden Hawk 1:25 Scale Model Kit

Fun to build

Really, this was a miserable model. Round 2 seems to be doing OK by their AMT brand; they seem to be similar to the AMT of yesteryear. Decent models.Not so with their MPC brand, at least judging from the three models I brought together in this build... especially this miserable CJ5 that can't decide what it really is. The same kit has been released at different times as a "Dune Buggy", as a rear-engine dragster, as an M38A1 (with and without trailer, as the Bushwhacker, the Nighthawk, three (!!!) slightly different versions of the Dukes of Hazzard Daisy's CJ...7? But this is a CJ5? Yep. As the AirFix and AMT/ERTL Swamp Rat, As the AutoScape (with diorama base), and nobody knows for sure what else. This particular kit actually contained one sprue that didn't even bear the MPC brand; it was clearly branded ERTL. It's touted to be a 1980s (AMC) CJ5/CJ7, yet the front fenders and underseat fuel tank demonstrate that it's a pre-1972 Willys CJ5. It has the M38A1 windshield with top wipers. It has all the wrong roll bar for any Jeep. It lacks the front frame crossmember. It's nearly impossible to get the hood to close without hacking mercilessly on it.The kit itself... yeez. It was an embarrassment of flash. Flash everywhere, and mold mismatch problems, and poor mold fillout causing muddy detail, and poor fitment. Everything took a lot more work than it should have taken. The plastic... I swear... wasn't polystyrene at all, as it was supposed to be. It wasn't rigid like styrene is expected to be, it was hyperflexible, like polyethylene or polypropylene or ABS. As you can see in one photo, I tied a tight bowline knot in a section of sprue to demonstrate how flexible it is.And... it really hated paint. Heck, it hated primer. Even really good primer. Airbrush it, cure it, and rub it off with your thumb. Not even your thumbnail, with the skin on your thumb. Lay it on one side to photograph it, and you have to touch up the paint on that side because it rubbed off. Fortunately, it accepted Tamiya cement very well, so whatever it is, it's acetone-soluble.My build? The photos included here aren't a very accurate representation of what you'll get in this model. I own a 1974 CJ5 Renegade (V8) with a snowplow, and I wanted a model that fairly closely approximated my Jeep... so I got an AMC V8 from another kit and added a snowplow from yet a third kit and fitted them all together. I made my own front crossmember to accurately represent the real thing, and found some jewelry chain in the right scale for the snowplow. I sawed the transmissions off the two engines and swapped them to make the transfer case work. I had to lengthen the rear drive shaft anyway because the one in the kit was too short.I found that Tamiya's panel liner did a really nice job of bringing out the detail in the gauge set. I also found that it was nearly impossible to make for wheels that both fit and rolled.Please... if you value your pride, work on a different kit. This is a very good practice kit if you're sub-intermediate and you just want some experience or if you're a really serious kit basher with access to adhesion promoters for your paint and you want to build a heavily weathered Jeep for your diorama. Just don't expect this kit to be anything like the same quality you'd expect from, say, a Heller-Humbrol or a Tamiya or Italeri or Hasegawa or AFV Club or even an AMT / Revell / Monogram / Lindberg. There's a distinct lack of pride in this model.

Very nice model kit, but like all plastic model kits they are way overpriced.