Jump to content

1/16 Firebird question - 1979 to 1977 Trans Am conversion


Recommended Posts

In my stash I have a 1/16 scale MPC 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 10th Anniversary kit.

I'd love to build the kit up to look like the Smokey & The Bandit car, which is a 1977 Firebird Trans Am.

From what I can tell from my fairly quick look of the kit vs the car I want to build, the biggest immediate differences are in the shape of the nose & the rear bumper.

In the kit, the nose & rear bumper are both separate from the main body, so I'm almost expecting that somewhere out there is a kit of a 77/78 model Firebird that would have the correct nose & bumper?

Just for those that might not know the differences between the 2 models, here are some images I found.

1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 10th Anniversary

Front

10thtop.JPG

Rear

18653171-700-0.jpg

1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Front

pontia20.jpg

Rear

hrdp_0709_14_z%2Bsmokey_and_the_bandit%2Bpontiac_trans_am.jpg

Along w/ conversion nose & bumper parts, I'd also need to find a set of decals for the S&TB car. I'm pretty sure I've seen them available in 1/24, but I have no clue if any are available in 1/16.

And something else I just noticed would be the wheels would have to be changed as well.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 4 months later...

I have the same kit you have and I've never seen any other year model released in that scale.

Having owned a '77 TA (and a '78 and a '74 and a '71 :)/>/> ) and currently owning a '79 TA I can tell you there are plenty of other differences besides the nose and the rear bumper. You can see the difference in the taillights in your photos, and the change in the rear license plate location. Other subtle but noticeable in that scale would be the shape of all four flares in front of the wheels, the rear spoiler end caps and the front center spoiler. Also the hood shaker scoop on the '77 TA sat lower than the '78 and later scoops.

Another difference that will be hard to match is the wheel design. The kit has 15x8 "turbo' style wheels, the Bandit had 15x7 'snowflakes' The width difference is not a big deal but the overall design of the wheel face is very noticable.

Also there were two different roof hatch designs, the smaller "Hurst" hatch and the later/larger ones depicted in the kit you have. IIRC the Bandit car had the Hurst hatches. Note the wider center section (easier to see in the second pic) and how the rear edge of the removable panel doesn't extend to the rear edge of the door opening:

214TRA3.jpg

tc77w72.jpg

Edited by habu2
Link to post
Share on other sites

You could always do the one from Smokey and the Bandit II. That one was a 1980 Trans Am.

MPC and Revell did a '77 in 1/25. (Revell's was issued at one time in a Smokey and the Bandit boxing).

According to the Fred's Model World AMT/ERTL Value Guide, only the '79 and '83 Firebirds were available in 1/16.

I don't know if anyone ever did a resin conversion kit for it, but I would be surprised if anyone did.

-Dave

Link to post
Share on other sites

You could always do the one from Smokey and the Bandit II. That one was a 1980 Trans Am.

The sequel was a Turbo TA, the Turbo hood is different - no shaker poking thru the hole

fsige5bru2hgdqcgcfmg.jpg

Monogram released a huge 1/8 scale '80 Turbo TA with SE decals (gold stripes etc) but they have gotten rather pricey - here's one on evilBay for ~$300

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monogram-1980-Pontiac-Turbo-Trans-AM-1-8-Model-Car-Mountain-FS-/361082354975?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item54122f7d1f

Monogram also released a 1979 TA in the same scale, it has a shaker hood but different wheels. Here are builds of both:

1979 WS6 TA

1980 Turbo TA

Edited by habu2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...