Multi-Maverick or Why model assembly instructions can be wrong!

14 September 2013 (22:11 UTC-07 Tango 13 September 2013)/09 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/23 Shahrivar 1391/10 Xin-You (8th month) 4711

Click pics to make bigger and read why the instructions are wrong:

: AMT-ERTL & Hobby Heaven reissued the early 1970s MPC Multi-Maverick kit. They even reissued the original confusing instructions.

: The reissue kit reminded me why I had so much trouble building dragster kits as a kid in the mid-1970s. The instructions show you attaching the headers in step 1, but if you do you can’t get the engine onto the chassis. Headers/exhaust pipes must be attached after the engine & chassis are mated.

: I installed this firewall as per the artwork on the box. The instructions didn’t mention it and I found out why. If you build the car with the extended wheelbase, and the engine moved forward, the firewall contacts the engine preventing the body from properly resting on the chassis.

: The kit allows you to build two options; a standard wheelbase or extended wheelbase dragster. It says not to glue on the fender mods so you can switch between set ups, but for practical race time handling, I mean display purposes your choice should be permanent.

: A major reminder of why I didn’t get along with dragster kits in the 1970s; suspension components are frustratingly fiddly & fragile!

: The suspension parts can be easily broken when removed from the sprues, and the instruction’s rigging template for the front suspension was no help. I used a slow setting glue while fanagling the parts into place.

: The fuel can in front of the engine is not how the instructions would have you mount it. It won’t fit with the engine in the forward position, unless you turn it sideways. Also, there’s no definite location point. The belt on the supercharger (blower) is plastic and snapped right on. No mention of it in the instructions. In fact, in step 1 you’re told to use string to make a belt, then in step 9 you’re told to use a rubber band. The ‘C’ notch in the front of the chassis is so the belt drive can fit when the engine is in the forward position, however, I still had to thin it greatly to get the engine to fit.

: Another problem: The body hinge bar. Instructions tell you to insert the bar into the chassis, then glue it to attachment notches on the body. So called ‘notches’ are almost nonexistent. On top of that when I closed down the body the wheel wells didn’t line up with the Altered wheelbase.