RoR Step-by-Step Review 20130120* 1977 Jeep CJ-7 Renegade 1-24 Revell 85-2180 Kit Review Being a Jeep owner, you tend to get a little fanatical about them. I ve been an avid off-roader for about 15 years; I ve owned and built many vehicles, but the Jeeps have always been the best. Now, that s not to say that they are the greatest vehicles to own. They leak, rust and are slightly unstable to drive, but there is nothing better than taking the top and doors off, and hitting the trail! Jeep has had many different variations over the years, but the CJ7 tends to be what everyone thinks of when they here the name Jeep. The Renegade version of the CJ7 was an upscale option that was one of their greatest sellers. With the Jeep brand being so hot right now, you would think the modeling world would be filled with a ton of kits of past and current models. Unfortunately, that is not so, while there are some models most of them are of the military variation. There are no kits of the current Jeep Wrangler JK ( 07-12) or of the last variation, the Wrangler TJ ( 97-06, there actually was not a 96 model), Tamiya made a couple versions of the Wrangler YJ (square headlights, 88-95), which are really hard to find. Revell s Jeep CJ7 has been the Jeeper s modeling staple since its introduction. I think it s time modelers know what they can look forward to when they buy Revell s CJ7. For the modeler: This kit has over 100 pieces and is molded in white with chrome and clear pieces. Faithfully replicating the OEM wheel/tires including colors and logos; door modifications for a true soft top version; fender flare masking; ejector pin mark identification; chassis finishing and color selection; how to strip off unwanted chrome; correct engine color choices; highlighting the rocker cover s script; OEM interior finishing details; small parts handling; build sequence variations; are all fully examined in this 10 page, fullcolor Step-by-Step review.
1-2) Upon opening the box I took inventory of what was there, Good-looking kit! I noticed that the parts trees were free from flash, nothing was warped and, compared to the last time I had done this model, I noticed that the plastic seemed a little nicer and the details were really CRISP! 2) Although, once I dug into it I noticed a lot of large ejector pin marks under the body. Also the chrome tree was a little heavy, but since I was building a factory stock replica, I stripped the chrome and repainted the parts the colors I needed. Chrome don t get ya home The decal sheet is typical Revell, very detailed, and all the emblems! The colors of the factory graphics were a little off, but not enough to write home about.
5) The Chassis - In typical Revell vintage fashion, whereas everything is there, but just very simplified, the chassis is a nice easy straight forward build. Everything fit into place nicely, and sat nice and level once done. I attached the springs and axles, skid plate, and bumpers and shot it all in Krylon Satin Black and painted the exhaust burnt metal. 6) I soaked the wheels in bleach to strip the chrome from them, and painted them Testors flat white, with a red stripe around the edge to mimic factory wheels. The tires that come with the kit are the old Goodyear Tracker AT s that have been in every Revell/Monogram kit for years.
7) Now, the tires themselves are period correct, they were what was on factory CJ s, but due to a licensing problem with Goodyear, the raised letters have been removed from the scale rubber in the model kit. I happened to have piles of old Tracker AT s from past builds and because I wanted the white lettering, I used an old set. I actually left the shocks white plastic and installed them, then mounted the wheels and tires then the chassis was complete and was ready for the engine. 8) The Engine- The AMC 304 V8 is the engine of choice for this kit, which wasn t the biggest seller in the factory CJ, most of them came with inline 6 cylinders, but if you had one with the V8, the added power was nice. The scale engine is very basic; engine transmission halves with integrated starter, fuel pump, water pump, trans and oil pans. The heads, valve covers, intake, belt assembly, alternator, and steering pump are separate pieces. I stripped the valve covers of chrome, and attached them before I painted the engine. It was nice that there are Jeep AMC logos on the valve covers; they are crisp and easy to paint.
9) I painted the engine with Testors French Blue, Transmission is Testors Aluminum, the exhaust is Testors Metalizer Burnt Metal. Once the engine assembly was painted, it was installed in the chassis with the transfer case. 10) The Body/Interior - The nice thing about the Jeeps is the fact that they are very basic. There is not a lot going on when it comes to the interior of this model, just three seats, a dashboard, two shifters, and a steering assembly. Everything looks very accurate, especially the dash. The dashboard is very well detailed, and as a plus, an instrument cluster has a decal provided for the whole thing. You can shave off all the detail and apply the decal or do as I did, sand it down a bit, apply decal, and use a lot of decal setting solution to get it to snuggle down over the details. This adds a lot of visual pop to it.
11) The body is also very nice; all the logos are there, and crisply molded. The biggest issue with this model has always been the hard top; it never fits right. 12) For some reason the Hard Tops on these kits always seem wider than the body and without gluing it on, it will never just sit on the body. So, because of that, and the fact that it s a Jeep, I decided to go topless! Doing so allowed me to take a liberty with the doors. I cut the window frames off the doors to make them mimic the half doors found on the soft-top versions.
13) The small pieces that go on the body (door handles, footman loops on the hood, hood hold downs, and mirrors) were all stripped of chrome. 14) I painted the body Krylon Fusion Sunshine Yellow, and taped off the fender flares which were shot with Testors flat black, and attempted to attach the small pieces to the body, I say attempted because with out a lot of patience and small hands it will not go well. These are the parts that will deter a novice builder and maybe make them abandon the model. Eventually I got them to stay put with a little epoxy.
15) Also, I deviated from the instructions when it came to attaching the cowl-windshield assembly, I attached the cowl to the body with the windshield before painting, then added the dash assembly later, makes for a better looking model and an easier build. 24) Also the body color was sprayed on without primer or scuffing it up. The Krylon Fusion paint works really well if spraying over white plastic or if you're matching the plastic color. With the body painted and the decals on final assembly could begin.
26 & 19) I attached the rear tire carrier, painted the taillights and installed, headlight and turn signal buckets, and windshield glass. I installed the body on the chassis and fed the steering shaft from the frame up to the hole in the body (another tedious task). The taillights were molded in clear so I used Testors Stoplight Red to paint them. 17) Overall this model, for its age, is still an appealing kit. It could use some updating, and some of the small parts would be better off being molded in due to there small size and lack of surface area to glue on to the model.
25) I am really surprised the aftermarket resin casters never stepped up and made some conversion parts for this kit (6cyl. engine, soft top, lifted suspension, etc.) The Jeep kit opens itself up for a ton of versions, and scratch building, but patience is going to be a virtue. The Jeep is truly an American Icon.