Joe

After opening the box, and removing all the little baggies full of parts, I was amazed to see so many pieces for one car. Now keep in mind that everything in the picture below is for the 1/18th Cuda. Included with the kit is a small Phillips screwdriver since every part of these cars is screwed together. Here's tip #1: If you decide to build a set, use a larger handled screwdriver! The kit is recommended for kids age 10+, and the screwdriver is fine for smaller hands. But I couldn't get a good grip on it. I found it much easier to use my own.



		Despite the large number of parts for the 1/18th car, the 1/64th is made up of four parts. One thing I did like was the separate window part. The original Muscle Machines were manufactured that way, and customizers will like this feature as well. This small car took about 5 minutes to assemble. I didn't spend a lot of time taking pictures of it, since most of us have already disassembled and reassembled a Muscle Machine or two.

The included assembly instructions follow a logical pattern, chassis first, body details, then final assembly. There are no words to detail the assembly, but the pictures are clear and easy to understand, even for me. Tip #2: Use the screw chart!! There are 5 different sized screws in this kit, and although most will fit in all places, you'll end up with one or two parts that aren't tight enough, or too tight.

		The chassis of the 1/18th is a fairly straightforward matter. The rims snap into the tires, 3 screws hold on the exhaust pipes. Tip #3: When you push the wheels onto the axles, push them hard. I thought I had the axles inserted completely into the wheels, but found that the chassis didn't fit later in final assembly. They need a pretty good push to seat properly.

The front end is made up of three pieces, the grille/headlight assembly, bumper, and fog light bar. They all fit together snugly, and the entire clip is held in place with two screws. The motor is a one piece chunk of chrome plastic and real braided hose. It's also pretty heavy. To keep it in place and steady, the kit includes a large plastic brace to hold it down.



The rear end is comprised of two parts. A steel roll pan and a one piece bumper/tailight bezel assembly. Since the screws that hold it together go into the plastic bumper assembly, the main body is notched to help hold the metal roll pan in place and relieve stress on the plastic. .

		The final assembly is a simple matter of attaching the chassis assembly to the body assembly using three large screws. As mentioned above, make sure your wheels are pressed completely onto the axles!! One other note for the customizers; the glass is molded into the body on the 1/18th, so if you want to repaint it first, you'll have to do some tape work.

This is very easy kit to build, if you're 10 or 40. To be honest, I had a harder time getting the parts out of the box. This thing is tightly packaged, and some of the parts are screwed to the plastic shipping holders . Tip #4: Remove the screwdriver first when unpacking.



There are six different kits available: 1966 Mustang in Candy Tangerine with Black Stripes or Gloss Black with Gold Stripes 1969 Camaro in Midnight Blue with White Stripes or White with Orange Stripes 1970 Cuda in Lime Green with Black Stripes or Citrus Orange with Black Stripes It was fun building these kits. The entire process from opening the box to tightening the last screw took about an hour. And I have to say that this car is very well engineered. I haven't taken apart any 1/18th Muscle machines, so I really have no idea if they are built in the same manner, or if adjustments were made to the model kits to facilitate screws. In fact, together, the 1/18th and 1/64th cars use 23 screws, 19 on the 1/18th, 4 on the 1/64th! These cars aren't going to fall apart.