Mr Norm's 1971 Demon 340 GSS in 1/18....

-

DemonDave

Swollen Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2004
Messages
833
Reaction score
508
Location
Victoria, BC
... what a disappointment!

The tooling has been around for decades with Ertl producing and selling these 1971 Demon 340s back in the 1990s. They're still being sold today, most recently by AutoWorld in a more detailed (but still flawed) form, but now the tooling is being used by Round2 for their new release Mr Norm's 1971 Demon 340 GSS six-pack.

The first Mr. Norm's Demon GSS came out almost two decades ago in the form of a supercharged 1972 version by Supercars. Still based on the old Ertl mold, the front end had been reworked with a more accurate front bumper and valance (still not perfect, but far better than the original Ertl pieces), and the grille and side markers were updated to mimic the 1972 restyle. Over all, a decent replica.

But now! Ugh! For reasons I can't begin to comprehend, this latest Demon has been disfigured with a massive Duster front bumper from the old Ertl Duster 340/Duster Twister mold from the 1990s, and it even looks like the front wheelwell openings have been reshaped to Plymouth specs too. Why, oh WHY would they do this???

AMERICAN MUSCLE MR. NORM'S 1971 DODGE DEMON GSS (CLASS OF 1971) 1:18 SCALE DIECAST | Round2

I would love to add one of these to my 1/18 Mopar collection but there is no way that I could look at it every day without wanting to take a bat to it! OK, maybe an over-statement but I couldn't have one without also having an old Ertl Demon parts car to rob a bumper and valance from. The wheelwells? I guess if I displayed the car at the right angle, I wouldn't see them. For an MSRP of over $100 though? Hard no. It should be "turn key" for that price.

New '71 GSS release:
AMM1255_MrNorms_1971Demon_1stPrepro-5_1800x1800.jpg

Original '71 340 mold:
a6dd75f8-dd57-4f1a-b380-f4240f2814ad_1.6e26617c466d18ac88dd45dc1adc6e07.jpeg

Supercars '72 GSS mold:
lg_8619.jpg
 
Good question! The white car doesn't look so bad in that picture but the front of the orange car doesn't look right either.

I had the Motown Missile Challenger, the Motown Missile Cuda, and 2 versions of the Mopar Missile Duster. I kept them for a while but to me, they just looked more like pro street than pro stock. Just not quite right. Probably should have kept them but I didn't.
 
None of them look close to correct in the front end. :( Guess I just never paid that close of attention to the 1/18 th scale cars. They all resemble a Valiant front end, at least to me.
 
The pic with the duster bumper was a pre production car

View attachment 1715835483
I have several with the duster bumper. So they were production cars. All of them have Duster fenders and the early had the Duster hood with the center beak. body line. The front fenders should have different wheel wells.

Even the 1/64 scale got the fenders right

DSCN0864.JPG


106_0655.JPG


DSCN0508.JPG


DSCN0542.JPG
 
I have several with the duster bumper. So they were production cars. All of them have Duster fenders and the early had the Duster hood with the center beak. body line. The front fenders should have different wheel wells.

Even the 1/64 scale got the fenders right

View attachment 1715835555

View attachment 1715835561

View attachment 1715835562

View attachment 1715835563
Interesting. Do you have a pic of the 1 you have with the duster bumper you can share? As far as they told me they had fixed that issue on the production version .
 
I'd be happy with a '73 Dart Sport 340 1/18 or 1/64. They just came out with an Aspen R/T and Volare Road Runner 1/64 Green Lighting
 
Still flawed but they fixed the bumper on the production version.

View attachment 1715835481

That looks more like the front bumper from a 1977 Ford LTDII than a Demon but at least they didn't let them out the door wearing that Duster one from the prototype.

I still don't understand why some companies can nail scaled down parts and others miss the mark so badly.
 
Regardless that front end looks bloody awful. I was tempted to get one because I don't have a Demon but no....

Highway 61 did a great job on the front end of the Dart.

20180517_143643.jpg
20181213_155925.jpg
 
Really makes you wonder why they reverted back to the clunky '71 mould when the improved '72 GSS mould was a later release and could easily have been used with a '71 grille.
 
-
Back
Top