Review Build: AMT 2021 Dodge Charger Hellcat Pursuit

Vehicle History

When the 2021 Dodge Charger Hellcat rolled into showrooms, it felt less like a new car and more like the latest chapter in a story Dodge had been telling since 2015: “big, loud and unapologetically powerful.” The Charger Hellcat didn’t appear out of nowhere in 2021 - it was the result of years of Dodge leaning hard into the muscle-car revival at a time when most automakers were moving toward smaller engines and electrification. Dodge doubled down instead, stuffing a 797hp supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI V8 into a full-size four-door sedan and daring anyone to call it impractical.

By 2021, the Hellcat formula was well refined. Dodge had already pushed the platform further with versions like the Hellcat Redeye and Widebody, and the 2021 Charger Hellcat benefited from everything they’d learned along the way. It blended old-school muscle attitude with modern tech - big horsepower, big tires and big presence, but with better handling, updated interiors and real performance credibility. For a lot of enthusiasts, the 2021 Charger Hellcat represented the peak of the classic gas-powered muscle sedan era: familiar, wild and a little bit defiant in a rapidly changing automotive world.

Kit Overview

So, I'm going to start off this review with a fact - I don't know that I would have purchased either of these kits without a absolute reason (however, I'm glad I did). You see, I belong to a Beginner Scale Modeling Facebook group and every couple of months they do a group build. I'm in on that - love the idea - so when the Pursuit was first announced as the kit to build, I hustled right out and bought it. However, I figured there would be a bunch of stock Pursuit kits being built - which is kind of the idea - but I wanted to go a different way. Then I saw that Round2 Models / AMT were releasing a Hellcat version of the same 2021 Dodge Charger, I thought a kit-bash of the two would be cool. I mean, really, with all the supercars roaming the streets of California, shouldn't the CHP have something that can keep up? With that, the 2021 Dodge Charger Hellcat Pursuit was born...

:: Chassis, Suspension and Engine
AMT has 3 kits on this same 2021 platform - the standard R/T Charger, the Pursuit and now the Hellcat. That being said, this made a kit bash extremely easy - most of the parts are shared and, those that aren't, were designed to fit on the base kit. So, the chassis is the same, the suspension is the same and the engine used the same block with only the 'Hellcat' parts being bolted on. AMT did a great job of putting all of this together - the parts lined up well with most using a pin-and-hole design for perfect placement.

A couple things to note, however. One, the fit on the pin-and-hole parts is snug before paint - which is nice - but it's a bit of a bear AFTER paint. I had to ream out the holes slightly on almost the entire build but, once done, the parts fit together perfectly! In some cases, I didn't even need to use glue.

Secondly, pay close attention to the parts you need to use. There are multiple engine parts included that are different in all 3 engine variations. For example - there are THREE pully systems for the engine. AMT does make it a little easier, though, by adding all the new Hellcat parts on a complete separate tree (see the unboxing video to see what I mean).

:: Interior
Again, same interior across the board for all 3 cars as well. I used the Hellcat interior bucket, dash (and dash decals), steering wheel and front seats, but swapped the Pursuit center console and horribly uncomfortable rear seat (I'm only guessing here about how comfortable it is - really). The holes you need to open for the laptop stand and Pursuit interior divider are molded into the stock interior bucket - simply drill them out and install your interior goodies - easy peasy.

One thing I appreciate about the kit is the interior assembly. The seats have elongated pins on the bottom that fit into slots in the interior bucket. This allows you to easily glue them in place from the underside - something alot of manufactures fail to do. And it's annoying. There's also locating tabs on the interior door panels so you know when they are properly placed prior to glue. Again, so easy, but so helpful.

:: Exterior
Since I wanted the Hellcat look (duh), I stuck with the Hellcat body and bolted on all of the Pursuit parts. AMT made it easy by molding the pinholes into the roof (for the lightbar), the rear decklid (for the spoiler) and the A-pillars (for the spotlights) - all areas you can drill out prior to painting (again, test fit often to make sure the holes are large enough).

I also stuck with the hellcat brakes and wheel/tire combo because, you know, HELLCAT!

The final assembly was body install and decals. I, personally, like builds where the body requires full assembly prior to fitting it to the chassis, however the Charger doesn't roll that way. The main body and side skirts went on fit as did the rear clip, but the front wasn't fitting quite right and giving me fits. I tried cutting the locating pins a little shorter followed by a little trimming here and there but, without being able to see WHERE the interference was, it soon became clear I was losing this battle. So I tacked the front end on with super glue and, well, it is what it is. In addition building kits, I also need to work on my build patience a bit more.

My final hurdle was the front push bar. On the standard kit, the lower valance opening is smaller and includes a spot for locating pins on the push bar (once you drill them out). Well, since the Hellcat uses a much more aggressive opening, those pin holes are gone. Some clever super gluing, though, holds the bar in place and you never know it's not 'floating'.

:: Final Thoughts
I'm actually glad I decided to do this kit bash. The Hellcat was a fun build and, except for a couple little minor issues (mostly on me), it went together well. I love that the kits all use the same base R/T platform, so doing a bash build was alot less of a headache that I expected. It makes me want to pick up another Hellcat just to build it with color.

Now if we can just get California to spend some of that 'whatever' money on some Pursuit Hellcats...