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History of AMT & MPC's Action Line Pickup Kits


Fabrux

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Wish RC2 had not butchered the GMC stepside into the "72 Chevy"

Fleetside we have had re-issued 4 times since the yellow/white box art.

It would be nice if they could offer the 70-72 Sierra Grande again

Hopefully a resin caster out there does or will!!!

What happened to the Cooter's Tow truck Tooling??

How did they loose that almost While In production, causing the

re-tooling of the GMC in the first place????

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I believe Ertl offered that 69 Blazer as a Toy then decided to offer it as a kit

It was offered Before the Yellow box art Styrene 72 kit.

I have tried several times to get one, but have missed out

One thing about this kit. The body is in 2 main pieces.

The primary body with sides, etc, but the Hood & windshield frame are

the second piece.

The Roof is a separate Plastic piece.

Tires, as far as I remember from the Blueprinter/Replica newsletter are Hollow-Back

hard styrene!

I have one of those Blazers. It's not bad overall for a die cast. It was originally a promotional die cast, the Wix Filter version seems to the the one I've seen the most of, both alone and with a trailer/race car ('69 Camaro I think) combo. Mine is the unassembled version, painted orange, and has solid no name versions of the MPC Desert Dog tires.

Judging by price trends, the 73-87 seems to be more popular. The MPC kits for that generation are pretty darn good for the era. With some corrections they build into a good kit and hold up well, IMO.

I'll take any of them that Round 2 will reissue!

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Since there were No Wix locations near me, I never saw the Promo/Toy items.

I do wonder how many different liveries were offered on that Blazer.

I do remember the Kit in Toys R Us once or twice. But never had the $$ when they were there.
Now they go too high!!!

I can build one of th e M-K issues as a 69 Though!

I have a few extra 69 Pickup grills!!

and 2 complete kits, as well as a few Parts lots that should yield at least 2-3 More builds.

Though I MIGHT bash a couple into a Suburban of that era

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The only issue, Dan, is that the pickup and Blazer parts don't quite swap. The hoods are just different enough to not fit properly, and the pickup grilles are just a wee bit too small for the Blazer. I lucked out and managed to get the correct '69-70 Blazer grille in a parts lot; I just need the proper hood!

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Question: Were there many changes to the stock SBC engine in these kits over the years? My '67 lacks an engine and if a later-reissue version is the same, it will be easier to replace.

I've been cleaning up a damaged set of decals from the '67 Chevy pickup; if anyone else can use them here you go. Might need a bit more work but it's way better than it was:

11600945894_2106de6ae8_c.jpg

Also have this in a larger version (1965 x 1500).

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For the most part, They engine is the same in all issues.

But, The MPC kit had One air cleaner design, and AMT had a different one

Also take into account, the AMT GMC versions.

AND the Blazer/Jimmy kits as well!!

MPC's kits had Single Exhaust with Cross-over mainfolds

while AMT kits had twin exhaust.

The recent issues of the 72 are based on th e Original MPC Fleetside box, And

AMT GMC Stepside kit cab/chassis.

The grill & front bumper are one piece and Not as acurate as one from

a Cooter's Tow Truck issue!!

That one had separate grill & bumper Like the 71 & 72 Annuals

or the 74 issue Longbox stepside and 2 modified versions.

Heavy Pedal & Rolling Thunder.

These 2 had a Heavy duty type bumper not the stock one,

while Heavy Pedal actually shows a Stock one in the box art.

Heavy pedal had a Deep set stock grill, but likely was a re-tool/modification

of the Tube type in the Rolling Thunder as I have read that Rolling Thunder

came second in this series with Heavy Pedal being the third and Final.

I like those decals, but for clearer printing, the larger file might work better.

I am not surprised that the Pickup & Blazer gills don't swap between kits.

The pickups have ALWAYS had the headlights cast in place, while the

Blazers/Jimmy's have Separate lenses.

Look at the M-K re-issue too.

Not only do you still get the GMC Jimmy headlight lenses (all 4)

you also get the Chrome Jimmy Badges.

All that kit needs is the GMC grill/bumper and we have a 2n1 kit!!!

MAYBE we can talk round2 into offering it that way soon!!

I do not have pictures of the engine parts, built engines or instructions at hand.

Give me a day or 2 and good Sunny weather with No wind, and I can take a few pic's

and if I remember, can look for instructions on the DPMCC fotki site, or in my files.

Sorry about this part, but, the camera I am using is an OLD 1.3 MP Sony, and

Does NOT like to take INDOOR Pic's At All!!

No matter how many and how BRIGHT the lights I add.

if anyone Has good pic's post them.

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  • 10 months later...

Is it just me, or is the name on the bed of this tow truck kind of creeping you out? :blink:

Kevorkian (translated: "son of Kevork", which name along with Giragos is usually translated to "George"), is a fairly common Armenian name, Mike. And while they might be related, who knows?

Charlie Larkin

Could be the same family- "Dr. Death" was born in Pontiac, and AMT often did use the names of real local businesses (remember they were based in the Detroit suburb of Troy back then), so it is possible.

That's the version of this kit I'd like to see reissued above all the rest- Kevorkian Bros. decal graphics or not.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm thinking of making 4x4 out of the 72 chevy pickup I got, I have two of the blazers and I think that I can maybe use the frame (need to be stretched) and axles from the blazer under the chevy. I noticed that the chevy molded-in frame is wider than the blazers and that the engine bay is different. Maybe taking the front of the blazerbody and move it over to the pickup cab to make it better. Any thoughts? Anyone done such a conversion before?

I'm also thinking that I can maybe take the wide steelies from the blazer kit (the front ones with 6 lugs) and narrow it down abit to make more acurate steelrim for it. Maybe I can drill out the center 4x4 hub and replace it with a bit of styren and make a better looking rear wheel aswell. Would ofcourse cast them in resin so that I don't have to steel parts from to many kits.

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From what I have observed, the 67-72 pickup kits are based on the previous 60-66 pickup tooling and the Blazers are completely new tooling. The parts are interchangeable between the two to a point, usually requiring a bit of finesse.

My recommendation would be to cut out the underhood detail piece from the Blazer and blend it with the pickup rather than trying to swap the front clip portion of the body; I believe there will be issues getting the body lines lined up properly.

Finally, before you get too in depth with the wheels they are available in resin in proper 4x4 6-bolt configuration front and back. Not sure if they are deep dish or not as I think they are copies of the Blazer rims. Food for thought! :)

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Thanks for the tips there. Do you know who sells the resin wheels?

I'm a fan of 4x4 pickups, started work in 2012 on the Revell 64 Chevy and modified it to a K10, making the axles and suspension from parts from the partsbox. I cast my own resin wheels also from putting together bits from the partsbox. Still a work in progress, building it as a US Forest Service truck and have also scratchbuilt rowboat and trailer to go begind it:

IMG_5634.jpg

Would be great to complement it with a 67-72 as I also have several of the MPC, Revell and Monogram kits of the 73-87 generation.

BTW, I love these kit historythreads, really cool to read the history of the kits :)

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From what I have observed, the 67-72 pickup kits are based on the previous 60-66 pickup tooling and the Blazers are completely new tooling. The parts are interchangeable between the two to a point, usually requiring a bit of finesse.

I'm confused by this. Surely you are talking about a much older 60-66 tooling? The current AMT '60 Chevy kit shares nothing with 67-72, and I understand it makes a decent donor for a more detailed 67-72.

Gaute, maybe you've already seen this, but if not enjoy.

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That's what he was meaning, that it was based on the earlier annual kit. Comparing them, you can see the similarities, though they did correct the front suspension on the '67-'72 kits, unlike the '63-'66 that still had the incorrect torsion bar front end from the '60-'62 kits.

On the subject of the new tool AMT '60, it would not really make a good donor, as it has the '60-'62 specific front suspension, as well as having the '55-'62 rear axle. A better donor would be the Revell '64/'65 kits, which would also be correct for a donor to make an accurate '63 from the AMT annual. For a '67-'72 4x4, raiding the MPC/AMT '73-'87 body truck would yield a more accurate suspension and drivetrain than using the '72 Blazer kit, and the frame can be modified without too much issue to make a '67-'72 style. The transfer case is really the only part that might have to scratchbuilt, as the NP203 in the kit was not used until '73.

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Thanks a lot for the tips there. I have seen that film before, infact I downloaded it from the website that you can see on it and have played it in ultraslowmotion in my vlc player to look for references on how the USFS pickups where equipped in the mid 60s.

Here is some pictures of the chassis for the 64, is this very different for 67-72?

IMG_1172.jpg

IMG_1169.jpg

On this one I used the differential for the frontaxle from Tamiyas Jaguar mkII, as it was what I had at the time that looked most like what was on the 1:1 cars I used as referance. The springs comes from unknown kitsuspensions from the scrapbox and the centediff was scartchbuilt with a part from a Italeri truck kit (I think) and some putty.

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Thank you for the links. I got out the 64 and tried the 72 cab on the chassis. Looks like it fits very well, so I guess I will buy another of the 64/65 kits to use that.

IMG_5642.jpg

IMG_5643.jpg

IMG_5644.jpg

Needs to be stretched abit to fit the longer bed but this looks to be a easier way than to to it than than modifying the Blazer frame.

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That's what he was meaning, that it was based on the earlier annual kit. Comparing them, you can see the similarities, though they did correct the front suspension on the '67-'72 kits, unlike the '63-'66 that still had the incorrect torsion bar front end from the '60-'62 kits.

Yup, that's what I meant, Bill! Glad you chimed in here as I knew you would be able to set things straight. :)

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Thanks, that makes more sense. I've only seen the later '60 kits.

Nice to know about the Revell '64-65. I've got several of the GMC/Chevrolet kits and a few '60s, but the Revell kits are much easier to get being a current kit. I would much rather use one of those for a donor than one of the '60s, even better that they are a better place to start anyway.

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  • 2 years later...

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