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Mid '70s Chevy rescue van Round 2


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Correct. Never any opening doors.

Interestingly, on the original and the reissue instruction sheet, Step 4 of Section 7 "Final Assemblies", upper right corner of page, reads "NOTE: Rear doors may be trimmed out of body and hinged with cloth tape". TB

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Interestingly, on the original and the reissue instruction sheet, Step 4 of Section 7 "Final Assemblies", upper right corner of page, reads "NOTE: Rear doors may be trimmed out of body and hinged with cloth tape". TB

And the box art clearly shows the rear door open- though no inner door panel detail of any kind is provided in the kit if you wanted to do so.

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Interestingly, on the original and the reissue instruction sheet, Step 4 of Section 7 "Final Assemblies", upper right corner of page, reads "NOTE: Rear doors may be trimmed out of body and hinged with cloth tape". TB

True ... do you suppose that might make it a Skill Level 3.5 kit? :lol:

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And the box art clearly shows the rear door open- though no inner door panel detail of any kind is provided in the kit if you wanted to do so.

Remember, their customers were kids (actually us when we were kids!). We didn't know any better and would have been happy to clumsily carve those doors out and hang them on tape! :lol: Then we could've used it to tow one of our replica stock car bodied funny cars!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks- thought so! Guess they removed them before the Dirty Donny reissue for whatever reason.

I think there are two separate inserts(?) for the AMT GM G-vans, or maybe multiple inserts, due to the differences between the GMC A-Team and other Chevy kits. I can't honestly see any reason why the roof ribs would be added then removed, so maybe the body cavity for the GMC version is different?

At any rate, you can kinda-sorta make out the roof ribs on the '72 Beauville, and see how they don't extend over the cab area:

chevybeauville.jpg

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I wish this thread was going when I built my daughter's '85 GMC Van with the windows. I heard hints that one version did have the window engraved on the inside to cut out, but never realized they were completely separate pieces! I ended making the windows myself from an A-Team Van.

You can see on the pic below that the A-Team Van did have the roof ribs.

ReneesVanDSC_1054_zps14530875.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's the A-Team GMC based body, with the full length roof ribs, as well as the (added in '78?) lower beltline rib:

$_57.JPG

I could be wrong, but wasn't the actual van used in the series (and in the newer movie) a short wheelbase version? The body from this reissue looks mighty long to me compared to B.A.'s real van, and even though it has been many, many years since I had the original issue molded in black that I lost in a fire in 1997, I thought that original issue was a shorter wheelbase like the Revell 70's Chevy van too.

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I cant say about the new movie as I haven't seen it but the van in the original series was a longish wheel base and the model kit is the same length as the AMT bodies.

After I read this, I decided to see if I could find some good pics, and see why I suffer from C.R.S.!!! Both the old series and the new movie were long wheel base like the body. I found a couple of good screen shots, too.

The series van:

BA-Van_zps06d7a333.png

The movie van:

i271330_zpsd1e7b665.jpg

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  • 6 years later...
1 hour ago, Casey said:

[H]opefully the Kats at Round2 have been digging to find this lost insert, which will allow them to reissue the Strip 'N" Surf '72 Chevy Sportsvan, sans windows of course[...]

There was the literal insert behind / between the front seats , last seen in the A-TEAM version in the 80's . 

Wasn't the optional engine a Mark IV (396 , ad seq.) ? 

Would be nice if Round2 added the correct roof , too ; the optional side windows , too...

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23 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

There was the literal insert behind / between the front seats , last seen in the A-TEAM version in the 80's . 

Wasn't the optional engine a Mark IV (396 , ad seq.) ? Would be nice if Round2 added the correct roof , too ; the optional side windows , too...

I was being facetious, knowing the body shell is too far gone to ever return to its original state. As you mentioned, this kit has been through the molding machine so many times it's looking ragged in a few areas, and kind of a shadow of its former self.

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41 minutes ago, Casey said:

I was being facetious, knowing the body shell is too far gone to ever return to its original state. As you mentioned, this kit has been through the molding machine so many times it's looking ragged in a few areas, and kind of a shadow of its former self.

While I agree with your assessment  for the most part ( i.e. , the body is still quite good , albeit compromised via ad infinitum issues ) . Conversely , I offer the current state-of-affairs at Round2 : 1963 Nova Wagon and 1964 Oldsmobile F-85 / Cutlass Convertible . As popular as the Chevy Van is from this era , one could postulate about the potential for a new body for this kit , no ? Add the side glass / windows back into the mix ; correct the roof ; dust-off the 'Surf & Drag' (or whatever it's called) parts ; and either correct wheels ( it is a one ton van with 5 lug wheels , no ? ) or correct the emblems . Throw-in those sweet surfboards , a gang of decals , and multiple building options , and it would sell like a mother .

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12 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

While I agree with your assessment  for the most part ( i.e. , the body is still quite good , albeit compromised via ad infinitum issues ) . Conversely , I offer the current state-of-affairs at Round2 : 1963 Nova Wagon and 1964 Oldsmobile F-85 / Cutlass Convertible . As popular as the Chevy Van is from this era , one could postulate about the potential for a new body for this kit , no ? Add the side glass / windows back into the mix ; correct the roof ; dust-off the 'Surf & Drag' (or whatever it's called) parts ; and either correct wheels ( it is a one ton van with 5 lug wheels , no ? ) or correct the emblems . Throw-in those sweet surfboards , a gang of decals , and multiple building options , and it would sell like a mother .

Yea! And add the open-road custom-camper parts option, and it would sell like a "very special" kind of...   Well, you know.

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12 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

While I agree with your assessment  for the most part ( i.e. , the body is still quite good , albeit compromised via ad infinitum issues ) . Conversely , I offer the current state-of-affairs at Round2 : 1963 Nova Wagon and 1964 Oldsmobile F-85 / Cutlass Convertible . As popular as the Chevy Van is from this era , one could postulate about the potential for a new body for this kit , no ? Add the side glass / windows back into the mix ; correct the roof ; dust-off the 'Surf & Drag' (or whatever it's called) parts ; and either correct wheels ( it is a one ton van with 5 lug wheels , no ? ) or correct the emblems . Throw-in those sweet surfboards , a gang of decals , and multiple building options , and it would sell like a mother .

I like that idea a lot. Considering both the Open Road camper (high top) and Strip 'N' Surf (surfboards from the '65 Chevelle Surf Wagon, if originals are long gone) could come of such a revision, it has some merit. Hopefully they'd address those ejector pin marks on the face of each side window this time around though. I guess it depends upon how much remains, but that smoothed over roof is a huge negative for me. Mostly ignored for a custom, but for anything else, it has that "something's not quite right" look.

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3 hours ago, Casey said:

Hopefully they'd address those ejector pin marks on the face of each side window this time around though.

Yes . I'd forgotten about those intrusive ejector pins on the side glass... New or modified tooling / gating could remedy that .  

That smooth roof is something I didn't really scrutinise until somewhat recently . IIRC , the aforementioned A-TEAM version has the ribs ( but is also 'saddled' with the sunroof and roof light mounting cutouts) ? I haven't had my hands on an original , c.1976-c.1978 version of the van since c.1983 , and I don't recall if that / those issues have the roof ribs .

Seeing that the surfboards made their way into the latest E-150 issue ( they were newly-tooled for the reissued 1965 Chevelle Wagon ) , and are on their own runner , their inclusion in this 'armchair proposal' of mine should be a no brainer .

The AMT Chevy Van has long been my favourite van kit . Perhaps it's because my aunt and uncle bought a half-ton shorty in 1974 (when I was 4 years ) that the stylling stuck with me . I know that the design of the base models' hub caps have always intrigued me (along with the deluxe wheel covers of the c.1972 C-10 ; the base Dodge hub caps of 1969-1975 , and ;  the Ford 'E' and 'F' Series 3/4 ton & one ton hub caps ).

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