fender6575

As Factory Stock fan, overall appearance is important to me. Stance and track widht for example. There is no need to superdetail if basic dimensions are off. For some reason many muscle car kits suffer totally wrong tire location compared to real one. Hi-riding Monogram Muscle and over fender protruding front tires on AMT 67 Mustang and 66 Fairlane to name few. Correcting track and suspension height and locating tire correctly to wheel well makes wonders to many kits. I also prefer curbside models with nice panel gaps over ill fitting opening features. Of course there is also expertly build super fine models with operable doors and trunk with perfect gaps. But if I have to choose between opening doors with bad fit and doors closed but perfect gaps and straight bodywork, then...

Thanks for your advice and sorry my late response! GTO Tailpanel looks so much better on your built. Side view is spot on now. Maybe taillights are possible to fit with clear styrene sheet filling the gaps? In real GTOs there is ribbing over taillights also, almost looks like "hide-away" taillights. Maybe some clear decal over taillights with light chrome silver ribbing printed over? There is also hint of fine moldings on Kits taillights, but are so faint that drybrushing does not work and it is not possible to bare,metal foil them and wash with clear red. Ribs are too shallow. Ill have to try your great modifications. Separating taillight panel from bumber is also good tip. It works also in Revell 65 Impala kit.

How to correct Amt 65 Pontiac GTO taillight panel? Is it possible to modify it for more prototypically correct factory stock look? There is seven very narrow chrome ribs continuing whole widht of panel . I think that kit part looks more like LeMans panel and taillights are too shallow. I have original annual kit bumbers and Modelhaus resin replacements. Front bumber is very acceptable but taillight panel needs some work. I see that I have to file rear quarter extensions more angular since they are too round . Maybe I can add some plastic clear sheet to taillights and putty and file whole panel flush. Then apply printed clear decal with narrow ribs over it? What might be your advice? Foilcopy some ribbed panel and lay over smoothed panel? Tailights are hard. I think that ribbed taillight panel is one of most awesome features of 65 GTO design but kit lacks the look here. There is other easier to correct flaws also in that kits, but taillight panel seems too difficult to me. Any help is appreciated. ( sorry my rather primitive English, it is over twenty years since my studies…)

Yeah! Great conversation and opinions here. I think that amt Roadrunner is very good kit and have many kitbashing possibilities. Also real 68 Roadrunner is handsome car because of almost perfectly proportioned body. Nice muscular rear quarters and all. Unfortunately Amt kits body is not so good looking. If there is way to modify it little to look as good as real runner I d like to learn. I have several of earlier issues and will buy these newly released issues also. When real car has exceptional desing features it is important to me that overall appearance of models reflect them well. For example I really like 69-70 Mustang fastback. Aggressive front end with leaning grille and well placed headlights makes one of the best musclecar designs ever. Well, what do you think if Revell/Mono Mustangs look as good on your shelf? Is it easy to achieve the appearence even if models are otherwise technically well built, but front end is not corrected? On the other end. I kind of like MPC 67 Gto kits. Steel mold is in poor shape. There is lot of block sanding and panel line engraving required. Flash and moldlines are everywhere. But basic shape is there. While not perfectly prototypical, it get the look of 67 Gto. My other hobby is restoring classic cars so paint and body is the most important single thing that makes the car. Even there I pay real close attention how the bodylines and panel gaps are made. Trust me there is lot of bodylead and shaping required to fit available repro panels to original factory standards or even more... But nomore offtopic here. Please continue and tell building possibilities of AMT Roadrunner. Sorry my bad English. It is twenty years since I was at school and there is so many forgotten words

Thank you for great advices. You are absolutely right where problem lies. I m little hesitant to make cuts middle of bodypanels. Im afraid they will show through later after my paint and polish jobs. I was thinking if I could fool the observers eyes. Little more material added to lower leading edge might end quarter panels looking taller and straighter. I have old Johan B bodies to compare, but It would be great if I can get more mileage from my amt mopar kits with simpler modifications. Only opening rear wheel openings to correct dimensions helps a lot. It is so sad that many otherwise very interesting and suberbly engineered kits suffer badly proportioned bodies. Correcting these kind of issues is often very difficult. Tutorials how to correct bodies for 67 GTX, 58 Belvedere, Amt 68-69 B-bodies etc are welcome. There might be little market for corrected resin bodies if available too.

I wonder if these "minor adjustments" are enough to correct Amt RR body to please eyes of demanding modeler? Im gonna try on mine -Sand upper fender line more straighter - Sand quarter window opening lover line more horizontal. -Sand rear wheel opening bigger to match Johan body -Add plastic sheet to lower rear quarter panel behind rear wheel and modify lower body character line more horizontal. There is too much angle difference between upper and lower sheet metal press lines. Now you can move rear bumber slightly lower so rear bodyside view do not look too narrow and have too much angle. -Modify suspension so that there is slight rake Hope these will work

Wow! This is first class paint and foil finish! All your models are real fine artwork. But these two 62 annuals are over the top. Very simple kits by todays standard. Still everything looks so right. No out of scale proportions and details showing. Also no need to compare to pictures of 1:1. You just know they look spot on.

Thanks for the responses. It would be great to buy original or quality resin copy of it. I think I can modify 59 or 62 resin top to fit, but Im not sure if I can handle painting correct surface structure again.

Is there resin copies of original Amt 63-64 Impala convertible uptops available somewhere? Already checked Modelhaus but no luck. I have their 62 Impala uptop for new tool kit that seems little short for 63-64 verts. Also I m not sure if Monogram 59 or 65 Impala uptops are correctly shaped for more boxy bodied 63-64?

I find your Dodge model project very interesting as I have also X-el Dodge on the works. Mine is only curbside... you are going the more advanced way. I have Modelhaus copy of Original Johan 59 Dodge kit interior. Nice casting, but little shallow. Still looks reasonable good detail painted. When you compare Johan body to your 1:1 gem do you think rear wheel openings might be little off in kit body? Looks somewhat heavy. There is so much space between side molding and rear wheel opening lip? I opened up mine to better match my reference pictures. Hard to define what is correct look. Maybe totally unnecessary modification? I have couple of X-el reissues and both have very heavy molding lines on sides of front bumber. Difficult to get rid of them without new chrome plating. There is long way to ship them to Chrome tech from Finland. You are one happy man to own real 59 d ht. It is one of my all time favourites. Unfortunately I should have to sell my current summer ride 65 Impala SS, if I ever could afford (and find) that Virgil Exner masterful design study.

I really like your Plymouth build. Such a awesome desing. Is it steering wheel clear transparent as real car has? What might be origin of your models steering wheel? My Promolite 61 Fury came with regular light tan colored resin wheel. It would be great if some caster begins to offer Exner era mopar steering wheels casted in clear transparent. Modelhaus, do you hear me...

You have fine project material Novadose! Please let us see in-progress pics. I bet that it will be well build model as usual. Modelhaus has almost all replacement parts for 63 Bonne, except body and chassis. So only original kit body is needed to build model. I have a plan for Amt 62 pontiac chassis... That wide side molding is very attractive. There is also super cool dashboard and interior in 63 Pontiac. Shall I say much rich looking than same period Chevrolet Impala SS has. And I am Chevrolet enthusiast myself.

Thank you very much for pictures. I already knew that MCW had that Catalina. Body seems to be straight and crisp casting. Did Amt originals have so detailed interior or is this MCW master? I remember that I saw someones netsite pictures of resin 63-64 Pontiac castings(Poncho Pio). Maybe they were copies of amt originals. Is anyone familiar with these products or better yet if caster is member of this forum? I really like these full loaded Bonne and GP Pontiacs in reality. It would be great to build model of them. My friend has 1:1 restored 63 GP so I have great reference near me.

Hello! This is my first post here. There is totally awesome model buils in this forum. I wonder if there is any quality Full size 63 Pontiac resin kits available? Bonneville and Grand Prix are in my wish list. What ever happened to AMT 58-64 Pontiac molds? Is there any hope to have them reissued?

This is first quality build. I really like engine compartment details. Your Impala build must be reason I registered in this forum. I have never seen so well build 65 Impala model. Hope we will see side view pictures. Is there any other modifications needed in body than rear window trim? When I compare original amt 65 Impala to revell-mono Impala there is couple of differences. Hard to tell if newer monogram kit body is better straight from box? The "mystery can" is vacuum reservoir for ac system. Vacuum line from intake manifold goes to can and from can there is line through firewall grommet. Via AC control panel vacuum actuates suction throttle valve diaphgram and passenger side vacuum actuator inside kickpanel. Yeah yeah I have actual 65 ss coupe and I am Gm tech by trade. Sorry my lanquage, I write from Finland