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Amt '62 Buick Electra 225


Chuck Most

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The Retro Kewel Box art.

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The decal sheet, plus the bonus Kat sticker.

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The blinding sprues o' chrome.

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The factory applied narrow whites, along with the old school wire axles and screws.

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The raw white styrene stuff.

Some observations-

The castings seem to be quite a bit better than the last issue of this oldie, the 'Pro Shop' version of about a decade or so. AMT claims to have returned some of the old custom parts to this latest incarnation- I do seem to remember a second set of headlamp bezels (the quads) being here, and not present in the PS issue. Of course, the decals and factory-printed whitewall tires are a marked improvement over that previous release, as is the box art.

Gripes- all seats (including the fronts) are molded in, and the way the grille is molded with the headlamps in place may make painting the headlamp surrounds a bit tricky (look at a 1:1- they're part of the body on the real car and, hence, body color). Some may not dig the metal axles and screws- but is there any more secure a way to hold the wheels and body in place? The engine, with it's prominent axle cutout and lackadasial detail is also a gripe of mine. Hey, you can always glue the hood shut, right?

All in all? I'm glad to see it back. I'm a Ford guy first and foremost, but I do like the early 'big bodied' GM cruisers, and a 'Deuce and a Quarter' fits that bill nicely. I've already bought two of this latest reissue. Maybe a stretched '62 Bel Air chassis and the Nailhead from a '66 Riv will help it out a bit... ?

Edited by Chuck Most
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Look for a feature on how the box art for this one was created in the next issue of MCM! ;)

What? And ruin the magic! Never!

Must...burn...next issue of MCM!

No wait, sorry! I meant- Must...burn...next issue of Popular Hot Rodding! (What a crappy magazine THAT is!)

Okay, now time for the seriousness...

UH...Blake? Look no further than your nearest hobby shop- it's a new reissue, available right this very minute from our reasonably good friends o'er at Round 2! It just looks like an old offering- which I guess is what they were shooting for! :lol:

Edited by Chuck Most
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The '66 Riviera lowrider kit has a really nice Nailhead in it, I used that engine in my build of this kit.

One of those "nailheads" is out of scale.Either the '62 version(and the one in the '66 Wildcat kit and the old '67 Riviera)is oversize or the one in the newer Riv kit is undersize.I put the newer version in a '66 Wildcat that I built and the engine looked lost in the engine bay.

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I'm wondering if using the chassis and floor pan from the Riviera (newer-tool '66 version) would be easier than strectching the Bel Air chassis to fit the Buick shell. I'm also wondering if it would even be worth the effort, as you'd still have the "everything's molded in but the dash and steering wheel" interior tub.

I don't know if the newer tooled Nailhead 425 is underscale, but it does seem to look quite a bit better that other renditions. If nothing else, it isn't as underscale as the AMT '56 T-Bird's Y-block or the newer Ala Kart kit's Hemi!

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Sure did!

Also, that long rectangular chunk of plastic that seems to serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever...

Not positive, but I think that was supposed to be a putty applicator. The original had a front end extension that for some reason is still MIA. They opened some gates on the chrome tree portion of the tool, but evidently neglected the other part. Or, it could be that that area needed too much work. When I did the box art for the 1994 issue of the 65 Galaxie, the body had a lot of little nubs on it from rust pits in the tool. I had to sand all of those down before painting. Could be what happened here.

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  • 1 month later...

The molded bucket seats suck, and my deuce & a quarter's interior has been under massive surgery for some months since i lost the detached inner panels in a fire. However i've decided to refurbished it w/'70 Monte Carlo panels and backseat for the bench & buckets for the backseat inserts, test fitting everything as each piece seems to look good so far.

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Picked up my '62 Buick kit today...what a neat box. Everything is nicely sealed up in clear bags and that's good. Love that little collector mini-box! A bit more flash on parts than I had expected but nothing that can't be taken care of quickly so that's good. Two of my tires had the narrow whitewall misprinted (not registered correctly on the tire)...that's not good. I can use the new engine in my original issue '60 Buick HT (engine in bad shape due to original builder using WAY too much glue during assembly) and put the '66 AMT Buick engine in this '62 Buick so that's GREAT! All in all a great trip back to memory lane with this kit.

Joe

P.S. Thanks to Round 2 for the KAT sticker!! Haven't seen a good copy of that sticker in a long time. It's going on my R/C airplane flightbox!!

Edited by rhoadapple
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Did any of the resin companies ever make a correct Wildcat body with a correct wheelbase?

Cut the roof off a 64 AMT Impala and blend it to the body,and fill in the first porthole on the front fender,and Look up a few photos of it,As far as the wheelbase both cars have the same,The LeSabre was different,Not the Wildcat!.......Steve Ketterer
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Not positive, but I think that was supposed to be a putty applicator. The original had a front end extension that for some reason is still MIA. They opened some gates on the chrome tree portion of the tool, but evidently neglected the other part

Yes, back in the day the AMT Stylize Kits came with add on fronts and tails that were to be glued on and then they provided a tube of AMT body putty that was to be applied and smoothed out with that applicator. As a kid I cut my modeling "teeth" with those kits. My favorite was the 1962 Corvette kit. It had wild long nose front, a subtle rear and a "T Top" roof with clear top windows that opened up. I would kill to get one of those kits again. Anyway, I just picked up this Buick with the intention of building it in the "style" of the day.

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  • 2 years later...

Cut the roof off a 64 AMT Impala and blend it to the body,and fill in the first porthole on the front fender,and Look up a few photos of it,As far as the wheelbase both cars have the same,The LeSabre was different,Not the Wildcat!.......Steve Ketterer

The Wildcat was built on the Invicta (middle series, price-wise) body. It and the LeSabre are six inches shorter than the Electra 225 (214" vs. 220"), wheelbase is three inches shorter (123" vs. 126"). Only the Electra used the longer body for 1962. The Invicta station wagon, being essentially a 1961 wagon with a '62 front clip, was a half-inch shorter than the passenger car!

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