Reissued 1/25 '53 Studebaker Starliner 3N1 kit questions

['70 Grande]

Glad to see this 1/25 '53 Studebaker Starliner, "Mr. Speed" kit return with all of its original parts. Can anyone post some pics of this reissued kit's parts trees? Wondering if they have a lot of flash and the general condition of this reissue.

Also wondering; does the body have cutting-guidelines inside it for removing the roof to add the kit's chopped top piece?

I like the chopped top, but would rather build this kit as a "custom" with a much-less-severe chopped top; I'm wondering if a portion of the stock top and the chopped top piece could be combined to build a custom Stude with only a 2"-3" chop instead of the much larger chop provided in the kit.

[Snake45]

I haven't seen the latest issue but one I bought at Walmart a couple years ago seems to be in good shape...I don't recall excessive flash or any problems with the molds.

As to your chop job, I'd think that between the two roofs provided, you could achieve any level of chop you want. A little cut 'n' paste here, a little skill there...you're golden!

[Mark]

I picked up the new issue, even though I don't need another one. There isn't a lot of flashing on the parts, which is surprising considering how many reissues there have been in the last twenty years. It's really in pretty decent shape overall.

The roof pillars are marked on the inside for cutting, for the chopped top version. A chop as severe as the one in the kit is usually reserved for the salt flats, as depicted in the kit. Most street versions use what I have heard called a "gentleman's chop"; just cutting the A-pillars an inch or two and pulling down the front of the top, to level it off. The Stude is pretty low as is, even stock. This car would look modern if it were built today.

The fit of the chopped glass isn't (and never was) too fantastic. I pulled a started Bonneville version out and am redoing the roof, reworking the roof skin to better fit the windows. The changes involve narrowing the custom piece and pulling the last 1/8" of the roof down to get the window molding right next to the glass. As built from the box, there's quite a gap between the molding and the glass all around. I pretty much "narrowed" the roof by simply cutting it twice, lengthwise, within 1/4" or so of the drip rails. The saw kerf takes out about as much material as you want to lose. Next up, I've got to slice the rear of the roof and bend it down a bit to get the molding tight against the rear window, then cut the corners and pull them in. I'm going slowly with this and keeping track of what I'm doing, as I've got the Jimmy Flintstone slicked-up body and plan on doing the same alterations to it.

A couple other things to remember if you've never had the original issue kit:

-The box art shows wide whitewall tires, but narrow stripe Firestone Supremes are in the box. Those are what was in the original issue kit. For wide whites, you can grab the Firestone Deluxe Champion tire pack and set the Supremes aside for something else.

-The red taillight lenses are included but are not needed. Some time in the Seventies, the original AMT company started engraving lenses into bezels and bumpers to eliminate red lenses. The Stude was one of the kits that got this treatment.

-A second set of clear parts in blue tint is included in the new issue, however the stock windshield and back glass are included in clear only.

[Brett Barrow]

Just peeked at one at work. Looks good. A little flash on a couple of parts, nothing major. Chrome sprue is flash free.

The chopped roof is just a larger roof panel with just a little bit of C-pillar attached. You might need to cut and section it to make it a little smaller for an intermediate chop.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Brett Barrow

['70 Grande]

Appreciate your informative replys... Mark, could you post a pic or two of the work that you're doing to your Stude's roof? Thanks, gentlemen!

[Snake45]

This car would look modern if it were built today.

I once built one in black with gold trim and gold "snowflake" wheels and a gold hood decal from a GMC Diablo and it was amazing how similar it looked to a '77-'78 Trans Am. Got a lot of laughs and dropped jaws with that model. I don't have any pictures of it loaded up, though.

IMHO, the rest of Detroit didn't catch up with the '53 Stude until 1963, with the Sting Ray and Riviera.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Snake45

[unclescott58]

Good review on this kit Mark. Correct wide whitewall tires was one reason I've thought about buying another one. But, since they are not in the kit I'll pass and pickup another AMT tire set for the '53 I already have.

Scott

[62rebel]

i did a couple of these as convertibles during the '90's reissue; they were a bear and only one of them turned out well enough to keep; the other went into donor-kit-limbo. i THINK i posted some pics long way back of the good one. i have always liked this kit and the real car; the lines are perfect, even though the chassis design was getting old already. the Avanti had to plug along with it ten years later.

[62rebel]

shoot; my post made it seem like this KIT was a bear... it was NOT, modifying it was! the kit goes together almost like Lego's.

[Bob Ellis]

I am assuming that the red clear separate tail lights never came back, just like the '65 Galaxie. One solid chrome bezel and tail light?

[tim boyd]

I am assuming that the red clear separate tail lights never came back, just like the '65 Galaxie. One solid chrome bezel and tail light?

Bob...the new kit has the chrome tailight and custom tailamp lense as one unit, plus the clear red lenses of the original issue custom version. Apparently, ,same with the stocvk version taliamps (although I did not confirm this when I opened the box).

To build it with the clear red lenses, you'd have to cut away the molded in tailamp from the plated bumper/lense assembly. Should be pretty easy in theory.

Doing the stock version with the clear red lenses would be more involved due to the stock tailamp lense configuration.

The instruction include a message for the stock and custom versions that the clear red lenses are included, but that the kit will have to be modified to use them.

Best...TIM

[Casey]

If someone who has purchased this kit could post a pic of the decal sheet, it would be much appreciated. Round2 has only one image of the kit on their 'site.

[Brett Barrow]

[Casey]

Thanks, Brett. Is the sheet on par, registration and clarity-wise, with the reissued Avanti decal sheet, especially the Studebaker logos in the upper left-hand corner?

[Brett Barrow]

I didn't really look at it that closely, I just happened to be inspecting some Round 2 kits this morning that came in with messed up boxes and this was one of them so I threw it on the scanner. I'll take a closer look tomorrow, it's still in my office.

[Harry P.]

Just taking Brett's scan and blowing it up, it looks like the registration on the decals is good.

[Snake45]

What do B/CC, A/SC, and B/SC mean? Are they Bonneville classifications?

[Ace-Garageguy]

What do B/CC, A/SC, and B/SC mean? Are they Bonneville classifications?

Yes...at least I know for an absolute fact that for 1959 B/CC was B/Competition Coupe on the salt (although the B/CC Stude coupe I'm most familiar with had streamlined front fenders that put it in the "competition coupe" class).

I assume A/SC and B/SC were "supercharged coupe" classes. These Studes also ran in FC (fuel coupe...nitro), and C (coupe) classes.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[1972coronet]

I assume A/SC and B/SC were "supercharged coupe" classes. These Studes also ran in FC (fuel coupe...nitro), and C (coupe) classes.

I'm fairly certain that vehicles with oxidisers on their engines had an "AA" or "AB" (ad seq.) prefix ; for example : "A/SC" for naturally-aspirated , and "AA/SC" for supercharged / turbocharged engines.

But , like you've stated , Bonneville (et al.) may've had a different class system versus 1/4 mile , paved track-specific vehicles .

[Ace-Garageguy]

I'm fairly certain that vehicles with oxidisers on their engines had an "AA" or "AB" (ad seq.) prefix ; for example : "A/SC" for naturally-aspirated , and "AA/SC" for supercharged / turbocharged engines.

But , like you've stated , Bonneville (et al.) may've had a different class system versus 1/4 mile , paved track-specific vehicles .

Hmmm. I've never heard the term "oxidisers" applied to supercharged engines before, and I've been in this stuff for over 40 years. Maybe I'm ignorant. If so, Ill gladly accept being corrected. Nitrous-oxide could be considered an "oxidizer", as could nitro-methane, because they both make available additional oxygen for combustion.

Far as the classes go, most of the early NHRA drag classes grew out of the dry lakes classes...which came first. My considerable recent research through a library of old SCTA material and post-war car mags pretty well seems to back this up, timeline-wise.

At various times in drag racing, both an "S" on the end (like A/GS for class-A, figured on displacement-to-weight, Gas, Supercharged) and double-letter (AA, BB, CC) prefixes were used to denote "supercharged" (like AA/G, indicating displacement-to-weight class A, Supercharged, Gas). Cars running nitro-methane (which came to be called "fuel") displayed-display the letter "F" to denote this, as well as the other class letter-designations. AA/FD= Class A, Supercharged, Fuel, Dragster

The specific letter-class designations also changed pretty quickly as drag racing evolved, and varied among sanctioning bodies, so in order to get historically accurate class markings on a model, it's necessary to know pretty narrowly the time-period it represents, and where it was running.

One of the most famous of all the LSR Loewy Studebakers, the Belmont Sanchez car, did in fact run in class B/CC in 1958 or '59 at Bonneville, and broke 200mph, the first "stock-bodied" car to do so. The car is pictured below with the "taped-on" upright-headlight-fenders, which knocked it down from "Competition Coupe" to just "Coupe" class.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[1972coronet]

Hmmm. I've never heard the term "oxidisers" applied to supercharged engines before, and I've been in this stuff for over 40 years. Maybe I'm ignorant. If so. Ill gladly accept being corrected. Nitrous-oxide could be considered an "oxidizer", as could nitro-methane, because they both make available additional oxygen for combustion.

Not suggesting nor implying ignorance in any-one's direction . I suppose that I was referring to the GMC / Detroit 2-cycle diesel engines' super chargers as being 'oxidisers' , and thusly affixing that to 4-cycle engine applications .

Far as the classes go, most of the early NHRA drag classes grew out of the dry lakes classes...which came first. My considerable recent research through a library of old SCTA material and post-war car mags pretty well seems to back this up, timeline-wise.

At various times in drag racing, both an "S" on the end (like A/GS for class-A, figured on displacement-to-weight, Gas, Supercharged) and double-letter (AA, BB, CC) prefixes were used to denote "supercharged" (like AA/G, indicating displacement-to-weight class A, Supercharged, Gas).

The specific letter-class designations also changed pretty quickly as drag racing evolved, and varied among sanctioning bodies, so in order to get historically accurate class markings on a model, it's necessary to know pretty narrowly the time-period it represents, and where it was running.

I've never been able to keep up with the various and subjective racing classes , especially the pre-1965 classes ! Thanks for clarifying the older classes' designations .

One of the most famous of all the LSR Loewy Studebakers, the Belmont Sanchez car, did in fact run in class B/CC in 1958 or '59 at Bonneville, and broke 200mph. The car is pictured below with the "taped-on" upright-headlight-fenders, which knocked it down from "Competition Coupe" to just "Coupe" class.