AMT '58 Plymouth Belvedere CHRISTINE kit

[MrObsessive]

Okay, couple questions here. First off: If someone were to make a set of replacement side trim for the kit, would that go a long way towards fixing the kit? In other words would it make it easier if you could just sand the old trim off and glue the new on?

Jacen, as you can see from Jon's post, the ENTIRE body is wrong. Just replacing the trim wouldn't cut it as you still have the incorrect angle of the beltline, and then there's that funky looking roof to deal with (too low).

Now if one just wants a simple shelf model, then there's no problem as I've not heard of any difficulties in building the kit. I personally can't get past the bad body lines, since I was up close and personal with one that my Dad had many years ago (a '57).

Jon, one way to replace the trim if you wanted to go the Fury/Sport Trim route---------you can replace the chrome trim of course with Evergreen strip. To replace the gold anodizing (or silver) check out your local Michael's for Cake Decorating Foil. It comes in gold and silver, and has a very close if not exact pattern that would have been on the anodized trim. Make a pattern, trim it out, and glue it on with contact cement.

[Jon Cole]

Jacen, I get ya. You don't want to go full tilt boogy on the thing... just sand off the trim and replace. That alone will be such a help. Looking forward to any progress you make. Be sure to share results!

[Merkur XR4Ti]

I built the original release as a Christine. My personal opinion is that once built, painted like Christine, and placed on a shelf, the kit looks fine. I know full well about the body issues but IMO many of those issues go away when painted and presented as Christine. I like to keep in mind that the movie Christine was a driver and not a trailer queen.

I liked building the kit, even though I ran into many self-made errors along the way. I may build another and try to make it a bit cleaner.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Merkur XR4Ti

[Greg Pugh]

Bill, like 98% of the guys on this and other forums I am well aware of the widely talked about flaws in the body of this kit. HOWEVER, since you obviously didn't read or understand what I said in my reply to John i'll say it again.

Everyone has different lengths they are willing to go to don't they? So i'm aiming my question at the guys in between who don't want to reconfigure the whole dang body but would at least like the trim fixed. I was willing to go to the trouble of making a set of trim for the kit so builders could easily sand away the old and replace it easily, getting a car that would at least have good looking trim, thus drawing the eye away from the flawed fenders, quarter panels and roof and giving a better looking model without all the work of chopping and re-building. Not to mention that the car in the pictures John showed or any kit of anyone following suit is obviously in need of a set of trim. I swear i've never met such resistance just trying to help out! Obviously i'm dealing with the all-or-nothing set here so I won't be doing it for anyone but myself.

Dude! Chill out! Bill was just trying to help out here. You don't need to freak out.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

**edit** - this situation is better resolved than it looks, so I'll just say I enjoy Jacen's content and leave it at that. The more global observation, however, I'm gonna leave up:

There's a miserable little contingent of modelers who nit-pick everything to death, never find anything positive, and truly justify the term "rivet-counter".

But there's an equally (if not MORE) miserable contingent who'd have you believe that there are WAAY many more of that first contingent than truly exist, who just mess themselves with sky-is-falling hysteria every time an imperfection is pointed out in a kit, or in a test shot that's obviously indicative of what's coming. And some of this crowd have slathered Bill with that broad "rivit-counter" (sic) brush, with an unfairness crossing clean over into farce.

Irony is, that second group is also very fond of pointing out how critics have no skillz - and I ain't yet seen a one offer proof Geary couldn't MURDER him build-to-build.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Chuck Kourouklis

[checkmate]

I've got the slammers kit and other AMT issue, I'd love to get a few more even better if they are boxed as "Christine" and have movie shots on the box to add to my Christine collection.

This has been my favourite movie and book for years and years.

The car in the movie I believe was solid red not metallic.

Also mentioned earlier in this thread that in the book the car is a 58 Plymouth sedan (4 door), this is both correct and incorrect. At the start of the book it is referred to as a 2 door coupe, in the middle it's a sedan (when the hitch hiker opens the back door) and at the end it's a 2 door again. The reason for this is King wrote the middle of the book first, than came back later and wrote the beginning and end and had forgotten it was a sedan.

Cant wait to see it hopefully released.

Cheers Rob

[misternemo]

if anyone is looking for a 1958 plymouth from modelhaus,don't bother,they were discontinued and are no longer available.(much like a lot of the truly unique aftermarket stuff out there) the closest things available now are the 57 savoy 4 door and 57 wagon,and the 59 plymouth. i have two of the old modelhaus 58 plymouth kits,they were based on the jo-han promo,and are pretty nice but the front end (grille,bumper combo) doesen't fit very well.it appears to be a bit too wide. the body appears to be dead on correct,as does most of the interior.the dash needs some work though.the 1958 plymouth is one of my absolute favorite cars,and i have been a christine fan from day one even though they killed all those beautiful plymouths doing the movie.my plan was to combine the modelhaus kit with the front end and dash from the AMT kit.like a lot of people,i have a stillborn "christine" project based on the AMT kit.just decided to wait until i could get the modelhaus one.still haven't finished it.if any of the casters out there want to copy the plymouth body let me know.maybe someone could even do a 58 4 door and wagon conversion using this kit?

[misternemo]

yes there is.i have asked several resin casters over the years if they would make copies of small parts,wheels,etc.that was usually not a problem,but when it came to larger parts like a body,hood,etc. the answer was usually a no.they didn't want to copy someone elses work.i can understand that. but,if you really want to get technical,when a caster makes a conversion kit,body,part,or whatever,they normally start with a plastic kit, promo,or a diecast.when they make and sell copies of the resulting kit made from these items, are they not then casting someone elses work even if it has been modified? i am not saying that someone should go out and buy a kit from say modelhaus,and then take it home and make a mold and then start pouring exact copies of the kit and then selling it as their own work,what i am saying is that when a caster either goes out of business and the items are no longer available,or a caster decides that they will discontinue the item with no future plans to re-release it,it then becomes fair game for someone to make copies of for their own use,or so a few of their buddies will have a chance at having the part to use.at least that is my viewpoint.i am growing extremely tired of coming across a particular vehicle,or a version of a vehicle i would like to build,and then going on the net and looking for a kit or a conversion part to build that vehicle only to be continually told "oh,they used to make one of those,but it is now out of production". or contacting the maker of the item,only to be told,"we stopped making that item or keeping it in stock because it didn't sell well"or "the molds wore out".so,the way i see it,if you are able to find the part you need,and find someone willing to cast it,or cast it yourself for your own use,not to sell as your own work,that is what you need to do if you want the part.the 58 plymouth bodies i have from modelhaus were copied pretty much unchanged from an original jo-han promo.even if jo-han is more or less now out of business,was this not a copy of someone elses work?sorry if i offend anyone,just thought i would try to clarify my viewpont of the subject.sure hope someone makes a decent 1958 plymouth sometime soon!!

[Chuck Most]

If Don and Carol have absolutely no plans to ever reissue the '58 Plymouth, you could always ask them if they'd grant their permission to have someone else cast their old kit instead. Worst that could happen is they'd say 'no'.

But since this kit is coming back out, and there seems to be more than a little demand for the better-looking ex-JoHan body, maybe they could be convinced to reissue the kit or at least just the body if they get enough people asking about it. Just a thought...

[Greg Pugh]

If someone wants to get ahold of them and find out, let us know. If not......no promises here, but I may have somebody that would be willing to make a few of them and their resin work is phenomenal.

[John Goschke]

I'd be really interested to see photos comparing the side profiles of bodies of the Modelhaus resin repro of the Johan '58 Plymouth with the AMT kit and an original Johan '59 Plymouth or Dodge kit or styrene promo re-issue body.

While I'm assuming the Modelhaus body is based on an original Johan promo with the typical warp straightened, I've always been curious how they dealt with the fact that the acetate promo and friction bodies shrink overall. The warping is caused by the acetate shrinking more or less depending on the plastic's thickness, or the body's contour, in a given area.

Sorry if this is getting a little off-topic.

Edited October 26, 2012 by John Goschke

[Junkman]

Also mentioned earlier in this thread that in the book the car is a 58 Plymouth sedan (4 door), this is both correct and incorrect. At the start of the book it is referred to as a 2 door coupe, in the middle it's a sedan (when the hitch hiker opens the back door) and at the end it's a 2 door again. The reason for this is King wrote the middle of the book first, than came back later and wrote the beginning and end and had forgotten it was a sedan.

Also in the book, the gear shift lever moves by itself and the door lock knobs go up and down.

[Junkman]

Put my name on the list for an accurate body.

In fact, put my name on the list of the 30 people ordering a Fury kit from Don Holthaus as well.

[Junkman]

Okay, I know she was a pushbutton but didn't they have door lock knobs? They were there in the movie and I can't imagine them adding the knobs just for a half second shot.

I have never seen any:

Then again, I may be wrong. I have never owned a 57 or 58 Plymouth. But I've owned a 59 and that sure has no door lock knobs:

I had numerous other 57-63 Mopars, and none of them had door lock knobs. Based on this, and the 59 Plymouth I had, and what I see in pics, I always assumed the 57-58 Plymouths didn't have any either.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Junkman

[Junkman]

Okay please don't say it like that. It will lead people to believe he is issuing a kit when thirty people are signed up and waiting.

[disclaimer] It was an attempt at humour [/disclaimer]

[Junkman]

I just mentioned it to enable the discussion take on a DoH twist. We could philosophise whether door lock knobs and a gearshift lever need to be added to build an exact replica of the car in the book/movie...

Edited October 26, 2012 by Junkman

[Greg Pugh]

Ok. I'm confused. Don doesn't want it copied but we can't order 30 of them so he'll start punching them out again. But yet we need to figure out what's wrong with the body.....?

Who's going to make them?

[Dirkpitt289]

This is another kit I would love to get my hands on.

[Green Duster]

I liked the kit. About the only thing about the new version is the box art.

[johnbuzzed]

I have one of the original issue kits that I bought when it was new and I didn't know about the inaccuracies until just recently (no, I haven't been living in a cave). I have plans to build the kit as a shelf model of a street machine, probably with parts box running gear, wheels and tires and some other odds and ends. I might even take it to a show or two. As much as I would like to say that the kit or finished model would be 100% accurate I know it won't be but how many kits and/or finished models really are ? I realize that my opinion is bordering on the blasphemous, but all too often, I find myself at my bench or somewhere else, getting way too serious about a model...

[Drake69]

Just as been speculated, the kit is nearly identical to the Belvedere kit in just about every way. The only thing added which I found pretty cool was the decal sheet.

The white areas of the sheet are white lettering saying things like "Arnie Is Mine", "Pledging My Love", "Christine, She's A Killer", "Leigh" crossed through like it was etched out, and "Arnie" inside a heart, The "Christine" decals look kinda ok, as well as the faded flames, but they aren't what interest me. The two deshboard bezels (they look almost identical as I can't see the lettering without a magnifying glass) are pretty nice, the license plates are a definite necessity for any "decent" Christine model, and the "Darnell's Tonight" begs you to buy another kit just to stick that on the hood. My only gripe is the molded in red which is minor at best, and since they're doing one in white it's really a moot point. I'll be using the Belvedere model body for the "prettied-up" car and the Round 2 one as the "$250 Mechanic's Special" rust-bucket.

"Oops.... Sorry, Christine."

One other thing of note. Just like the Belvedere kit, this one is also missing the "Golden Commando" Carter dual-carb setup...

...and the lettering on the side fins still says "Belvedere" on them, but again, no surprise. Getting the photoetch kit from MCG goes a long way to making this a decent Christine

Edited January 29, 2013 by Drake69

[cooltoys1]

Can you please show the rest of the kit. Is the rest molded in red too?

[57peppershaker]

I have 1 of the pro shop, pre-painted issues, still unbuilt. The 'Darnells tonight' decal is fantastic. If anybody wont use this, I will be pleased to trade for it.

I dont really want to buy another kit, just for that decal sheet.

I built Dennis's Charger from a General Lee kit about 20 years ago & planned a figure of Dennis scratching Christines hood diarama. The fact both kits have inaccuracys doesnt worry me.

This was on another site, sadly not my build, but its fantastic !

Edited January 29, 2013 by 57peppershaker

[JamesW]

I'll be buying this kit just for the box art. It will never be opened, just sitting on a shelf with the rest of the Christine collection.

[Drake69]

I'll try to get some more pix up but yes, the entire kit except for the whitewall inserts is molded in red. No extra parts seem to have been added.