unclescott58 Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Just went to Keith Marks Fotki site. He is not showing anything for the '70 AMX. Sorry. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragline Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Big thanks for the pics. Gotta get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 (edited) Got mine tonight. I like it over all, but for two things. The seats and the steering wheel. The seats are low-back buckets with out even headrests! They should be high-back buckets. Some question at the model car club meeting tonight what the original seats were like in the original release of this kit. Were they the correct high-back style buckets? Also the steering is not the correct style steering for '70. If it wasn't for the correct dash, one would think the interior was not update after the initial 1968 version. Anybody else have any idea what's going on here? Scott Edited November 13, 2014 by unclescott58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 (edited) On 11/12/2014 at 10:33 PM, unclescott58 said: Got mine tonight. I like it over all, but for two things. The seats and the steering wheel. The seat are low-back buckets with out even headrests! They should be high-back buckets. Some question at the model car club meeting tonight what the original seats were like in the original release of this kit. Were they the correct high-back style buckets? The original '68 kit had low back bucket seats, and headrests were not required until Jan 1, 1969, so maybe MPC decided to skip the seat upgrade since they knew the '70 was going to be the end for the AMX model, both 1:1 and 1:20. The original seats appear to be the same as found in the reissued kit. Edited December 20, 2017 by Casey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Casey's correct about the seats. My 1:1 '69 had headrests, but the '68 Javelin my Mom once owned had low-back seats with no headrests. Bummer about the steering wheel..........you could always say that AMC had some leftover steering wheels from the '69's, and call yours a very early build 1970. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 The original '68 kit had low back bucket seats, and headrests were not required until Jan 1, 1969, so maybe MPC decided to skip the seat upgrade since they knew the '70 was going to be the end for the AMX model, both 1:1 and 1:20. The original seats appear to be the same as found in the reissued kit: Yet they tooled up the correct dashboard. I've also heard people talk about seats molded in vinyl rather than styrene in the original '70 kit. Were these seats the correct high-backs, maybe? And with the old seats still on the styrene trees? Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Thanks for the pictures Gary. The stripes that are given on the decal sheet, were they used on AMXs as maybe an option? I've seen them someplace before. Were they maybe a Javelin option? I do like the stock "C" stripes better. I too hope that Keith Marks might be able to help us out in that department. By the way, I love the blue AMX with the white stripe above. I wonder what color that is? And if Tamiya makes something fairly close. Also, I should be getting mine tomorrow night at our local model car club meeting. I'm looking forward to it. Scott The stripes given in this kit's decal sheet, look somewhat like optional stripes that were offered on the '69 Javelins. They're not exactly the same. But look close. I thought they looked familiar. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Sikora II Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Yet they tooled up the correct dashboard. I've also heard people talk about seats molded in vinyl rather than styrene in the original '70 kit. Were these seats the correct high-backs, maybe? And with the old seats still on the styrene trees? Scott Nope, the old vinyl seats were custom "race" buckets. Mark said the custom buckets are included in this new kit but molded in styrene instead. The '80s reissue is the same way, basically a '68 interior with a '70 dashboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 AMC probably footed some of the initial tooling costs of this kit (the '68 was initially available by mail and from some AMC dealers, though it may have been sold in stores later). MPC probably updated it to the '70 on its own dime, though...maybe they decided to cut a corner and not update the seats. Ironically, Jo-Han updated their AMX promotional model to '70 spec (because AMC wanted '70 promos). Ironically, when Jo-Han backdated the AMX in '71 to produce the Shirley Shahan drag car, they left the '70 interior bucket untouched. The racing seats, originally molded in that "thermoplastic" that no paint or cement known to man will stick to, are molded in styrene in the reissue. Those have some neat detail that I hadn't noticed before...the seat looks like a replica of a fiberglass shell with the upholstery wrapped over the sides and attached with snaps. I might use those in a Lindberg Gremlin, that I plan on stuffing an AMX chassis and interior into... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Great info guys. Despite the kit having an incorrect interior, I like it. But, can you imagine what would happen today if they tooled up a new kit with this mistake? And yet it was done a lot back in the day. As others have noted, models were aimed mainly at kids back then. They basically had to look right. I always think of AMT's '66 Wildcat being a perfect example of this. The kits and the promos for the '66 Buick Wildcat have the incorrect '65 Wildcat interior. Look at the upholstery pattern and the dashboard. So seeing '68 seats and steering wheel in MPC's '70 AMX does not surprise me. In this case, I'm surprised they took the time to update the dashboard. Still, despite the seats and the scale, I like what I've found so far in this kits box. I've done some minor subassembly, and found no major problems so far. It looks like another overall winner from Round 2. Thanks Round 2. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisBcritter Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Does this new issue have plastic whitewall inserts for the tires? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Does this new issue have plastic whitewall inserts for the tires? No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 The original 1970 annual kit did not have the plastic whitewall inserts. The '68 and '69 did, but not the '70. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hard_2_Handle_454 Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Just started mine. Kinda bummed that it didn't have the stock stripe decals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 (edited) On 7/11/2014 at 9:39 PM, ChrisBcritter said: The grille with inner headlights is molded in; there's an insert to make the stock grille. I blacked-out the outer headlights to make them look like intakes for cold-air induction, or brake cooling, or something... *snip* Edit: Forgot to mention - those tires have slots for plastic whitewall inserts that will start melting into the vinyl the moment you insert them, as usual, so I just reversed the tires. Just as an FYI, Chris' model shown above is a '69, which has different grille/headlights/bumper piece than the '70, so while the stock '69 grille insert is still include in the reissued '70 kit, it doesn't work with the '70 grille-- see second attached image of the '70 grille/bumper, please. Also, the tires were updated as Mark mentioned above, and the separate styrene whitewall (and matching tire sidewall grooves) were eliminated, so the tires now have a slightly raised ring where the insert previously resided: I took lots of pics which can be viewed here: http://modelkitreviews.proboards.com/thread/783/1-20-mpc-1970-amx My thoughts and opinion of this kit-- it's okay, but nothing great. Lots of flash to remove, the kit has a lot of "soft" details (which was always why most MPC kits turned me off) and a few notable inaccuracies (the valve covers mentioned earlier for one), a few disappointments (the molded in headlight lenses), but is the only available AMC model for ~$30, so keep that in mind when tempering your expectations. I too wish this kit could've been backdated to a '69, but my guess is that wouldn't have been a good financial choice for Round2, and perhaps not even possible. At any rate, prepare to put more than the usual amount of prep work into this kit if you decide to take the plunge, but in the end, I think your effort will be rewarded with a nice looking model. There is room for additional detailing and overall improvement of this kit, so the end result could be pretty spectacular if the desire is there. Edited December 20, 2017 by Casey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Hamilton Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 I would love to take a crack at doing a '70 interior, and modifying the body to 1970 specs. I have a 68, 69 and a 70 to work over. I have always liked these cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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