244 replies to this topic

[Michigan Madman]

Shaping up nicely!
Now I just need to get off my keister and get back at my own AMCs.

[Casey]

Thanks for the comments.

Tonight I separated the two rear Gremlin roof sections from the C-pillars, removed a little material to lower the rear of the roof a bit, and reattached them:




I also shortened the AMX's roof section to mate with the Gremlin sections, since the Gremlin's roof contour is a little closer to the AMX GT's roof:




The roof will need some contouring as it's a bit too flat as it sits, but I still need to fill the gaps in the roof and tail panels first:




I smoothed out the C-pillars, so after I fill the roof and tail panel gaps, I can begin work on the full tail panel, including the addition of a semi-recessed rear bumper, recessed tail light buckets, and a new fuel filler cap:

[Michigan Madman]

For some reason the back end of the concept kinda reminds me of a '73-77 Chevelle Wagon. Only more pleasing to the eye.

[Dave Van]

Very cool!

[PursuitGT]

heres my gremlin , with 14 inch work equip wheels

[CorvairJim]

For some reason the back end of the concept kinda reminds me of a '73-77 Chevelle Wagon. Only more pleasing to the eye.

Oh come on, Chuck! I used to have a fantastic '73 Chevelle Laguna wagon, and I thought it was a pretty darn good-looking car! With a worked 4-barrel 400 SBC with dual exhaust and a TH400 with a 2,000 stall converter and a shift kit it was the fastest grocery-getter in the neighborhood. We're talking 13 second 1/4 mile times on pump gas at over 100 mph. BTW: This was our family car at the time, and those speeds were recorded with two (empty!) child seats strapped into the back seat!

[victorylane]

AMC "RAMBLUR"
Hi Chuck,
I saw your photo of the "Ramblur" at the start of this community build, and was very interested. I am working on a similar project, starting with the snap kit...I'm building it as a very mild custom, with two-tone paint, wide whites, and china red steel wheels.
I've filled in the hood to stock, installed a windshield and am adding an interior (modified from a '50 Ford)
I've replaced the grill with my own (first time using guitar string as fine horizontal bars, which turned out not too bad.) I'll post photos of the the finished build soon I hope, as I want to have it done to take to NNL East.
Incidentally, this is my first post ever, so I will try to keep an eye on this topic, but thanks for getting it started.
Brian

[Michigan Madman]

Well, finally went and did it-

Not sure exactly what to do with this thing though- might just get things to fit together and build it mostly out of box, but I'm toying with a cut-down '66 Nova Pro Street kit chassis and a stupid-big V8 engine.

[Custom Mike]

OK Chuck, I'm jumping in, with a partially built AMT Matador I picked up for $22. The engine was built in typical glue-bomb fashion, so I decided to glue the hood shut and go curbside. Since I'm going curbside, I decided to say the heck with the suspension, I want this baby slammed! So I added an aluminum tube on the top of the frame up front, and drilled a hole for the wire axle out back. I've got two sets of rims in mind, and two different colors of aluminum sleeves.



Rim option #1 (There will be some Pegasus disc brake rotors in these babies too, just not yet!)


Rim option #2...


The new front "suspension"!




And the rear axle. The rear end will still be installed, just so something is visible from behind the car.

Edited by Custom Mike, 08 July 2012 - 05:11 PM.

[Custom Mike]

Now onto the interior. Since the paint scheme I've dreamed up is a modern version of the classic AMC Racing colors, I needed some White to go with the Red & Blue. So the seats, console, dash & door panels are White, the carpeting and package tray are Blue flocking.

Craft Bond, flocking and strainer, and masked off interior...


Craft Bond sprayed onto the interior bucket...


And a heavy coating of Blue flocking from the strainer. I pressed it into place, knocked the excess off and...


Once very Blue carpeted interior bucket!


And we have one very bright Blue & White interior!

Edited by Custom Mike, 08 July 2012 - 05:14 PM.

[Custom Mike]

After screwing up the paint, changing my mind and going in a different direction, I decided to strip the body and go back to my original idea, so into the tank she went. While it was stripping, I toyed around with a few ideas, and finally settled on a kind of body kit/ground effects for it. I started out with the weird little thing in the first pic, I still don't know for sure if it's gonna end up on here or not, we'll see. I started on the passenger side, cutting out a piece of .030 styrene, shaping it, then gluing it down to the body. I rounded the top edges a bit, then laid down another thin strip of .030 styrene at the very bottom edge, and a .020 strip above that, to give the bottom edge a bit more thickness than the top. Once that was all blended together, a piece of half-round was glued to the very bottom edge, some more fine sanding and a small spot of filler, and this first part is done!

Edited by Custom Mike, 08 July 2012 - 05:15 PM.

[Custom Mike]

I've got a spoiler in mind, I have no idea what kit it's from, but it looks just right on this baby! A bit more work, my last update for the night. I got the beginning of the rear end started (Which included smoothing out the tail lights and license plate recess), and the driver's side started, enjoy!

Edited by Custom Mike, 22 April 2012 - 04:57 PM.

[Michigan Madman]

Awesome! Another Matador.
I'm voting for wheel choice #1.

[Custom Mike]

I'm leaning toward those rims too Chuck, but I've gotta find a use for those funky three-spokes sooner or later!

I have my spoiler setup, I carved a pair of holes in the underside of the spoiler, added the mounts from a '71 Duster spoiler, set it at an angle I liked, and that parts is all set! A pair of holes in the trunk, and we're good to go!









And a few pics of my body kit around the back bumper. I still have to thicken the bottom a bit, but this part was hard enough to get right, so I'll get to that part this weekend. So far, I'm really liking the look with the new additions!

Edited by Custom Mike, 08 July 2012 - 05:17 PM.

[gray07]

Looking great,

[CorvairJim]

This Matador has my attention! I'm with Chuck; Go with the first set of rims. Since you're planning a red, white, and blue color scheme, the red sleeves would be the way to go, at least in my opinion. Your body kit looks like it might have come from the AMC Styling Department, if it were still around today.

[Edsel-Dan]

I have a few resto projects that would fit here, Jo-Han 66 Marlin, 62 Ramble Taxi/4dr sedan,
AMT issue Jo-Han Mark Donahue AMX/Javelin Penski Nascar, MPC 76 Pacer 'X'.

A few started, MPC bushwaker CJ (2) Hose reel carriers for my Scale Fire Department
62 Studebaker Lark/Daytona Convertible Indy Pace Car,

I have a few New kits, Coca-Cola issue & Bobby Allison Matador's, The Hudson Hornet,
& 59 Rambler Wagon

I also have a few OLD Builts. 77 Pacer Wagon, 75 Matador 'X', Jeep J-10 Honcho Pickup
Fire Department unit, & 72 Commando Chief's car with Snow plow

The only problem I have on resto, new or stalled, NO place to work!!!!

some of them are pictured in my Photobucket

http://s145.photobuc.../r229/EdselDan/

Sub-albums Fire Department & Models- AMC Collection
AMC Collection is another Sub-Album In Models
Fire Department is one of the Sub-Albums on the front page like 'Models'
I should have named the Model Kits, Model Cars, etc, not just "Models"
That one might give the wrong impression

Edited by Edsel-Dan, 10 May 2012 - 10:11 AM.

[Casey]

I made a little progress tonight and was able to join the rear body halves with some filler strips. Yes, it looks rough now, but there will be much shaping and sanding ahead, not to mention slicing off the twelve scale inches behind the rear wheel arches to match the concept car.




It looks rough now, but there will be plenty of shaping and sanding ahead, not to mention slicing off the twelve scale inches behind the rear wheel arches to match the concept car:




Once the basic shape is established, I will add the drip rails, window trim, and other details back onto the body shell...then try to figure out just what the interior looked like on this car.

Edited by Casey, 24 May 2012 - 06:40 PM.

[Casey]

After taking plenty of measurements, marking the body shell, and preparing to shorten the rear of the body, I realized I had overlooked something. I assumed the AMX GT used the '68/9 AMX rear quarter panels for the most part, and especially the rear wheel arches, which was a mistake on my part. The rear wheel arches are actually higher and slightly larger than the stock arches, so that explained why the rear bumper location wasn't working out. The solution was to raise and enlarge the rear wheel arches, so off came the AMX's rear valence panel (which I had fit and glued on this morning), and with some help from a sanding drum, I got the wheel arches close to where they need to be.

Before, with the red line denoting where the top of the wheel arch should be:




After, with the new arch location and shape:




Now the rear bumper's character line will align with the bodyline, and I can establish the rear bumper location in relation to the body shell. I also re-glued the rear valence panel (and what little remained of the rear lower pieces of the old wheel arches) back onto the body shell:




I did some leveling on the roof and "trunk" area, but I will need to add material below the rear window, so most of it will eventually be covered. Now I need to find a decent smooth, racing style flip fuel cap...