33 replies to this topic

[john sharisky]

Model Car Garage offers the headlight mesh on their '53 to '55 photo-etch Corvette product. However, they stipulate that the sheet fits the Monogram 1/24th Corvette kit.

 

John

Edited by john sharisky, 30 November 2012 - 11:54 AM.

[Harry P.]

http://modelcargarag...1&idcategory=12

[Sport Suburban]

I recently finished my 55 Corvette based on the Monogram 53 Corvette. I used the photoetched set from Model Car Garage. The headlight mesh looks great and was a real pain to get the curves correct untill it hit me.

My wife had some medical issues that prevented her from swallowing pills. So she crushed them in between two spoons. That's when it hit me. I took the two clear mesh lenses that monogram gives you in the kit. Then I put the photo etch mesh in between them and pressed them together. This pressed the mesh into the correct shape!! Then I glued them in place.

 

Also Monograms kit inclued parts for both the 53 engine or the 54 engine. So you can build it as a 54 Corvette if you wanted too.

[Danno]

Good info and great tip, Raoul!

 

 

[sjordan2]

I recently finished my 55 Corvette based on the Monogram 53 Corvette. I used the photoetched set from Model Car Garage. The headlight mesh looks great and was a real pain to get the curves correct untill it hit me.

My wife had some medical issues that prevented her from swallowing pills. So she crushed them in between two spoons. That's when it hit me. I took the two clear mesh lenses that monogram gives you in the kit. Then I put the photo etch mesh in between them and pressed them together. This pressed the mesh into the correct shape!! Then I glued them in place.

 

 

 

Finally. Great tip. Thanks.

Edited by sjordan2, 02 December 2012 - 12:13 PM.

[Casey]

I mentioned this on another thread, but my biggest concern about this kit is the headlight mesh. All 53 Corvette kits have headlight mesh that is very thick and seems to just sit uncomfortably on the headlight body recesses, and aftermarket PE mesh looks like it needs some hand molding that would be far beyond my skills.

 

You may want to try the photoetched "Boom Box Speaker Grills" set from Detail Master. I picked one up, hoping to use partial grille pieces as the headlight screens for the AMX-GT, and the mesh is very fine and very thin, so they just may bend/curve enough for your needs:

 

[Casey]

Something nobody has mentioned yet about the AMT Corvette is that in the mid 90s they cleaned up the tooling.......in doing so they messed up the chrome trim on one side of the body ( I think it was the passengers side ) and it now runs "up hill", i.e. it is not parralel to the ground or rocker panels anymore but slopes upward slightly. 

 

Thanks for the tip, Ron. I picked up the T310 issue which still has nice, parallel passenger side trim 

 

 

 

Here's what's inside the T310 Lesney-era AMT '53 Corvette kitCan you almost smell that vintage early '80s styrene?:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Casey]

 

 

 

 

Pics of the box:

 

 

 

 

[gtx6970]

I built one of these when it first came out and I don't remember any issues , BUT,  that was a long time ago and my menory isn't waht it used to be.

 

might have to give it another try (must resist the urge of another project idea   )

[Art Anderson]

The Monogram kit isn't exactly "new" either.

IIRC, it was based on a die-cast kit they made back around '79 or '80.

Monogram first issued metal bodied car kits in the fall of 1977:  1948 MGTC, 1953 Corvette, and the 1956 Thunderbird.  These had diecast metal bodies and hoods,, with pretty well detailed styrene everything else.  In 1983, recognizing the rather poor reception these kits (as well as with the 1980 release of the '48 Jaguar XK-120, '32 Duesenberg Boattail and '31 Packard dual cowl phaeton) got with diecast metal bodies, the company reworked the tooling so that the body shells and hoods could be shot in styrene, which resulted in the kits we still have today (of the second set of metal bodied kits, only the Jaguar XK-120 was ever reissued with a plastic body).

 

Of the Styrene plastic '53 Corvette kits, the AMT glue kit is probably the least attractive, having been tooled in a very trying period for AMT, and first released in 1974 or 1975.  It just doesn't look right in the eyes of a lot of modelers.  Monogram's, while 1/24 scale, just has the look, as does the AMT '53 Corvette snap kit, which itself is an unassembled version of a "retro-promo" that AMT/Ertl did about 20 years ago, to mark the 40th Anniversary of the first Corvette--this one is quite nicely done, but of course, is a curbside--but like the Monogram kit, it just has "the look".

 

Art

[DR Dubois]

These are some shots of the Monogram and Revell 1/24 corvette kits.

The Monogram kit has most parts in red plastic, the body/hood in white and chrome parts. The hood on mine is too small for the opening but overall the details are nice. The Revell version is molded all in white and chrome, and the hood fits a little better but still too small. Hope you can see enough details to compare.

 

[DR Dubois]

 

And the Revell kit...

[Casey]

The Monogram kit isn't exactly "new" either.

IIRC, it was based on a die-cast kit they made back around '79 or '80.

 

[Phildaupho]

I have experience with three of the '53 Corvette kits being discussed. A number of years ago after recently returning to the hobby, I decided to build a '53 Corvette for my brother as he often said how much he liked the first Corvettes [I later found out he meant the '56 & '57 Vettes]. Anyway, I remember being in the hobby shop and trying to decided between the AMT and Monogram.  As a kid I had always favored AMT but the salesperson convinced me the Monogram kit might be a better choice. Both myself and my brother were very pleased with how the model turned out. I made my own mesh headlight covers that were better than what comes in the kit but not accurate. I used the excellent Model Car Garage photo-etched covers on a later custom project.

I am currently working on a trans-kit project that specifies the use of the AMT kit. I have to say it is an OK kit but I definitely prefer the Revell/Monogram for the body and trim items in particular. Something I do really like about the AMT kit however, is the very cool looking up-top and side curtains. By coincidence I am also helping a nine year nephew build the AMT Snap '53 Corvette. I consider this a great snap kit for a beginner and think in many ways results in a more realistic looking '53 Corvette than the AMT glue kit.