Snake45

Dittos!

GREAT information, thanks all! Any idea if the '56 Ford, '57 Ford, '53 Stude, '57 Chevy, and/or '59 El Camino were in on this, too? Or was it limited to kits with flathead Ford engines? How about the Double Dragster Fiat chassis? BTW, I'm looking for an easy swap for the '25 T, and would like to make Tim Boyd smile by NOT using a smallblock Chevy.

I've had some luck with hot tap water. Put the place you need to bend under hot running tap water for 30 seconds or more and then try to bend it. You might need to do this several times. Bend it MORE than you need, because as it cools, it will want to "relax" back to its previous configuration. If your tap doesn't get hot enough, you'll need to heat up some water hotter. NOT boiling! Boiling is hot enough to warp and shrink the plastic. I think you're looking for a temperature somewhere in the 180* range if you have a thermometer.

FABULOUS color. What is it? It puts me somewhat in mind of '68 Chevy Corvette Bronze. MAN that is pretty paint! Great interior, too!

I think I read or heard somewhere that several of the AMT kits of the early '60s had engines designed to be swapped directly between kits with no modification needed--direct drop-in. I believe the optional engines in the '40 and '49 Fords (Olds and Buick engines, were they? I forget.) fell into this program. Is this true? What if any other kits were involved in this? (Yeah, I know, I know, a real modeler can put ANY engine in ANY kit. I'm talking about kits where the engine mounts, transmission length, and so forth were the same.)

That looks really nice--a real nostalgia trip. I've never built this kit but I hope to someday sooner or later.

Not on the real car, you wouldn't. The '67-'69 header panels are interchangeable. Now on models, there's quite a variation. The "sharpest" nose is the original AMT '67 annual, and the new Revell '67 is pretty close to it. But the MPC '68 and the later AMT '67 and '68 are flatter. Stranger, there's quite a bit of variation in width among all the First Gen Camaro kits. The MPC '68 and '69 are the narrowest (and so are their Firebirds), and the Revell '69 is the widest. The AMT original '67 annual, the later AMT '67 and '68, the Revell '68 Firebird, and the new Revell '67 Camaro are all more or less the same width, in the middle. Oh, and the Revell '69 RS grille isn't right, either. It sits too deep, and the headlight covers are MUCH too deep. I'm trying to come up with a fix for this and will post a tutorial on it here if/when I ever get it figgered out.

My mother tells a similar story about her mother. I think the story involved a paintbrush and a '41 Ford, or something of the sort.

You could put me down for one of any year from '65 to '67. I'm kinda surprised that no one offers a '66 one yet (that I know of).

Not "correct," and would be slightly difficult to pull off in 1:1 unless you also used the '69 front bumper with it. Might be interesting on a model, and putting a Revell '69 RS grille on a '67 body wouldn't involve the bumper problem due to the way it's made. I've seen stranger in 1:1. Just yesterday I saw on the net a real '67 Chevelle station wagon (!!!) that had been customized with a '69 Camaro RS grille and hidden headlights. It didn't really "work" IMHO but I had to admire the outside-the-box thinking.

It was the wheel. George Barris invented the wheel. Also, the color red. If you don't believe it, just ask him. I was a big GB fan when I was a kid. And then one day I saw a photo of either a Pantera or a Mangusta (I forget which) he'd done, which had a fake exhaust pipe coming out the front fender and down into a lake pipe or side exhaust. I thought that was the stupidest car thing I'd ever seen (to this day, it would still make my Top Five), and then I started noticing a lot of stupid candy and tacky gingerbread on his cars. Some of his more tasteful mid-'60s stuff is still kinda cool, but I'm not a fan of most of his stuff.

I spent most of my childhood hiding in the back seat of a puke-yellow 4-door '59 Bel Air with snot-green top and trunk lid. But I think this red warthog-thing is uglier. (It might be a photo finish.)

Very clean build!

Very nice, very pretty, very cool, Very Shiny! I think the Modeling Gods are trying to tell you that front bumpers don't belong on cool '55 Chevies. Take it off and lose it!

Went to reinstall the rear end and discovered that for some long-forgotten reason, I'd cut about 1/4 inch or so off each end. What was I thinking? I have no idea. Anyway, gotta fix it. I could prolly scrounge up replacement axles but where's the fun in that? Part of the challenge of these rebuild projects for me is using as many of the original parts as possible. Besides, if I replaced this axle, it would just sit in the parts box, mocking me, and daring me to fix it and use it on something else. Didn't have any plastic tubing or rod of appropriate diameter but I did find some aluminum tubing that's close. So I filed back a little bit of the plastic axle so I can slip the aluminum over it and get a good joint, rather than try to just butt-joint it and hope the superglue would hold. Some tedious work there but a little putty to fair it all in and a little paint and you'll never spot the repair unless you're looking for it. Good enough!

A friend suggested I paint the carpets black, for contrast and to break up the monotony of the all-tan interior. I said that wouldn't work, a tan-gut car would have come with tan carpets and they wouldn't have re-carpeted this low-buck hot mess, but I did like the idea of some contrast on the floors. So I painted them with a different, slightly darker and much flatter shade of tan, then lightly dry-brushed some Leather (brown) and Aircraft Cockpit Black (very dark gray/black) on it where you'd expect most of the “foot traffic.” It looked a touch harsh to me so I dry-brushed the flat tan again over the Leather and black till I got it about where I wanted it. While I was at it, I painted the baseplate of the shifter silver, which looks a little better, and gave the shifter handle another coat of Testor Silver which really smoothed it up. I think the guts of this thing are finished. Made and installed side windows, and lettered them up a little for an authentic look. Okay, the NEXT pics of this thing will be the finished shots. Should be able to git er done Monday, I hope. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/Snake45/Model%20Cars/TRods/AMT23T16_zps93bb19dc.jpg

I'll bet I could make it fit. Maybe you didn't use a big enough hammer.

MSRP would prolly be on the bad side of $50, counting the service trailer. Still less than on ePay, but how many would they sell at that price point? I'll be buying one of the "special editions," and possibly a "plain" one later.

No it isn't. It will be the same size as the kit part, excepting the possible mold or resin shrinkage sometimes seen in Modelhaus parts. The problem's in the body, not in the bumper. Read my long post, Bob. I think when I build this one on the bench, I'm gonna chop the bumper rather than alter the body.

The top's definitely tan--a light tan--on the video from the TV show. The white interior upholstery can also be seen there.

I too never glue the body onto the chassis--or the interior in--unless I just absolutely HAVE to for some reason. I like to pull my models apart every so often, as the mood strikes me, for a thorough cleaning, and touch-up/repair as necessary. I don't mind metal axles. Like 'em, in fact. I don't even mind the old-school 1-piece chassis as long as I can achieve whatever final ride height and "sit" I'm going for with it, and it doesn't have a molded-in exhaust configuration that conflicts with my specific build intentions. So sue me.

Has anyone else ever taken a good look at the door lines on the AMT '40 Ford coupe? They're not in the same place! On one side the line runs right up the middle of the B-pillar, on the other, it's very noticeably asymmetrical. When I spotted this, I did some research and discovered that the asymmetrical door cut is actually correct. So I filled the whole rear door line with superglue on the otherside and rescribed the doorline to match the correct one. Has anyone but me ever done that?

It looks like they're all headed off somewhere to vomit.

I'd say you achieved your goals then. Again, very nice build, and one that is inspiring me to do something similar.

NOTE: I certainly don't mean to hijack this thread on this nicely built model but the subject DID come up. If a mod wants to move this post, or wants me to start a new thread on this elsewhere and delete this one, just send me a PM and I'll be glad to do so. Okay, I just compared the bodies and rear bumpers of the current '72 GTO kit, an '80s issue of the same kit (molded in tan), and a 100% original 1970 showroom promo, and measured all relevant pieces with a dial caliber. The results are going to SHOCK you. All three bumpers are, for purposes of this discussion, identical. There are slight detail differences (especially in the license plates) but the width of all three is exactly the same at @ 2.935". So far so good. That bumper on the '70 promo fits nicely--it might have a hair too much overhang at the sides but nothing that catches your eye at all. The three bodies, however, are three different widths. Measured at the upper front corner of the bumper opening, the width of the three bodies is: 1970 Promo: 2.802". '80s issue of the 1972 kit: 2.708". Current issue of the 1972 kit: 2.650." That is a WHOPPING .150" (1/8" is .125") difference between the original '70 body, which the bumper fits nicely, and the current body! To get rid of this, you'd have to either widen the body, or chop the bumper. The former could be accomplished either by building up the quarter panel sides at the rear with putty (losing the molded-in GTO emblems), or by cutting the trunk and widening it by grafting in a piece (in which case you'd prolly have to come up with new rear glass, too. It looks to me like the rear bumper could be narrowed with a simple chop right in the middle. Done VERY carefully, you'd end up with a fine seam right in the middle, most of which could be hidden with a license plate. IMHO such a seam would be much less jarring to the eye than a bumper that's @ four scale inches too wide for its body. But everyone will have his own opinion on this, including that the kit part is fine as-is. Again, I apologize for the hijack, and in NO way mean any of this to demean the fine craftsmanship on the subject model.