AMT Surf Woody

[AC Norton]

......it's not the type of car or kit I would ever buy, but I must admit it is a very cool, exciting reissue of a much loved kit..... got to love RC2 for making so many of us quite happy with bringing back so many terrific kits.......the Ace........

[Vince Nemanic]

Curb, I took the 4 lower photos of the car at the old Harrah Auto Collection in the summer of 1983.  It was under one of the outdoor sheds-actually tin roof awnings, and My Mother the Car was about 20 feet away. I think the picture of the car in the sun was by Roy Sorenson.

[curb]

I had one of the first issues of the Surf Woodie why back when..

Fortunately, I've been able to pick up several copies of the reissue (2003 ?). So I could build each version. But I'll probably make a few changes..Change the tires,wheels, engine etc. for the non woodie versions.

The engine would look kool in a '60's Mustang..

 

[curb]

Tim Boyd did a build review of the Roadster version in his AMT's odd-Rod Roadsters kit review, Model Cars, Nov. 2014 # 190..

[tim boyd]

Tim Boyd did a build review of the Roadster version in his AMT's odd-Rod Roadsters kit review, Model Cars, Nov. 2014 # 190..

Thanks Curb for reminding everybody about this.....TIM

[Mike999]

Repeating myself from the Hobby Lobby thread:  when I visited the local HL last Friday 7/1, they had the Surf Woody knocked down to $13.19.

I don't especially like the kit itself but it is full of great parts.  I did like the idea of making it a big dune buggy.  Using the bare chassis and an older plain-jane engine, you could come up with one of the prehistoric "water pumper" buggies used at Pismo Beach in the 1950s and 60s.  According to an online article about Bruce Meyers, those buggies inspired him to create the Manx.

I'm thinking about something like this awesome creation from the old Z-movie "Eegah" (with Richard Kiel, who went on to play "Jaws" in the Bond flicks):

 

[Vince Nemanic]

Actually, in the 70s AMT had a "Dune Buggy" version of the Woody with a flat floor, z couple of seats and a top something like the one in the Meyers Manx kit. Proves that great minds think alike.

[ChrisBcritter]

I'm thinking about something like this awesome creation from the old Z-movie "Eegah" (with Richard Kiel, who went on to play "Jaws" in the Bond flicks):

The Eegah! car was a stripped-down and shortened 1939 Plymouth; you'd probably have an easier time using the AMT '41 Plymouth coupe kit (except for the brain rot you'd suffer from watching the movie ). At least there's not too much body there to modify!

[unclescott58]

The Eegah! car was a stripped-down and shortened 1939 Plymouth; you'd probably have an easier time using the AMT '41 Plymouth coupe kit (except for the brain rot you'd suffer from watching the movie ). At least there's not too much body there to modify!

Brain rot from something made by Arch Hall Sr. starring his son Arch Hall Jr.? Tell me it ain't so!

[Snake45]

Actually, in the 70s AMT had a "Dune Buggy" version of the Woody with a flat floor, z couple of seats and a top something like the one in the Meyers Manx kit. Proves that great minds think alike.

I'm giving serious consideration to building my SW that way--or maybe in some sort of just barely streetable configuration (headlights, etc.) as I'm not a huge fan of the SW body but the chassis is just too cool!

[stavanzer]

The kit you want is the AMT "Sand Hog". The directions are up at Drastic Plastic. It was one of three Dune Buggies they did. One other one was the "Sand Bagger, Dune Dragster" IIRC. Tim Boyd or Dennis Doty did an article about the three kits in SAE 25-30 years ago. The kits came from the dark days on the 1970's when AMT was trying to maximize the revenue from their tooling, without spending any more money on new tooling. So the mix & match Sand Buggies were born. Some of the Oddball Funny Cars seem to come from this same era. Adapt an already tooled body to an already tooled chassis, and Voila, brand new kit. Just throw in some new decals and they were good to go.

Tim Boyd may be able to shed more light on these. I have the article from SAE about the Dune Buggies, but it has been years since I read it. My memory may be playing tricks on me. I'd thought that the instruction sheets for all three Buggies were at the Drastic Plastic site, but further searching shows that I am mistaken. I see only the Sand Hog and the Sand Bagger.

Alan

[Mike999]

The Eegah! car was a stripped-down and shortened 1939 Plymouth; you'd probably have an easier time using the AMT '41 Plymouth coupe kit (except for the brain rot you'd suffer from watching the movie ). At least there's not too much body there to modify!

Thanks!  I sure learn a lot of amazing stuff in here. 

Good thing I only have the Mystery Science Theater 3K version of "Eegah." 'Bot snark should minimize the risk of brain rot. Or it may be too late anyway. I'm the guy who bought the boxed-set collection of Ed Wood movies.

[Snake45]

The kit you want is the AMT "Sand Hog". The directions are up at Drastic Plastic. It was one of three Dune Buggies they did. One other one was the "Sand Bagger, Dune Dragster" IIRC. Tim Boyd or Dennis Doty did an article about the three kits in SAE 25-30 years ago. The kits came from the dark days on the 1970's when AMT was trying to maximize the revenue from their tooling, without spending any more money on new tooling. So the mix & match Sand Buggies were born. Some of the Oddball Funny Cars seem to come from this same era. Adapt an already tooled body to an already tooled chassis, and Voila, brand new kit. Just throw in some new decals and they were good to go.

Tim Boyd may be able to shed more light on these. I have the article from SAE about the Dune Buggies, but it has been years since I read it. My memory may be playing tricks on me. I'd thought that the instruction sheets for all three Buggies were at the Drastic Plastic site, but further searching shows that I am mistaken. I see only the Sand Hog and the Sand Bagger.

Alan

The instructions for all of them used to be there, but like many other kits, some of them disappeared after the site's reorganization a couple years ago.

Another kit in this series was the Sand T, their regular '25 T with about half the parts missing, but including wheels wide enough to mount huge dual rear tires. I restored one of these a couple years ago, adding lights, windshield, and other goodies to make a normal street rod T out of it.

[stavanzer]

Sand-T  That is probably the one, I'm thinking of.

Thanks.

[curb]

Something else I found while searching for info on the Surf Woodie was George Barris produced a Motorized Surf Board to go with the Surf Woodie.

There is a Motorized Surf Board in the reissue Gramdpa Munsters Drag-U-La.

You'll notice the one in the Dragula kit is different that the one in the photo(Off the net)

Not sure what type engine is on the board in the photo.

[keyser]

Actually, in the 70s AMT had a "Dune Buggy" version of the Woody with a flat floor, z couple of seats and a top something like the one in the Meyers Manx kit. Proves that great minds think alike.

They also had the Ramchargers Dune buggy, which had the wedge motor and other bits from the '28 A Tudor. 

[tim boyd]

They also had the Ramchargers Dune buggy, which had the wedge motor and other bits from the '28 A Tudor. 

This kit was issued by MPC circa 1968 and never reissued to my knowledge ....and was based on a shortened version of their first-gen Logghe funny car chassis.  Pieces of this tool still resurfaced a few years ago in the reissued Model King Cougar funny car kits (that '28A Tudor grille shell, to be precise).   TB   

[Jantrix]

This car is just hideous. However, an engine with two centrifugal superchargers, that's of interest to me. How well is it done?

[Jantrix]

If you really want it for the wheels, you may want to hold off - as I mentioned in the other thread, something went wrong and the centers are pebbly/lumpy - they should be polished:

Anyone have an original set to compare?

The semi-recent (2014...? reissue) AMT Sock It to Me '59(?) Corvette had very similar 5-slot wheels with a "textured" center web, though the texture is not quite as heavy to my eyes:

If you strip those wheels and paint them, that rough texture is much less noticeable. The way light comes off the chrome makes it look worse than it is. Here's a WIP shot of the Sock-It-To-Me Vette wheels, painted Krylon metallic silver.

 

 

[keyser]

IIRC, the 65 Riv has wheels that are smooth and really close, at least in some old issues. Offsets may be diff, but they're decent. I don't mind the texture, was going to throw a grey wash on, car has a ton of chrome, and whitewalls make it woooo busy on the running gear. 

[curb]

If you read pg 2 of the Model Car Science article. It states the Astro wheels have dual spool plates with Walnut spokes.  Perhaps the Texture was the was AMT replicated the Dual spool plates and Walnut spokes..Since this is a Custom vehicle I'm not going to concern myself with the texture.. Just paint to add color to the wheels

 

[dodgefever]

I have the Sand Hog kit.  It's the Surf Woody minus the bodywork, with the old AMT Indy tyres: two large and four huge ones.

[Fat Brian]

This car is just hideous. However, an engine with two centrifugal superchargers, that's of interest to me. How well is it done?

The block and heads are slightly above average for 60s AMT, the supercharges are well done and very crisp. I got one to build a Super Snake Cobra and was not disappointed, plus the chassis is super cool and there are lots of other hot rod goodies like cycle fenders and some 60s style scroll work. It's definitely worth picking one up at Hobby Lobby with the coupon.

[Jantrix]

The block and heads are slightly above average for 60s AMT, the supercharges are well done and very crisp. I got one to build a Super Snake Cobra and was not disappointed, plus the chassis is super cool and there are lots of other hot rod goodies like cycle fenders and some 60s style scroll work. It's definitely worth picking one up at Hobby Lobby with the coupon.

Thanks.

 

[Casey]

Maybe Round2 will dig deep and reissue the Surf'n Van?

Pics of the sibling Horse Hide Hauler kit here, too: https://www.hobbydb.com/catalog_items/denny-mclain-s-horse-hide-hauler/gallery

 

Edited January 8, 2018 by Casey