1/25 AMT 1970 Chevy Impala Fire Chief

[Danno]

What Tom says. 

The original release '70 Impala was a fast throw-together for AMT to accompany its early '70s Emergency Vehicle series of kits;  the American LaFrance Pumper, ALF Ladder, ALF Snorkel kits, as well as its '70 Ford Police Interceptor kit and the Fire Rescue and Police Van kits.

Why an Impala 2dr HT for the Fire Chief?  AMT needed a large sedan they could crank out quickly with available molds, and the fact that it was a Chevy counter-balanced the Ford police car kit. Notice that the Ford kit was also not a paragon of accuracy vis-à-vis basic cheapo sedan.

And remember, back in the very early '70s, all us 'critics' were either kids or not-yet-kids and we didn't have the internet. Criticism of "inaccurate" kit releases didn't happen. If your town's Fire Chief didn't wheel around in a top-line "luxury" Impala 2dr hardtop, you just assumed somebody's Fire Chief did.  You didn't question AMT's ethics, sanity, or genetic lineage.  

   

[Luc Janssens]

13 hours ago, Danno said:

Notice that the Ford kit was also not a paragon of accuracy vis-à-vis basic cheapo sedan.

 

A retool of this kit...

[ChrisBcritter]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:11 PM, Danno said:

And remember, back in the very early '70s, all us 'critics' were either kids or not-yet-kids and we didn't have the internet. Criticism of "inaccurate" kit releases didn't happen. 

Oh, I can remember some blistering reviews in Car Model over some poorly rendered funny cars and pro stocks back then (although they didn't name the makers, I think the pro stock writeup was about Jo-Han).

Paging Chief Joseph - if anyone can do stock '70 dog dish hubcaps, he can. And if anyone wants the color-keyed wheel covers for the '70, I have a mold from Tom P. - one of his last projects; let me see if I can get a good set out of it.

Edited April 21, 2020 by ChrisBcritter

[Casey]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:11 PM, Danno said:

The original release '70 Impala was a fast throw-together for AMT to accompany its early '70s Emergency Vehicle series of kits;  the American LaFrance Pumper, ALF Ladder, ALF Snorkel kits, as well as its '70 Ford Police Interceptor kit and the Fire Rescue and Police Van kits.   

Which is probably accurate for 20% of AMT's modified reissues over the last 50+ years. Add a few new/different parts, decals, and/or box art, and boom, "new" kit.

 

It's no coincidence Round2 is reissuing the '70 Ford in police livery, and they just happened to create an all-new light bar, spotlights siren, etc. to include in the '70 Impala Fire Chief reissue. Then there's the forthcoming '67 Impala hardtop, which likely is destined for a modified reissue at some point in the future, too.

[Mark]

18 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

Oh, I can remember some blistering reviews in Car Model over some poorly rendered funny cars and pro stocks back then (although they didn't name the makers, I think the pro stock writeup was about Jo-Han).

If anything, Jo-Han's Pro Stocker kits were the most accurate available until Monogram's early Eighties releases.  MPC issued a couple with full interiors including rear seat and console, and a couple others had full stock exhaust system detail molded as part of the chassis!  The original Bill Jenkins Vega kit had the stock exhaust detail, and the body had rear wheel openings that were radiused like an old Gasser.  (The new Round 2 kit will not have either of those mistakes.)

[Motor City]

20 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

And if anyone wants the color-keyed wheel covers for the '70, I have a mold from Tom P. - one of his last projects; let me see if I can get a good set out of it.

As I recall, the color-keyed wheelcovers were standard on the Caprice.  I'm not sure they were an option on the Impala.

[stavanzer]

The "All New" Light Bar, Siren, ect in the Impala Fire Chief's car, are clones taken from the '70 Ford. So, the Emergency Equipment in the Ford, is already in the kit. I suspect only the Decals and Tires will be new. BTW, that's perfectly Okay with me. They are nice parts, and I can use another MorDor Ford.

[Danno]

The biggest problem with the emergency equipment parts in the Ford kit* is that they are far from anything accurate. The beacons are undersized and too conically shaped to be legitimate beacons -- they are closer to Whelen strobes than beacons and the standard of the day … indeed the standard equipment with the lightbar (Federal Visibar) represented in the kit(s) was the Federal 14.  It is much different in configuration. 

• * The same parts were used in the Impala Fire Chief car and both police and fire versions of the Chevy van.

The siren speaker/PA speaker was similarly unlike the most common unit employed on the Visibar … the Federal 25. 

And the spotlights . . . like 90% of the spotlights produced by kit manufacturers are merely caricatures;  they look more like the common  "custom" spotlights of the 50's-60's than legitimate Unity brand spotlights commonly used on emergency vehicles.  Even the small antenna was a little on the cartoonish side.

Decent parts were the hand-held spotlight, the riot shotgun, the weapon lock, and the "large" whip antenna. The best looking piece in the entire ensemble was the  Motorola radio control head . . . but, alas, they didn't see fit to include a Motorola speaker (which would be pretty much standard with the Motorola radio).    

[Ron Hamilton]

On 4/15/2020 at 5:01 PM, Casey said:

These appear to be full wheel covers, is that correct?

 

No separate dog dish hubcaps, either, it appears.

Those are the correct for 70 dog dish hubcaps mounted on integral steel wheels and chromed. 

[stavanzer]

If they were gonna do it, why not do it correctly, with separate hubcaps and plain steel wheels?

at least they tooled the correct caps.

Maybe some resin caster will split the wheels and caps, and offer them as a set.