AMT kits suck!

[Plumcrazy Preston]

Are there better quality kits on the market these days than AMT? 

 

AMT kits suck because:

 

1. they are too expensive for the low quality

2. the parts lack precision and excellent fit

3. many parts don't have holes/slots/grooves for other parts with tabs to insert into 

4. the instructions aren't very good

5. the assembly diagrams aren't very clear as to where to precisely locate parts 

6. some parts don't fit well

7. some parts are put into hollow places and they are allowed a certain degree of rotation as the transmission and the engine bell housing: there should be a keyway with a tab to keep these mating parts from rotating upon each another and why doesn't the rocker covers have tabs to mate with holes in the top of the engine's head? 

 

I'm working on the W-925 Kenworth tractor right now.

 

The limp stretchy Goodyear vinyl tires are cheesy and not made of nice firm well-fitting rubber. The bead area is too large in diameter to fit the rims snugly. I tried using that 3/8" foam rod stuff. The beads of the tires just get pushed right over the measly little flanges of the rims under the pressure of the stuffing material.  The visor for the top of the cab has no tabs/holes to locate it. Where am I going to apply the cement? Both the cab and the visor are to be custom painted but cement doesn't adhere well to paint. With mating tabs and holes I normally scrape the paint away on those spots and put glue there.  There is no precise way to locate the 5 marker lights on top of the cab. 

 

This expensive plastic AMT kit is rather mickey-mouse quality. 

 

Is Revell or Monogram much better in overall quality than AMT?  Virtually every Monogram kit model had snap-together parts with optional gluing. 

 

For close to $40, I'm rather disappointed with this AMT Kenworth kit. I expected much better for the price. 

Edited December 23, 2020 by Plumcrazy Preston

[Painted Black]

[Classicgas]

That kit has nearly 50 year old tooling. It's not going to have the fit and finish of a brand new tool.

[Plumcrazy Preston]

I gave this kit a 1-star at amazon.com where I bought it and told everybody there the same thing as in my OP here. 

[Plumcrazy Preston]

7 minutes ago, Classicgas said:

That kit has nearly 50 year old tooling. It's not going to have the fit and finish of a brand new tool.

Why did they not have tabs and holes for mounting the horns, lights and visor on the roof? Some parts have these features but many don't. Why were they too cheap to not supply rubber tires? 

Holes and tabs also give a much more solid connection for gluing parts together. 

Edited December 23, 2020 by Plumcrazy Preston

[BlackSheep214]

Not all AMT kits are terrible. I've had Revell kits that were downright horrible as well. So I think stating the fact that you think AMT kits suck is a bit an over-reaction.

I've always like MPC kits during my teen years and early 20s. 

[vamach1]

I’ll step into this minefield.  Generally speaking I think the #1 issue is most of these kits many of us remember and keep buying were developed decades ago and have only seen some minor improvements.  The cost of developing a new kit is always cited as the reason we do not see may new automobile or truck or motorcycle kits when there are still plenty of old molds that can be reused over and over again.  Some of the kits that came out twenty or so years ago were a great improvement over the fifty year old ones but I cannot recall a lot of all new kits in a long time time.  I’m sure the companies have to decide if they will get their investment back if they produce an all new kit that would be vastly improved but be in the same price range.  That is a tough call unless it is an all new subject matter that would be popular with the casual and diehard builder alike.  For older kits they could at least upgrade things like tires and decals which Round2 seems to be doing on some older kits.

Edited December 23, 2020 by vamach1

[BlackSheep214]

Take a look at my '55 Chevy in my BlackSheep's build 2020 thread

Edited December 23, 2020 by BlackSheep214

[Plumcrazy Preston]

4 minutes ago, BlackSheep214 said:

Not all AMT kits are terrible. I've had Revell kits that were downright horrible as well. So I think stating the fact that you think AMT kits suck is a bit an over-reaction.

I've always like MPC kits during my teen years and early 20s. 

Monogram always fit together nicely. You could cement the parts firmly and paint the models too. So how do I know if a kit is good before I buy it? I took a look at the parts for my new Atlantis Boeing 727 kit and that looks very promising. Virtually every part has slots and tabs for mating. 

[High octane]

28 minutes ago, Plumcrazy Preston said:

Are there better quality kits on the market these days than AMT? 

 

AMT kits suck because:

 

1. they are too expensive for the low quality

2. the parts lack precision and excellent fit

3. many parts don't have holes/slots/grooves for other parts with tabs to insert into 

4. the instructions aren't very good

5. the assembly diagrams aren't very clear as to where to precisely locate parts 

6. some parts don't fit well

7. some parts are put into hollow places and they are allowed a certain degree of rotation as the transmission and the engine bell housing: there should be a keyway with a tab to keep these mating parts from rotating upon each another and why doesn't the rocker covers have tabs to mate with holes in the top of the engine's head? 

 

I'm working on the W-925 Kenworth tractor right now.

 

The limp stretchy Goodyear vinyl tires are cheesy and not made of nice firm well-fitting rubber. The bead area is too large in diameter to fit the rims snugly. I tried using that 3/8" foam rod stuff. The beads of the tires just get pushed right over the measly little flanges of the rims under the pressure of the stuffing material.  The visor for the top of the cab has no tabs/holes to locate it. Where am I going to apply the cement? Both the cab and the visor are to be custom painted but cement doesn't adhere well to paint. With mating tabs and holes I normally scrape the paint away on those spots and put glue there.  There is no precise way to locate the 5 marker lights on top of the cab. 

 

This expensive plastic AMT kit is rather mickey-mouse quality. 

 

Is Revell or Monogram much better in overall quality than AMT?  Virtually every Monogram kit model had snap-together parts with optional gluing. 

 

For close to $40, I'm rather disappointed with this AMT Kenworth kit. I expected much better for the price. 

The simple solution to that David is not to buy anymore AMT kits if that's the way you feel and also to pack up the AMT kit you're workin' on back in the box and stuff it back with your stash and work on another kit.

[Sledsel]

Well, I built this kit as a teenager and had no issues. It is an old kit, and takes patience and trial fits, but to say it sucks is an over-reaction IMO

If this kit gives you so many issues, get the Revell snap kit or the high price Revell glue kits.

[Tom Geiger]

I don’t know the kit in question. And since you just joined the forum we don’t know your level of experience. 

Since complaining isn’t gonna change old tool kits, we figure out how to get these assembled with nice results.  Asking “how do I?” will get you better results both on the board and with the kit. 

For instance, I pin a lot of parts to get better fit, an exact placement, or to be able to apply glue neatly.

Take your roof mounts you mention. For placement of the horns and visor, I’d be figuring out exactly where I wanted those before I painted the body. Then drill small holes, like no 72 bit size, in that spot, and also in the part. Then I use a short length of straight pin for the installation. For the lights if they have chrome bezels do the same drill and pin. If they are like yellow clear parts, I’d place a piece of masking tape on the top of the painted body right ahead of where you want the lights. Then measure off the pattern you want and mark that on the tape. Last step is to glue, with either white glue canopy cement, or even use a drop of clear paint to adhere, in the positions you determined, using the front edge of the tape as your guide to get them straight, and your marks to get them spaced to your liking.

The kits are what they are, and you can get good results if you learn the techniques. 

[maxwell48098]

Take a look at what other builders have accomplished with the same kit over the past 50 years.  Now think of comparing an automobile from 50 years ago with one of the new ones coming out today.  As time has passed, technology has brought improvements not even dreamed of 50 years ago.  Having grown up with the AMT kits since the late '50's, I appreciate improvements that I can easily recognize in today's kits versus those of 50 or 60 years go.  But they can be built with patience.

Here's just a couple I've done over the years that I still have:

This is an original AMT KW925 torsion bar rear suspension  kit with an added third axle, and Autocar dump box.

 

Used second release AMT KW925 as the basis for this T800 conversion.

 

This is another AMT KW 925 kit conversion using an AMT pumper body.

[Danno]

Sounds like what you want, Mr. Preston is snap kits. Perhaps you should stick to those.

If the KW925 kit was as bad as your commentary indicates, it wouldn't have sold well when it was new and it wouldn't have sold well enough to be re-issued over and over through the years.

Remember the sage words of Mick Jagger and friends:  "You can't always get what you want."  Forty (or so) year old kit with modern state of the art engineering and precision snap kit features?  Not in this lifetime, I'm afraid.

I've bought and built thousands of AMT kits in my lifetime and haven't experienced what you describe across the board as you suggest. Maybe an occasional kit doesn't live up to high expectations, but the vast majority of them did and do and will continue to.

Sorry you had a bad experience with one kit, but it doesn't warrant painting the entire AMT product line with such a harsh brush.  

IMHO.

Mellow out and have a nice holiday season.

??

[BlackSheep214]

1 hour ago, Plumcrazy Preston said:

I gave this kit a 1-star at amazon.com where I bought it and told everybody there the same thing as in my OP here. 

Like that’s going stop folks from buying AMT kits. You bought it on Amazon? LOLOL! You got ripped off. You should have looked in Scalehobbyist, Hobbylinc, or other online hobby stores instead for better prices. Even look in Hobby Lobby armed with a 40% coupon   you can find you a great price. Besides, Amazon charges too much for kits plus their s&h is ridiculous IMO. Unless you have Prime but still. Stop and shop around next time.

Everybody knows glue don't adhere to paint but you’ve got to take the initiative to make it work. Chrome parts needs to scrapped off for glue to adhere as well. Instead of complaining and giving bad reviews on kits, put in a little effort and work at it to build a nice kit. Maybe snap kits or Monogram kits are better suited for your level in building kits. We don’t know what your experience in building kits are. 

Take it as constructive advice or take it as insult or harsh criticism. Either way, you need to figure out what’s best for you to build an awesome kit. After all, it’s a hobby, not a chore. Relax, take a deep breath and enjoy the upcoming holidays.

Edited December 23, 2020 by BlackSheep214

[Can-Con]

If you don't like that, don't look into the history of that 727.  ?  You may be shocked to find out the tooling of that kit was first released by Aurora in 1962.?

[iamsuperdan]

Guys, let's keep it civil okay?

Knock AMT or any other company all you want, but directly insulting members is a big no. Some of you should know better. 

Anyway...

 

Although I'm not going to disagree with any of the OP's original points, I'm NOT going to say that AMT kits suck.

Two reasons. First, they just require a little more work to get them looking good. You want a kit that goes together easily and clearly? Look to the Japanese brands. Tamiya and Fujimi will almost never cause headaches. However, this brings me to my second reason. AMT have subject matter than no one else does.  You want to build a Kenworth 925? or a Pete 352? Your options are basically AMT or AMT.

So with a little patience, a little extra work, and some google image searches, you can build some pretty nice stuff out of an AMT kit.

 

[Jantrix]

Man, if this was easy, everyone would do it. Trust me when I say every manufacturer has some real stinkers from "back in the day". What we do as modelers, is make it work. If, put tab A into slot B, is more your speed, perhaps snap kits would be better for you. If you came here with that chip on your shoulder looking for commiseration, you thought wrong.

Edited December 23, 2020 by Jantrix

[BlackSheep214]

As I mentioned before, I love a challenge on a sucky kit. But boy, oh boy, I’ve had a few that has fought me from step 1 all the way to the final step. And I’ve won many battles on those too. However, I’ve had a couple that fought me into submission that I had to accept defeat. There was no way I could get it to work right no matter how hard I tried. In the bin it went except for the useful spare parts I can always use for another day. (That’s how parts bin stash gets built up? you never know when you’ll need it)

I guess it takes a bit of experience in how well you can tackle a difficult kit. You can put it away for now and try something else. Who knows, maybe down the road you may bring it out again and try have another go at it. Never say never. A challenge on a difficult kit is not a bad thing. 

[Greg Myers]

David, try one of these classic Revell kits. I think you will be immensely happy with your experience.

Edited December 23, 2020 by Greg Myers

[Greg Myers]

this is one of their popular  kits as well ?

[doorsovdoon]

I love AMT kits, I can't think of any reason to knock them. They couldn't be more simpler, especially the older ones with solid axles.

[tbill]

Yes, these AMT rig kits can be challenging, but do actually build up very nice with a bit of patience. As far as pins to locate things on these kits , those that remain are useless due to age of the molds, as the pin/hole are not quite where they should be anymore. It’s 50 year old molds, us guys that build them understand it takes a bit more work than usual to make them nice. 
 

If you’re looking for a more precise fitting big rig kit, check out Italeri, they offer some US rigs that build up very nice, parts are crisp, fit well, and usually have no flash. They are multi part cabs, but the fit is very good. Downside is the price, but it is what it is I suppose.

Edited December 23, 2020 by tbill
Spelling

[Force]

Well David, you must remember that the AMT Kenworth W925 kit first came out 1971 and most of the truck kits they have are from the early to mid 70's and the first truck kit they did came 1969, the standard on kits back then wasn't like it is today but they were quite advanced for the time, and the molds are worn after almost 50 years of use as this kit has been reissued over and over since it first saw daylight, so you can't expect it to be like model kits developed today.
I built my first AMT Kenworth W925 model over 40 years ago back in 1978-79 when I was in my teens, it was the Movin' On version and I still have it on the shelf today so it has survived, and yes it was challenging to build but I managed to get it together without too much trouble with the skill level I had back then.
You just have to have patience and go slow, test fit everything and adjust where needed because this kit and most of the other AMT truck kits are not impossible to build and there are lots of examples of that here on the forum.
If you want a better full detail Kenworth W900 kit the only option you have is the Revell Germany W900 with the flat top sleeper wich is a lot newer, it's still available right now and is white on the boxart, but it's more expensive than the old AMT kit at $65-80+ depending on where you find it, Revell also have a W900 with Aerodyne sleeper wich is cheaper but it's a snap-glue kit with less detail...both these are 1:25th scale

The Italeri kits Tom talks about above are crisp as they are a lot newer than the AMT truck kits, but have drawbacks like multi piece cabs, generic Freightliner chassis for most of them and the ones recently reboxed by AMT is quite expensive, and they are 1:24th scale.

Edited December 23, 2020 by Force

[wrenchr]

4 hours ago, Plumcrazy Preston said:

Monogram always fit together nicely. You could cement the parts firmly and paint the models too. So how do I know if a kit is good before I buy it? I took a look at the parts for my new Atlantis Boeing 727 kit and that looks very promising. Virtually every part has slots and tabs for mating. 

Hi David,

MCM forums is a great place to ask questions with your issues you are having. Pictures are always a good idea to provide as well. I'm a life long modeler and see techniques here that blow my mind with how effective and yet simple they are. Following along on builds and reading tips and so on.