Mark
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The Coca Cola version is the most recent, but there was another Ertl issue right around the same time. The sedan delivery is based on the coupe and has the Buick engine also. Even the "Rides" issue of the delivery (with the large diameter wheels) has the Buick mill.
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Art Anderson:
Ed Shaver is correct. Back in the day, AMT Corporation was the largest single model kit producer anywhere around, and as such, had the brand recognition to go along with it. So, Johan either sent the tooling over to Maple Road (which I doubt, given that Johan's tooling was made to fit their injection molding machines, which reportedly dated back to the very earliest types built during WW-II or shortly thereafter)
The AMT-boxed Jo-Han kits were more than likely produced at Jo-Han's facilities. The styrene used is the same opaque, somewhat brittle stuff used in Jo-Han's kits, and the unplated parts in these kits were never bagged. AMT started bagging parts in their kits around 1969, while Jo-Han parts weren't bagged until the SeVille era.
If I remember right, the first Jo-Han kit sold in AMT packaging was the 1967 Toronado. Jo-Han kept it for themselves for '66. Others included more Toronados ('68 and '70), Olds 442 ('69 and '70), two-seater AMX ('68-'70), the "Coke bottle" Javelin/AMX (Mark Donohue racing version and the '74 annual), '72 Torino NASCAR version, pro stock Ford Maverick, and Dodge Challenger funny car. An "AMT" '70 Eldorado was announced but never appeared. Though AMT made a couple of Cadillac promos in the mid-Fifties, they never offered a full detail Cadillac kit until recently (the Escalade EXT). The AMT/Jo-Han arrangement seems to have ended around 1974.
The '68-'70 AMX kits and '68 Toronado were not sold in Jo-Han packaging. The first two-seater AMX kit offered by Jo-Han was the Shirley Shahan 1969 drag car (first available in 1971), then later revised to the near-stock USA Oldies series kit.
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If I am not mistaken, Ohio George Montgomery's famous '33 Willys gasser wore AMT logos at various points in its racing career. And I believe that Montgomery's "Multi-Maverick" had MPC decals on it, although it's my understanding that that car was never actually raced.
George Montgomery did race the Maverick, though not much. He went back to the red Mustang. I read an interview where he said MPC bankrolled the construction of the Maverick in exchange for the rights to make the kit. That's not too far-fetched: there were kits of four of his cars (AMT's '33 Willys, MPC's '67 and '69 Mustangs and the Maverick). Briefly, all four were available at the same time. Gassers in general, and George Montgomery in particular, were apparently pretty popular with model car builders in the Sixties and Seventies.
I don't know if it counts as "sponsorship", but I have seen a number of photos of the Motown Missile '72 Barracuda with small MPC decals on the quarter panels.
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The Victoria kit wasn't available in hobby shops or stores right away, this one is the first issue which was sold through Ford dealers for a while before the kit appeared in stores. It has been reissued a number of times, most recently as a DTR private label reissue that can still be found new-in-box if you look around. It's called a "jalopy" but still can be built stock; the "jalopy" version has to be built with aftermarket parts and a lot of cutting.
The early issues are more desirable because more recent issues show the wear on the body tooling, the early ones are very crisp while newer ones have thinner drip rails around the side windows, things like that. Even so, an early one in absolute mint condition might fetch $50 or so. With missing parts or other issues, it becomes a "builder" and might sell for about the retail price of a new, current kit, maybe a little bit more. The most recent one I picked one up was about two years ago. Poor condition box and decals, missing the stock fender unit but otherwise complete and in great shape, $15. I wasn't looking for another one, but it was a first issue with the clean, crisply molded body and very nice plating (with slicks and custom wheels that aren't in later issues) so I didn't let that one slide by.
The body will not directly swap onto the newer Revell '32 chassis. All of the AMT bodies are designed to interchange with one another. Because the earliest ones (roadster and coupe) are a bit off (not tall enough) the later ones (two-door sedan, Victoria, and phaeton) are "adjusted" a bit so they interchange with the others. If you try adjusting the body to fit the newer fenders and chassis, the proportions get thrown off. Were I to try mixing parts between the AMT and Revell kits, I'd use the AMT body, hood, and fenders, and swap in the Revell chassis. Next choice would be to swap the modern running gear to the AMT chassis and then fit the AMT fenders and body.
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It's the fuel pump. The cylindrical thing sticking out of the side of the engine block right behind it is the oil filter. The oil filter is a bolt-on unit (long bolt through the center) which is why it has bolt head detail at the end. Later Ford V8 engines have the distributor and coil at the front, but not the Y-block which was used in North American Fords from 1954 through 1962.
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Wasn't the "Hamtown Hemi" the Jo-Han Challenger F/C in AMT packaging? I don't recall AMT ever having a Challenger F/C kit of its own.
That it is. AMT sold a number of Jo-Han kits in their packaging between 1967 and 1974; the Challenger funny car is one. Others included Olds Toronado ('67, '68, '70) and 4-4-2 ('69, '70) annual kits, '68-'70 AMX annual kits, the Pro Stock Ford Maverick, the NASCAR '72 Torino, and the '73 Hornet funny car. Jo-Han had lousy distribution even in those days, and for AMT it was probably an inexpensive way to add a few products to their catalogs each year. A win-win for both. I don't know why the deal ended, but the end seems to coincide with Jo-Han's introduction of the USA Oldies series. Maybe someone at Jo-Han thought they didn't need to deal through AMT any more. These kits appear to have been manufactured and packaged by Jo-Han, with AMT boxes, instruction sheets, and decal sheets. The parts in AMT-boxed Jo-Han kits are not bagged, and the plastic is the opaque, sometimes brittle styrene characteristic of Jo-Han kits.
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The first AMT Ford Econoline kit was the "Vantom" which was issued in 1976. It includes stock parts. There was no 1976 annual kit. The only annual was the '77 Cruising Van which can only be built as the stock "factory customized" Ford van. The Cruising Van does not include stock wheel covers. The later Six-Wheel and "Matilda" (movie tie-in) issues include all of the stock parts except for tires, though the parts aren't used in those issues and aren't shown on the instruction sheets. The kits that don't include stock exterior trim parts are the Disco Van, Cuckoo Nest, and Hyper Hut. The stock grille, bumpers, and wheels for the Econoline kits were on the plated tree. With custom parts substituted, there was nothing left on the stock plated tree that was needed to build the custom vans so that tree was left out. The AMT Chevy vans had a number of engine parts on the plated tree (unlike the Fords). The tree with the engine parts had to be left in the custom Chevy kits, so all of the Chevies had stock bumpers and wheels. (As an aside, that tree was left unplated in the first issue A-Team van kit.)
As for the MPC Fords, the 4 x 4 was issued first and can only be built as a 4 x 4 as illustrated on the box. Those were molded in red and white, I have one of each color. There were several two wheel drive MPC issues. All of those have stock parts, but most have pre-cut custom porthole window openings on the quarter panels. MPC #1-0439 "Juke Box" (molded in black) issued in 1980 is the only 2wd issue I know of that does not have the portholes. There is also a "Sorcerer" (molded in white) and "Sunrunner" (molded in yellow), and there may be others.
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For sheet plastic, look up "plastics" in the business section of the phone directory. If you have a plastics supplier/fabricator in your area, often you can buy their "cutoffs" (surplus/waste pieces from signs or other jobs). This material is sold by the pound, and you can pick and choose only from what they have. I have found sheet styrene in thicknesses ranging from .030" to 1/8". Even though these pieces are "scrap", they are usually way larger than anything you find in the hobby shops. I haven't bought any in a couple years (probably have too much already) but last time I checked, the price hadn't changed: $1.50 per pound, buy five pounds and get five free (which translates to $7.50 plus sales tax for ten pounds). If you can scrounge that much, ten pounds is a lot of plastic.
I still buy Evergreen or Plastruct styrene rod, tubing, channel and other shapes, but not sheet material unless I don't have the thickness I need (which is never). I've still got a lot of .020" cutoff material from my vacuforming days.
For inexpensive molded styrene nuts, bolts, and rivets, you can't beat Tichy Train Group...good quantity in each package for not a lot of money. Some packages even instruct you about the diameter drill to use to drill holes to accept the molded shank of the detail piece so you can insert them and cement them in from the back side.
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So I guess if anyone is still looking for a Chrysler 300C and didn't get any when they first came out then they should simply wait for them to make it to the shelves of Big Lots, like the last batch ended up, for $5 bucks each.
Seems like someone didn't do their research before coming up with this one as a reissue.
Actually, the last bunch of AMT kits turned up in closeout stores because of two things: (1) Wal-Mart got out of carrying model kits, and (2) probably in part due to (1), RC2 decided to shut down AMT and quit the (in their words) "automotive collectibles" market in favor of toys. To clear the warehouse to make way for toys, and without WM to sell the kits to, they wound up at closeout stores along with the remaining WM stock.
Though the more rabid model car guys won't want a(nother) 300, issuing it now makes sense. Revell still has a 300 out there, so someone is buying them. Sometimes we forget that there are a lot of model car builders/buyers out there who don't buy model magazines or aftermarket stuff, and aren't connected with the "model car community" at large. They just buy a kit and stick the thing together every so often. They've been the ones buying the Chrysler 300s, Cadillac Escalades, '66 Mustang coupes, and AMT '64 Impalas. A guy I knew who operated a hobby shop (since closed) told me he could never get enough of the latter two kits. He'd order twice as many as he really wanted, the wholesaler would send him half as many as he really wanted, he'd put them on the shelf, and within a day or two he'd be cleaned out of them. Every year, I look at the upcoming releases that have been announced, and shrug my shoulders at half of the stuff. But hopefully, the manufacturers do well with those items that I couldn't care less about, and they'll take some of that money and invest it in something that I would want...
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For a trailer frame, 2" x 2" square tubing should be just fine. In 1/25 scale, this would translate to .080" square strip. For an older drag car frame using rectangular tubing, 2" x 3" was often used, which translates to .080" x .125". If you are building frame rails that kick up at the front and/or rear, consider using .080" thick sheet plastic. You would then cut the rails out as one piece with the kickups built in, which would save time and save a lot of angle cuts. The leftover pieces could be cut into .125" strips and used to build crossmembers, traction bars, etc. To build two matching rails, cut the two pieces out, tack them together in a few spots (not too many) with super glue, then finish shaping them while they are together. When you are done filing them to shape, separate the two pieces with a single-edge razor blade and scrape/sand off the glue. A trailer frame would normally be built to allow for a flat floor, so you don't need to worry about kickups. Straight strip material should work for that.
For a trailer axle (or a drag car straight tubular axle), don't use styrene rod. Instead, use 3/32" styrene tube with .039" music wire inside. The styrene rod will sag or bend under the weight of a finished model (even a trailer). The music wire, though difficult to cut, will not bend. If you use regular model kit wheel backs that are made for the usual model kit wire axles, you will have to plug the axle holes and redrill them smaller for the music wire. Don't use larger styrene tube with a regular model kit wire axle inside unless you are constructing a trailer to haul a car on. In that case, you'd probably use larger styrene channel or I-beam to build the trailer frame too.
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Ollie's has been in my area (western NY) for three or four years now. The only times they have had model kits was two years ago (a few months after Wal-Mart cleared out their model kits) and last fall (when Testors got out of marketing kits under their name). The Wal-Mart clearout consisted of mostly AMT stuff like the WM-specific "Street, Strip, and Show" (or whatever they called it) series. I picked up a couple of the '65 Fairlane Modified Stocker kits (lots of parts in those that aren't shown on the box or in the instructions) and the ex-MPC dirt track cars (called a '36 Chevy on the box, but with a '34 Ford coupe inside). The Testors clearout included their diecast kits as well as the plastic Dodge Charger kits. With model kits having been pushed off of department store shelves, and supply adjusted to meet demand, it's unlikely that you'll see too many of them in closeout stores again. On the flip side, I have seen Duplicolor automotive touch-up sprays there from time to time. Most recently (a couple of months ago) they were $.59 per can. No primers, the most popular colors were probably picked over, but I have found ones there that I liked. Those unassembled "collectibles display cases" turn up there every so often, and I have also found closeout artists' supplies like paint brushes there too. It's worth stopping in every so often, and you should sign up for the e-mail flyers.
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If you have the set of CAR MODEL magazines that contains the series of articles written by Jim Keeler, you could build a Dodge Fever. The first one was built for a CAR MODEL contest involving the '68 Coronet kit. Jim built a second one (not sure which year body he used, '68 or '69) and photographed the building process step-by-step for the series of articles. The chassis was built like an Indy Car "aluminum tub" with sheet plastic overlaid with thin aluminum with rivet detail that was pressed in. Two engines were built; the first with a Revell Parts Pack engine (which can be found in the Miss Deal Studebaker kit), the second used a Jo-Han single-piece engine block from an Olds 442 kit. The body was cut down from a stock MPC annual kit body.
If you go through the articles, you can probably get the vast majority of parts from reissues of the kits originally used. The AMT/MPC '70 Coronet body could be used if a junker '68 or '69 body can't be found. A few loosely copied versions turn up in later issues of CAR MODEL, but to my knowledge nobody has attempted to build a Dodge Fever recently.
As an aside, does anyone else see the resemblance between the Dodge Fevers and the AMT Digger 'Cuda (first issued in 1970)?
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I don't remember any GTO funny car, but there was a David Pearson NASCAR '71 GTO. The body in that kit was molded in clear to show how incorrect the chassis was (rear axle had leaf springs, needed to be coils on a GM intermediate). MPC also made George Montgomery's '69 Mustang gasser (the Mr. Gasket car). I've got a Gunze Sangyo High-Tech Isetta kit with a clear body. Gunze didn't mold it that way to show the detail, though. The builder is supposed to paint the body leaving the molded-in glass areas clear. One other clear-body kit, probably the easiest to find one out there, is the AMT Don Garlits Wynn's Jammer. The Stevens International generic reissue does not have the body molded in clear, but all of the Garlits issues (of which there were several) do have a clear body and oil pan.
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Parting out newer kits works out only when you are able to sell all of the subassemblies. One eBay seller was doing that with the Revell new-tool Willys coupe kits. He'd sell the body and trim pieces, the engine, the bare chassis, and the wheels and tires as assemblies. He did pretty well because the slot car guys would bid the body package up to near the price of a complete kit. He did this with both the gasser and street machine versions.
I did the same with a couple of the street machines. I wanted the chassis for other projects; it's got a decent frame, Mustang II front suspension, and 392 Hemi engine with nice block-hugger headers. I picked up a couple of untouched kits at automotive flea markets or toy shows for $7-$8 apiece. After selling the bodies and related trim pieces at NNL East for $7 each, I basically got a couple of free chassis.
On the flip side, at the Three Rivers show I bought a few kits from someone who was using the bodies to make slot cars. For $4 apiece I got an AMT Resto Rods '66 Nova, AMT '71 Duster (should have bought the other one!) and a Model King issue '70-1/2 Z/28. I wanted the Resto Rod wheels, tires, and seats from the Nova. Now that I think of it, I might just use the whole chassis under a '65 Nova AWB body after moving the rear wheel openings on the body back to stock. The Duster chassis pan gets set aside for a Richard Petty Barracuda, with the 340 engine being set aside to upgrade the AMT Dodge Kit Car roundy-round car. I don't have specific plans for the Camaro parts, but did want a Camaro front subframe, engine, and wheels for different things. The Model King issue decals are there to be used to upgrade an original issue kit. For some reason the hood wasn't taken from the kit, and I was looking for one of those too. One other kit I bought was a '66 Fairlane 427, the one with the bench seats. I've got a model of my first car ('66 two-door sedan) around here somewhere, the new chassis will be an upgrade over the original and will let me scratch the single exhaust system that my car had.
So, parting kits out can work for buyers and sellers. I seldom sell parted-out kits and don't part out older stuff. When I do sell something that's missing parts though, I advise potential buyers, as do the guys who set up with me.
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The Digger 'Cuda is fictional, created by AMT to share the chassis from the Tommy Ivo dragster kit. This kit was announced before Don Garlits built his mid engine (everyone calls them "rear engine") dragster, so it's not something that was created because the chassis was obsolete. Anyway, there are some little "tab" pieces included, to be glued to the inside of the body so that the upper half can be removed and set back on. I don't care for the separation line running down the lower third of the body side, so mine will be glued together, molded, then cut apart at the lower edge. That is, once I figure out what to do with the steering linkage...
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As an aside, the Chitwood Camaro (and Hell Drivers Mustang II) kits I have seen have the "thrill show ramps" made of printed cardboard, as opposed to the detailed styrene ramps in the '49 Ford, '49 Mercury, and '50 Ford Convertible kits.
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Which '40 Ford? Don't forget the two-door sedan, and the sedan delivery. I've seen coupes molded in black, white, blue, and gray. I have sedan kits molded in black (original issue), maroon (Lesney/Matchbox issue), tan (AMT/Ertl), gray (Millennium), and have had them in white also. The original issue sedan delivery (derived from the coupe kit) was molded in yellow and white, with AMT/Ertl issues being molded in gray.
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I have used Chrome-Tech exclusively for plating resin parts over the last twenty years or so. I've always been satisfied with the results. Sometimes a few parts are unusable due to dirt or other contaminants in the plating, but that happens with ordinary styrene parts from time to time also. I stopped using mold release on castings that are scheduled for plating (actually, I no longer use it at all, having replaced the silicone "greasy kid stuff" with ordinary baby powder bought at the "dollar store"). No more having to wash the mold release off of the parts. I do plan to try Little Motor Kar one of these days, but that is not a reflection on Chrome Tech's service or the quality of their work.
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I use Alumilite flex for my stuff & it comes out pretty good. You can de-mold in a couple hours.
Which hardness? I'm guessing either 60 or 70, leaning towards 70
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Does anyone know if this AMT 32 Vicky kit that is listed on Model Roundup have the same street rod parts as the original kit?
. I know the wheels are different on the box art but was just wondering what is inside.
oldscool
It has the same parts as other issues since the late Seventies, possibly with a few parts from earlier issues if the tool has been "unblocked". It won't have the optional wheels or slicks from the early issues, though.
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Ignore that last sentence...after looking at the '65 hardtop kit, it is apparent that much of the engine and chassis is shared with the '66. The parts trees look a bit different because they are arranged and cut differently to fit in a normal-size kit box. The '65 kits came in much larger boxes.
--Mark
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Picked one up today, it looks pretty good. The only real knock I can come up with involves the chassis. The front 1/3 of the floorpan area on the chassis is open, with the bottom of the interior floor serving as the floorpan in that area. However, the interior floor has no engraved detail or shape in that area; it is just flat except for the tunnel. It makes for quite a contrast with the portion of the floorpan that is molded as part of the chassis. The width of the driveline tunnel doesn't match up well between the two sections either. By the way, this kit looks to be all-nerw tooling, not derived from the '65 kits.
--Mark
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Those midgets are a dream come true for me. They will perfectly complement the Etzel Speed Classics multimedia of a Solar I have here for ages. They cannot be the old Monogram, which was not only slightly larger than 1/25. It was at least 1/20 if not 1/18.
Monogram offered two Kurtis-Kraft midget kits. The large one, often called the PC-1 kit (Plastic Car #1, first plastic Monogram car kit) is about 1/18 scale. At the height of the slot car craze, Monogram made a 1/24 scale slot midget. The body from the slot car was also offered as a shelf model, with no engine detail and a driver to fill the space in the cockpit over the area where the slot car's motor would be. The newly announced kit appears to be all-new however, with full interior and engine detail.
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Probably just the hood stripe, license plates, and radio face (the newer '70-'71-'72 kits include the '70 ZR-1, which wasn't available with a radio). There were no AMT '71 annual Corvette kits; the '70 coupe and roadster were sold unchanged for '71. Same deal with the original AMT '70-1/2 Camaro.
--Mark
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Clear body kits
in General Automotive Talk (Trucks and Cars)
Posted
There were a number of car kits with clear bodies...
AMT Don Garlits Wynn's Jammer (the 1964 car)
MPC Ford GT "J-Car"
MPC George Montgomery Mr. Gasket Gasser 1969 Mustang
MPC David Pearson NASCAR Pontiac GTO
Gunze Sangyo High-Teck Isetta
Polar Lights Charger and Barracuda funny cars (in clear, with a small number in red clear)
Esci made a couple of car kits with clear bodies. One was a Mercedes-Benz, the other a European Ford Escort if I remember right.
Of all of these, only the Gunze Isetta had the windows molded as a unit with the body. The body was meant to be painted after the window areas were masked off. All of the others had separate windows that had to be glued in, creating glue marks that were visible on the finished model. All were probably planned for issue with solid color bodies also, otherwise everything would have been molded as one unit. The MPC Mr. Gasket Gasser did not have a separate tilting front end or opening hood, so if you painted the body you couldn't view the engine.