Snake45

When I got finished with the Camaro, I thought, "That's almost as good as I could have built it if I'd made a max effort and tried my very best." It's pretty impressive and looks good on the shelf.

Just my opinion, worth what you paid for it (or even less! ) but I think you should lose that fake door post and just roll with it as a hardtop. Both the bodies and roofs are completely different between the '55-'57 hardtops and 2 door sedans. Putting the post in a hardtop body gives you a look that's "neither fish nor fowl." But hey, it's not my model, and if you like the way it looks with the post, then by all means drive on and just pretend I was never here.

You might not be able to get those wheels off without destroying the thing. I don't know what kind of glue they used but whatever it is, it's STRONG! I was unable to get the wheels off the Camaro and ended up having to sand the treads while the model was assembled. I couldn't get the body off the chassis, either. Well, I prolly could have, but I didn't want to risk the probable damage.

I managed to miss that post, too--or didn't give it much attention at the time. Thanks for the link--very informative post!

I found the same pic today, which is why I said I found 8. I'd buy that Riv today if I found one at a decent price. I've been wanting to build a silver one, and it would save me a bunch of time.

Yah. I couldn't find one thing this month to even kinda-sorta-somewhat-semi want. Oh well, the '63 Nova wagon is coming....

Thanks! I THINK I was still buying AMT kits at Walmart for $6 or $7 at about that time, so $20 for a nicely prebuilt one sounds reasonable.

Thanks! Any idea of the price? BTW, the body and paint on mine are magnificent. There was some green exposed at the very bottom and very rear of white rear quarters, but I touched it up in a few minutes with some white paint.

I once bought a Monogram 1/72 B-52--a very large and very expensive kit--with two left fuselage halves and no right fuselage half at all! Sadly, I didn't open the kit and discover this until many months later.

Here's the 6 engine in the glue bomb '62 Nova hardtop I'm currently trying to rebuild.

Today I Snake-Fu-ed a nicely built AMT '70 Motion Camaro I bought at last month's toy show. Only needed a few minor things to look good. As I got into it, the more it began to look like a "factory" paint job with tampo graphics and trim. I didn't remember this kit ever being offered in the "Pro Shop" pre-painted series so I started doing some research. Fortunately my Google-Fu was strong today and I discovered something I'd never heard of before, AMT "Masterpiece" kits. These were not only pre-painted but pre-assembled as well, and came in nice boxes with individual styrofoam and clear vac-bubble packaging like high-end diecasts. I found there were at least eight of these, including a '62 Pontiac, '58 Edsel, '62 Impala, and I forget what-all else right offhand. So my questions are, when were these "Masterpiece" models (can't really call 'em kits) offered? How many were there--more than eight? And what was their price at the time? Anyone recognize or remember these? Mark?

Never-Never Land. Tell them I sent you.

Really? I remember some horrendous QC issues in the early '90s with AMT, MPC, Monogram, and Revell, and I don't think any of them had moved to China yet at that time. In fact, I think AMT/MPC was manufacturing in Mexico "to cut costs," not that we ever saw a price cut at the cash register.

Dave, Nigel, and TimJ, got you on the list for the next update. That's seven officially declared in so far (assuming Misha intends to continure). Nigel, did you have a Workbench thread going on that '55 Chevy? I have a vague recollection of such a project shown here, somewhere, sometime....

You can always tell when an airplane modeler shows up here to build his first model car. He'll ask a question like, "What's the best '67 Dizbuster GT kit and what aftermarket is available for it?" This assumes that there has ever been even one '67 Dizbuster, that more than one are available now, and that it needs a resin engine, wheels/tires, interior, and aftermarket decals.

I'd forgotten all that!

They're bigger now than they used to be, AND now they're actually covering up thread topics!

Tragic hero? He reminds of me of Seinfeld's Kramer, or Futurama's Bender.

Wouldn't surprise me at all. Also wouldn't surprise me to see them do a Star Trek or Star Wars version of it. You must be an aircraft modeler!

True and that includes the wheels/tires. The back end sheetmetal of the Bonneville isn't quite right, and the roofs of both the Impala and Bonneville aren't 100% right either.

The reissue I built in the '80s didn't have the SOHC, only the Boss 429. The reissue Comet kit (which I bought at the same time) did still contain the parts to build either engine, and I ended up putting the SOHC in the Maverick.

Wrapped up the resto/rescue work on a nice built AMT '70 Motion Camaro I picked up at the last toy show. At first I thought it only needed about 15-30 minutes of Snake-Fu to look good, but it turned out to need a substantial chassis repair, and then the more I got into it, the more teeny-tiny little fixes I spotted that "just had to be done." Ended up with 3-4 hours of work in it over two days, BUT the finished result looks almost as good as anything I've built from the jump. Now to do two others I got in the same deal, both AMT '71 Dusters. One has a lot of little parts that need to be reattached, the other might need only wheel detailing--I'm sure I'll find more little stuff to do when I get into them. I REALLY enjoy this kind of work!

To quote The Goddess Shania: "That don't impress me much." If you were buying for a hobby distributor or even a LHS, how many of these Has kits would you stock versus your normal order for a new AMT/MPC/Moebius/Revell kit (or even a good reissue)? Not NEARLY as many, I'll bet. No surprise that they're sold out. As I see it, there should be zero market for the Buick, the T-Bird, and the Impala, as these are all still readily available at common prices from Round 2 or Revell (or at least common in the used market), and they're much better kits, too. I can't speak to the sales potential of the Caddy; I don't want or need one but I believe there's a certain market for that one. The Bonneville is a special case: Nothing else like it is available at an affordable price. It's decidedly inferior to the MPC original, but unless you want to lay out big bucks, it's the only game in town for this subject. I remember when these kits were out in the '80s. There were still three or four local hobby shops and all carried them, in ones and two. I never saw the Impala (then incorrectly marked as a '66) and to this day have never seen an original boxing of it (remember, this was long before the Revell '65 Impala was introduced). It took me a LONG time to find and buy a Bonneville (which is how I know it's inferior to the original MPC). The Caddies and Buicks and T-Bird kits sat on the shop shelves for years. Notice that Hasegawa had to pimp these kits out (pun intended) with attractive female figures to give them some appeal this time around. Me, I recently bought the Impala at a reasonable price (not much more than a typical Revell/Round 2 kit) for two reasons: the figure, and I wanted to compare the body to the AMT original and the Revell. (Spoiler alert: None of the three is perfect, but the bodies of all three are "close enough" to accurate to be considered buildable.) I imagine the Bonneville is selling well in its current issue. The rest, I doubt they're setting any sales records.

Very, VERY nice, very clean build! I think this is your best model ever! Model on!