garagepunk66

You know, I understand that he's under time constraints to build those kits in a timely fashion, but DAMN. Taking 45 minutes to go over various parts with a sharp X-Acto knife, and some files/sandpaper to remove the flash for this build would probably better served Round 2 in promoting the kit. Holy Smokes.

The whole body is off in multiple respects. #1. The real car had much lower rear wheel arches, not radiused up high into the quarter panel like the kit's #2. The top chop is wrong in the kit. The real car didn't have the a-pillars leaned back like the kit. The roof itself on the real car was lengthened to accommodate the chop. The kit's roof also seems to be raked downward at the front. The real car appears to have a dead-level chop. #3. The real car had headlamps. The kit's are blanked off. And that's just kind of a start. It's too bad MPC didn't put more effort into making accurate replicas with some of their race car kits

I've advocated this since the cloning program began. From an ROI viewpoint, it certainly makes sense.

Steve G, this needs to happen on the next planned re-issue after this first run! Maybe we could also get the Triumph motorcycle re-tooled that came in the '63 C-10 and issue it with the Mueller-era '60 Chevy Fleetside

Stavanzer is correct. Round 2/AMT recreated the lost tooling for the telephone company service truck ladder rack, ladder, and some Ding-A-Ling parts IIRC. The phone booth will be cardboard in this release however. The "Frisco Sleeper" canopy panels I presume also are cardboard like the original (IIRC anyway, the last time I saw the original kit contents was in 1982 when I made a trade of my mint-in-box unbuilt kit to another hobbyist).

Tim Boyd, any chance we will get one of your comprehensive sneak peeks at the newly reissued Touch Tone Terror kit? Not that I'm complaining, but I feel like with all the hubbub over the AMT cloned '60 & '63 Fords, there hasn't been as much attention paid to this release as it might ordinarily warrant.

I believe that is because the roof profile arc above the quarter window is too gradual. A couple more things I noticed... The headlights need to be prouder in the shape of the bezels (more bug-eyed). Also, the front bumper is too thick and the radius of the leading edge is too large towards the outboard areas.

Personally, I think there is a very large market for a LOT of recreated and expanded tooling for mid-60's GM product nearly across the board, and I say this as primarily as a Ford fan. I think expanded tooling projects like cloning the 65 Wildcat body/chrome/specific parts, and making a proper 66 Wildcat interior do make sense for ROI as two versions can subsequently be released and improvements on the 66 kit would be greatly welcomed. I'd love to see an expanded tooling project based on the AMT 65 2 + 2, where a Catalina 2-door post sedan body, bench seat interior, and chrome gets tooled up for it. So much of the model car industry is still geared to catering to flagship-type cars, and I think there exists a genuine need for some "strippers". Maybe a sister kit of a 1965 Catalina 4 door "Enforcer" police package (pictured) would be a possibility, and would share some tooling. A cloned Craftsman 64 Corvair Monza Spyder is sorely needed, as is the 62 Buick Special Wagon The 66 Bonneville, as previously stated is also a natural for a cloning project.

I would be down for this. I much prefer this to the 71-72 GTO. On another note, I would love to see a LeMans conversion for the AMT Craftsman Plus 68 GTO as well. I have a real itch to build one with the OHC Sprint 6 from the 69 Firebird kit

That could very well be, but apparently Revell no longer knows the actual function of the parts, as the picture I posted is from the Roth kit instructions.

The old Revell 56 F100, that I posted the instruction sheet page for, has the closest thing to a stock "truck" Y-block, typical from 1954-1964. The engine builds up quite nice, and looks the part. As I said before, you could probably just hit the "easy button" and do a "top end swap" to use the very nice heads, manifolds, and intake on the AMT block, using the AMT "FORD" block-letter valve covers. That kit comes with two engines, a Pontiac and the Y-block, so robbing the parts would not preclude someone from building the kit. The AMT '57 Ford Fairlane and the newer Revell 57 Ford kits also have Y-blocks. The Y-block in the Revell 57 is pretty exceptional, but it is in "passenger car" trim. Just for everyone's future reference, the FE engine family (332, 352, 390, 406, 410, 427 & 428), is unrelated to the Ford Y-block family (239, 256, 272, 292 & 312). The even exhaust port spacing and the intake manifold that forms the upper part of the valve cover rail of the FE engine is a dead giveaway. The FE was first produced in 1958, and was not installed in light trucks until 1965 Y-blocks have the two center exhaust ports grouped together like a small block Chevy engine, and have an "air gap" style intake manifold where there is actual space between the manifold and a steel valley cover below that seals the top of the block. FE engines also have the distributor in front, whereas the Y-block has a rear mounted distributor that tilts to the right around 30 degrees I hope this helps some people.

Here is the instruction page from the Fotki Drastic Plastics page for the Y-block found in Revell's 56 F100. The air cleaner does need some work, and there's no exhaust crossover, but it has the truck exhaust manifolds on it, albeit with the crossover spigots "shaved off" . Carburetor is supposed to be a Autolite 2100. This engine would be correct as a parts donor for the upcoming 63 F100 as well. Y-blocks were used in light trucks through 1964

The Starliner has an FE 352 engine, not a Y-block.

Revell's ancient opening-doors 56 F100 is a great source for a pretty accurate stock truck-style Y-Block. You could probably just use the whole top end on the AMT block, heads, manifolds, etc

...and proportional accuracy, which ain't saying much, because the AMT's are still pretty rough. Moebius whiffed a whole laundry list of things on the Fords. All the grilles on the 67-72's are just horrific. Ridiculous. Toy-like. There's something totally wonky about the shape of the profile DLO and the drip rail that I can't put my finger on also. The bedside end caps and the shape of the tail lights. The too-wide park lamps. Stuff that is just incredibly hard to fix. The 65's and '66's have some real problems too. It's so disgusting because I owned a gorgeous 65 for 11 years and was forced to sell. I was so excited when these kits were announced, then, so completely let down when I finally got one. The grille opening panel in profile is not raked forward at the top enough. It's nearly vertical, giving the front end too blunt of an appearance. There's some real problems in front of the front wheel opening as well. Too much real estate there somehow. Maybe the bottom of the grille opening and the bumper need moving back like a scale 2 inches. And don't get be started on the windshield and DLO height. It looks like the chicken truck in the Big Bird movie. Way too tall. How could AMT get these same details so right on the 61-63 F100's working by eye, 60 years ago, while all the current technology at Moebius's disposal failed them so miserably? I expect the same kinds of issues on the C-10 and the Maverick. Moebius has a track record in my estimation, and I'm certain they will mess things up pretty well.

Is NO ONE going to comment on the 3D printed prototype for a cloned 64 Malibu hardtop at the far end of the table? I suspected that one was likely be the next 64-67 A-body kit to get cloned

Did they alter the rear wheel openings for the big slicks like they did on the Cougar Funny Car?

Yes, it is. But even as a curbside, it's a huge improvement over the original chassis platform

Has anyone "backdated" this kit? Sure, I know the body proportions aren't 100 percent there, but it might be fun to toss it on the chassis for the 34 Ford Pickup and see what you could do with it for a slump-breaker. Maybe even make a Fauxvivor of the "East Coast" style rod you could build from the original Aurora 34 Ford

Is there any hope of seeing these again? I missed them the first time around, and now they are getting out of reach.

The modern kit they released with those parts isn't at all the original annual kit. That one was tooled up and first released around 1999, if I recall correctly, and go cart was retooled only very recently.

It's blob-tastic. Pretty featureless, and IIRC, a little underscale.

Ah, I see. What's the plan for fixing that?

Bill, is it possible that the wheelbase of the AMT 5W you are using is too long by a couple of scale inches ahead of the doors? The curvature along the bottom of the body of the Revell/Monogram snapper at the cowl seems accurate, but the front fender of the AMT fender unit seems too far ahead, and as you mentioned, the hood is too long.

The only reason that Lindberg ended up with the IMC kits they did, was because the molds were dropped off at George Toteff's tool and die shop for mold repair, and were forgotten there. What became of the other tooling remains a matter of conjecture. There have been previous threads on the subject here.