Dave Darby

I'd say it came out pretty well John. I love the color scheme. Did you happen to mention what blue you used? You're definitely making me want to give mine a resto.

Is that two different shades of green with the white John? It looks great!

1949-54 Chevy and 1953-62 Corvette frames and suspension are essentially the same (except for length). So there are any number of 1/25 scale Corvette kits you could rob the suspension from. (MPC 57/60 Corvettes have steerable wheels). Plus there are the three AMT 51 Chevy kits as well. Engines could be sourced from those or the AMT 53 Corvette (not quite stock) for a 53, or the AMT 60 Chevy truck for a 54.

One word, Steve. "Gorgeous".

I did a box art build of the 53 Corvette for AMT/Ertl back around 1993 for the Corvettes set (53, 57 and 63). The body and interior are fairly accurate, but the chassis is clunky, and it sits way too high. In fact, on the box art art build, I lowered it by inverting the front spindles and trimming I don't remember what from the rear leaf springs. I recall this causing or nearly causing some clearance issues between the front tires and the headlight buckets. But making that modification improves the appearance greatly. That said, if I had to give an edge for accuracy, I'd pick the Monogram kit. (Yes, the center divider between the seats was there before I delivered it.)

Looking good Bernard!

I always knew it was right to left. But for some reason I thought it was filmed from the dealership vantage point. I just reviewed and saw that the camera was actually facing the the dealership. Odd how I never noticed that before with the numerous times I've watched the movie.

The rear hinge has always been the trickiest part of the build for this kit. Since you dont have the grille mounted yet, I'd like to offer a suggestion that will greatly improve the appearance of the headlights, which unaltered look like toy pet eyes. I drilled mine out to the diameter of the lenses, which I mounted flush, then made reflectors for behind made out of the baby moon hubcaps from the AMT 56 Ford. Don't mind the sloppy fit on the roof and front bumper on this one. It got thrown across the room by a psycho ex girlfriend a bunch of years ago, and I need to give it some love.

Craig, you are basically correct. The doors have always been molded one piece with the body. However, in the older issues, the door lines were deep enough that it took very little to open them. In fact, i seem to recall a few where you could see right through in places. I hope Atlantis acquired the tool(s) and will do something cool with them.

I seem to remember having success with gluing the windshield frame to the body first, as it has locating lugs, then slipping the glass in.

Looks awesome Alan. All you need now is some lighting so you can get some "night time" shots. Oh, and have the Pharoahs Merc going the other way.

Looks like something right out of a Keith Weezner drawing. I love it.

Nailed it!

Beautiful!

Hi John, I used the rear 2/3rds of the 59 Skyliner chassis with the front third of the AMT 57. I had to cut the rearmost section of the chassis and tilt it up a bit, so it wouldn't protrude from the body. I also used the roof, and mechanisms, alog with the deck and the section that carries the hinge. Real 57-58 Skyliners have their own rear quarters, with higher fins, but I didn't know that when I built mine. This required me to chop the windshield frame 3/32nds of an inch. (How I remember that after 31 years I'll never know!)

I built one of those 59 Skyliners about 30 years ago, in preparation for this 57 conversion. The package shelf for the top down mode is held up on either side by a little ledge on the body side panels. So no pins necessary. I'm not sure if I would fill in the seat back either, as the clearance between the seat, and the roof as it comes down is somewhat limited. I can tell you that the retractable roof mechanism works quite well. I actually ended up doing a second conversion (the red one) for my local hobby shop owner.

Even though I'm not much for modern cars, I really like where this is headed. Your plastic surgery is looking good. I'll be watching.

Your build-up is absolutely gorgeous.

I don't get it. Here's a kit of an iconic subject that hasn't been available in over 50 years. It wasn't even that common when it was new. People pay mad money for them on eBay, then when a reissue is announced, the first thing that happens is people grouse over the box art? Here we have a made in the USA company on a shoestring budget that cares enough reassemble all the inserts and components to put this back in production, and the background of the box art is a problem? I thought I was a nit-picker, but this takes nit-picking to a whole new level.

That is seriously Bitchin'!

Right? First thing I thought of when I saw that box art was "Freakin' Mooneyes Dragster! Sweeeeeet!" Last thing on my mind was looking for flaws with the box art. No worse than that mid 80s AMT Ertl stuff. Or even that Racing Champions AMT stuff for that matter... I want multiples.

I like that!

That build was done during a pretty low period for AMT/Ertl box art. IIRC, Ertl was utilizing grade school kids to build their box art cars at the time. The 25 T kit was similarly bad, using a stock firewall (instead of the sectioned one) for the T Bucket street rod version on the cover. This made the body sit too high on the frame. Then you have the backwards mounted cowl lights mixed with the Appleton Spots on the cowl. Almost as bad was the 56 Ford Victoria, with its miss-matched wheels... Spindle Mount on one side, chrome reversed on the other.. That's the hot mess that inspired me to start buiding box art models for Ertl, which I did from 1990 to 1995. Back to the "59" Corvette, Mark is correct. It is a reissue of the SMP 1960 Annual, and some of the newer issues (Pro Shop prepaint) have a few of the old custom parts restored (unfortunately not the clear hardtop). It's a fun nostalgic kit, although even then, the Revell multi-piece body 59 (reissued numerous times as a 60) kit was far superior, if you are a stickler for accuracy and detail. Certainly enjoy it for what it is, and a set of wide whites and two tone paint will really make it pop.

Came out great! Nice save on the windshield frame.

Lew King Goode, Sir! I like it a lot. All you need now is a miniature Daisy Duke figure to go with it.