Round 2's new AMT 2016 Camaro SS FULL DETAIL kit: First look/detailed overview (and I'm not kidding about that full detail comment....)

[Snake45]

The whole "generations" thing can get confusing sometimes. For example, the "C1" Corvettes have, to me, four different looks--'53-'55, '56-'57, '58-'60, and '61-'62. "But they're all on the same chassis!" Well, all Corvettes from '63 to '82 were on the same chassis, but those get broken down into C2 ("Midyears") '63-'67 and C3 ("Sharks") '68-'82.

[MrObsessive]

When I first saw the new Camaro in pics online, I was a bit put off by it. It seemed just a bit too edgy and somewhat out of proportion to what the previous car was to me. Now that I've seen them on the street (not as many as new Mustangs however), I've come to like the looks, but I can understand GM not wanting to go too far with the styling. 

They may not want another repeat of 1993-02 where IMO they went too far with the looks IMO. It was too "spacey"and out there and not at all traditional like the previous Camaros we've come to know and love.

Time will tell how this one holds up.

[Mike Chernecki]

Is it just me seeing this. I saw a new Camaro the other day and the front grille reminds me of a Nissan GT-R with that huge lower grille. I have noticed a few other cars with the same style grille. 

[Snake45]

Originally the kits were going to be molded in white or black.  Then at some point they decided to mold it in Garnet Red instead. There was never any plan to mold it in silver. Also it's MOLDED in Garnet Red, not pre-painted like the dumbed down Revell kits. Just because the box art car is silver doesn't mean the contents are...otherwise I demand the '57 Del Rio gasser be recalled and replaced with ones molded in Gold Metalflake. 

The SnapTite kit will be on the shelves at the end of the month. 

The glue kit is getting two releases in September.  One molded in white, and one molded in, you guessed it, Garnet Red.

That Garnet Red--is it a solid color, or a metallic/pearl? If it's the latter, I might have to buy one of these for my polished plastic collection....(I already have several cars in solid red.)

[niteowl7710]

Is it just me seeing this. I saw a new Camaro the other day and the front grille reminds me of a Nissan GT-R with that huge lower grille. I have noticed a few other cars with the same style grille. 

Unfortunately that giant gaping hole for a lower grille is a GM design element. All of the new model Chevrolets (Corvette excluded) are getting some variations of it, even the trucks. 

[Zoom Zoom]

Garnet Red is a metallic/pearl color. If it's prepainted it has a chance to look good (but I don't expect them to remove mold lines). If molded it will look like every other model car body molded in metallic; swirl marks galore. 

[Snake45]

Garnet Red is a metallic/pearl color. If it's prepainted it has a chance to look good (but I don't expect them to remove mold lines). If molded it will look like every other model car body molded in metallic; swirl marks galore. 

True, but some swirl marks are worse than others. I've polished up a couple that came out nice. For example I just polished up a Revell '63 Corvette molded in a metallic/pearly red that had no swirl marks at all. Currently working on an AMT '70 Vette promo in dark blue metallic that's also going to look good when I'm finished with it.

[vairnut]

Great news and a nice looking kit.  While the new Camaro doesn't look much different than the 5th generation it is much improved in ride and handling. And I really like the LT1 over the previous Gen IV small blocks.  Hope they can do the new 2017 ZL1 version as well.  Bring on more full detailed kits !

[horsepower]

Looks and sounds like a really sweet kit.  Just one observation, they are still molding the engine in halves so there is a visible seam on the transmission.

Since the 1:1 version has a mold line down the center of its transmission cases and engine block I'm OK with them being molded in two halves.

[mikemopar70]

What a nice it that i'll have to buy, i'm convinced if the sales are good on this one, it will not be the last we'll see from round 2...

Can't wait to get mine!

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Just not overly impressed with the styling or the fact that it's not a lot improved for visibility, and pretty bitter that it's gotten everything all bass-ackwards with the Mustang in having not only the power advantage but lower weight now.

I'll probably get the snapper and a couple of the glue kits.

[stavanzer]

Well, Chuck, look at the target market for the Real Thing. Aging Boomers and the few under 50 Nostalgia Junkies who are willing to pay for the darn thing. It's incredibly over priced, a bloated, Hot Wheels-eque caricature.  The proportions are both foreshortened, and squashed. It has narrow, gunsight windows, and a curiously cramped interior, given that the demographic that it is aimed at has a huge percentage of er-Large Folks in it. It has been a joke since it was introduced, and only gotten worse with the "invisible" restyle.

When this new Camaro was introduced, I wanted one, and actually had the ability to get one. Two test drives convinced me otherwise. Cramped Seating, that would just never fit me, no matter how I adjusted things, poor vision in all directions, and really awkward controls. The whole car had a garish, Toy-like feel, as if it was a Movie Prop, rather than a real car. The Slit Window vision thing is not just a Camaro thing, however. The Dodge Magnum Wagon, and the Challenger I drove, also suffered from the same condition. It is no wonder the Mustang is dominating the field. It is the least cartoon like of all the current Pony Car Clones, and the most practical to live with.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Pretty cool that in the recent wake of everyone crying about R2 not doing any all-new-tool kits, they knock one like this out of the park.

It's a must-buy for me, as I have some very definite dislikes about the real car's styling, and the model will give me the opportunity to hack and rearrange to suit my taste...and being a full-detail kit, it will let me see if the guts will still fit after surgery.

I like it. 

[horsepower]

True, but some swirl marks are worse than others. I've polished up a couple that came out nice. For example I just polished up a Revell '63 Corvette molded in a metallic/pearly red that had no swirl marks at all. Currently working on an AMT '70 Vette promo in dark blue metallic that's also going to look good when I'm finished with it.

 The old Copperhead concept car snap kit had the best molded in color of any kit I've ever had I sanded down the mold lines and polished the plastic and many people were fooled into thinking that I had painted and polished the body with one of the smoothest finishes they'd seen. Oops guess I let the secret out now. Oh well.

[horsepower]

Great news and a nice looking kit.  While the new Camaro doesn't look much different than the 5th generation it is much improved in ride and handling. And I really like the LT1 over the previous Gen IV small blocks.  Hope they can do the new 2017 ZL1 version as well.  Bring on more full detailed kits !

I believe that you mean the LS series engines, they're all the way up to the super LS-9 the 427 cubic inch version with a supercharger that is available in both the Corvette and new Camaro body style. The wildest thing about the LS series is they are virtually identical in appearance from the little LS-1 that's in the neighborhood of 287 cubic inches all the way up to the LS-9 and its 427 cubic inches, talk about making it easy to hot rod your early LS powered Chevy pickup trucks. Just by the bigger engine and ecm from the Chevrolet dealership, bolt it in and try to keep from grinning like a Cheshire cat when spanking the new kid on the block with his bumble bee tuner.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I believe that you mean the LS series engines, they're all the way up to the super LS-9 the 427 cubic inch version with a supercharger that is available in both the Corvette and new Camaro body style. The wildest thing about the LS series is they are virtually identical in appearance from the little LS-1 that's in the neighborhood of 287 cubic inches all the way up to the LS-9 and its 427 cubic inches, talk about making it easy to hot rod your early LS powered Chevy pickup trucks. Just by the bigger engine and ecm from the Chevrolet dealership, bolt it in and try to keep from grinning like a Cheshire cat when spanking the new kid on the block with his bumble bee tuner.

Actually, the new LT1 is a further development of the LS engine architecture. Introduced in the C7 Corvette, the initial displacement was 6.2 liters, or 376 cubic inches. A new block casting, new heads, a revised lubrication system and other refinements combine to make it a better LS.

http://www.chevrolet.com/performance/crate-engines/lt1.html

Incidentally, the LS1 displaced 346 cubic inches or 5.7 liters, and was introduced in the '97 C5 Corvette. I recently put one in a '47 Cadillac convertible, with a 4L80E gearbox and stand-alone engine and trans management electronics.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Exotics_Builder]

I believe that you mean the LS series engines, they're all the way up to the super LS-9 the 427 cubic inch version with a supercharger that is available in both the Corvette and new Camaro body style. The wildest thing about the LS series is they are virtually identical in appearance from the little LS-1 that's in the neighborhood of 287 cubic inches all the way up to the LS-9 and its 427 cubic inches, talk about making it easy to hot rod your early LS powered Chevy pickup trucks. Just by the bigger engine and ecm from the Chevrolet dealership, bolt it in and try to keep from grinning like a Cheshire cat when spanking the new kid on the block with his bumble bee tuner.

Actually, the new LT1 is a further development of the LS engine architecture. Introduced in the C7 Corvette, the initial displacement was 6.2 liters, or 376 cubic inches. A new block casting, new heads, a revised lubrication system and other refinements combine to make it a better LS.

http://www.chevrolet.com/performance/crate-engines/lt1.html

Incidentally, the LS1 displaced 346 cubic inches or 5.7 liters, and was introduced in the '97 C5 Corvette. I recently put one in a '47 Cadillac convertible, with a 4L80E gearbox and stand-alone engine and trans management electronics.

 

 

Don't forget the specialized LSX 454

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

To further digress, here's a brief overview of the pre-new LT1 LS series of engines. Anyone building late-model GM-V8-powered models might like to know the differences and similarities.

http://www.chevyhardcore.com/tech-stories/engine/ls1-lsa-lsx-what-is-the-difference/

[horsepower]

Oops forgot about that version of the LT-1.Guess I'm getting older than I thought?

The "little" LS I was thinking about is the 4.8 that was introduced in 2000, in the pickups and suburbans. I'd love to put the bigger engine that's available in the family 4 by 4, it'd sure cut down some of those mountains to size.

Edited August 16, 2016 by horsepower

[Ace-Garageguy]

Oops forgot about that version of the LT-1.Guess I'm getting older than I thought?

Happens to me all the time. 

[Rob Hall]

Speaking of LT and LS engines, a buddy of mine is looking at putting an E-ROD LS3 6.2 in his '84 Land Cruiser FJ60...partially because he's had a lot of trouble getting the original engine to pass emissions...and he wants to keep it for on- and off- road use at least another 15 years.   I was reading over the specs on the E-ROD, sounds like a pretty good package.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Rob Hall

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Instead of posable steering,  which costs fidelity,  I wonder if there is not simply a way to offer different parts to have a choice of pre-set poses,  straight or turned.

[highway]

The whole "generations" thing can get confusing sometimes. For example, the "C1" Corvettes have, to me, four different looks--'53-'55, '56-'57, '58-'60, and '61-'62. "But they're all on the same chassis!" Well, all Corvettes from '63 to '82 were on the same chassis, but those get broken down into C2 ("Midyears") '63-'67 and C3 ("Sharks") '68-'82.

The C2 and C3 at least look different and have different styling even if they shared the same chassis compared to the Gen 5 and this "new" Gen 6 Camaro that is on a new chassis but at least to me, looks like the previous Gen 5 car with a facelift. As for the C1 Vettes, they did have different looks in the front and in the case of the 61 and 62 the rear as well with the blending of the C1 front half and the upcoming C2 rear, but still had the same general styling to classify their "facelifts" all as C1s, as did the F bodies all the way from the 701/2 to 81 years. The Gen 2 F-Bodies of those years all had different looks just like the C1 Vettes did, for example the 70 1/2-73, 74-76, 77-78, and 79-81 Trans Ams (and most likely the Camaro in the same years, but I don't pay as much attention to earlier Camaros as I do the "Screaming Chicken"), but they all used the same basic body platform. 

[tim boyd]

Instead of posable steering,  which costs fidelity,  I wonder if there is not simply a way to offer different parts to have a choice of pre-set poses,  straight or turned.

Mark....I think that is a very intriguing idea.....TIM 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Instead of posable steering,  which costs fidelity,  I wonder if there is not simply a way to offer different parts to have a choice of pre-set poses,  straight or turned.

It's become my opinion from looking at a lot of kits with posable steering over the years that it's not the spindles or struts being able to pivot that generally causes the out-of-scale fidelity issues, but (usually) rather the linkage.

Molding and plastic-strength constraints being what they are, it's almost impossible to do steering linkage tie-rod ends in anything close to scale. Some of the more successful attempts have required melting pivot pins over flat with a hot knife blade, and even for very experienced modelers the results could be erratic and iffy.

At least having the posable spindles themselves (which several kits that have fixed linkage include, and which seem to go unnoticed most of the time) gives the more advanced modeler an opportunity to make up more scale-correct linkage without having to completely re-engineer the front suspension in order to get the effect of steering.

Scratch-building fixed scale-correct linkage in a posed position isn't particularly difficult for anyone who cares to do so, but of course, scratch-building movable linkage in scale is another thing entirely.