AMT Piranha Spy Car

[PatW]

The kit....................

The build starts....................

Edited November 15, 2018 by PatW

[Snake45]

Woohoo! In that shiny silver, it looks like something George Jetson should be driving! 

Ten years ago, one of these would have brought a pretty penny on eBay. Thanks to the reissue, I now own three unbuilt kits and there is still a large stack of them at Ollie's for $10 each. Maybe I should get another one. 

[Ron Hamilton]

18 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Woohoo! In that shiny silver, it looks like something George Jetson should be driving! 

Ten years ago, one of these would have brought a pretty penny on eBay. Thanks to the reissue, I now own three unbuilt kits and there is still a large stack of them at Ollie's for $10 each. Maybe I should get another one. 

I did. I couldn't resist. I bought it for those beautiful blue streaks, which I am going to use on a 65 Barracuda Restoration.

[PatW]

Thanks guys. The prices here for kits like this are pretty high, import is about $28+ plus the price of the kit itself!

[Deuces]

Ouch!....

[jeffdeoranut]

6 hours ago, Ron Hamilton said:

I did. I couldn't resist. I bought it for those beautiful blue streaks, which I am going to use on a 65 Barracuda Restoration.

would you be interested in trading the kit minus tires?

[ScaleAsylum]

On 11/10/2018 at 6:29 PM, Snake45 said:

Woohoo! In that shiny silver, it looks like something George Jetson should be driving! 

Ten years ago, one of these would have brought a pretty penny on eBay. Thanks to the reissue, I now own three unbuilt kits and there is still a large stack of them at Ollie's for $10 each. Maybe I should get another one. 

How ironic... I just saw these at Ollie's yesterday... went to see if they still had any lindberg dodge 330's... so I could rob the coil for my build entry.

They had the Maverick 330 so I was in luck... and a ton of spy cars.

[Dann Tier]

This is looking GREAT sofar!!!!

[PatW]

Cheers Dann. I'm trying to sort out the rear suspension, the axle they supply is too short, the upright on one side is completely vertical but the otherside wants to be upright but at 45 degrees! The problem is that both front and back suspension and steering are very  thin and flimsy with  poor locations. EG pins and holes on the instructions but not on the parts and excessive chrome plating, in fact I'v had to dip all plating in oven cleaner and take it off due to difficulty removing plating from very small contact points. 

[PatW]

I've got the wheels on! Having completely rebuilt the front axle/suspension with spare bits of plastic and got the brakes on., and at the back just used plastic bits to brace the flimsy kit parts (not a pretty sight). The problem at the back is that the top mounts for the axle/suspension are on a separate  inner moulding  that needs to be attached inside the bottom body moulding and makes that very difficult to attach the parts through the wheel arches.

The interesting bit is now fitting the body top all round without wrecking the paint!

[Deuces]

These tires look great!!!...

[geemoney]

how bout one of these hacked up with a first gem hemi amidship?

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, geemoney said:

how bout one of these hacked up with a first gem hemi amidship?

I believe that kit is out as well. I think you can even buy the two as a set, with a trailer. 

[Deuces]

Sweeeeeeeeeeet! ?

[Ron Hamilton]

On 11/11/2018 at 7:22 PM, jeffdeoranut said:

would you be interested in trading the kit minus tires?

No. Go to Ollies. You can get it for $9.99 plus tax. That's how I got my 2nd one.

[jeffdeoranut]

1 hour ago, Ron Hamilton said:

No. Go to Ollies. You can get it for $9.99 plus tax. That's how I got my 2nd one.

ok, but there are no Ollies ANYWHERE near me. google Clarkton mo and you will see that im not near anything...lol

[PatW]

These these comments to do with my build?

[Dann Tier]

On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 3:13 AM, PatW said:

I've got the wheels on! Having completely rebuilt the front axle/suspension with spare bits of plastic and got the brakes on., and at the back just used plastic bits to brace the flimsy kit parts (not a pretty sight). The problem at the back is that the top mounts for the axle/suspension are on a separate  inner moulding  that needs to be attached inside the bottom body moulding and makes that very difficult to attach the parts through the wheel arches.

The interesting bit is now fitting the body top all round without wrecking the paint!

Looking brilliant, bud!!….if it were me, i'd carefully flow Tamiya Extra Thin Quick-set into it as you go around it, starting with the ends . Don't tape it together until AFTER you have the glue in. if you tape it first, the glue WILL go around the tape as well!   Completely glue, and tape the front, and rear, then once they are dry, do the same to the sides. If you don't put too much glue on, you should be able to wax over the seams with no visible marks. I like Tamiya liquid wax.

Edited November 16, 2018 by Dann Tier

[Snake45]

On 11/11/2018 at 12:39 PM, Ron Hamilton said:

I did. I couldn't resist. I bought it for those beautiful blue streaks, which I am going to use on a 65 Barracuda Restoration.

You talked me into it, you Silver-Tongued Devil!  I just bought another one. I can use the Appliance wheels on the custom '67 Camaro I'm doing, as they also came in the original AMT '67 Camaro annual. 

And Pat, digging, your build. Any progress to report? 

[PatW]

Well Dann thanks for the info, but I hadn't seen your ideas until I'd done the job!

I did a test first with the chrome spray and it didn't leave any residue. So I used the Tamiya Masking Tape, It did leave a very slight mark in two places so I polished it out! I started in the middle as it lined up straight way and then the front and rear as there was a few centimetres gap, but it worked out OK.

But now we have another test, fitting the widows to the roof before we fit the roof to the body. The next picture I found on another site and it shows just the front screen fitted!

[Dann Tier]

You're doing it, bud!!…….keep up the great work!!...if yours goes good, I may get this kit myself...

[PatW]

Thanks Dann. Well it's perhaps one of the worst fitting and vaguest set of instructions, also flash on the sprues and very heavy chroming. I wouldn't want to do one again.

Edited November 19, 2018 by PatW

[PatW]

Well after a long day at the coal face I've finished it! The drivers door and the engine don't fit tight, although the passenger door does! The engine lid doesn't close because one of the turbo's stands high although touching the top of the engine. The windows/doors were far easier to fit than I imagined with both doors opening all the way up.

 

[Snake45]

It looks great! You're inspiring me to build one myself! Well done and model on! 

[Dann Tier]

2 hours ago, PatW said:

Well after a long day at the coal face I've finished it! The drivers door and the engine don't fit tight, although the passenger door does! The engine lid doesn't close because one of the turbo's stands high although touching the top of the engine. The windows/doors were far easier to fit than I imagined with both doors opening all the way up.

 

Absolutely LOVE it!!!, I think its odd though that the steering wheel is on that side....I'm definitely gonna get one of these!!!   BRILLIANT!!!