AMT Assembly & Disassembly Kits

[Casey]

I never noticed it mentioned on the instruction sheets of certain AMT kits, but there it is, on at least five early AMT kits:

 

Was it realistically possible to assemble each of these kits without any glue, and not have some of the parts fall off? AMT might have been using the term "assemble" lightly, similar to what some of us would do in a test fitting stage, and the 1932 Ford Roadster does appear to have rather large locating pin holes in the of the cowl for the windshield frame:

 

Maybe the tolerances were just that tight from the get-go?

[Snake45]

I have a memory of my uncle, in the early '60s, having a model of some kind of old car that I would disassemble and reassemble many times. This was several years before I got interested in cars, especially old ones, so I'm not sure what it was, but it was about 1/25 in size and IIRC molded in black. My best guess would be the AMT '32 Ford Victoria, but I suppose it could have been the 5-window. He'd built it and kept it in, I think, the original box. He was a Ford guy and I know some of these were sold through Ford dealers, and some of the old-timey boxes for these kits look vaguely familiar to me. I don't remember there being any extra parts or sprues left in the box, just the finished model. (I was an experienced airplane modeler at that point so would have known what sprues were and so forth). 

Looking back, I don't remember all the small parts coming off, so he probably had those glued down, but I distinctly remember removing the hood, and removing the body from the frame, and being able to work the interior out, and maybe the glass, too, and then putting it all back together. Did it many, many times. My uncle wasn't a model builder so it was unusual for him to have this thing around. The time frame on this would have been maybe 1962 or '63, certainly no later than '64. 

[Dave Darby]

I think you would glue the sub assemblies (engines, for example)  together and then mix and match as you saw fit to see how you wanted it. Other than the odd proportions and the molded in chassis AMT really had it going on with those kits. They are still my faves to play with.

[7000in5th]

Body swaps are easy - I did these back in the day:

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by 7000in5th

[Bob Ellis]

Did the 1932 custom cycle fenders ever come back in Round 2?

[Dave Darby]

7 minutes ago, Bob Ellis said:

Did the 1932 custom cycle fenders ever come back in Round 2?

No. The roadster lost them with the 1964 issue to make room for new parts. The coupe lost them with the Street Rods issue for the same reason. However, the most recent issues of the coupe do have the front cycle fender mounting brackets.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Dave Darby

[Casey]

21 hours ago, Dave Darby said:

I think you would glue the sub assemblies (engines, for example)  together and then mix and match as you saw fit to see how you wanted it.

That makes sense. I know the overly thick wheel discs are a snug fit on the wheels and stay in place without a need for any adhesive, but it does makes sense to glue the sub-assemblies together, then change them as as desired. The blunt end of the trans tailhousing and molded in driveshaft would've made swapping engines much simpler, too.

[Casey]

On 2/16/2019 at 10:35 PM, Casey said:

I never noticed it mentioned on the instruction sheets of certain AMT kits, but there it is, on at least five early AMT kits:

 

Was it realistically possible to assemble each of these kits without any glue, and not have some of the parts fall off? AMT might have been using the term "assemble" lightly, similar to what some of us would do in a test fitting stage, and the 1932 Ford Roadster does appear to have rather large locating pin holes in the of the cowl for the windshield frame.

Maybe the tolerances were just that tight from the get-go?