AMT ‘36 Ford Coupe

[NOBLNG]

This is going to be a time filler build in between other stuff. From what I’ve read on here and what I’ve seen so far, it is a horrible kit. That said, I am going to try some body work and some modifications I haven’t attempted before. If I mess it up beyond repair, no biggie! I started by glueing the roof on which doesn’t fit well at all. I made some sprue-glue up and pasted it on the seams. I will attempt to file it closer to the proper shape when dry.

Edited April 2, 2020 by NOBLNG

[Belugawrx]

I see some sanding in your near future? good luck

Whenever I see this era car, I am reminded of my squandered youth at the local dirt track..Merrittville Speedway

Do you have a vision for this one..?

Keep it going!

Edited April 2, 2020 by Belugawrx

[Intmd8r]

Ahhhh Merrittville....

[NOBLNG]

The body is still in the dehydrator. I will let that sprue glue dry real good before trying to sand it. In the meantime I painted and wired the engine. I also added a dipstick. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

I’ve been fiddling with this one again while the charger dries. The body is sanded pretty much to shape and primed. I tried to paint it with Wicked Colors acrylic, but it just didn’t want to go on smooth, so into the purple pond it went. I tried some spoon tests later, but I didn’t get any results that gave me any confidence in it. Too bad since I have a few bottles of it and they have some very nice colors.

[NOBLNG]

So I decided to try this Tamiya TS-60 pearl green that I had sitting on the shelf. i decanted it, sprayed it through my airbrush  and it went on absolutely beautifully. I think it would have sprayed just as nice right from the can, but i was worried about getting to heavy of a coat in the wheels.

[bisc63]

Nice color! Looking forward to seeing more...

[David G.]

Looks great so far! I like your detailing on the interior.

David G.

[espo]

I have used the Tamiya TS-60 Pearl Green also and used the spray can with great results. Your body work on the roof to body joint is as if there never was a problem. 

[NOBLNG]

2 hours ago, espo said:

I have used the Tamiya TS-60 Pearl Green also and used the spray can with great results. Your body work on the roof to body joint is as if there never was a problem. 

The pearl green covered the red-oxide primer in pretty much the first coat. The roof joint success I attribute to the “sprue glue” that I made up using sprue from the same kit. There were a few pinholes after shaping that I used tamiya putty on. The instructions show the roof going on as one of the last steps...how the heck could that ever be made to look good?

Edited October 1, 2020 by NOBLNG

[espo]

3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

The pearl green covered the red-oxide primer in pretty much the first coat. The roof joint success I attribute to the “sprue glue” that I made up using sprue from the same kit. There were a few pinholes after shaping that I used tamiya putty on. The instructions show the roof going on as one of the last steps...how the heck could that ever be made to look good?

It can't, even in the best of circumstances.  This is a great kit until it comes to this. never understood what they were thinking here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

rcomstanses 

[OldNYJim]

Oh man, good choice with that Tamiya pearl - looks amazing!  

[NOBLNG]

Getting nearly done. I separated the steering column from the steering box so that  I could install the upper section and steering wheel in the interior  before adding it to the body. There is a small gap at the steering box, but it really isn’t visible so I won’t worry about it.? The instructions show a gas cap on both tail light mounts. On the real car the filler is on the driver’s side, and the passenger side is actually a step pad for entering the rumble seat. I also made all new glass for it (except for the rear window) from .020 polyester sheet, as none of the two sets provided were close to fitting properly.

Edited October 2, 2020 by NOBLNG

[misterNNL]

I'll admit I looked at the sprue putty body work and grimaced a little wondering how it was going to going to look. A couple frames later you gave us a primer photo and it was great! Nice save on that technique.

[NOBLNG]

On 10/2/2020 at 4:40 PM, misterNNL said:

I'll admit I looked at the sprue putty body work and grimaced a little wondering how it was going to going to look. A couple frames later you gave us a primer photo and it was great! Nice save on that technique.

The biggest reason I went with the sprue glue, was that the fit was so poor that I wanted a structural fix. I figured that regular putty would stand a good chance of cracking later. I also reinforced the joint below the side windows with some thin styrene sheet. Once the sprue shmoo is built up enough and completely dry, it is styrene, and just a matter of carefully filing it to shape.?   

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

I’m calling this one done. I used epoxy to mount the headlight buckets since they seem to need to lean out a bit to clear the hood. The mounts molded to the fenders should have been slightly farther apart? I also made some taillight lens from clear red sprue because there were none in the kit. Under glass pics:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/156196-amt-‘36-ford/

 

 

Edited October 4, 2020 by NOBLNG

[thatz4u]

Greg, nice work, color looks right for the car..

[SpeedShift]

Excellent job on this one!

[Kit Basher]

Very impressive work on the roof, the finished product looks great!

For future reference on that Wicked paint, that's what it looks like if you put it on too wet. It's a peculiar paint, in that it has to be applied in multiple light coats until you get full coverage.

 

[rob1957]

Nice choice of colour on this build . I need more practice on my paint to get that polished look.

 I found that the windows weren't the greatest to fit up. And I agree with your point about the headlights on this kit .

When I first got to the ,roof-to-body stage, I was racking my brains on what to do with this major fit-up issue . I applied lots of extra glue on the inside seams to try and prevent

cracking issues .

This kit might have been beyond my skill level , I'll be the first to admit .  It was a challenge to get it done . Big sigh of relief .

[1930fordpickup]

Wow this came out great. 

[Paul Payne]

This kit started out as either a 3 window coupe with the option of stock or chopped top, or a convertible. Later AMT converted the tooling to a 5 window coupe. This is why the top was separate. When I built the kit as a chopped coupe, there was a considerable difference in the body thickness from side to side. I added plastic to the thin side, which helped a bit.

[Bullybeef]

Looks good, hope mine turns out as nice 

[slusher]

Sweet looking Ford and great...

[Zippi]

Just pulled this kit out of the stash and was checking out some wheel options and noticed the pour fit of the top section of the car to the body.  While doing some research on this issue I came across this old thread of yours where you did a bang up job making up some sprue glue and filling that gap.  I'm headed to the hobby shop today some I'll pick up some Tamiya Extra Thin Cement as I don't think they carry the Mr. Hobby.