RDean58 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Pictures of box, contents, and instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Wow! Not a lot of difference from the '65. Which I knew and expected. But I get a kick they are now claiming Barris designed the custom version. Where the almost exact custom version from the year before was claimed to be designed by the Alexander brothers. Which is it? And what is a differences are there between the the '65 and '66 customs? I only thing I see are the custom taillights and taillight surrounds being different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stavanzer Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 I'm curious to see how the contents of this kit, stack up to the newly released ( April 2020), Round2 version, with it's "Restored" parts. Also curious about how many of the decals transferred over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Great reviews Robert , thanks for posting them ! BTW - the link to your website is broken . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WGaree Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 2 hours ago, alexis said: I'm curious to see how the contents of this kit, stack up to the newly released ( April 2020), Round2 version, with it's "Restored" parts. Also curious about how many of the decals transferred over. can’t help with the custom parts as i’ve already chopped up the trees and chucked what i didn’t want to use in the spares pile but here’s the current decals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stavanzer Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 Ohhh. Thanks The Maul & Paw-Kat-el decals made it over!!! Great News. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 Chris/HPIGuy just did another great review on YouTube. This time the reissue of this kit. Well worth checking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 I just received this one today. All way rumored that the body is an exact copy of AMT's '66. Other than a few minor things, I believe it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motor City Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 I read that the interior is very shallow and generic. Is that true, Scott? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 14 minutes ago, Motor City said: I read that the interior is very shallow and generic. Is that true, Scott? Yes, but. The interior is both generic and shallow. Very shallow? It's not really that bad to me. The upholstery pattern is not correct. But, neither is AMT's '66. When AMT tooled up their '66 Wildcat, they really only modified the bodies exterior features. The "stock" interior on the AMT '66 Wildcat is really the stock interior for a '65 Wildcat. Custom trim level. This is more correct than the Hasegawa interior, in the fact that it does depict an actual Buick interior. Now, the one area I feel the Hasegawa '66 Wildcat is better, or more accurate than the AMT kit is in the dashboard. The AMT '66 Wildcat not only has the '65 Wildcat upholstery and door panels. But the '65 dashboard too. Buick redid their dashboards on their '66 full-size Buicks. Which includes the Wildcats. The Hasegawa kit has a flat generic dashboard to go along with their generic interior. But, with the decal they give you for the dashboard, I feel it makes it look more correct than the dash used in the '66 AMT kit. A very slight plus for the Hasegawa kit. The outside of the Hasegawa kit is what is really nice about this kit. It's really no better than the AMT '66 Wildcat. But, it's no worst either. Again, it looks like a direct copy of the AMT body. Which it seems to me I've heard someplace it was. And was done at the time with AMT's permission. But, this maybe only rumor. I don't know it for a fact. It is a nice copy if it is. There are three other negatives, other than interior, to the Hasegawa kit versus the AMT version. One is the Hasegawa kit is a cubeside. No engine. Two, the Hasegawa kit has generic wheel covers, rather than Buick's beautiful five-spoke wheels, like the AMT's kit. Number three. The Hasegawa kit can be built only one way. "Stock." No custom variations. The only real reason to buy this kit, is if your a Buick or Wildcat nut, and already have at least one of the AMT kits, but want more. There is really no good reason for picking the Hasegawa Wildcat over the AMT one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motor City Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 Thanks for the details, Scott. I never understood why AMT didn't update the '66 Wildcat interior. The '66 Impala SS interior was updated, but didn't have the thin-shell bucket seats that GM starting using on the 'B' bodies that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 (edited) On 4/26/2020 at 10:25 AM, Motor City said: Thanks for the details, Scott. I never understood why AMT didn't update the '66 Wildcat interior. The '66 Impala SS interior was updated, but didn't have the thin-shell bucket seats that GM starting using on the 'B' bodies that year. People weren't to picky back then when it came to accuracy in model kits. Model kits were mainly toys aimed at the youth. And it cost money to tool up new parts each year. Something like the interior on a model of a '66 Buick was not a big deal. It's really not going to be noticed that much. As long as the outside of the car looked correct. I have a model of a 1967 Ford Falcon. Ford did its last major redesign of the Falcon for 1966. After that, there were really only minor changes to the Falcon (not counting the Fairlane based '70 1/2 Falcon) until the end. So AMT's Falcon kit followed suit. Mainly changing only what people would readily notice. On the real '67 Falcons with a 289, like the car the kit portrays, the exhaust was completely rerouted for that year from the '66. Would most kids, or even adults know about this? It's very doubtful. And since retooling the chassis would cost money. For something most would not notice. Guess what? All of the AMT '67 through '69 Falcon kits still have the same chassis as the '66 Falcon kit. With the now wrong exhaust system. I do not remember how much changes were made to the Falcon kits interiors? I do believe the '68 AMT Falcon kits did get the redesigned dashboard that the real Falcon got that year. Though I'm going to have to go elsewhere online to check that. Edited May 2, 2020 by unclescott58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 (edited) Doing an online search, it looks like I'm correct on the Falcon kit dashboard. They did change it for 1968, just like on the real car. Edited May 2, 2020 by unclescott58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisBcritter Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 Great job they did on that dash, too - look real close at the instrument cluster and you can see the numbers (000000) in the odometer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motor City Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Maybe since a '66 Impala SS promo was made, and the '65 Impala SS kits and promos sold well, the interior tooling changes could be justified. If the '65 Wildcat kits and promos didn't sell very well, AMT and/or Buick decided to just make exterior changes for the '66 kit. A '66 promo was planned and then dropped. My Dad had a mail-in form to order a '66 Wildcat promo. I wish I had kept that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelbuilder Mark Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 I have built the Hesagawa kit, and the "generic" interior" and dash with decal set up was because most of the interior was shared over several kits, including a Cadillac, Impala and Bonneville under what I believe was call "American 66" series. It is indeed believed that the bodies were copied, but not the rest. In the series they only had a couple chassis as well, against shared like the interior bits. Oh, and I am not a fan of the wheels. I believe there is a complete thread on all this somewhere here in the forum. If you are wanting to build a competition model then you cannot do that with this chassis/interior really, but they do make for great looking shelf models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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