Interior bucket fit help.

[Kevinch]

Hello all - new member's first post here.  I'm returning to scale model building after many years as a mature adult after leaving the hobby in my mid-teens.

I picked up the AMT #634M/12 1968 Shelby GT-500 kit to be reintroduced to the hobby. This is the kit with the green Shelby on the box. While test fitting the body/interior bucket/chassis I came upon a fit issue.  This kit has a fully molded interior bucket - floor, front & rear, & side panels are all molded as a single unit.  When I test fit the bucket into the body (it has 2 holes in the rear that slide over pins in the body behind the rear window), there is a large gap between the top edge of the bucket on the driver's side & the edge of the door where it should mate up.  There exists a little play where I can close it up slightly, but not enough the close it completely.

Anyone have any ideas on how I might be able to close it up?  It looks to be about 1/16" wide.  Appreciate any comments - other than scrap the kit....  ?     

[Snake45]

This is not uncommon. There's an interference somewhere. You just have to find it and fix it. 

The tub could be hitting the lower edge of the windshield/windows, which themselves might not be fitting into the body shell as closely as they could. 

The tub itself might be too wide somewhere. Might need to be filed down a little here or there. 

I just had a similar problem with a JoHan '70 Superbird. The interference turned out to be mainly the left and right forward edges/corners of the dashboard, and also a little with the bottom of the windshield. Didn't take 5 minutes to fix once I'd tracked it down. 

Good luck! 

[Oldcarfan27]

I've run across old kits that had excessive space between the body and the interior shell. Design gaps, not due to any interference.

I just take thin strip of plastic and shim both sides of the door panels to fill the spaces. Then sand to fit snugly. 

If you're creative, you could use that as an opportunity to create "window fuzzies" where the glass would roll down into the door channel.

Just a little added detail that most people don't usually think of.

[espo]

I would be sure that the "Windows" front and rear were also in place when test fitting the interior tub. You may have already done this in which case you could start with the suggestions from Snake and Oldcarfan. Some of this fit issue may have to do with the age of the tooling and even the type of plastic that the manufacture used. The reshaping of meeting surfaces on older kits are just some of the thrill of modeling but give you a chance to fine tune the parts fit. 

[MeatMan]

I agree with Espo, you need to have the windows and dash in with the test fit.

[TarheelRick]

Your post said the drivers side does not fir, from that I presume the passenger side is alright.  That suggests to me the pins that hold the rear of the bucket in place are misaligned.  Therefore, I would suggest you modify the holes that fit over those pins or you may have to remove those tabs altogether.  If the tub is still a bit sloppy then follow the above suggestions by using thin strips of plastic along the edges of the interior bucket.

[Kevinch]

Thanks folks - I've actually used most all of the suggestions here - except for 1 yet to come.  I have the bucket to the point where I get a narrow, straight gap on each side of the bucket that is about equal on each side.  I'm going to purchase some thin styrene strips  - maybe .015" thick - & shim up each side of the bucket or body - whichever seems to work best - as suggested until the gaps are closed.  The help is much appreciated.