AMT '58 Plymouth Belvedere - Reworked Side Trim

[Smitty]

This is the well known AMT '58 Plymouth Belvedere that I've just completed. I really wanted to have this car in my collection so I set about  straightening up the body side molding. After lots of filling and sanding I painted it with Tamiya TS-59 Pearl Light Red with a white top. I gave it a polished clear coat with Modelmaster wet look clear. The tires are from the spares box with airbrushed white walls that are wider than the ones that came in the kit (my personal preference). The engine bay is very well appointed in this kit and I had some fun detailing it a bit further.

Here's link to a brief WIP thread. Thanks for looking!

 

[bisc63]

Looks nice, that's a 1000% improvement on that side trim. Engine bay is impressive as well. Great color choice. Well done job on a difficult kit.

[charger74]

WoW very well done 

[Classicgas]

Beautiful. 

[Peter Lombardo]

Superb clean build.  The side trim improvement looks great with no residue of the surgery.  Very nice.

[spencer1984]

Excellent improvement, and the finished build looks great!

[Jim B]

Looks great.  Nice color.  Need to remember that for my 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air.

[espo]

The amazing thing is looking at the body now and not being able to see all of the body work you did to get this finished. Great looking paint and finish. all the trim is so cleanly done. All of the hoses under the hood make that look kind of busy, but that is how it was. 

[plasticprime]

Fantastic job! Really sharp looking build!

[happy grumpy]

that's how this kit should have look like from the get go. I wonder what happened at  AMT to get this so wrong and the rest of the kit so right. You did a superb job on this. Your model really stands out.

[Oldcarfan27]

Beautiful job, well done!

Color is a good choice too.

[MrObsessive]

SUPER-DUPER EXCELLENT!! Your body work is super exceptional because if you told no one, they'd be none the wiser to see where you made the cuts! RC2 could've learned a thing or two from you in getting this right the first time!

3 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

I wonder what happened at  AMT to get this so wrong and the rest of the kit so right.

They did a 1:18 diecast before this came out that has the EXACT same flaws! They simply scaled it down with the same wrong proportions. We have to remember also this car was being tooled right around the time of the big takeover at AMT. Lots of good talent were shown the door, and replaced by those that were not necessarily car people sadly.

[bisc63]

2 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

this car was being tooled right around the time of the big takeover at AMT

I wondered about the timing on this kit, myself. That would explain a lot. Also, I'd be very interested to see the actual car they measured. While searching for reference photos online, I came across a "restoration" that had the trim so mis-aligned that it should be embarrassing to the builder/body man/owner or all three! (Actual car, not a model) It got me thinking that AMT may have had a less than stellar car available to begin with. You know: garbage in, garbage out.

[AaronL357]

Fantastic car.  That is some amazing work.

[MrObsessive]

54 minutes ago, bisc63 said:

I wondered about the timing on this kit, myself. That would explain a lot. Also, I'd be very interested to see the actual car they measured. While searching for reference photos online, I came across a "restoration" that had the trim so mis-aligned that it should be embarrassing to the builder/body man/owner or all three! (Actual car, not a model) It got me thinking that AMT may have had a less than stellar car available to begin with. You know: garbage in, garbage out.

In RC2's case..........well----almost. They missed what might be an important proportion/styling cue on the 1:1, and that is the tailfin actually starts its very slight upward slope right behind the door. They made this a straight contour and then made top of the side trim sweep downwards at an awkward angle throwing off the entire appearance of the car among other things.

Eric's correcting of the trim makes a very nice difference as your eye is drawn toward the better angled trim (should be an arrow straight line from nose to tail), as the flat contour of the fender is not as noticeable.

It's funny.........I was at a Chrysler car show in Carlisle PA years ago, and there were several of these there. One of the owners I was talking to, this kit came up, and he noticed the bad bodywork immediately as soon as he saw the box art car.

I don't have hope that Round 2 will ever fix this car, and Eric's build is certainly a MUCH needed improvement.

Edited February 8, 2022 by MrObsessive

[bisc63]

Yeah, on the one I've got going, I cut mine vertically at the door line, angled down and back, then rotated the whole tail end upward to get rid of the rainbowed beltline. When I get more done, I may do a WIP thread, more after-the-fact, if I get time to shoot enough pics.

[Smitty]

This is the well known AMT '58 Plymouth Belvedere that I've just completed. 

What I meant was, the KIT is well known, not my build of it!?

[Smitty]

Thanks everyone for your time and comments. It’s very much appreciated. Thank you also Bill and Rusty for your insights into the kits development and possible reasons how it turned out the way it did.

Rusty, I’m looking forward to seeing yours whenever you’re ready!

[1959scudetto]

Suddenly it's 1960 ! - Super model of the iconic '58 Plymouth - apart from the side trim that looks perfect now, the wide whitewalls also look much better than in the kit!

[PappyD340]

Great looking Plymouth!

[Jonathan]

Wow!  What a difference your improvement makes to the overall appearance of the kit.

Somebody call Round2 and tell them to look at Eric's work! 

[slusher]

Looks fantastic!