Obsolete AMT Parts

[Snake45]

Thought of a good one. The original annual AMT '66 T-Bird convertible kit included a nice tonneau cover to make a sweet phantom Sport Roadster. AFAIK no reissue of the kit has included this great part. I want to build one, so I bought a resin repro from Modelhaus a few years ago, but although the part was listed as '66, it was from a '64 or '65 kit and doesn't fit the '66 very well. I had to buy a nice builtup from eBay a couple years ago to get one. 

 

[Mark]

The reissue '66 Thunderbird kits are all the hardtop.  I'd guess that the tooling insert for the roof fit in the same space as that tonneau piece.

Gotta wonder why, in '66, AMT did two Thunderbird kits.  I'd have done all three Mustangs instead.

[Snake45]

18 minutes ago, Mark said:

The reissue '66 Thunderbird kits are all the hardtop.  I'd guess that the tooling insert for the roof fit in the same space as that tonneau piece.

Gotta wonder why, in '66, AMT did two Thunderbird kits.  I'd have done all three Mustangs instead.

All the reissue '66 T-Bird kits I've seen, including the Prestige, are convertibles. At least one of them includes a separate hardtop. I have a '66 promo that's the formal "Landau" top. 

AMT actually did do all three Mustangs in '66 (and '65, too). The convertible kit had a separate hard top. Here's a survivor '65. 

[Mark]

The '66 Thunderbird hardtop annual kit was just the convertible with a separate, glue-on roof.  AMT did tool a promo body with the roof attached, but never issued it as anything except a Craftsman kit.

Likewise, yes they did all three Mustangs, but if I were running the show back then, there would have been a coupe kit with the roof molded in, as opposed to the convertible with separate coupe roof.  The Mustang was popular enough back then to support kits of all three.

[Can-Con]

9 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

All the reissue '66 T-Bird kits I've seen, including the Prestige, are convertibles. At least one of them includes a separate hardtop. I have a '66 promo that's the formal "Landau" top. 

AMT actually did do all three Mustangs in '66 (and '65, too). The convertible kit had a separate hard top. Here's a survivor '65. 

I think what Mark's saying is, The hardtop kit has the top as a separate piece, just like the Mustang BUT, the convertible was issued at the same time and it had that tonneau was in that kit instead of the roof peice. 

[Snake45]

Huh. Didn't know that, thanks! 

[Mark]

Yeah, the '66 Thunderbirds are pretty much the same, except the top/tonneau.  I have an unbuilt annual convertible but not a hardtop (might have a box lid for one though).  I haven't compared them but I'm pretty sure both had the same optional parts.

The SMP/AMT pre-'63 Corvettes are the same deal.  Same kit except for the hardtop.  The '59-'62 hardtops were one piece, molded in clear.  The '62 hardtop included only a custom fastback roof.  When you built the "hardtop" kit stock, you had a convertible!  The hardtop in the recent reissue '62 Corvette kit was added for the first reissue.

[Snake45]

6 hours ago, Mark said:

Yeah, the '66 Thunderbirds are pretty much the same, except the top/tonneau.  I have an unbuilt annual convertible but not a hardtop (might have a box lid for one though).  I haven't compared them but I'm pretty sure both had the same optional parts.

Okay, if I understand the situation, all the reissues have been basically the original Hardtop kit, which included the standard separate hard top. What confused me (I never had the original annual HT kit) is that on the original box was shown the Town Hardtop roof (no quarter windows), and I have a promo with with the Town Hardtop roof (molded in), so I always thought that's what was in the HT box. But apparently not. 

[keyser]

There was a Craftsman fixed Landau top that iirc was only issued once. Promo mold I think. Convertible reissues have had Landau top but when I built one it didn’t fit well, had to crank on it. Front valance looks much better cut down, so it’s not dragging on ground. Great looking cars 61-66. 

[ChrisBcritter]

Yes, the '66 Craftsman T-bird hardtop was the promo mold, and has the correct hardtop interior with the package shelf. Probably not too hard to remove the hood and use the guts from the convertible to get a more detailed model.

Back on topic - wonder if the Styline parts for the '57 T-bird still exist? Loved the box art on the original kit.

Edited February 20, 2022 by ChrisBcritter

[Casey]

Another part which became obsolete once different and/or additional tires were included, eliminating the need to mate PVC and styrene to get wider tires. Off-white 15" Goodyear Stock Car Special tire caps were included inside the original AMT '66 Mustang HT/CV kit, but not sure where the 13" 6.00/10.50-13 Firestone Super Sports GP tire caps are from:

Below, the backsides are shown, with a tire (not a cap) half from an AMT AWB F/C kit on top for comparison:

Goodyear and Firestone caps resting upon their matching kit tires:

[Casey]

Mentioned in the AMT Dodge Deora topic here...:

 

...was another set of tire caps (with blank sidewalls?), shown here on the original issue instruction sheet:

 

And from the AMT '68 Mustang GT kit, which @Jack Lmentioned in the '66 Mustang review topic:

 

And another set found in the AMT 1967 Corvair kit:

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Casey

[Jack L]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

Mentioned in the AMT Dodge Deora topic here...:

 

...was another set of tire caps (with blank sidewalls?), shown here on the original issue instruction sheet:

 

And another set found in the AMT 1967 Corvair kit:

 

the Deora & Corvair  used the Firestone caps for the 13 inch tires and the custom Corvette comes with B F Goodrich caps

[Casey]

21 minutes ago, Jack L said:

the Deora & Corvair  used the Firestone caps for the 13 inch tires and the custom Corvette comes with B F Goodrich caps

Thanks, forgot the Greenwood GT Corvette's BFG tire caps:

[Mark]

The Corvair's tire caps were in the RC2 bland-box reissues of the '69 kit (not sure about the Round 2 issue as I don't have that one).  They don't fit the tires now in the kit though.

[Oldcarfan27]

5 hours ago, Casey said:

Looks like when you used those caps your car instantly got camber wear! Shoulder of the tire worn almost to the cords.

[stavanzer]

On 3/2/2022 at 10:22 AM, Casey said:

Thanks, forgot the Greenwood GT Corvette's BFG tire caps:

And they are in the recent '68 Custom Corvette kit. Still there after all these years,

[Oldcarfan27]

On 2/19/2022 at 9:45 AM, Snake45 said:

Thought of a good one. The original annual AMT '66 T-Bird convertible kit included a nice tonneau cover to make a sweet phantom Sport Roadster. AFAIK no reissue of the kit has included this great part. I want to build one, so I bought a resin repro from Modelhaus a few years ago, but although the part was listed as '66, it was from a '64 or '65 kit and doesn't fit the '66 very well. I had to buy a nice builtup from eBay a couple years ago to get one. 

 

Snake. Looks like another one of your collectible purchases is coming back!

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/165245-2022-round2-releases/?do/findComment&comment/2586373

 

[FenderMender]

I am extremely late to this discussion but I am currently rebuilding an old glue bomb from the 60s, an SMP 1961 Corvette convertible that is missing TWO of those metal clips for holding down the hood and trunk lid.  My question is:  are there any easy- to -make alternatives to the clips.  I have thought about just leaving the hood and trunk lids loose, but I would prefer them to be attached and openable.  Reason being, my 1960 F-100 Ford pickup model had its hood fall off, hit the floor and a sizable chunk of plastic cracked off since it was so old. Want to avoid this with the Corvette having two opening panels.  Thanks for any suggestions.

[StevenGuthmiller]

24 minutes ago, FenderMender said:

I am extremely late to this discussion but I am currently rebuilding an old glue bomb from the 60s, an SMP 1961 Corvette convertible that is missing TWO of those metal clips for holding down the hood and trunk lid.  My question is:  are there any easy- to -make alternatives to the clips.  I have thought about just leaving the hood and trunk lids loose, but I would prefer them to be attached and openable.  Reason being, my 1960 F-100 Ford pickup model had its hood fall off, hit the floor and a sizable chunk of plastic cracked off since it was so old. Want to avoid this with the Corvette having two opening panels.  Thanks for any suggestions.

 

I can't even begin to imagine how many of those clips I've thrown away in the past 20 years.

As a matter of fact, I threw one away yesterday!

 

Luckily the garbage can in my shop was just emptied recently, so I was able to dig it out.

Yours if you want it.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[SteveG]

On 2/19/2022 at 12:45 PM, Snake45 said:

Thought of a good one. The original annual AMT '66 T-Bird convertible kit included a nice tonneau cover to make a sweet phantom Sport Roadster. AFAIK no reissue of the kit has included this great part. I want to build one, so I bought a resin repro from Modelhaus a few years ago, but although the part was listed as '66, it was from a '64 or '65 kit and doesn't fit the '66 very well. I had to buy a nice builtup from eBay a couple years ago to get one. 

 

The Tonneau cover was retooled and restored back to the latest issue AMT1328, along with a new set of K-H wheels for those who want to build a '66 Sport Roadster. 

-Steve 

[espo]

2 hours ago, FenderMender said:

I am extremely late to this discussion but I am currently rebuilding an old glue bomb from the 60s, an SMP 1961 Corvette convertible that is missing TWO of those metal clips for holding down the hood and trunk lid.  My question is:  are there any easy- to -make alternatives to the clips.  I have thought about just leaving the hood and trunk lids loose, but I would prefer them to be attached and openable.  Reason being, my 1960 F-100 Ford pickup model had its hood fall off, hit the floor and a sizable chunk of plastic cracked off since it was so old. Want to avoid this with the Corvette having two opening panels.  Thanks for any suggestions.

I can send you a couple more if needed. Just send me a PM with a mailing address if you need them. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

30 minutes ago, espo said:

I can send you a couple more if needed. Just send me a PM with a mailing address if you need them. 

If he needs some, I'll just let you send them.

Makes more sense to mail more than one.

 

 

 

Steve

[FenderMender]

Thanks David and Steve. Please hold off until this question is answered.  

As a neophyte to these clips, is it possible to secure them to the model AFTER the model has been assembled and is complete?  If so I can use them. Otherwise I'll live with the panels being loose.

 

 

[espo]

18 hours ago, FenderMender said:

Thanks David and Steve. Please hold off until this question is answered.  

As a neophyte to these clips, is it possible to secure them to the model AFTER the model has been assembled and is complete?  If so I can use them. Otherwise I'll live with the panels being loose.

 

 

One of the reasons I, and it seems others as well, have them left over is that I never cared for them. Your question about installing them when the model is complete, yes you can. They would rarely hold a hood or trunk down straight or flat anyway. Should holding the movable body panels in place be a priority you might consider small magnets glued to the body and the hood or trunk. Like your Corvette.