Whatever happened to the AMT/ERTL 34 Ford Sedan?

[keyser]

They’re perfect for dune buggies and small 4x4’s. Not on much else. 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

12 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

tool a '26-'27 roadster body shell, as that's always been and still is a very popular combo for traditional rods.

Where do I sign up? It's one of my favorite body styles...

 

 

this JF body is pretty decent:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/200810513421?hash=item2ec13d440d:g:MaEAAOxy1VlRETua&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoCTEpc2WrDAR1G2jZrpg4SB4nPZVW9rGz3rKEmd%2FRK5JuPxPG%2FyXGuyOyi0UsD%2FWwv473uogZSSnHxmduY%2FFFumwYwGG3f3aHF7RE8yDX%2FFM%2BXhMFfd5Gwnm2I0zdFUEVbP0xurEz8vRzNNO2ZbFdQfUwQFVqGNpTMb17JiPzqP2egNU%2FZk81kOvZYyGWTtgw37AwKpEel5MTAvw7xnTSjo%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4qfhs_aYA 

-RRR

Edited August 25, 2022 by Rocking Rodney Rat

[1972coronet]

9 hours ago, Plowboy said:

I remember those tires. But, none of the variants of the '34 came with them.

"Upon further review...", I recognise the box art builds as having the Polyglas GT (polar opposite of the other tyres; among my favourites). 
Now I don't have a solid answer as to my passing on purchasing one or more of these kits. 

[tim boyd]

22 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

I remember that kit review, but couldn't recall its author - I thought it was by Tim Boyd, but wasn't sure.

The proposition that the AMT'34 exhibited factory stock proportions, at least cab wise, catalysed me 17 year old mind. 
I held off from buying a copy for the simple fact that I despised AMT's godawful Good Year Rallye GT "snow tyres"; and certainly, the atrocious box art didn't sweeten the deal. 
I didn't have any 'parts box' tyres at the time because 99% of my modelling supplies and kits were destroyed during the 1987 Whittier Earthquake.
____________ _________________ _______________________ ___________________________ ___________________________ _______________________________ __________________ ____________________________

Oh, how I wish that someone would get ahold of the tooling for those hideous Matchbox era tyres, and demolish them. The new releases of the '55 Chevy drop top and the '57 [?] T-Bird - and the other 1/16 scale AMT fifties kits - were cursed with those stupid treads. But, at least now-a-days, the aftermarket offers nice replacements for those trash can candidates.

Guys....I do remember doing a buildup of the AMT '34 Sedan.  I built three versions, the original kit's hot rod version, and the follow-up kit's 2 street rod versions.  At the time Dennis Doty, whom I greatly respect (then and now) thoroughly trashed the body in his review in the Model Car Journal (if i am remembering it correctly).  At the time, I thought he was off base and said so in my article.  I don't recall whether it was in Scale Auto or my Modeler's Corner column in Street Rodder, but whatever, in retrospect I was wrong. 

But as far as doing a positive review because of fear of offending the kitmakers, that ship never sailed in this harbor.   Someday I'll tell the story of Monogram's "Tim Boyd" kewpie doll.  It was not pretty.   TB   

[keyser]

Integrity always a strong point from you Tim. 
Couple other reviewers here did the same. Gently but factually reporting issues hard to do, but business requires that. 
Lost skill it seems for many. 
Appreciate all of your efforts, the like minded too. 
Lee

[Mark]

I can't think of an instance where someone sold out and outright gave a bad kit a good review.  What has sometimes happened is that they will try to find something, anything, positive to say.  The good point(s) won't be enough to make it worth getting, but anyone reading the review should be able to figure that out.

[TarheelRick]

On 8/24/2022 at 9:59 PM, 1972coronet said:

Oh, how I wish that someone would get ahold of the tooling for those hideous Matchbox era tyres, and demolish them. The new releases of the '55 Chevy drop top and the '57 [?] T-Bird - and the other 1/16 scale AMT fifties kits - were cursed with those stupid treads. But, at least now-a-days, the aftermarket offers nice replacements for those trash can candidates.

They also make pretty good dirt track tires. I used a set on my Skeeter build and they worked very well.

[Bullybeef]

Having built a converted 3 window (used the revell snapper) a decent 5 window sedan, I have a rebuilder tudor that i will attempt to correct with hopefully a section of the roof from the 5 window to correct the roof. The 33-34 body is my absoloute favourite body style, I'd love to see a reissue or even a new issue of the kit. Was there ever a roadster version of the kit? 

[keyser]

Never anything but Tudor and 5W. 33-4 tub, sedel, Vic, all with no competition. Hmmm. 

[alan barton]

To my mind , the problem with the AMT 33/34 sedan is that it is so hard to pinpoint exactly what is wrong.  It couldn't be anything but a 34 Tudor but it still isn't a correct 34 Tudor.  I think a very close study would reveal that it is a combination of both line and contour that is aggravating.  The front top door corner is too sharp, the C pillar is too upright, the sides are too flat it may be a bit narrow and the Tudor fenders were definitely too narrow. It's not one big problem but a combination of a whole lot of little problems that makes you think Wadaminut......

Cheers

Alan

[Bullybeef]

On 9/4/2022 at 6:34 AM, alan barton said:

To my mind , the problem with the AMT 33/34 sedan is that it is so hard to pinpoint exactly what is wrong.  It couldn't be anything but a 34 Tudor but it still isn't a correct 34 Tudor.  I think a very close study would reveal that it is a combination of both line and contour that is aggravating.  The front top door corner is too sharp, the C pillar is too upright, the sides are too flat it may be a bit narrow and the Tudor fenders were definitely too narrow. It's not one big problem but a combination of a whole lot of little problems that makes you think Wadaminut......

Cheers

Alan

Sounds like a challenge...

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 9/4/2022 at 8:34 AM, alan barton said:

To my mind , the problem with the AMT 33/34 sedan is that it is so hard to pinpoint exactly what is wrong...

Analyzing the problems is rather like eating the proverbial elephant, one bite at a time.

Starting with a good, scalable profile photo of a stock '33-'34 sedan, and the same of the model, you just print out a correctly 1/25 scaled copy of the original along with a full size print of the 1/25 scale model, carefully compare one small area of the real one to the same area of the kit version, and Bob's your uncle.

I've used the method, for instance, to analyze the differences between Revell's '29 Ford body shell, AMT's, and a real one, and determined I'd need to start with Revell's version, because of the curvature of the rear deck, to capture the look of the Eddie Dye roadster.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Ace-Garageguy

[espo]

The general discussion seems to center around the proportions of a 1:1 '33/'34 Ford. Sometimes the eye can be fooled by the angle of a picture. I don't know if this would be of any help, but Mecum Auction from Huston is on TV right now as well as online.  The Thursday and Friday auction starts the day with several '33 and '34 Fords in several body styles. These are all with little or no restoration done too them. They can be viewed online and have a brief description with each.  I suggest checking the online site and viewing some of these cars as well as others, this may give someone a better understanding of the original proportions of the different body styles rather than what we have come to accept or question in our scale model kits.  

[Oldcarfan27]

8 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

...carefully compare one small area of the real one to the same area of the kit version, and Bob's your uncle.

What about Bob?

[stavanzer]

At this point, I'd be happy to have the '34 Sedan back, warts and all. It is the only game in town, and maybe having the kit for sale would persuade a resin caster to do a corrected body. A 2'n'1 would be the way to go, I think. 

[Oldcarfan27]

22 hours ago, stavanzer said:

At this point, I'd be happy to have the '34 Sedan back, warts and all. It is the only game in town, and maybe having the kit for sale would persuade a resin caster to do a corrected body. A 2'n'1 would be the way to go, I think. 

In this day and age, someone could do a good 3D print of one!