AMT 1961 Ford Galaxie hardtop, any news?

[PintoKING]

I see on another website that Round2 is supposed to reissue the AMT 1961 Ford Galaxie, kit AMT-1430.  Any news/details about that?

[Mark]

Probably the ex-Styline kit that Round 2 has issued once before.

[Bob Ellis]

Give me a Starliner or convertible

[SteveG]

On 10/28/2023 at 4:14 PM, Mark said:

Probably the ex-Styline kit that Round 2 has issued once before.

Correct, same Kit molded in white with a new box that resembles the '61 annual kits, decals, etc 

-Steve 

[bobss396]

I have a couple of the '61 sealed kits, the one with the molded-in hood, no engine. I hope the new one comes with some decent detail, an engine and opened hood would be nice. 

[espo]

5 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I have a couple of the '61 sealed kits, the one with the molded-in hood, no engine. I hope the new one comes with some decent detail, an engine and opened hood would be nice. 

I agree and there may be hope based on what Round2 had done with the Chevy II wagon and the '64 Chevelle. They first offer the kit with an opening hood but with no engine. I think we can all work with that. Later they start to reissue the kit adding an engine and sometimes additional goodies. Alway liked the '61 Ford back when but was disappointed that the hood was molded closed. 

[Phirewriter]

I know from Steve G's previous posts that updating Mueller era kits was challenging but a '61 Starliner based on the '60 would be most welcome.

The '60 is nice but I've always liked the design of the '61 much better. 

[stinkybritches]

10 hours ago, Phirewriter said:

The '60 is nice but I've always liked the design of the '61 much better. 

I agree with you 100%

[bobss396]

13 hours ago, Phirewriter said:

I know from Steve G's previous posts that updating Mueller era kits was challenging but a '61 Starliner based on the '60 would be most welcome.

The '60 is nice but I've always liked the design of the '61 much better. 

The '60 Ford was (thankfully) a one-off year. It is possibly the widest car body ever made. I had driven a few when I was fixing cars, had to eyeball the garage bay opening carefully.

I did a little fit-up of the '60 chassis under a '61 body, doable with a lot of slice and dice activity. Like I need another Frankenstein project.

[Ragtop Man]

I doubt they sink any money into the '61 Boxtop - it works fine as-is as a kit.

Good news is that all the chrome, IP and steering wheel and front windshield will work with any Sunliner/Starliner kits lingering in your to-do pile. While my little casting side hustle is going into hibernation with our house move to SW MI, I cast the '61 annual kit hood, so converting a curbside to a reasonably detailed kit is doable with a cast-off '63 Galaxie or '64 Marauder, or '64 Galaxie modified stock car.  As noted earlier in the thread, the new-tool Starliner chassis will fit with some urging from the dremel - in fact IIRC there was a Car Modeler (?) story many years ago about that exact swap. 

The comment by bobss396 is right on - when the Galaxie was released in late '59, there were several states prepared to make Ford install truck style clearance lights due to the excess width. 

[SteveG]

AMT originally made three different Full size 1961 Ford kits, a Sunliner Convertible, Starliner Hardtop, both with engines and the curbside Club Victoria we still have today.  I believe the first two were updated with the next round of annual kits into the 1962 Galaxies.  The Starliner is the hardest one to find.  

I don't see us modifying the '61 Club Victoria kit into an opening hood with engine kit, the pending release is unchanged parts wise.  On paper, we could modify the '60 Starliner into a '61 carrying over a lot of parts, but as pointed out modifying the Mueller era kits are difficult. 

It would be easier to clone one of the annual Ford kits we no longer have, but which one?   The '67 seems to have the most requests, I like the '62 annual, and the '61 Starliner is pretty cool.  I may only get one shot at bringing back a full-size Ford kit in the future, so I'm going to have to give this further thought. 

-Steve

[Carmak]

8 minutes ago, SteveG said:

AMT originally made three different Full size 1961 Ford kits, a Sunliner Convertible, Starliner Hardtop, both with engines and the curbside Club Victoria we still have today.  I believe the first two were updated with the next round of annual kits into the 1962 Galaxies.  The Starliner is the hardest one to find.  

I don't see us modifying the '61 Club Victoria kit into an opening hood with engine kit, the pending release is unchanged parts wise.  On paper, we could modify the '60 Starliner into a '61 carrying over a lot of parts, but as pointed out modifying the Mueller era kits are difficult. 

It would be easier to clone one of the annual Ford kits we no longer have, but which one?   The '67 seems to have the most requests, I like the '62 annual, and the '61 Starliner is pretty cool.  I may only get one shot at bringing back a full-size Ford kit in the future, so I'm going to have to give this further thought. 

-Steve

I vote 67 Galaxie  

[fairlane1320]

33 minutes ago, SteveG said:

AMT originally made three different Full size 1961 Ford kits, a Sunliner Convertible, Starliner Hardtop, both with engines and the curbside Club Victoria we still have today.  I believe the first two were updated with the next round of annual kits into the 1962 Galaxies.  The Starliner is the hardest one to find.  

I don't see us modifying the '61 Club Victoria kit into an opening hood with engine kit, the pending release is unchanged parts wise.  On paper, we could modify the '60 Starliner into a '61 carrying over a lot of parts, but as pointed out modifying the Mueller era kits are difficult. 

It would be easier to clone one of the annual Ford kits we no longer have, but which one?   The '67 seems to have the most requests, I like the '62 annual, and the '61 Starliner is pretty cool.  I may only get one shot at bringing back a full-size Ford kit in the future, so I'm going to have to give this further thought. 

-Steve

'61 Starliner please! 🏁

[chryslerjunkandstuff]

Yeah man, a '61 Starliner would be killer!

I hoped I would be seeing news about that very thing as an upcoming release when I clicked this thread..

I have a pair of the '60 Starliners, I love em, and am plannin on buildin another one sometime..

But if a '61 were to potentially come along at some point, I'd be grabbing up two of em for sure..

The '61 is the best lookin of the two years..

[Phirewriter]

Given the choice between the '61 Starliner or the '67 Galaxie I'd rather have the '67. That's only because I've got more than enough Starliners, and only one '67. Regardless if either one of these would be cloned I'd be happy. 

[Dave Darby]

4 hours ago, fairlane1320 said:

believe the first two were updated with the next round of annual kits into the 1962 Galaxies.  The Starliner is the hardest one to find.

Actually, the Sunliner was re-issued around 1967-ish. I have a box for it. But, chances are that tool was scrapped during the great tool purge of 1973.

[Carmak]

1 hour ago, Dave Darby said:

Actually, the Sunliner was re-issued around 1967-ish. I have a box for it. But, chances are that tool was scrapped during the great tool purge of 1973.

I have a 61 Sunliner from 67. Got it from the original builder.

[dodgefever]

In order of preference: '61 Starliner, '62 Galaxie HT, '67 Galaxie HT.

[Mark]

The '61 Sunliner and Starliner were variations on the same tool; a couple of inserts got changed and the convertible became a hardtop.  I believe the Starliner hardtop body has Sunliner script on the front fenders.

[Carmak]

56 minutes ago, Mark said:

The '61 Sunliner and Starliner were variations on the same tool; a couple of inserts got changed and the convertible became a hardtop.  I believe the Starliner hardtop body has Sunliner script on the front fenders.

Mark, You are correct!! I have never noticed it before (it took a magnifying glass to read it  ).

[Mark]

The Sunliner/Starliner script deal also applies to the '60 annual kits, except that hardtops can have either script.  What probably happened was, kit production alternated between hardtop and convertible a couple of times, with the script being recut on the body tooling's side slides each time (except once, until the error was detected).  I've got hardtops in both versions.

Edited November 17, 2023 by Mark
Spell check

[Motor City]

The pale yellow styrene promo of the '61 Starliner has the correct scripts on the front fenders, and so does the original acetate pale blue version.

[RSchnell]

15 hours ago, SteveG said:

AMT originally made three different Full size 1961 Ford kits, a Sunliner Convertible, Starliner Hardtop, both with engines and the curbside Club Victoria we still have today.  I believe the first two were updated with the next round of annual kits into the 1962 Galaxies.  The Starliner is the hardest one to find.  

I don't see us modifying the '61 Club Victoria kit into an opening hood with engine kit, the pending release is unchanged parts wise.  On paper, we could modify the '60 Starliner into a '61 carrying over a lot of parts, but as pointed out modifying the Mueller era kits are difficult. 

It would be easier to clone one of the annual Ford kits we no longer have, but which one?   The '67 seems to have the most requests, I like the '62 annual, and the '61 Starliner is pretty cool.  I may only get one shot at bringing back a full-size Ford kit in the future, so I'm going to have to give this further thought. 

-Steve

My vote for the '62! 

[bigryan18]

67 for me 

[bobss396]

I have an OG '62 Ford hardtop glue bomb resurrection in the works. I'm lucky it came apart and I got the interior and glass out with no big issue. I also have a semi-built '62 'vert and a un-built one, also a rag top.

The hardtop is at the BMF and final assembly stage.