AMT AWB drag car series

[magicmustang]

Here are a few of my builds that I did years ago. Have built them all, some are rebuilds of acquired glue bombs.  

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by magicmustang

[tim boyd]

Cool above builds, all.  And yes, these kits are really - as in really, really, really - basic in their content and approach.  Still they have a certain charm all their own.  And some unusual traits - as in having their front axles placed too far rearward in the fenderwell /tire openings, and too narrow of a track width up front (comments applying to some but not all of the kits) 

Interesting as well, that the "Hemi Under Glass" kit is not a duplicate of that real car but instead a near perfect scale replica (other than the 1966 body) of the original 1965 Tom McEwen Barracuda which was intended to be an A/FX car, not a wheelstander. 

Here's a shot of two of my AMT kit builds from this kit series...

 

[magicmustang]

A couple more.

[Phirewriter]

Would be nice to see the Tempest reissued again. Unless I missed something I don't think it has been out since the early 2000's Model King release. 

[66c10]

I love this series I collected and currently building the new series 

[slusher]

Nice boxarrt!

[bobss396]

I picked up a Mustang fastback at a recent show, I agree it is quite basic. But little that has to be un-done to make it a good display piece. The roll cage is rudimentary and the "tubing" is out of scale at least to me. I will be dredging through my parts boxes on this one.

[Ken Hart]

On 11/8/2023 at 2:12 PM, Mark said:

There was a fourth Model King issue of the Falcon, can't remember what car it was.  More recently it is in the Round 2 reissue drag team set.

This ...

[bobss396]

I just realized that I have an old built Rat Packer I need to rescue. I built it around 1995 when I first got back into models. Tube glue that has held poorly, Testors enamels with no primer. 

I have on hand some 3D printed 572 Chevy engines... hot damn... just may be the ticket. One has injectors...

[Snake45]

I was an enthusiast consumer of these kits back in the day. I had and built the Falcon, Chevelle, Comet, and Barracuda. The Falcon and Comet were lost in a basement fire in December 1968. I put an AMT '67 Barracuda body on the '66 Cuda FC chassis; I still have all the parts but the bodies are in bad shape. At some point I broke the Chevelle up for engine/chassis parts. I still have the body but the decals on it are in bad shape. I plan to build up a chassis from the new “reissue” kit, replace the damaged decals on the old body, and then build the “new” body with much better paint, showing the difference between my modeling skills of 1967 and today.

Yes, the '67 Vette is basically the stock '67 Coupe kit with new decals—nothing “funny” about it at all. As we know, that whole kit was reworked into the '63, which has been reissued many, many times over the years. Wouldn't be that difficult to build a fairly good facsimile of this one using commonly available stuff, but frankly, why bother? Much better parts are available today.

It looks like most, possibly all, of the original box art on these was done by the Late Great Don Greer. RIP, Don, you are remembered and missed. 

Several of these kits were reissued in the late '70s as “Street Freaks.” I'm not sure which ones, but I have the Mustang and Nova that I bought at that time, still in their original boxes. The Chevelle didn't make that series of reissues, having by that time already been vandalized into the dirt track racer.

I've been doing a “deep dive” on the real '64-'67 “funny cars” lately and by modern standards, these kits are, to be honest, kinda disappointing. Few of the real cars had the rear axles moved up as far as the AMT kits portray (though a very few did), and most of the real altered wheelbase cars also had the front axles moved forward too, which NONE of the AMT kits has. It's thus impossible to build an accurate model of any real AWB car without extensive modifications (in most cases—again, there are a very few exceptions). For example, if you wanted to build an accurate model of any of the Ford factory '65 A/FX Mustangs, you'd be better off starting with the new AMT '66 Mustang GT kit and modifying as necessary. None of these kits is worth the effort necessary to build an accurate model of a real car. To put it in other terms, none of these kits is “marriage material”--too much effort, expense, and eventual heartbreak will be involved—but that doesn't mean you can't have a hella lot of FUN with them, kinda like a great weekend with that hot but crazy redhead you once worked with and run into one night in a bar. 

Couple years ago I decided to just “get drunk and go for it” with the Mustang FC kit. I'd started it more than a decade before and hoped to build it into a replica of Sam Auxier's BOWANI II, which had made a lasting impression on me in the summer of 1968. I got tired of looking at the sad thing in its box and so just dragged it across the finish line as a sort of “Bowani Tribute Street Freak/Bracket Racer.” Even with this drastically lowered standard, I just HAD to reduce the size of the rear wheel openings, fill in the cut-out section of the hood, and swap the whole mess onto the chassis from the reissued '67 Comet AWB kit (I didn't like the “suicide” front axle setup in the Mustang kit's chassis). I'm reasonably pleased with the finished product, for what it is, and yes, I had FUN with the evil thing. Go thou and do likewise.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Snake45

[Chris in Berwyn]

Here are two from the series - the Comet and the Cuda, both with Slixx decals.  I also threw in the Boss Nova, which is just slightly more advanced than the other kits being discussed.  I own most of the kits in the series but never seem to get around to building them. Part of the problem is I want to remove the wipers from them and it’s a pain.  I removed them from the Cuda and it went fine tho, and the Comet didn’t have them.  

[ColonelKrypton]

21 hours ago, Snake45 said:

...these kits are, to be honest, kinda disappointing. Few of the real cars had the rear axles moved up as far as the AMT kits portray (though a very few did), and most of the real altered wheelbase cars also had the front axles moved forward too, which NONE of the AMT kits has. It's thus impossible to build an accurate model of any real AWB car without extensive modifications (in most cases—again, there are a very few exceptions).

Indeed. We have to remember that at time these kits were marketed to the young model car enthusiast, pre-teen and teen age developing car nuts. Accuracy was of minor importance. They just needed some sort of hook to catch the imagination of the young modeler. 

I always liked these kits as  a young teen but was never in the right place at the right time with enough pocket money. My lust for these AWB kits went unfulfilled.

These kits keep coming around as re-releases but this time targeted at the same audience that they were 50+ years ago only this time those teens are now middle aged (plus) adults.  These kits are still appealing but are a bit wanting for anyone wanting to build something more accurate and period correct.

21 hours ago, Snake45 said:

...for what it is, and yes, I had FUN with the evil thing. Go thou and do likewise.

Nevertheless, I will buy a couple, build them and have fun doing so. That's what the hobby is all about.

 

cheers, Graham

 

[tim boyd]

Adding to Graham's and some of the other comments above, the AMT AWB kit program was a key business proposition for AMT at the time. 

While I have not had this confirmed. it may have taken place just after the arrival of AMT's then-new President Tom Gannon, who was 1000% focused on the bottom line (sales and profits).   As outlined in my "collecting drag racing model kits" book, the AMT AWB kits program was an attempt to get AMT sales in the new and quickly developing funny car kits segment.    MPC had just introduced two very detailed funny car kits - an exact replica of the 1967 "Color Me Gone" Charger complete with an accurate Logghe funny car chassis, and a spinoff GTO Dick Jesse "Mr. Unswitchable" kit with an accurate body that (inaccurately) shared the Logghe kit chassis tooling.  Revell countered with their "Miss Deal" Stude and "Revellion" Dart funny cars, the latter using the body of their original 1962 Dart annual kit and the dragster chassis from their Tony Nancy kit.  Both of these were highly compromised in terms of 1/1 scale funny car accuracy, but they got Revell into the segment and sold reasonably well, too.   

AMT's AWB kit series not only got them representation and retail shelf space into the funny car kit segment (albeit lacking the authenticity of MPC's offerings), it also allowed them to repurpose old annual kit body tooling that (as seen at the time) would otherwise have been a largely useless business asset going forward.   Finally, it bought them some time to engineer and tool their first fully accurate funny car kit, the longnose Gas Rhonda 1969 Mustang ....

Of course, also at the time, no one could have seen the ongoing contribution these then-short-term actions would deliver to AMT and its successor enterprises as these products continue to see some 55 years after the fact!!!!

TB

[Big John]

The one that seems to be missing is the 1967 or 70 Thunderland Thunderbird with the Allison engine. Mine is lost in the parts box somewhere in the shop.

Edited November 22, 2023 by Big John
Photo

[Daddyfink]

Some old Funny builds 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by Daddyfink

[dodgefever]

On 11/21/2023 at 5:43 AM, Chris in Berwyn said:

Here are two from the series - the Comet and the Cuda, both with Slixx decals.  I also threw in the Boss Nova, which is just slightly more advanced than the other kits being discussed.  I own most of the kits in the series but never seem to get around to building them. Part of the problem is I want to remove the wipers from them and it’s a pain.  I removed them from the Cuda and it went fine tho, and the Comet didn’t have them.  

 

 

Dave Zeuschel.   Do Slixx need a proofreader?   Other than that, nice job, I like it. 

[bobss396]

I showed my Mustang fastback build to someone in the club. He clued me into showing me that the wheelbase is too short on the most recent release. By about an 1/8" according to my mock up. I'm struggling through fit issues with mine right now, interior tub to the body and glass issues.

[tim boyd]

5 hours ago, bobss396 said:

I showed my Mustang fastback build to someone in the club. He clued me into showing me that the wheelbase is too short on the most recent release. By about an 1/8" according to my mock up. I'm struggling through fit issues with mine right now, interior tub to the body and glass issues.

If there is a general thread that runs through the AMT AWB versions that I have built, it is that the front suspensions place the wheel/tires too far rearward in the fender openings.  When combined with the fact that AMT did not move their front wheel wells forward (as occurred in most of the 1/1 AWB cars, these two factors together definitely deliver the visual receipt of the wheelbases being too short.  Fortunately, the first issue can be addressed during the build phase and it alone (as seen below) at least goes at least part of the way to improving the appearance IMHO>...TIM   

[bobss396]

Once I get the interior tub located, I'll mock up the suspension to see where everything falls out. I agree that wheels forward is better than wheels backward.

[ColonelKrypton]

On 11/8/2023 at 1:32 PM, ColonelKrypton said:

Now you've done it ... you've got me off on yet another tangent. It's not like I don't anything on the workbench already

  

On 11/21/2023 at 12:32 PM, ColonelKrypton said:

Nevertheless, I will buy a couple, build them and have fun doing so. That's what the hobby is all about.

This thread has piqued my interest in AWB again.  I have always had a soft spot for these kits since I first encountered them in my young teenage years 50+ years ago. 

Some time ago I happened to stumble upon Steve Magnante's videos on youtube and his Motor Trend videos where AWB models were the focus. The recent catalyst was when I also then happened to stumble upon on his book on building your own AWB car. Book in hand, videos book marked and I was off down the rabbit hole of researching early 60's factory experimentals, AWB funny cars, and other early flip top funnies. I got lost in analysis paralysis and never finished on of several models that I was trying to make too detailed, too accurate, too period correct. Those builds were put aside and are still waiting their day.

My more recent interest in AWB's was sparked by Steve's infectious enthusiasm of the subject. My interest has been rekindled after following this topic here on this forum leading me to realize that I don't have to build something overly detailed, too accurate, or even too period correct. Just build something similar, sort of like, whatever pleases me; let my creative juices flow and have fun with the subject. And, that is just what I am going to do.  

I had the Chevy II body, chassis, and interior tub stashed away, completely forgotten until just recently. That has been retrieved and hunt for other suitable bits and pieces is on. I also found a kit of the recent AMT Round 2 Chevelle AWB release and that is now sitting on the workbench for inspiration patiently waiting it's turn.

cheers, Graham

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I've built a few (phantom shorty Nova wagon)  -RRR

 

[tim boyd]

56 minutes ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

I've built a few (phantom shorty Nova wagon)  -RRR

 

R3, those bad boys look way sharp.  And send the message that you had a blast building them, too!   Cheers...TB  

[Mr. Metallic]

Good news/bad news for me as far as this kit series goes.

Bad news first- apparently I sold off the Mustang, Nova and Falcon examples I had of this kit series (all were Model King issues). So the only one I have is the Pontiac, and the Chevelle i just bought.

Good news is I was sorting though the built ups I got from my father in law (who passed 4 years ago) to see what i actually got. Among them are 2 Mustangs. They don't appear to be complete, but I plan on restoring them somehow. Once i get my photo area cleaned off I'll snap some pics.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Mr. Metallic

[rrb124@sbcglobal.net]

Killer AWB's! Fun to see the stances and big Hilborn's popping out of the hoods.

[thatz4u]

My Falcon AWB...formerly known as Georgia Shaker....