AMT ‘51 Chevy hood fix.

[NOBLNG]

The hood to cowl area on these AMT Chevys is really bad! The lower windshield trim and cowl are not correct, but the worst part visually is outer corners of the hood.? I finally found a decent picture of the area. 

I first made a pattern from tape of the contour that I want then glued a chunk of evergreen on with Tamiya cement.

Then I filed the inside and outside down close to level with the hood surface.

Then replace the pattern tape and file away everything that doesn’t look like a’51 Chevy hood.?

A little shaping of the back edge and a bit of scraping of the cowl corners gets a pretty good fit. I added a short chunk of .040” half round just forward of the door trim to try and blend it in a bit, since I don’t want to tackle fixing the cowl.?

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2024 by NOBLNG

[Oldriginal86]

Nice attention to detail. Most of us would have never noticed. I’ve never built this kit.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice fix. Amazing to me that it was done that way by the kit designer, for absolutely no apparent reason.

[bobss396]

I'm doing one now as a stock car, the hood will stay as-is. Opening up the rear wheel wells, I noticed that one side of the body is thicker than the other.

[NOBLNG]

10 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Nice fix. Amazing to me that it was done that way by the kit designer, for absolutely no apparent reason.

Yeah, it almost looks like a short-shot was designed into the kit.? Actually, the whole cockpit is too square and the windshield too flat.? It should have more of a bathtub shape. The doors and trim should begin a sweeping curve that flows into the windshield trim. Oh well…the hood fix at least gets rid of that exposed firewall/cowl area.

[carrucha]

Good tip.  I never noticed that issue.

[NOBLNG]

When I get around to doing the next one, I will scrape away more material from the cowl so that the new hood corner can remain a little thicker. ? I had to file this one fairly thin to get it to fit nicely.

[customline]

Error

Edited May 27, 2024 by customline
Totally messed up

[customline]

On 5/5/2024 at 9:49 PM, NOBLNG said:

When I get around to doing the next one, I will scrape away more material from the cowl so that the new hood corner can remain a little thicker. ? I had to file this one fairly thin to get it to fit nicely.

Great work, Greg! Thanks for posting this, it will help me and probably many others give this lacking kit some improvement . ? 

[Mark W]

Beautiful job correcting this issue. You have a good eye.

[NOBLNG]

44 minutes ago, Mark W said:

Beautiful job correcting this issue. You have a good eye.

Ones good…the other wanders a bit.😜

[Wickersham Humble]

I'm not only building three of the kits (on a resin of our two-door sedan) but am finishing >ta-da< our '51 Styline 1/1 for my son; was grandpa's car.  Lost from 1957 to 1980, we located and bought it back; finally got it's complete restoration, or should I say 'restomod'.  350, 5-speed, 4-wheel discs, all the stuff; plus down to metal refinish with PPB Duracryl Lacquer that I bought in 1993!   I gave up on finding a Mustang II front suspension; faked it on the sedan kit, which is near completion; likewise a T-5 trans, etc.

You, of course, are right about the cowl/hood interface, and even the shape of the windshield; looks wonky, compared to the 1/1 real deal.  I used the '51 BelAir hardtop body that sacrificed it's running gear for the sedan to make a 'Drag Week' street freak, with Arias BBC-hemi, etc.  I'll post photos of all eventually!  Wick

[NOBLNG]

Does anyone make an accurate version, either styrene or resin?