AMT 70 1/2 Camaro headlight bezel repair?

[atomicholiday]

I’ve been working on this kit off and on for a long time now.  The one thing that keeps putting me off is the headlight bezel areas.  The molding is pretty bad.

Any suggestions on how I can repair/rebuild that area?  I’ve messed with it a little, but it’s beyond my experience level right now.  
 

[Brutalform]

Possibly sand the bezels down and get some appropriately sized round styrene tube, and cut to the correct thickness, using a mini mitre tool, and glue them in place of the old ones. 

Edited September 29, 2024 by Brutalform

[rattle can man]

The bezels are not perfect circles correct? From the pictures I've seen (I am a Ford guy, so I'm not really familiar with Camaros) they look like squares with rounded corners and slightly curved sides. From all I've read on this sight and experienced you have 4 options:

1) hand form some strip stock of appropriate size and shape to fill the gap or create a new bezel

2)  make a template and cut a replacement from sheet stock.

3) you could make a clay mold of the area, clean up the flawed area in the mold to restore the shape and cast a new bezel. If the bezels are identical on the left and right, you could try just making a mold of the good side.

4) Use filler to build up the area, then sand to shape.

[Mark]

That must be a tough detail to get right on those cars.  The original AMT and MPC annual kits, then the AMT/Ertl '70 which had been backdated from the AMT '77 annual...none of them got it quite right.

[Steve H]

My kit had a very similar mess for headlights. My attempt at a fix below… (from a pro touring build)

 

The finished product… except for headlight lenses…

Not sure if this will help at all. Good luck, it’s a very difficult area to work on.

 

 

[johnyrotten]

This is good to know as I just picked up this kit myself. Thanks for the accidental heads up. 

[atomicholiday]

15 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

This is good to know as I just picked up this kit myself. Thanks for the accidental heads up. 

This kit has quite a few issues.  I’ve tackled a few of them in this wip.  There are a few other wips for the same build.  I recommend checking them out before you start so you know what to expect.

 

 

[atomicholiday]

I had a thought last night.  I have the first issue of this kit from 2000 (Baldwin Motion).  I wonder what it looks like.  If it’s in better shape I might be able to make a mold of that area to replace the offending spots on the orange kit.

[NOBLNG]

1 hour ago, atomicholiday said:

I had a thought last night.  I have the first issue of this kit from 2000 (Baldwin Motion).  I wonder what it looks like.  If it’s in better shape I might be able to make a mold of that area to replace the offending spots on the orange kit.

The headlight area isn’t any better I don’t think.? There are some fit issues with this kit also…here’s a link to my build thread: https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/133121-amt-70-12-camaro/

Edited September 30, 2024 by NOBLNG

[Ulf]

This kit made me realize several things;
1. what does a 70 Camaro really look like, I was actually a little surprised when I looked closely at pictures. 
Pictures of spare parts on wwww are often good to look at.
2. this kit will have to wait a while, it's been three years now.

Honestly, I think it is easier to succeed in sanding off mold lines and possibly filling if you first apply a very thin layer of primer. It’s easyer to see whit some primer on.

[atomicholiday]

2 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

The headlight area isn’t any better I don’t think.? There are some fit issues with this kit also…here’s a link to my build thread: https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/133121-amt-70-12-camaro/

 

 

 

And there’s the flash I remember from that issue.?

I spent hours trimming flash and still had hours to go when I tossed it back in the box.

Thanks for the heads up though.  That saves me the time of trying to find it.?

[johnyrotten]

4 hours ago, atomicholiday said:

This kit has quite a few issues.  I’ve tackled a few of them in this wip.  There are a few other wips for the same build.  I recommend checking them out before you start so you know what to expect.

 

 

Thank you again, this kit was bought already started, and has to be stripped of testors enamel that's been brushed on. That'll be a whole deal in itself I suppose. It is the only camaro I really like though. 

[Bainford]

A couple pics to show what it should look like. Makes the kit look pretty bad.

[Can-Con]

My problem with that kit [besides the headlight problem which every kit of those Camaros has had since the very first promo] is the shape of the top of the rear 1/4 panels.

It's a gentle slope which does not kick back up like on that kit.

[NOBLNG]

1 hour ago, Can-Con said:

My problem with that kit [besides the headlight problem which every kit of those Camaros has had since the very first promo] is the shape of the top of the rear 1/4 panels.

It's a gentle slope which does not kick back up like on that kit.

I never noticed that when building mine.? It’s not too bad…the ridge could be sanded a little smoother, especially towards the rear. Worse I think is that the actual car has a flat space on the back edge of the trunk that carries on down the back edge of the fenders. That corner ridge is rounded off on the model.? All minor compared to the mis-shapened headlight bezels.

Edited October 1, 2024 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

Back to the bezels…I don’t recall exactly how I went about fixing mine, but if I build another, I would build up the outer edges (red arrows) with Milliput or maybe sprue goo. Then I would thin out the bezels from the inside (yellow arrows)

[Bills72sj]

I built the Motion Baldwin version molded in grey. I do not remember fiddling with the headlights too much except for maybe making the lenses for better. I used BMF judiciously trimmed.

[atomicholiday]

Are the headlights any better on the full bumper kit?

[Can-Con]

17 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

I never noticed that when building mine.? It’s not too bad…the ridge could be sanded a little smoother, especially towards the rear. Worse I think is that the actual car has a flat space on the back edge of the trunk that carries on down the back edge of the fenders. That corner ridge is rounded off on the model.? All minor compared to the mis-shapened headlight bezels.

Yea, There's a few "foibles" going on with that kit and the headlights are the worst. I can't believe no one has got that right on a kit yet. 

Hadn't noticed the trunk edge issue, thanks for pointing it out.

You'd think a kit that new would be more accurate in the body.

You can go on about "loads of details" and "high parts count" but if you don't have the body right, you have nothing.

[Can-Con]

1 hour ago, atomicholiday said:

Are the headlights any better on the full bumper kit?

 

Good question. After all the hype about the kit, I don't think I've even seen one built yet.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Can-Con