AMT ‘68 Roadrunner kit corrections

[Radretireddad]

This series of kits still build up well in spite of their age but the most glaring flaw is how far into the wheel wells the rolling stock ends up. I easily fixed this with 3/32” long tubular spacers at all 4 corners. The ride height is OTB and I think perfect. I also recommend gluing a pair of tabs inside the body above the rear bumper to prevent the chassis from recessing itself too far up in the body. The interior is also OTB with some careful IP detailing and a little BMF trim on the door cards. Eagle GSC’s and the torque thrusts from the AMT ‘69 442 kit offer the perfect combination of modern performance and period correct appearance. Planned color is dark red. Thanks for looking.

Edited November 15, 2024 by Radretireddad

[espo]

Great looking interior. Like your suggestion on the tabs. Usually, the problem is getting the chassis to go up inside the body far enough. 

[Brutalform]

Nice mods. These kits need some help in a few areas. You got one figured out already. Your interior looks fantastic. I have a couple of these B bodies, including a pro street version or two. I have some guides made of card stock, that Ed Flunk was kind enough to make for me. These help get the rear wheel well openings look more correct. Maybe one day I’ll try my hand at creating the “pinched” body lines above the wheels. Here is a pic of an A-12 with only the rear wheel mods. 

Edited November 15, 2024 by Brutalform

[Leica007]

Yours looks off to a great start.  I'll be following your build, I am about 3 days into building one from an AMT 3 muscle car set. I looked at 2-3 youtube posts about this kit. Thanks for the chassis tab tip, that will help a lot. One of the videos mentioned the real axle/wheels are noticeably too far forward; yours look ok. Did you have to do anything special? One thing I had to do was to sand down both the taillights and scrap out the body(on the left side) a bit to get them to fit correctly. The instruction sheet that came in the box is very poor and there are many parts included that are not covered (I think parts trees may be from another version of the kit, maybe a GTX. If you have decent instruction sheet, could you post pics or pm pic to me? I want to build mine as a street rod/racer and I looked at some 10.50 M&H slicks for the rear that will work if I get the axle positioned right.

[Radretireddad]

14 minutes ago, Leica007 said:

Yours looks off to a great start.  I'll be following your build, I am about 3 days into building one from an AMT 3 muscle car set. I looked at 2-3 youtube posts about this kit. Thanks for the chassis tab tip, that will help a lot. One of the videos mentioned the real axle/wheels are noticeably too far forward; yours look ok. Did you have to do anything special? One thing I had to do was to sand down both the taillights and scrap out the body(on the left side) a bit to get them to fit correctly. The instruction sheet that came in the box is very poor and there are many parts included that are not covered (I think parts trees may be from another version of the kit, maybe a GTX. If you have decent instruction sheet, could you post pics or pm pic to me? I want to build mine as a street rod/racer and I looked at some 10.50 M&H slicks for the rear that will work if I get the axle positioned right.

Since both front and rear wheels are centered in their respective wheel openings I don’t think the fore/aft position is an issue. All 4 wheel inners definitely cause the front and rear wheels to end up too far inboard. You can see it on the box build. This is a benefit in back if you want to fit some really huge rubber but it looks weird in street trim. The spacers are a super easy fix.

 

I also did this with the wheel inners and retainers. This is a great way to be able to use any wheel or tire combination you like.

[Radretireddad]

42 minutes ago, Leica007 said:

Yours looks off to a great start.  I'll be following your build, I am about 3 days into building one from an AMT 3 muscle car set. I looked at 2-3 youtube posts about this kit. Thanks for the chassis tab tip, that will help a lot. One of the videos mentioned the real axle/wheels are noticeably too far forward; yours look ok. Did you have to do anything special? One thing I had to do was to sand down both the taillights and scrap out the body(on the left side) a bit to get them to fit correctly. The instruction sheet that came in the box is very poor and there are many parts included that are not covered (I think parts trees may be from another version of the kit, maybe a GTX. If you have decent instruction sheet, could you post pics or pm pic to me? I want to build mine as a street rod/racer and I looked at some 10.50 M&H slicks for the rear that will work if I get the axle positioned right.

Here’s the instructions from this version.

[spkgibsonfirebird]

What is the easiest way to fix how the rear wheel wells and back bumper look? I personally in the past, just cut the sides of the back bumper to match the Johan '69 bumper, the wheel wells I've never messed with. I still really like the kit even with all the inaccurate details. 

[Radretireddad]

19 hours ago, spkgibsonfirebird said:

What is the easiest way to fix how the rear wheel wells and back bumper look? I personally in the past, just cut the sides of the back bumper to match the Johan '69 bumper, the wheel wells I've never messed with. I still really like the kit even with all the inaccurate details. 

The Johan kit does appear to be more accurate but for me the differences are too subtle for me to make any effort to correct them on the AMT kit.