Atlantis roll out ex Revell 55 Chevy Bel Air.

[John M.]

Pre orders are being taken. The description says special cutting and fitting is needed. Sounds to me that it'll be a bear to build like the 57 Nomad was but I could be wrong. I hope I am. 

https://atlantis-models.com/preorder-1955-chevy-xparts-1-25-atlantis/

[Mark]

The '55 is probably the "easiest" of the old Revell Chevy kits.  Atlantis specifies "cutting and fitting" because they apparently aren't going to include stock tires (the ones they tooled for the '57 won't fit).  You'll have to radius the rear wheel openings to fit the slicks.  Even Revell mentioned that alterations were needed to fit the optional 409 engine.  

[stavanzer]

Atlantis is going with that Artwork for the Kit?!?!

Holy Cow that's bad.

I've seen better work at High School Painting exhibitions. 

IN fact I've seen better work from a dozen of our own board members!

Peter, Peter, stop cheaping out on the Box Art..

Edited yesterday at 02:12 PM by stavanzer
spelling

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, stavanzer said:

Atlantis is going with that Artwork for the Kit?!?!

Holy Cow that's bad.

I've seen better work at High School Painting exhibitions...

Yup.   🤮

[Chris V]

14 hours ago, John M. said:

Pre orders are being taken. The description says special cutting and fitting is needed. Sounds to me that it'll be a bear to build like the 57 Nomad was but I could be wrong. I hope I am. 

https://atlantis-models.com/preorder-1955-chevy-xparts-1-25-atlantis/

It likely refers to the radiused rear wheel openings. There's been some speculation that the tooling for the 55's tires wasn't included when Atlantis purchased the tooling following the Hobbico bankruptcy. This would also explain why the Parts Pack wheels have been included in the Atlantis reissue. 

Affectionally known as "The Unbuildables" the original Revell 1954-57 Chevy kits were ahead of their time in terms of detail. Unfortunately the ambitions were ahead of the tooling technology as well, making the kits quite fiddly and... challenging to build.

However the '55 is by far the best of the bunch, and it can in fact be built into a really nice looking model with some patience and effort. It's worth mentioning that the chassis is slightly offset to one side. By removing a different amount of material from each side of the floor pan, you can align the chassis properly and relieve some of the stress on the fragile rocker panels making the model much easier to assemble.     

[Ragtop Man]

4 hours ago, Chris V said:

It likely refers to the radiused rear wheel openings. There's been some speculation that the tooling for the 55's tires wasn't included when Atlantis purchased the tooling following the Hobbico bankruptcy. This would also explain why the Parts Pack wheels have been included in the Atlantis reissue. 

Affectionally known as "The Unbuildables" the original Revell 1954-57 Chevy kits were ahead of their time in terms of detail. Unfortunately the ambitions were ahead of the tooling technology as well, making the kits quite fiddly and... challenging to build.

However the '55 is by far the best of the bunch, and it can in fact be built into a really nice looking model with some patience and effort. It's worth mentioning that the chassis is slightly offset to one side. By removing a different amount of material from each side of the floor pan, you can align the chassis properly and relieve some of the stress on the fragile rocker panels making the model much easier to assemble.     

I'm with you - I'd rate it as easier than scratchbuilding and harder than a Tamiya. 

A true modeler will have the chops to get it looking halfway decent. 

Would be great to see a step-by-step of this release from one of the Revell whisperers on the board. Assuming some of the '57 Nomad bits would swap? 

Dunno who ended up with the Graffitti '55 Chevy tools but that would be a place to go for goodies, too.  The AMT Nomad and '55 post has a LOT of goodies in the box. Of course, a fair bit of fettling is needed; classics are rarely easy to wade through, but you all the are better for it.

IMO, the bomb build of this would be to make the Ed Roth '55 (well, close, his was a post coupe) with the 406 Ford (!) no front bumper, etc. - the common parts packs needed are not out of reach, and as mentioned, "recycled" bins of leftovers. 

[stavanzer]

5 hours ago, Chris V said:

By removing a different amount of material from each side of the floor pan, you can align the chassis properly and relieve some of the stress on the fragile rocker panels making the model much easier to assemble. 

So!

Which Side? How Much? 

Don't make us guess, please.

[Chris V]

1 hour ago, stavanzer said:

So!

Which Side? How Much? 

Don't make us guess, please.

I’ve narrowed it down to 67.00 mm, using a vernier caliper and the framerails as guide to determine how much I had to remove from each side of the floorpan in order to get the frame properly centered under the body.

[SfanGoch]

You better measure again. The chassis is only about 82 mm wide. How can you remove 67 mm from each side? That is what I understand from what you posted. If my interpretation is wrong, please articulate your comment with more precise wording.You also neglected to specifically indicate exactly how much needs to be removed from each side.

[Mark C.]

12 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

You better measure again. The chassis is only about 82 mm wide. How can you remove 67 mm from each side? That is what I understand from what you posted. If my interpretation is wrong, please articulate your comment with more precise wording.You also neglected to specifically indicate exactly how much needs to be removed from each side.

He said he narrowed it down to 67mm, which I interpret to mean its total width will be 67mm.  Just my take.

[mk11]

3 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

... how much needs to be removed from each side.

This ^^^

['70 Grande]

I like the looks of the front wheel in that box art... is that wheel from a previous release of any of these vintage Revell tri-5 Chevy kits is it from some other vintage Revell kit?

[Chris V]

5 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

You better measure again. The chassis is only about 82 mm wide. How can you remove 67 mm from each side? That is what I understand from what you posted. If my interpretation is wrong, please articulate your comment with more precise wording.You also neglected to specifically indicate exactly how much needs to be removed from each side.

Try reading my post again… 

I clearly stated that I narrowed the floorpan to (not by) 67.00 mm using the framerails as guide to center the chassis. Without an unaltered floorpan handy it’s kinda difficult to tell exactly how much to remove from each side, but the current distance from the framerail side to the edge of the floorpan is 12.50 mm.

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, Chris V said:

Try reading my post again… 

I clearly stated that I narrowed the floorpan to (not by) 67.00 mm using the framerails as guide to center the chassis. Without an unaltered floorpan handy it’s kinda difficult to tell exactly how much to remove from each side, but the current distance from the framerail side to the edge of the floorpan is 12.50 mm.

Not to be difficult...but if the chassis starts out at 82mm wide, as Mr. Goch says, and you narrow it to 67mm, as you state, you've taken out 15mm, which would be 7.5mm per side (averaged out), which comes to a little over 1/4 INCH per side removed.

I don't have one here to check...yet...but I find it somewhat difficult to believe the parts are THAT far off.

[Mark C.]

C’mon guys, we’re all modellers here.  Some ideas were given by a fellow modeller to get you started.

Buy the kit, measure yourself, and cut appropriately.  Figure it out.  I see no point in taking the guy to task when he is only trying to help…

I’m glad that I am now aware of the issue, but would want to check myself before making any cuts, just because that’s what we modellers do!  

[dodgefever]

5 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Not to be difficult...but if the chassis starts out at 82mm wide, as Mr. Goch says, and you narrow it to 67mm, as you state, you've taken out 15mm, which would be 7.5mm per side (averaged out), which comes to a little over 1/4 INCH per side removed.

I don't have one here to check...yet...but I find it somewhat difficult to believe the parts are THAT far off.

Well, clearly it can't be anywhere near 82mm, because the thing would scale out to about 7ft wide.  I'm more inclined to believe Chris V's measurements.

[Ace-Garageguy]

11 hours ago, Mark C. said:

C’mon guys, we’re all modellers here.  Some ideas were given by a fellow modeller to get you started.

Buy the kit, measure yourself, and cut appropriately.  Figure it out.  I see no point in taking the guy to task when he is only trying to help…

I’m glad that I am now aware of the issue, but would want to check myself before making any cuts, just because that’s what we modellers do!  

Because accurate information matters.

The internet is awash in baloney.

"Trying to help" is always appreciated, but it comes with a responsibility to post correct information.

I'm NOT saying Chris V is wrong, because as I've stated, I don't have the kit here to check myself.

But you can be sure that if I did, I'd get it right.

EDIT: And I'd like to think that if asked for clarification, I'd double check and post supporting info...like photos or a clear description of where measurements were taken...rather than getting defensive.

Edited 10 hours ago by Ace-Garageguy
punctiliousness

[bobss396]

The OG box art was the bomb. That alone got me to buy the kit at age 12.

I should have known from my '56 Chevy attempt. Im not sure if i ever finished it.

[Ace-Garageguy]

17 minutes ago, bobss396 said:

The OG box art was the bomb...

Agreed 100%.

[Mark]

19 hours ago, '70 Grande said:

I like the looks of the front wheel in that box art... is that wheel from a previous release of any of these vintage Revell tri-5 Chevy kits is it from some other vintage Revell kit?

Atlantis is apparently adding the parts pack wheels and tires they have been using in their other kits like the dragster, Fiat coupe, and T-bucket altered.  I'd bet that the stock wheels and wheel covers will still be in the kit.  If that is the case, you'll need to scrounge a set of Revell tires as was included in their issues of the '55 in order to get a stock version.