Clear body kits

[Kennyboy]

Tamiya full view SLR McLaren

Tamiya Warsteiner CLK GTR Clearview

Edited September 14, 2014 by Kennyboy

[1930fordpickup]

Tom the glitter box I have had some purple tinted sprue left in it. I should go check to see what car it was . It came with an auction lot of stuff.

[Longbox55]

Entex did a clear kit of the Wankel Rotary engine.

[clovis]

The clear view version of the B-17 bomber was selling, at least at one time, on ebay for stupid amounts of money.

[every second counts]

I have a Don garlits, wynns jammer that has a clear body. The frame and motor are moulded in grey. The kit also has lots of chrome.

[Agent G]

AFV Club T-34.

Nice kit but with the engine deck and hatches being opaque there's hardly any sense in not painting the hull.

G

[Quick GMC]

Tamiya has done a bunch on clear. The CLK GTR, Toyota GTONE, etc

[ToyLvr]

MPC car trailer was molded in clear.

It could double as a display case.

Later reissued under the AMT banner.

I've got a couple of MPC Vette kits with clear hoods.

[ToyLvr]

And oh yeah, there's the optional clear landau roof on the AMT '64 T-Bird kit.

Clear roof panel on the original-issue Monogram '55 Chevy.

The engine "top shroud" on the AMT '69 Corvair kit.

[ZTony8]

The AMT '67 Fairlane had a clear hood.Fujimi made(makes?) a clear bodied Ferrari 126c in a couple of versions.

Does the bubble top from the Monogram '58 Thunderbird count?Or the Beatnick Bandit and Orbitron bubble tops?

[Snake45]

And oh yeah, there's the optional clear landau roof on the AMT '64 T-Bird kit.

Clear roof panel on the original-issue Monogram '55 Chevy.

The engine "top shroud" on the AMT '69 Corvair kit.

If we're going with clear tops, I think one of the original annual AMT Sting Rays had a clear top. The '67, Maybe? Pretty sure I have one.

[ToyLvr]

If we're going with clear tops, I think one of the original annual AMT Sting Rays had a clear top. The '67, Maybe? Pretty sure I have one.

I'm thinking it was either the '62 or the '64 AMT annual. IIRC, both had funky optional roofs. Will have to research that one. The one I'm thinking of had sort of a hinged "T-Top" look.

[Modelmartin]

Esci also did the BMW M1 and several others in clear, possibly the 320 Gr. 5 and the Lancia.

Didn't AMT have a clear hood on the 37 Chevy?

I was talking to Jim Keeler once, he mentioned that one evening at Revell they ran about a dozen Mickey Thompson Challengers in clear! Imagine finding one of those now! I asked - he didn't have any of them.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Modelmartin

[Greg Myers]

Esci also did the BMW M1 and several others in clear, possibly the 320 Gr. 5 and the Lancia.

Didn't AMT have a clear hood on the 37 Chevy?

I was talking to Jim Keeler once, he mentioned that one evening at Revell they ran about a dozen Mickey Thompson Challengers in clear! Imagine finding one of those now! I asked - he didn't have any of them.

Of all, that one makes the most sense.

[Longbox55]

Didn't AMT have a clear hood on the 37 Chevy?

Yes, or at least the coupe did. I can't say about the convertible, as I don't have one, but the coupe for sure. Both issues of the '53 Studebaker that I have (one from the early late '80s/early '90s and the last reissue) have the clear hood as well.

[unclescott58]

By the way, how can anybody forget the coolest ever molded in clear. The Renwal Visible Pigeon?

Scott

Edited September 17, 2014 by unclescott58

[Snake45]

I'm thinking it was either the '62 or the '64 AMT annual. IIRC, both had funky optional roofs. Will have to research that one. The one I'm thinking of had sort of a hinged "T-Top" look.

The '64 roadster kit had an optional fastback top that sounds like what you describe. I'm talking about a clear top that was shaped like the regular removable hardtop. I think it was in the '67 roadster, along with a van top that's pretty cool (restoring one now). Edited September 16, 2014 by Snake45

[Greg Myers]

You want engines ? Visible engines ? http://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/models/visible-engines.htm Many already mentioned.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Greg Myers

[Vince Nemanic]

When I heard Keeler tell the tale about the Metalflake kits he said that he was lucky not to get fired- a new employee dumping metal shavings into a $50,000 molding

machine. And that was in 1963 dollars!

[unclescott58]

Great link Greg. A few engines like the Ford Turbine engine I had never seen before. Now that would be cool. And I wish Revell would restore the tooling of the old Renwal Visible V8. I over the years I built at least two of them. And from time to time I think about how I'd like to give the kit another try. But, taking out the electric motor and light up spark plugs ruined the kit as far as I'm concerned. Unless they fix the kit back to the way it was, I'll never buy another one. And last, I wonder where the tooling for Revell's old Slant Six kit is at. It would be really cool to see a reissue of that one too.

Scott

Edited September 17, 2014 by unclescott58

[Draggon]

MPC J-car. I still have some of the body left somewhere.

[Greg Myers]

I've got two, just as fiddley as the other IMC kits with an added bonus, crisp, brittle clear plastic. but it goes with the program, "See through".

[Greg Myers]

Great link Greg. A few engines like the Ford Turbine engine I had never seen before. Now that would be cool. And I wish Revell would restore the tooling of the old Renwal Visable V8. I over the years I built at least two of them. And from time to time I think about how I'd like to give the kit another try. But, taking out the electric motor and light up spark plugs ruined the kit as far as I'm concerned. Unless they fix the kit back to the way it was, I'll never buy another one. And last, I wonder where the tooling for Revell's old Slant Six kit is at. It would be really cool to see a reissue of that one too.

Scott

Scott, so right, what were they thinking ( no doubt someone will tell us) taking out some of the best features. There is more than just the "See Through" fun.

[unclescott58]

This thread reminds me. The first Renwal Visible V8 I got, was given to me for Christmas of 1971. I was 13 at the time. I had no understanding of how a four-stroke piston engine worked. Even though I had seen and read books trying to explain it, I just couldn't get my mind around it. And my dad was no help. He just told me that car engines were real complicated. Yet he was able to do most of the repairs on our cars, himself.

I was surprised as I went along building my Visible V8. A four-stroke gasoline powered car engine turned out to be a lot simpler than I was lead to believe. Now I understand there were details the model didn't show or explain. But, the basic principle and the basic parts to a car engine I found amazingly simple in their design and function. This perked my interest in working on real car engines down the road. To this day, I'm still amazed how simple car engines really are.

The only problem I had by the way, in building my first Visible V8, was in my haste, I forgot to put in the spacers between the rocker arms. Everything worked well, except certain rocker arms would slip off their push rods and valve stems. Not a big deal. You just had to lift off the valve covers, and slide them back into place.

Another story dealing with a Visible V8 came up a few years ago. At a charter school I use to sub at a lot, every tenth grader had to do a major project and write a paper on it. One of the special ed students was having a hard time trying to figure out what to do. He wanted to do something like a model of a cutaway dragon or dinosaur. And since his adviser knew I was into models, they came and talked to me. I knew of no cutaway dragon models. And the dinosaur kits I knew of at the time were not cheap. So I suggested Revell's version of the Visible V8. He was not too happy with idea, but after a while he decided to do it. He and some other younger kids living in his foster home, had so much fun and learned so much from the model. When he wrote his paper, he made a big deal out of me helping him and suggesting the project in the first place. Being a sub, I'm never pictured in the yearbooks. But, this project had such a positive impact on this young man, they had to include a photo of him and I together with model in that year's yearbook. Naturally, I had to buy a copy of that year book. And you know, I more proud of that picture, than I am of the pictures in previous yearbooks that I was in as a teen.

Scott

Edited September 17, 2014 by unclescott58

[jbwelda]

right on scott, that's exactly the sort of thing that brings young people not only into the hobby but also into a general knowledge of cars and engines and what makes them go down the road. and a foster kid like that is probably even more impressionable, you might have changed his life all for the better. good on ya.

jb