AMT '58 Plymouth Belvedere CHRISTINE kit

[cooltoys1]

Ive seen on another site a pic from a model convention of a pile of proposed kits from AMT, and one was Christine. Box art shows scenes from the movie. Does anyone know anything else about this kit?? Will they include a dual carb big block?? Date of release??

[Rob Hall]

It was shown at the iHobby show... I would assume it's just the AMT '58 Belvedere with different box art.

[W-409]

But isn't it Stephen King, not Steven?

I'm looking forward for this one, even if it's just a re-release with different box art, I built the kit years ago and enjoyed alot.

[horsepower]

Yes, it is Stephen King, & wasn't Christine a '57 Fury, not a '58 Belvedere?

[Chuck Most]

Yes, it is Stephen King, & wasn't Christine a '57 Fury, not a '58 Belvedere?

'58 Fury... in red and white, and with four-doors (as described in the book). No such Fury existed in 1958, but it is a work of fiction after all.

[Longbox55]

'58 Fury... in red and white, and with four-doors (as described in the book). No such Fury existed in 1958, but it is a work of fiction after all.

In the movie, they used 2 door '58 Belvederes (still referred to as a Fury, though) .

[Chuck Most]

In the movie, they used 2 door '58 Belvederes (still referred to as a Fury, though) .

That they did.

[Ramfins59]

And they used a LOT of them too...

[Longbox55]

Depending on which source you beleive, it's anywhere from 13 to 22.

[John Goschke]

Well if it's a reissue of AMT's '58 Belvedere, "Christine" box art would be really appropriate because that kit is a horror show!

[Chuck Most]

Well if it's a reissue of AMT's '58 Belvedere, "Christine" box art would be really appropriate because that kit is a horror show!

Best thing about the AMT Belvedere is that you can use the chassis and drivetrain under a Modelhaus body.

[John Goschke]

Best thing about the AMT Belvedere is that you can use the chassis and drivetrain under a Modelhaus body.

Yep. And the mirrors are good. I used one on a '56 Desoto.

[W-409]

What is wrong with this kit then? Hood fit was only mistake that I found when I built this one few years ago.

[John Goschke]

What is wrong with this kit then? Hood fit was only mistake that I found when I built this one few years ago.

No clearer demonstration has been presented than this image compiled by Harry P. in a reply to a thread on the importance of kit accuracy. In addition to the bizarrely curved side molding, note also the seriously flawed side window opening. Just terrible, and virtually unfixable.

[realgone58]

_{I know all about the side trim................I look at a real one every day!}

[Chuck Kourouklis]

No clearer demonstration has been presented than this image compiled by Harry P. in a reply to a thread on the importance of kit accuracy. In addition to the bizarrely curved side molding, note also the seriously flawed side window opening. Just terrible, and virtually unfixable.

John (and Harry) are absolutely right on this one. It's not just a matter of the kinked-up side trim, but also that the top of the body sides echo the same mistakes - the top edge of the door should run gently upwards into the rear quarters, instead of downward as it does on the model. That, and like the Ala-Kart issued about the same time, the curvature of the sheet metal from the side surfaces to the top ones was too sharp in its radius. "Virtually unfixable" is a dead-on assessment. A pretty serious letdown after that very nice '57 300C.

Now what would be cool is if Round2 took this opportunity to revise the body shell. Won't hold my breath on that - but they've done some other neat stuff lately...

Edited October 17, 2012 by Chuck Kourouklis

[realgone58]

It sure would be nice if they re-tooled the body to fix the afforementioned mistakes. The Johan promo body was most accurate. Too bad every single one of them, including "mint" examples, warped themselves to a smiley death.

[Chuck Most]

It sure would be nice if they re-tooled the body to fix the afforementioned mistakes. The Johan promo body was most accurate. Too bad every single one of them, including "mint" examples, warped themselves to a smiley death.

That's what's great about the Modelhaus repo- no horrific warp, and even in the off chance you do get a warped Modelhaus part, it's ususally close enough to in-shape to be easily coaxed back to its correct shape. AND you needn't concern yourself with Johan's classic 1/4" thick glass. Yeah, I'm exaggerating about the thickness of the glass. But not by much...

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Yeah, figgered.

It was a fun thought.

[MrObsessive]

If you want to spend a TON of time (and some bucks), that '58 Belvedere CAN be fixed. It would take a '59 Dodge roof section (bodies turn up on the 'Bay occasionally) and "bending" the body along with what Jon Cole did on a thread some time ago.

Now you'd also have to change the windshield frame, and this is where AMT's '57 Chrysler 300 would come in handy here. A lot of work to be sure, but don't look for them to EVER fix the body on that one. BTW, I figured out that one of the reasons the kit was so wrong, is that RC2 based the kit on diecast tooling, which came out just before the kit IIRC.

Now the diecast is just as horrible-------bent body, wrong roof and all.

Who knows........after I get done with that '59 Chevy, I MIGHT take on the monumental task of making a CORRECT '58 Belvedere/Fury.

[Chuck Most]

I've heard the SnapFast Slammer '58 Plymouth's body proportions actually aren't all that bad (compared to this one). Any truth to that? Might be a bit easier on the wallet to kitbash that body with this kit if you want a better looking model and don't quite feel like ponying up for a JoHan or Modelhaus body.

[Skydime]

Chuck the slammer really isn't bad for what it is. Granted, the body has been stretched and modded. It is nowhere near stock but, It looks a whole lot closer to it's intended subject matter than the stock kit was. And at least the trim line is straight. I don't know what happened to mine but, here is one I found online. Apparently, this guy didn't like the kit's three point wheels though.

Edited October 23, 2012 by Skydime

[jeffs396]

Here's some comparison pics:

AMT could at least mold the slammer body in white and package it with the glue kit to allow us the option to combine if they won't retool the glue kit body

[Jon Cole]

I cut and straightened the body. 

Edited March 20, 2018 by Jon Cole

[Chuck Most]

That Autumn Red is a tough one, Jacen. I know Ford currently has a color called Autumn Red, and it is metallic, but the shade is all wrong- Ford's Autumn Red is more of a burgundy or maroon color. In fact, most of the Autumn Red paint chips I've seen are way too dark, except for the non-metallic one used by IH in the '80's, which is a bit brighter but might work if you can get some.

Most of the 1:1 Christine clones seem to use Plymouth's 1958 Toreador Red, which was available from the factory on the Belvedere, and was not metallic. I never could find a specific brand or name for the red used on the movie cars- I'm guessing they just grabbed the first off-the-shelf bright red paint the set designer's gopher picked up. All I found was information along the lines of 'the cars were painted red'... no mention of brand name, etc. And since all but a handful of the cars used in the movie were actually Belvederes (not Furies) it is possible a few were in fact painted in the factory Toreador Red.

Oddly, though, the signed trunklid in your picture does look like it is a metallic red. The cars in the movie and most of the clones don't appear to have a metallic finish. Huh...

I suppose it would be like a General Lee or an Enterprise model... use whatever shade of red looks right to you, naysayers be damned. Personally, I'd go for something that resembles '58 Toreador Red.