AMT Cal Drag Combo

[RSchnell]

4 hours ago, Little Timmy said:

 

Just got mine today ... at my local Wal-mart ... and they never had model kits before .

Total price ... $ 24.95 !!!

I don't care for the two piece styrene drag tires, but the rest is all "groovy" ! 

According to the box, the release date was 10/ 13 / 21 , but I haven't seen them until now.

That's a great price! These are listed between $60-70 now. Like Hien said, I'd be hiding the others as they won't last at that price.

[unclescott58]

The time has finally come to bite the bullet and pick this one up. I have a feeling I’ll regret it once it disappears off the shelves. It’s too kool to pass on any longer. 

[Little Timmy]

I ended up getting 4 of them.

One to build,

One to kitbash,

Two to use as trade fodder, ... so some of you "may" be able to wrestle  one away from me .... maybe...  

 

[stavanzer]

I have noticed that kit sellers on eBay who part out kits, have posted a lot of warped trailers. Even bought one myself. Has anybody else had troubles with warped trailer parts in this kit?

It has been mostly Deck Plates, Frames and Axles, all parts that are prone to warping anyway, due to their shape. A bit of Clamping, and all the troubles are gone, but It was something I noticed.

 

[keyser]

Annoying. Prob too warm before packed. None of mine back to 60’s warped. 
Clamps treacherous. 
 

Edited August 25, 2022 by keyser
Pic

[unclescott58]

3 hours ago, stavanzer said:

I have noticed that kit sellers on eBay who part out kits, have posted a lot of warped trailers. Even bought one myself. Has anybody else had troubles with warped trailer parts in this kit?

It has been mostly Deck Plates, Frames and Axles, all parts that are prone to warping anyway, due to their shape. A bit of Clamping, and all the troubles are gone, but It was something I noticed.

 

My trailer is fine. But, the frame on my Falcon Funny Car is warped. I’ve requested a replacement. 

[Hondamatic]

3 hours ago, stavanzer said:

I have noticed that kit sellers on eBay who part out kits, have posted a lot of warped trailers. Even bought one myself. Has anybody else had troubles with warped trailer parts in this kit?

It has been mostly Deck Plates, Frames and Axles, all parts that are prone to warping anyway, due to their shape. A bit of Clamping, and all the troubles are gone, but It was something I noticed.

 

At the store, I've noticed some boxes feel packed tight, so I bought the one that wasn't..

[unclescott58]

On 1/3/2019 at 11:07 AM, Casey said:

^This. Not even interested in building the Craftsman '63 Impala...

I’ve towed a car or two on both trailers and car dollies back in my day. The thing that bothers me on the above box art, wouldn’t towing the Chevelle backwards on the trailer like that, give the tail wagging the dog effect? At the suggestion of a boss one time, I was to tow a car on a dolly backwards. I could barely leave the lot and a vehicle I was towing start wagging back and forth. Which in turn started effecting the tow vehicle’s handling. “The tail of the dog, wagging the dog.” Enough to scared me into refusing to do the run. Our service manage then tried it, and came back and said he wouldn’t do if he were asked, either. The weight bias with the engine facing backwards is what caused the problem. Now this was with using a car dolly. Maybe with a double axle trailer it would be different. But, having towed cars with both open and enclosed double axle trailers in the past, I doubt it. Still, even if it wouldn’t work in real life, the box art above still looks great. And I’d buy one if reissued. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by unclescott58

[niteowl7710]

14 minutes ago, unclescott58 said:

I’ve towed a car or two on both trailers and car dollies back in my day. The thing that bothers me on the above box art, wouldn’t towing the Chevelle backwards on the trailer like that, give the tail wagging the dog effect? At the suggestion of a boss one time, I was to tow a car on a dolly backwards. I could barely leave the lot and a vehicle I was towing start wagging back and forth. Which in turn started effecting the tow vehicle’s handling. “The tail of the dog, wagging the dog.” Enough to scared me into refusing to do the run. Our service manage then tried it, and came back and said he wouldn’t do if he were asked, either. The weight bias with the engine facing backwards is what caused the problem. Now this was with using a car dolly. Maybe with a double axle trailer it would be different. But, having towed cars with both open and enclosed double axle trailers in the past, I doubt it. Still, even if it wouldn’t work in real life, the box art above still looks great. And I’d buy one if reissued. 

Given how the image shows it loaded it should in theory be fine. You'd want to balance the weight out between the trailer tongue and the trailer axles. Given the low weight of the car putting it on engine first would put an undue amount of stress on the hitch and receiver.  From the picture the engine appears centered over the axles with a lot of dead space to the rear end of the trailer.

Now if you had a small trailer and a full size car (or something else equally as heavy) and put it on with the engine weight near the rear end of the trailer well behind the axles then you would get the "death wobble". You never want the majority of the weight distribution behind the last set of axles. When you watch crash videos on YT of people hauling stuff on small trailers/hot shots it's almost always because whatever the thing is it's loaded just past the ramps and left at the end. I presume because people are lazy and want to save the 30 seconds from parking it over or forward of the trailer axles. Or maybe they're nervous of trying to pull it on further and not off the sides? Because it's just so easy to toss the ramps on and back it a few feet rather than the entire length of the trailer (again risking backing off the side if you don't know what you're doing). Right up till it tail whips you upside down into the median.

[espo]

I think the box art was designed to better show the car in the kit that is being trailered than how it would be done in the real world. 

[unclescott58]

13 minutes ago, espo said:

I think the box art was designed to better show the car in the kit that is being trailered than how it would be done in the real world. 

I suspect your correct. And I think the folks at AMT were right for doing it that way. It looks great, and different from Cal Drag Combo. Plus when this kit came out, I knew nothing about towing trailers with cars on them or not. It looked good to me then. And from an “art” perspective, still looks good now. 

[ChrisBcritter]

One thing about the box art: The roofline on the Impala looks kind of square; on a hunch, I checked the Old Car Manual Project. Sure enough, the AMT artist must have cribbed the Impala from this brochure illustration of a four-door hardtop:

http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1963_Chevrolet/1963_Chevrolet_Brochure-1/1963 Chevrolet-04.html

[ozmodeler]

I just purchased this kit, and yes the parts are a tight fit in the box. My kit had the bodyshell of the '64 Galaxy twisted and the roof is bent in the middle. No problem I thought I'll just request a replacement part from "round2 models". Yeah right ! After filling out the request form it would not accept the photos even thought they were smaller than the maximum allowable size,therefore they would not accept my part request.

  This is very poor service, I even sent an email detailing the issue and of course there was no reply. Overall this has been a disappointing experience for a quite expensive kit.

[unclescott58]

7 hours ago, ozmodeler said:

I just purchased this kit, and yes the parts are a tight fit in the box. My kit had the bodyshell of the '64 Galaxy twisted and the roof is bent in the middle. No problem I thought I'll just request a replacement part from "round2 models". Yeah right ! After filling out the request form it would not accept the photos even thought they were smaller than the maximum allowable size,therefore they would not accept my part request.

  This is very poor service, I even sent an email detailing the issue and of course there was no reply. Overall this has been a disappointing experience for a quite expensive kit.

It sounds like you’ve made it more complicated than needed. Twice in the last couple of weeks I’ve requested replacement parts from them. The only photos required were of the receipt and the bar code from the kit. And then a description of the part needed. With two kits I requested parts for, I did not have a receipt, because I purchased them off of eBay. In my case, even that was not a problem. Round 2 gave me no hassle. They confirmed they got my request within 24 hours. And had the replacement Falcon funny car chassis got to me in less than week later. The other part I requested, the Deora bed cover has not arrived yet. But, its been less than a week since putting in the request for that one. 

I’ve found Round 2’s online replacement parts request to work just fine. I’ve been very happy with them in the past. And recently. I hope you figure out how to make it work, and get what you need from them. Good luck. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by unclescott58

[stavanzer]

On 9/3/2022 at 11:16 PM, ozmodeler said:

I just purchased this kit, and yes the parts are a tight fit in the box. My kit had the bodyshell of the '64 Galaxy twisted and the roof is bent in the middle. No problem I thought I'll just request a replacement part from "round2 models". Yeah right ! After filling out the request form it would not accept the photos even thought they were smaller than the maximum allowable size,therefore they would not accept my part request.

  This is very poor service, I even sent an email detailing the issue and of course there was no reply. Overall this has been a disappointing experience for a quite expensive kit.

Any Updates from Cust Service at Round2 on the Body for your kit?

[Robberbaron]

1 hour ago, stavanzer said:

Any Updates from Cust Service at Round2 on the Body for your kit?

 

On 9/4/2022 at 8:30 AM, unclescott58 said:

It sounds like you’ve made it more complicated than needed. Twice in the last couple of weeks I’ve requested replacement parts from them. The only photos required were of the receipt and the bar code from the kit. And then a description of the part needed. With two kits I requested parts for, I did not have a receipt, because I purchased them off of eBay. In my case, even that was not a problem. Round 2 gave me no hassle. They confirmed they got my request within 24 hours. And had the replacement Falcon funny car chassis got to me in less than week later. The other part I requested, the Deora bed cover has not arrived yet. But, its been less than a week since putting in the request for that one. 

I’ve found Round 2’s online replacement parts request to work just fine. I’ve been very happy with them in the past. And recently. I hope you figure out how to make it work, and get what you need from them. Good luck. 

I'll back up everything Scott is saying regarding Round 2 replacement parts: picture of the receipt, picture of the bar code, and part number/description of the item(s) you need.

I recently made replacement part requests for 2 separate AMT kits.  Got an email response within a day.  Got one replacement part in less than a week, the other about 3-4 days after that.

Same experience several years ago when I was missing one front bumperette for the '70 Baldwin Motion Camaro.

(As an aside, I've also had similar experiences dealing with both Revell Germany and Moebius.)

Edited November 9, 2022 by Robberbaron

[ozmodeler]

6 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Any Updates from Cust Service at Round2 on the Body for your kit?

  No updates, I have since sent the kit back to the  HS I purchased it from ,they are still waiting for the replacement kit to come from "round 2". I only tried to supply what info they requested to resolve the claim. I certainly didn't make it more complex than required !

 

[stavanzer]

On 1/3/2019 at 9:07 AM, Casey said:

^This. Not even interested in building the Craftsman '63 Impala...

Now, it looks like we may get this Drag Team in the upcoming Future.

No One from Round2 has said anything of course (nor do I expect them to), but the AWB Chevelle is coming out, the trailer mold is in use, and the '63 Impala got a fresh re-tool a few years ago.

It would be great to have both a Ford and GM/Chevrolet Team, to build.