AMT 63 Corvette

[Jon Haigwood]

It's do-able, several different ways. Much easier with a roadster than a coupe, due to the '64-'65 roof vents. Also depends on how anal you want to get about the rocker panels, gas filler cap, and interior details. But yes, something very much like what you want to do is very possible.

And it's 427, not 426. 426 is a Mopar number!

427 OK . I am not a Chevy guy  I just want to build a 64 with the 427 hood, glassed in headlights and the side pipes for my fishing buddy I have Monogram 65 Street machine and was wondering if I would need the 63? The hard part will be finding 10" Ansens for the front and 12" Ansens for the back

[unclescott58]

Scott, here's a site that shows all SIX (!) variations of the Revell '63 snappers, showing colors and wheels. I don't believe I've ever seen the red roadster, or the yellow/orange coupe, hmmmmm...might have to keep an eye out for that one....

http://www.corvettepromo.com/snap_kits/snapkits.asp?nav=snapkits

Very cool. I too have never seen the red roadster or the orange coupe.

[unclescott58]

I got my Monogram 1/24 scale '65 Sting Ray coupe in the mail today. It looks better than I expected. I cringe looking at the photo of the model on the box art with the dip in the upper windshield molding. The kit I found in the box looks much better. It was interesting to compare the body of it to their later '67 kit. It's just a hair bigger. But not as much as I've seen comparing other 1/24 scale cars to their 1/25 counterparts. The detail is no where near as good as their later '67s. Or their later '63 snap kits. It's a little better than AMT's '63. Though I still love AMT's '63. So over all, I'm please with what I found in the box of Monogram's 1/24 scale '65 Corvette.

[Snake45]

427 OK . I am not a Chevy guy  I just want to build a 64 with the 427 hood, glassed in headlights and the side pipes for my fishing buddy I have Monogram 65 Street machine and was wondering if I would need the 63? The hard part will be finding 10" Ansens for the front and 12" Ansens for the back

Your '65 body has the right '64 roof vents, so you got that going for you. The front fender vents are all wrong. Unless someone does it aftermarket, there's no '67 427 hood for this kit--and it's 1/24, not 1/25 like everything else. Ansens or something very much like them were in at least one reissue of the Monogram '29 Ford roadster pickup, I think.

What you want to do is possible, one way or the other, but to do it right won't be easy. If you're a "close enough is close enough" kinda guy--as I am most of the time--there are easier ways to get kinda sorta somewhat in the ballpark.

[unclescott58]

Oh I forgot to mention last night, that the copy of Monogram's 1/24 '65 Corvette i got is molded in dreaded red plastic. Thankfully I plan on doing the car in red with a red interior. But, I HATE red styrene plastic. There has been some controversy in other posts here, whether red styrene has some dye in it that eventually bleeds through paint you put over it. I don't know what the truth is on that particular subject. But in my experience, red styrene is the worst color, even with primer on it, to paint over in anyother color. Thankfully I wanted to paint my '65 in something close to Chevrolet's Rally Red from that year. So Tamyia's bright red should work just fine.

[unclescott58]

In today's mail, came the 1/25 scale Revell SnapTite '63 Sting Ray convertible I ordered a week or two ago. Opened it up. It looks pretty nice. As I expected it to be. Hope to have it done before I go to bed tonight. Sometime it's fun to build something as simple as this kit is. Simple, but very nice detail. Looks better than some glue kits.

[Snake45]

In today's mail, came the 1/25 scale Revell SnapTite '63 Sting Ray convertible I ordered a week or two ago. Opened it up. It looks pretty nice. As I expected it to be. Hope to have it done before I go to bed tonight. Sometime it's fun to build something as simple as this kit is. Simple, but very nice detail. Looks better than some glue kits.

I have two or three evenings in removing all the mold lines, and then polishing out the pretty plastic to a high gloss. But then, that's what I enjoy doing.

When I get around to my Grand Sting Ray Project, I'm gonna try to leave one of them in pristine naked white AMT plastic, polished to a high gloss, if I can get away with it. Probably a '64 roadster, as I think I have an unpainted one. I have another unpainted '64 roadster, built, that would be perfect for this, except someone used just WAY too much tube glue on the windshield and the whole cowl area is glue-damaged from underneath. I'll have to replace all that and then paint the thing to salvage this otherwise perfect body. Ah shucks oh well.

[unclescott58]

I got the Revell SnapTite kit finished already. It turned on great straight out of the box with a little glue and foil. Right now it's sitting next to my AMT Prestige '63 convertible. Fun to contrast and compare the two, sitting side by side. I'm not sure which one I like better. They are both fine 1/25 scale representatives of the '63 Corvette convertibles.

Which one would I want to own as a real car? Again, I'm not sure. The Revell kit represents a car with PowerGlide and air conditioning. And I love anything in blue. I'm not keen on the tan interior. But, it's okay. The AMT kit represents a car with a four-speed and fuel injection. And I painted it red with a red interior. Despite loving blue, red is still a great color for Corvettes. The Revell car in real life would be very nice for touring and driving in traffic. Especially on hot days. The AMT version in real life would grab more attention and respect from other car guys. It too would still be a nice car for touring. But not if the weather is hot. So which do I like better? In general I'd like the AMT fuelie a little more as a real car. But I would not turn away a C2 Vette with air and a PowerGlide at the same time either.

 

[Snake45]

I got the Revell SnapTite kit finished already. It turned on great straight out of the box with a little glue and foil. Right now it's sitting next to my AMT Prestige '63 convertible. Fun to contrast and compare the two, sitting side by side. I'm not sure which one I like better. They are both fine 1/25 scale representatives of the '63 Corvette convertibles.

Which one would I want to own as a real car? Again, I'm not sure. The Revell kit represents a car with PowerGlide and air conditioning. And I love anything in blue. I'm not keen on the tan interior. But, it's okay. The AMT kit represents a car with a four-speed and fuel injection. And I painted it red with a red interior. Despite loving blue, red is still a great color for Corvettes. The Revell car in real life would be very nice for touring and driving in traffic. Especially on hot days. The AMT version in real life would grab more attention and respect from other car guys. It too would still be a nice car for touring. But not if the weather is hot. So which do I like better? In general I'd like the AMT fuelie a little more as a real car. But I would not turn away a C2 Vette with air and a PowerGlide at the same time either.

 

That's amazing. It's like I have a twin.

BTW, tonight I finally got around to foiling the hood vents on the Revell snapper purple roadster and red flake coupe I've been putting off for weeks, so I should be wrapping those up fairly soon now. When I do, gonna take a group photo of all my Sting Rays to date--I think 7 or 8 now.

[unclescott58]

I see they moved this thread to the "kit review" section, from the general. That make sense since this thread is really a review of the C2 Corvette kits. Good decision on whoever decided to move it.

 

[Snake45]

Since we're talking about '63 Corvettes in general, here's a sad sight. This came in an ebay "Corvette junkyard" that contained something else I wanted/needed.

Glitter! Now I've seen everything!

Took a few squirts of Easy-Off but I got it down to bare plastic. Surprise--it turns out to be an original annual '63 Coupe with the top hacked off. And, except for the missing top, not in bad shape at all.

Well, I can always make some sort of custom roadster out of it, I guess. Also in some Corvette Junkyard (maybe the same one) I got an original annual '63 Roadster body in very nice shape except all four wheel openings have been hogged out, almost dirt-track style. The windshield frame is even perfectly intact on that one! The rotating headlights (only found on the original annual '63 Roadster) were glued in place (closed), but I was able to carefully cut them loose, so I would LIKE to restore that one with the headlights working, or at least displayed open. The obvious solution to both problems would be to cut the body sides off the hacked Coupe body and graft them onto the hacked Roadster body, but that would actually be much more difficult than it sounds. I might take silicone molds of the wheel openings of the hacked Coupe body, put the molds on the Roadster body, and fill in the missing plastic with JB Weld or something of the sort. Theoretically, it SHOULD work. Hmmmmm.

[Bob Ellis]

I fixed my 65 Corveette using the latest Round2 63 Vette kit.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Got one of these with the old coupon deal.

For the most part I like the kit, though the blobular old-style chassis is a little disappointing. That's OK though, 'cause I just wanted the split-window body. I've got plenty of chassis to use.

The BIG disappointment was the Weber carbs. They are SIDE-DRAFT carbs, very obviously to anyone familiar with Webers, but they're mounted on the engine as DOWN-DRAFTS.

This could not possibly work in reality, and as frequently as I've seen people recommend the Webers from this kit, this anomaly has NEVER been addressed (to my knowledge).

[Bob Ellis]

I just got a 66annual Corvette ht kit. This is where the big block originated but AMT called it a 396. This engine survived the Street Rods version but the small block was shut off the plastic. ERTL returned the small block in the 80s

[Snake45]

I just got a 66annual Corvette ht kit. This is where the big block originated but AMT called it a 396. This engine survived the Street Rods version but the small block was shut off the plastic. ERTL returned the small block in the 80s

Congratulations! The '66 Coupe is the one body that has so far eluded me. I bought one off eBay a few years ago. It came with box, instructions, and most of the original '66 parts but the body shell turns out to be a '65. I'm keeping my eyes open for another one. If I get the other 9 models in my collection built and still haven't found one, I suppose I can convert the '65 body to a '66. I think the only body differences are the rocker trim and the Corvette emblem at the rear.

[Dave Darby]

Congratulations! The '66 Coupe is the one body that has so far eluded me. I bought one off eBay a few years ago. It came with box, instructions, and most of the original '66 parts but the body shell turns out to be a '65. I'm keeping my eyes open for another one. If I get the other 9 models in my collection built and still haven't found one, I suppose I can convert the '65 body to a '66. I think the only body differences are the rocker trim and the Corvette emblem at the rear.

The 65 also has the vents on the B pillar. The 66 does not. In addition, the 66 uses the 1967 style egg crate grille. But it sounds like you already have that.

[Snake45]

The 65 also has the vents on the B pillar. The 66 does not. In addition, the 66 uses the 1967 style egg crate grille. But it sounds like you already have that.

Yeah, the vents are no problem to sand off (I'd cry a little as I did so). I think I have a couple extra '67 grilles. The rockers and the rear emblem are the big sticking points. But I'll get it sorted out one way or another someday.

[Bob Ellis]

Congratulations! The '66 Coupe is the one body that has so far eluded me. I bought one off eBay a few years ago. It came with box, instructions, and most of the original '66 parts but the body shell turns out to be a '65. I'm keeping my eyes open for another one. If I get the other 9 models in my collection built and still haven't found one, I suppose I can convert the '65 body to a '66. I think the only body differences are the rocker trim and the Corvette emblem at the rear.

the only difference that I se on the 65/66 is 65 had fuel injection on the fender . 66 just had flags

[Bob Ellis]

The 65 also has the vents on the B pillar. The 66 does not. In addition, the 66 uses the 1967 style egg crate grille. But it sounds like you already have that.

I knew about the grille but not about the b post vent

[Bob Ellis]

I believe this is a 1965 corvette. I use many parts from this street rods 1963 corvette to restore it

[Snake45]

Yeah, seems to be a '65, with a big-block (396) hood. There would be a lot of usable resto parts in nearly any of the AMT '63 reissues.

[Snake45]

Yesterday I bought the Retro Deluxe reissue of the AMT '63 Coupe. Very favorably impressed. Molded in white, and the decal sheet looks very usable for something I have in mind.

Most impressively, it looks like R2 has cleaned up the molds of the American mags. I've got several copies of this kit where only two of them were usable, and the other two were little more than shapeless blobs. All four of these look good.

BTW, it has both SBC and BBC engines.

[Can-Con]

Yeah, the vents are no problem to sand off (I'd cry a little as I did so). I think I have a couple extra '67 grilles. The rockers and the rear emblem are the big sticking points. But I'll get it sorted out one way or another someday.

The emblems wouldn't be a problem Snake. MCG has a PE sheet for  [IIRC]  '65 to '67 Vettes with all the needed emblems and the different gas cap covers for each year.  I would have got the set for the '65 I just finished but I was going for a mild custom look so I didn't need them. 

[Snake45]

The emblems wouldn't be a problem Snake. MCG has a PE sheet for  [IIRC]  '65 to '67 Vettes with all the needed emblems and the different gas cap covers for each year.  I would have got the set for the '65 I just finished but I was going for a mild custom look so I didn't need them. 

I have enough "good" bodies of each year that I can foil-clone any gas cap I want, so those aren't a problem.