Knight Industries Two Thousand

[Rick Schmidt]

Thought I'd pull this one back out and get back on it again. I've always loved Knight Rider so I had to have a model of KITT. I had the AMT kit but it never did look right to me. So he got neglected

When Revell reissued the 91 Formula I knew what I was gonna do. Get em together and started switching a few key parts

in this pic ya can tell the AMT KITT is already being ravaged lol

After just a bit of work I ended up with a Revell Bird with an AMT nose only took a bit of Super Glue, bending the lower edges of the fenders in a bit and some sanding to get a nice fit.

The AMT rims fit on the Revell Axles using the BF Goodrichs from the AMT.

The project sat for a while because I wrecked the spoiler. I got a new one so he's back out

Refitted the lights to the front bumper. ( the Nose originally didn't have any so I put em in )

I've cut T tops into the Revell body. This was one thing I forgot about in the planning lol and it was about the hardest thing to do on the conversion so far.

Another shot of the tops showing the dash fitted. It still needs some details but is there. Had to mod the Revell dash to accept the KITT dash which almost appears to be what AMT did just a bit cleaner underneath than mine lol

Right now I'm working on widening the replacement spoiler I got to fit this car and I'll post up more progress soon. Plus look for the post on the 4000 soon

[rollinoldskoo]

cool project.... did u see knight rider coming back out again? gonna be a mustang tho... they should have made a custom firebird concept based off the new camaro for it.....

[crispy]

That's a lot of work you got into it and it shows. Looks like it all fits very well. Nice and clean too. I look forward to seeing you finish it!

Chris

[Rick Schmidt]

Rollin yep Dunno if it will be as good but I'll give it a chance. I'm a true Stang guy so I won't complain about that lol

Crispy thanks Now that I've gotten the new spoiler I plan on getting him and the 4000 done soon

[Dave McFly]

hey, i have a 83 year issue of a trans am kit from monogram/revell that you can use parts from to make that model more accurate like the wheels on the revell kit the 'bowling ball caps' are separate from the rims and the interior is more detailed with separate armrests on the interior bucket let me know and ill part with any parts you need to make that KITT stand out . if you do not want to use my rims there is a trick to making the AMT kitt wheels to 'pop'.

step 1: de chrome the rims

step 2: sand off the 'arrowhead' logo in the center

step 3: paint the entire rim gloss black

step 4: using a fine brush and aluminum paint, paint the outer rim and then the 'spokes' leaving the recesses glossy black.

Edited January 30, 2008 by Dave McFly

[Rick Schmidt]

Dave ya caught my attention PM sent I'm glad you mentioned the Arrowhead on the wheels They were still box stock from the junker and I hadn't realized they were there till you mentioned it lol

[Dave McFly]

i replied but the rims are missing one of the center caps. and they only really work with the cheesy goodyear tires in the kit. the rest of the kit is intact if you want to salvage the rest of the stuff for your project like the following goodies:

interior bucket with 83 trans am side panels with separate arm rests and rear seat.

more accurate PMD seats (same seats used in KITT for all 4 seasons)

a more accurate 'cross fire' V8' you can even see the individual dual air cleaners inside the cover. the amt/mpc car is just a blob of plastic by comparison.

true dual exhaust system that has twin pipes and dual mufflers instead of the 'y' pipe into a single pipe to a large muffler and twin tips in the later cars.

and the body shell and rear bumper that does not have the ground effects that the later cars had. and the correct rear wing as well. i am not sure if the 91 kit you are using is more like a base firebird than a trans am. basically my kit is like the AMT KITT but it is a targa roof car (was a custom from the factory) instead of a hard top. ill take some pics of the body and contents if you want .

since i am almost sure that with some minor mold changes this kit is VERY close to the 91 re issue. just as the AMT re issue of KITT is almost identical to the 83 issue from MPC.

Edited January 31, 2008 by Dave McFly

[weirich1]

I just bought the 'Knight Rider 2000" car off ebay. I've heard this model isn't that great but that's where the bashing & modding will come in to make a decent KITT. The obvious mod: the body won't be red!

Tried to get get the original KITT T/A but auction ended before I got online this morning. Hoping Revell makes the new GT500, it will be easier to mod than the Mustang GT to make the new KITT.

BTW, I will be watching the new movie tonight.

Edited February 19, 2008 by weirich1

[Dave McFly]

Jeremy when you say the KR 2000 car are you talking about the red car that was in the 91 tv movie? if so which version did you get the 91 issue or the the one that came out a few years ago. you can tell them apart by the box art. the 91 issue had gray coloring on the box the re issue has blue in the background. although both kits are the same the major change is in the wheels. the 91 issue has the same rims that were on the real Knight 4000 car. the re issue has a set of rims that look as if they came off a 91-96 NON ZR1 corvette on 16" tires. I have both i did the 91 version as it appeared in the tv movie i did the re issue in black with tan interior and some parts box rims and tires that looked more at home on KITT. If you really want to make the model more detailed pick up a AMT 91 to whatever year they stopped with the kits glue version of the Dodge Stealth which is what the real car is based off of. I used a 91 pace car one with the re issue body shell so it had a full detailed drivetrain.

[weirich1]

Dave,

It is the car used in the '91 TV movie. The box art picture has the car sitting against a black/blue background, so it appears to be the re-release. Hopefully it will arrive by the end of the week so I can verify. Like I said in my previous post, I'll modify it to improve the model; got a couple of donor kits lined up and the spare parts box. This car might have a lot of influence from the new Knight Rider since those donor kits are all late-model Mustangs . . .

[Guest rick r]

I'm not very PROUD of it but I have some knowledge of this critter...

When KR2000 was in production I worked with Jay Ohrberg, builder of the cars for Universal Studios, and I orchestrated the use of Budnick billet wheels for the project. (It was either those or full moon discs...)

In the event you have an incomplete KR4K kit, the same wheels are used in the early '90s AMT ford f-150 kits.

The wheels on the tv car aren't as nice as the kit wheels... Jay didn't want to spend for new taller tires so 15" wheels were used, look really tiny onscreen... The kit wheels are 17s, look better if they're dullcoated, the real ones were NOT chromed...

While that was by no means a great kit, it can be made to be quite a bit more striking in appearance by lowering it a couple of scale inches (extend the axle slots upward maybe 1/16 to 1/8") at all 4 corners... pick out the surround lines for the doors, if just togive the thing a little texture Tint the windows!Dark!! Darker than that! Use Viper red for the color, the real ones were stock Stealth red, which is really close...

The two real cars were made from base-model Dodge Stealth coupes, both red, (one with 25 miles, the other with 22) Jay drove em into his shop and had the front and rear ends cut off within three hours. The body shapes were carved from dense foam, glass was laid over that, sanded to shape and detailed, then shot, done within two weeks, quick 'n' dirty, kinda crude and ugly up close... I did enjoy the TVM they were built for, and the new one looks better...

[evilone]

i want to make the new one that thing is sweet