|
|
Post by Atrahasis on May 17, 2006 1:59:06 GMT -5
Why are my AMT model kits so bad and my Revell kits so good, or is it just that my particular sampling is skewed that way?
I recently purchased two AMT 1/25 scale car model kits, and I was not impressed. The molding quality on one of them was so bad that there was flash everywhere, and the plastic was even cracked in a lot of places and the plastic brittle, probably from using an old mold but also really crappy plastic! I had to sand and prep the body a bit before painting. Also when spray-painting one of them, the paint did not go on so well because there is some kind of fault with the plastic. It just seems to be a type that does not take paint very well which can be ruinous for a car model. The other AMT kit's went on reasonably fine, but the color of the plastic was a light grey...for a car that was supposed to be black! I had to do a lot of touch-up work to hide the light grey underneath...I thought it was an illogical choice of color for the plastic.
I also purchased two Revell car kits. Crisp molding and the plastic takes paint with no problems!
Anyone else have bad experiences with AMT or Revell car kits?
|
|
|
|
Post by James Smith on May 17, 2006 20:23:09 GMT -5
The only decent quality AMT model kit I ever bought was one of the General Lee ('69 Dodge Charger) - good quality, but slightly inaccurate in that it had the flush rear window from a Charger 500. Couple of other inaccuracies that I managed to sort as well. I'm told that you can make a much more accurate Lee out of several different AMT kits, but I don't think I'll bother after putting a fair amount of effort into this one. Revell on the other hand......got several great examples of their work including a 1/24 metal Revell kit of a 427ci Shelby Cobra in British Racing Green ;D It's my favourite of my 1/24s.
Favourite kits though were Bburago's 1/18 ones......*glances across at collection* '62 Ferrari 250GTO, '61 Jaguar E-Type, Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, '57 'Vette, Ferrari F40, Viper R/T 10 roadster and GTS coupé, Fiat 500L, VW Beetle. All excellent, my favourite being a toss-up between the GTO, the 500L and the E-Type.
|
|
|
|
Post by Atrahasis on May 18, 2006 6:59:11 GMT -5
Oh irony of ironies!
The very bad AMT kit I was talking about was my 2006 release of the General Lee! The plastic was brittle and cracked, probably indicating the mixture was wrong. There was flash and sprue pegs jutting out, indicating a very old mold. Was yours the older original release?
|
|
|
|
Post by James Smith on May 18, 2006 12:50:04 GMT -5
Oh irony of ironies! The very bad AMT kit I was talking about was my 2006 release of the General Lee! The plastic was brittle and cracked, probably indicating the mixture was wrong. There was flash and sprue pegs jutting out, indicating a very old mold. Was yours the older original release? Argh! Yep, mine was from a fairly early production run (God bless eBay). I had absolutely no trouble with any of the problems you mention, just the accuracy of the body shape and a few other small bits left a little to be desired. I take it they've re-released it to tie in with the 2005 movie? |
|
|
|
Post by Atrahasis on May 18, 2006 13:49:47 GMT -5
Yep....my 2006 release had a pic of a very reddish General Lee...but they should have done the courtesy of using fresh molds and the right plastic mixture. Come to think of it, if it was supposed to be the new redder General Lee, why was it molded in a color closer to the original orange? Someone was sleeping at the wheel or something.
|
|
|
|
Post by James Smith on May 19, 2006 9:35:12 GMT -5
Yep....my 2006 release had a pic of a very reddish General Lee...but they should have done the courtesy of using fresh molds and the right plastic mixture. Come to think of it, if it was supposed to be the new redder General Lee, why was it molded in a color closer to the original orange? Someone was sleeping at the wheel or something. 'The' General Lee (what the car was intended to look like consistently) was supposed to be painted Hemi Orange. Only problem is - if you look at the episodes, the two TV movies and the film, you'll see all kinds of shades of orange that vary from something that looks like Corvette Flame Red to Hemi Orange to Hugger Orange. The film cars are Hemi Orange I believe, as are the early Georgia episode cars (from the 1st five eps of season 1). For a while they were really inconsistent (in addition to different oranges you even see changes in the shape of the numbers, changes in the flag, the General changes between column shift and console shift, interior colour changes....) before they brought production back in-house and got some consistency back. But there were an awful lot of Lees built with different shades of orange over the years the show ran. My early kit is actually pretty much in between Flame Red and Hemi Orange, which in most lights looks "right". The more I think about it the more I'm tempted to go get a bunch of kits together to make an accurate Lee. There's a page on the North American GL Fan Club website that lists the needed parts. Does sound like AMT either rushed this new release out to the market or someone just plain screwed up really. ***edit*** Not surprising how inconsistent they were.....309 Chargers were destroyed making the show. 19 survived. And even if the cars were painted the same colour they could look different depending on the light/camera filter - two shots from the 2005 film here.   I can forgive AMT for getting the colour wrong.....but the rest of the problems indicate a pretty poor effort on their part. |
|
|
|
Post by Atrahasis on May 19, 2006 10:32:23 GMT -5
Thanks for the color info about the Lee!
My other AMT kit was the 2005-6 release of the Knight Rider car, which to my utter amazement was molded in a pale light grey!
And I mean all of it. That was quite a WTF moment when I opened the box...what is anyone supposed to do with a light grey Knight Rider anyways?
|
|
|
|
Post by James Smith on May 19, 2006 11:00:54 GMT -5
That is remarkably silly.....
|
|
|
|
Post by James Smith on May 20, 2006 9:12:56 GMT -5
Just for reference - my built up and slightly modified kit looks almost exactly like the one below, but with a flush rear window (like the Charger 500/Daytona has). Also, the front push bar on mine is slightly smaller.  |
|
|
|
Post by CaptainPierce on May 22, 2006 19:35:10 GMT -5
Just the good ol' boys Never meanin' no harm Beats all ya never saw Been in trouble with the law Since the day they was born We miss ya, Waylon...  |
|
|
|
Post by Atrahasis on May 23, 2006 7:04:42 GMT -5
Just for reference - my built up and slightly modified kit looks almost exactly like the one below, but with a flush rear window (like the Charger 500/Daytona has). Also, the front push bar on mine is slightly smaller. That's inspiring! But one question I have is this: Are the windshirld wipers supposed to be silver? I know they are on the box art, but I for one have never seen chromed wipers on a car. |
|
|
|
Post by James Smith on May 23, 2006 8:54:03 GMT -5
That's inspiring! But one question I have is this: Are the windshirld wipers supposed to be silver? I know they are on the box art, but I for one have never seen chromed wipers on a car. We-e-e-ll.....  They look like they've got chromed arms to me. And a friend in Coventry owns a black '69 Charger R/T that has chromed wiper arms as well. |
|
Hey buds, join 4shared now!
