I am closing in on finishing up my AMT 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, and I though I would do a "mild custom". Never done a custom car before, and I didn't what to go too overboard. Here are a couple of pics to "wet the appetite":


Colors are Dupli-Color Gloss Black over Rustoleum Gloss Apple Red.

Here's a (not very good) shot of the dash:

I used Best Model Car Parts dash gauges.

Jim

Jim,
The paint and chrome work looks really good, as does that custom dash. You need to keep in mind that it's greater then life size, so every little issue will both show and be magnified way more then what it will actually look like.

Joel

Great colour combo and really nice work so far Jim, love seeing another Tri-5 build coming through.

BOWTIE RULES !!! 😁

Cheers, D

Thanks, guys.

Joel, I was talking about the photography; not the dash. I'm actually quite pleased with the dash (fingerprint & all).

Damian, I knew you'd like it!

Jim

Excellent work James. You can never go wrong, with that color combo, on a '55 Chevy.

Thanks, Jesper.

Jim

Jim,
Since you were referring to the photography aspect of the Dash picture, exactly what are your concerns and issues?

Personally, I don't bother with my photo setup of 3 lights & neutral background, tripod, and two lenses when I'm shooting build pics as it takes to much time and effort. I thought that your Dash pic was pretty good especially since it's a macro image.

Joel

Joel,

I suppose that since I'm taking my photos for the site with my phone, and I'm trying to make them as small as possible so I have space on the Kitmaker drive; I probably shouldn't be concerned that my photos of something so small are a little out of focus.

Speaking of photos, hopefully more to come!

Jim

Jim,
Most cell phone cameras have some type of close up function, so go that route. if possible natural or room light is preferred so that you can avoid the flash glare, but at times you've got no choice as there's just not enough light.

As long as you stay within the focus range, you can just crop to enlarge the subject. But the main thing is that we can see your work and appreciate your efforts.

Joel

So, the good news is I managed to get the interior completed on the '55 Bel Air!





The bad new is, I can't get the body, interior, & chassis to all fit together. I'm sure the fact that I've had a bad week doesn't help matters, either.

Jim

I feel your pain James. I have the same problem, with my '55 Nomad. I have grinded the inside, of the chassis, the bottom of the interior section, but still something is still preventing a good fit.

Jim, nice work on the interior, great colour combo.

I can sympathise with both of you. The process of carefully test fitting and tweaking and grinding and trying not to force things and cracking glue joins, bits falling off, paint chipping. All too familiar to me with the AMT kits, but for the cars that we love and want to build, we don't have much choice.

Cheers, D

Thanks for the compliments, guys, and for commiserating with my about the fit. I once heard that AMT stands for "All Most There", and that person wasn't too far off! Unlike AMT.

I should have some time later this week to whip out the round file & attack the underside of the interior to try to get it to fit better. I'm not holding out much hope, though.

Jim

Guys,
3 tails of fit issues on AMT kits. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. I have 3 AMT 1/25 scale Indy car kits (with more to come), and I sure hope that the body fits the chassis.

Joel

Joel,

I have no experience with the AMT Indy car kits, so I cannot speak for them; however, I think the fit issues with AMT have a lot to do with how old some of the molds are. Let's face it, some of them are almost 40 years old; and that's old for injection molds. I can speak from experience that the body fit well on my AMT 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396,



and the fit was ok on my AMTY 1925 Model T Fruit Wagon.


Fit on the AMT truck kits is hit or miss (mostly miss), and usually range from mediocre to horrible.

Jim

Jim,
That SS396 Chevelle looks great. I do remember riding in one of my friends SS396, and you were generally pinned to the back of the seat most of the time.

Those AMT Indy car kits are the only game in town, and even they are really hard to find, and cost big bucks these days. So sooner then later, I'm going to build one.

Joel

Thanks for the complements on the Chevelle.

I've been looking for a Revell Indy car kit. Any Revell Indy car kit, but they are really rare. There's a show in Syracuse this Sunday, so who knows.

Jim

Well, the 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air is finally done. There are some kits that you build, and you say to yourself, "I'd build that again." Well, this isn't one of those kits. It's together, it looks the part, and I'm moderately pleased with the results. The driver's side mirror is from the Revell 1957 Ford Gasser kit, the radio antenna is a straight pin, and I have no idea where the rear view mirror is from.











Jim

Very nice build James. The wheels really give it a tough look.

Glad you overcame the fitting issues.

James,
Congrats on crossing your finish line. Overall, I'd say you did one fantastic job on the build.

As for this kit isn't on your I would build it again list, it got me thinking that honestly most of the older kits that I've built just because their the only game in town, I wouldn't want to build them again either. I guess I'm just spoiled every time I build one of the current kits from my top company list. Just no real comparison to the level of detail, accuracy, fit, and even the decals are either Cartograf printed, or Cartograf quality.

Joel

Thanks, guys. I like the look of the Centerlines, too.

Jim

Nice work getting this one across the line Jim, these old AMT kits are definitely a challenge. Like the others, I think the Centreline rims add a degree of "toughness" to the look of these old units.

With the popularity of early auto models around the world, I'm really surprised that one of the big companies hasn't dipped their toe in the early muscle-car water yet. Just imagine if Tamiya released a '57 Chev or a '65 Mustang or a '71 Hemi 'Cuda !!!

Cheers, D

D,
If any of the Big Boys do start to mod American Hot Rod Iron, eve this sports car guy would be jumping on that bandwagon for sure.

Joel

Thanks, D.

I think that if Tamiya or Moebius jumped in to the muscle car game, then we'd have some really well engineered kits. They'd probably cost three times as much as an AMT or MPC kit, but they'd be really nice!

Jim

I think Meng has flirted with the auto market - they put out a fantastic Ford F350, a Hummer H1 and a Jeep Wrangler in 1/24 or 25 (the F350 is also in 1/35 for the military crowd). Quite expensive but very nice models. I'd love to see them put out a 57 or 58 Chevy.