1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS – AMT Ertl

Ray

9 years ago

70chevelleSS (1) I’ve had my eyes on a proper Chevelle model for years now, but Revell’s line-up sadly only had a SnapTite Chevelle and a DONK Chevelle which I uh, yeah I’d rather not. Also the scale bothered me, them both being 1/24. Their more recent Baldwin Motion Chevelle is claimed to be a 1/25 but is really a 1/24, though I might buy it purely cause it’s a proper Revell Chevelle. And along comes AMT!

Now AMT’s had a Chevelle in their line-up for years now, before it was just a good representation of the ’70 454 SS, now they wrapped it into a new box as a promo for the Jack Reacher movie in which Tom Cruise jacks a Chevelle and chases the bad guys with it, wrecking it quite significantly.

Thanks to the newer release it does have some extra options, though it’s a bit standard of AMT nowadays to re-release a old kit with hardly a thing changed about the mold, just with better decals and pad printed tires. For instance, like the old kit, it’s a crude mold with a fair amount of flash, hardly any interior and engine bay detail(bar the engine block itself, which looks nifty) and missing bits like the mirrors to name one.

Also, just like the old kit, the metal bar running through the rear axle to which the wheels are attached is too big and the tires are just too small for the wheels/wheel backings so one or the other will not sit right and pop out. Another thing that really irked me about the kit is that while the white decals(the non box-cover one, go figure) are properly transparent between the outer and inner lines. The black ones has a white stripe inbetween, literally making it impossible to replicate the car on the box. Oh and the firewall is meant to just hover on the engine block, that’s a thing apparently. I just glued it stuck to the interior tub.

It’s one of those cases where half the kit is unparalleled and beautiful like the bodywork and front fascia, but then there’s the other half where you spend half a day working on making sure the wheels fit by constantly drilling a little deeper hole, the interior actually wanting to meet the chassis and the hood wanting to shut.

Though I’m just whining, forgive me for that. I love the car and I do still love the kit with the flaws in mind, it’s a great little project to invest a day or two into to make a very, very nice model. I attached some photo-etched hood pins, couple of engine wires and worked about half a day on the front, it was totally worth it.

Now if only we could get a ’72 Chevelle too from either Revell or AMT!