Bob Ellis Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 Whether they scale out exactly to 13", I don't know. I do know that tire was used for the AMT Nova, Corvair, Valiant, Mustang and Pinto. Maybe others too.
Snake45 Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) Whether they scale out exactly to 13", I don't know. I do know that tire was used for the AMT Nova, Corvair, Valiant, Mustang and Pinto. Maybe others too. I only ever saw that tire on the annual Corvairs and the original Get Smart Sunbeam Alpine. I know it was NOT in the AMT '66 Mustang kits (those had the Firestone Supremes). Pinto makes sense. What Novas--the pre-'66 ones? Edited January 8, 2015 by Snake45
Don Sikora II Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 Do they scale out to/measure 13" in diameter? I'm asking because, well, see post #169 above, please. They're right, the Ohio George Ranchero has the old AMT "compact car tire" or a retooled version of it. I looked at my Ranchero and an original tire from a '65 Corvair annual. They aren't exactly the same even though they look very similar. The Ranchero tires are missing a rib that sits in the middle of the "hole" in the "old" tire that I assume was used to help center the wheels in the tire. The diameter of the hole that the wheel fits into in the Ranchero tire is slightly larger too....the battery in my digital caliper is dead so no measurements. More importantly, the wheels in the reissued Corvair kit actually date to the Ertl-era Prestige Series release of the kit. Ertl supplied the hollow Firestone Super Sports that are also in the new kit. The Prestige kit was the first to have the stock '69 hubcaps and it seems they were tooled to fit that Firestone tire. Makes sense since that's the tire Ertl decided to use in the kit. The slot mags were revised to fit that tire too. If you look at the back side of the wheel compared to an earlier issue of the kit you can see plastic was added so the wheel would sit properly in the wider Firestones. The stock hubcaps are too deep/wide for the Ranchero's compact car tire (they pass all the way though), and the diameter is smaller so it drops right through the tire too. Didn't check them, but it's very possible Ertl messed with the inner wheels to fit the Firestones too. Have no idea how the wheels fit those skinny Michelins. The stock hubcaps from the Prestige kit won't fit the tire from the '65 annual either. So, I guess it seems the new kit has the Firestones because that's the tire that fits the existing wheels.
250 Testa Rossa Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 I usually replace the tires with Modelhaus items.
Bob Ellis Posted January 8, 2015 Posted January 8, 2015 The '62-63 and '65 Novas, and '64-65 Mustangs had the small tire. Is the Ohio George tire a copy , or original AMT compact tire?
250 Testa Rossa Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 The '62-63 and '65 Novas, and '64-65 Mustangs had the small tire. Is the Ohio George tire a copy , or original AMT compact tire? I don't even know.
67airvair Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 All, Let me introduce myself, having just joined this forum, courtesy of a friend. I am Mark Corbin. Perhaps you have seen my name in the Modelhaus catalog, as I have originated several of his Corvair offerings. I have been building models for over 50 years. The first car model I built was the '61 Corvair Rampside by Premier, which I still have. I've had probably about all the Corvair models that AMT ever issued, though I have generally avoided models that I couldn't build as stock vehicles. Some of the items I've mastered or originated for Modelhaus have been the '66-7 Monza 4 door, the turbo kit, the uptop, '68-9 headrests, and the automatic trans conversion kit. I also pushed Don into repopping a number of replacement parts, such as the Corsa dash, rear axle, and various other parts. Several of the models I did recently, for my own pleasure, were a '67 Monza wagon, a '66 500 2 door sedan, a '65 Monza convertible w/right hand drive, and a '62 Monza wagon. The first two are modifications of the '66-7 4 door conversion kit and a kit model, respectively. The '65 convertible is a small version of an Aussie friend's real car, one that he converted to right hand drive, and complete with Corsa dash, factory air conditioning, automatic trans and stereo multiplex, all of which I faithfully reproduced in the finished model. The '62 wagon is a resin model that I have had for many years, just never got around to finishing it until lately. I've attached photos of three of these, hope they make it through. Anyway, it's good to see that there is such interest in Corvair models. Maybe it will help me prod more parts and new kits from some of the resin makers. In the mean time, I'll keep working on my full-sized Corvair,and when it's too cold to work on it, the small ones as well. I love seeing what others have been doing, and all the discussion of the new reissues. -Mark
Drake69 Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 Station wagon conversion = Awesome idea! I'd want to do a 2-door version though, but it looks great!
250 Testa Rossa Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 I would love to have a Sport Sedan in my collection, since I have so many spare frames.
Snake45 Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 67airvair, could we see some more pics of that green one? Hard to tell from the pic but it looks like you've done something interesting with the roof.
Chuck Most Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 The '62-63 and '65 Novas, and '64-65 Mustangs had the small tire. Is the Ohio George tire a copy , or original AMT compact tire? The OG Ranchero tires look to be a pretty close copy of the original AMT compact tire. I have a set of tires from an early issue of the AMT Corvair and the tires are about the same size.
67airvair Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 More pictures of the 2 door sedan? Sure thing. This is the full set of quarter shots. The rear roof around the backlite, plus the air intake grille was the section I cut off the resin 4 door after I grafted the wagon section to it for the LM wagon. I looked at the section, and decided to make a traditional 2 door sedan, like auto makers would normally do, and Chevy did with the Biscayne and Chevelle 300 base 2 door sedans. The drip molding, however, was just the coupe drip molding shortened a little and bent down to the right spot. I also added the sedan "B" pillar from scrap flat stock,and I had to do a little fill work with the "C" pillar to blend it in. Over the years, I've made a number of 4 door hardtops from the coupe models, the first one in '67. So this 2 door sedan was a piece of cake for me. The worst part of this 2 door 500 model was actually finding a suitable 2 door bench seat. I was lucky in finding one in my junk box, so I have no idea what model it's from. But it fit like a glove, with just a little shaved off the bottom to give it the right height. But as interesting as this model is, the wagon is, to me, even more interesting; Unfortunately, what makes it interesting doesn't show on the outside. I made it on a promo chassis, with an extended tub, and interlocking those two pieces together with the body. It required some real precision fabrication, and that made it a real fun challenge for me. I really need to disassemble it so I can shoot some pictures of the construction. -Mark
67airvair Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 Hey 250 Testa Rosa, the 4 door hardtop conversion kit is available from Modelhaus. If you need more info, just ask. -Mark
67airvair Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 BTW, in looking thru some of the posts, i see it was mentioned about the difficulty of working with resin kits. One thing I'd like to point out about the LM Corvair 4 door resin conversion kits from Modelhaus is that they are virtual drop-in parts. There is almost no cutting, grinding, filing, etc. whatsoever to fit it to the kit parts. It's the best fit resin conversion I've ever seen, and I've done many resin kits over the last 20-30 or so years. -Mark
unclescott58 Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 Hey Mark welcome to the forum. Very cool builds. With the latest release of the Corvair kit, my plan is to buy your Sport Sedan body from Modelhaus. I don't need to add another Sport Coupe to my collection. And after 4-door convertibles, my next favorite body style in most any car is a 4-door Hardtop. And only Corvair offered an American 4-door hardtop in their compact line (I do not consider the '56 - '60 Rambler hardtops true compacts). Scott
samdiego Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 (edited) 67airvair, could we see some more pics of that green one? Hard to tell from the pic but it looks like you've done something interesting with the roof. I'd like to see pics of the 62. It almost seems that the Corvair is still under the radar price wise, so, keep it down (although I'm sure that's changing). They have been on the collectible car list since the 70s. My Dad and I were Clark's customers back then. I've got a white Franklin Mint '60, nice, heavy, but still die- casty and expensive and I don't want to modify it. It's in the background in my photos earlier here. Edited January 10, 2015 by samdiego
tim boyd Posted January 10, 2015 Posted January 10, 2015 Mark...thanks for the postings and for your work with Don. I especially enjoyed your "phantom" two door sedan and thanks for posting additional photos of that. Best Regards...TIM
67airvair Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Thanks all for the compliments! Hey Scott! I'll have to shoot some pics of the 62 wagon and post them. It's a very old resin conversion, and I had to hand carve the air intake slots in it plus some other adjustments. But the tub was the worst mod job to do. Will have to explain it when I post the pics. As for a convert, Modelhaus does offer a windshield frame conversion part that can be grafted into a coupe body. They also have my convertible uptop master and a repop boot. The uptop can be fitted so that it will clip into the roofless body and convertible tub combo, so that it can be displayed in either mode. They also offer a repop of the '66 Corsa convert promo body. And don't forget the turbo kit, which has a real turbo tail pipe, which was never offered in the kit. Also the automatic trans conversion kit. Both are off my masters, and fit as drop-in parts. -Mark
Snake45 Posted January 11, 2015 Posted January 11, 2015 Also the automatic trans conversion kit. Both are off my masters, and fit as drop-in parts. -Mark First, thanks for the added pics of the sedan. That's a very cool looking car! Now, about your auto trans conversion kit. Is that everything I'd need to put on the Parts Pack Corvair engine and then drop the whole thing as a unit into a model? I have at least one idea for a Corvair-powered but non-Corvair model, and need an extra transaxle or two to pull them off. Auto trans is okay for my purposes, I just need something between the engine and the rear axles.
67airvair Posted January 12, 2015 Posted January 12, 2015 Yea, the automatic trans conversion kit comes with a left and right half engine/transaxle parts, automatic trans oil pan, and LM Monza dash with the shifter on the dash. They are pure drop-in substitutes for the stock. full-car kit parts. It wasn't designed to be used on the parts pack kit that has an all-chrome EM 145 cube engine, along with a blown Chrysler engine. That engine only goes as far as the bell housing and doesn't include the transaxle. It's also split horizontally, whereas the car kit engine is split vertically and doesn't have a transaxle. Not sure how the mating would be for that particular AMT offering, but I suppose it could be done. -Mark
250 Testa Rossa Posted January 24, 2015 Posted January 24, 2015 For those of you that just want the '65 style hubcaps, Missing Link offers them via eBay.
67airvair Posted January 31, 2015 Posted January 31, 2015 Speaking of repop parts, I wonder how many people would be interested in having repopped rear lower struts available. I seem to have a problem with losing them. One I was spray painting with the aid of an alligator clip. Suddenly the clip snapped, and the strut went *PING* flying off God-knows-where. Another I lost just the other day, when a set of pliers slipped and snapped it off the trailing arm that it was glued onto. I'm going to try to talk Modelhaus into repopping them, and I need some backing to convince him. BTW, does everyone know there are two lengths to them? Put a pair from a kit side by side and see.
w451973 Posted January 31, 2015 Posted January 31, 2015 It sure would be nice to have a van or rampside.
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