1953 Corvette 1:25 Scale AMT Model Kit #910 Review

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1953 Corvette 1:25 Scale AMT Model Kit #910 Review

Review and Photos by Doug Cole

 Every Corvette is special but none, perhaps, more than the first one!  It was a car that should never have been born.  Built in a garage in Flint, MI development was kept under the radar from the top brass at GM for most of 1952.  Launched on a shoestring budget, there wasn’t any money for sheet metal dies so they turned to a newly developed medium: fiberglass, for the body panels.  Panned by hotrod enthusiasts of the day for lack of a V-8 or manual transmission, it was, not much more than a snappy little runabout.  Then something awesome happened in 1955!  The genius and enthusiasm of Zora Duntov jammed a V-8 under the hood and the legend of Corvette was on its way.  Today the Corvette is still a bargain priced luxury sports car (a Ferrari is over $230,000) and it’s stunning appearance and performance are the crown jewels of the GM lineup, but it never would have happened without the 1953 Corvette.

 

For the modeler: This is a review of the 1953 Corvette 1:25 Scale AMT Model Kit #910/12. It’s rated a Skill Level 2 kit by AMT for moderate builders.  That might be a little conservative as some of the assemblies take some advanced skills.  This is considered a Re-Release as the original kit was issued in the mid-seventies with an update around 1993. The kit is molded in White, Clear, Chrome and has soft vinyl tires. It comes with waterslide decals and instructions.  The custom version tires are tampo printed Goodyear Polyglas GT’s and the stock wheels are tampo printed wide whitewall tires.  The kit features a nicely detailed 23-piece Blue Flame Stovebolt Six engine. The engine looks good in the bay and it has a few other details to bring that part of the car to life.  The dashboard is well detailed and adds to the sharp looking interior.  The fact that this is an old tooling design does show up, so although this model can turn out to look like the audacious first Corvette did, it will take some work to get there.  One of the things you’ll probably run into is the ride height which can be corrected in most cases by taking some of the upper mating surfaces and lower door panels down with a rotary grinder.  Aside from that you’ll find the usual number of parting line flash and ejector pin marks present on many of the pieces.  Careful removal and sanding will address those issues.   This model can be built two ways as either stock or custom.  Overall dimensions are: Length: 6½”, Width: 2¾”, Height: 2¼”.

 

I went with the Americana style paint and decal set for this build and it turned out looking like someone’s SCCA racer from the time period with the kit supplied Polyglas tires and wire wheels.  This kit also includes a nice looking uptop that simply sits on the car for display.

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