1962 Ford Thunderbird Convertible AMT #30081 Review

RoR SnapShot Review 20120110* – 1962 Ford Thunderbird Convertible AMT #30081 Review
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Review and Photos by Marty and Stephanie Oberman

 AMT/ERTL’s ’62 Ford Thunderbird convertible kit (#30081) is part of a class of newly-tooled kits of previously unavailable subjects issued around 2000 by AMT, of which included the ’71 Plymouth Duster and ’58 Belvedere. By all respects, they were well-engineered and designed kits that satisfied modelers’ cravings for new subject matter. They were immediately successful and enjoyed a wave of prosperity while issuing these new kits.

Overall, the ’62 T-Bird was a complete joy to build…the 390c.i. V-8 engine was realistic-looking, the chassis included poseable steering, and the majority of the kit pretty much fell together. I had a lot of fun building it. There were only two negative issues with this kit; one was complaints from some folks about the windshield glass being too small to fit inside the frame properly. I tested a trick I learned with other convertible kits: I first installed the windshield frame into the body (which secures it under the cowl as opposed to above it), then glued the interior tub into the body. Once done, I carefully slid the glass between the dashboard and frame and glued it into place. Voila! It worked like a charm! Any gaps are barely noticeable.

The other issue is the center console piece, which should flow from the bottom of the dashboard as if it were one complete unit. Unfortunately, the contact points for the console in the interior floor leave it a good 1/4″ away from the bottom of the dashboard when everything is assembled. My advice to the modeler is to cut off the contact points on the console, and dry-fit it with the dashboard installed until it lines up properly, then glue in place.

Other than the console issue, I had a great time building this beautiful vehicle, and would do so again in a heartbeat, especially now that I’m aware of the console issue. What rating would I give it? An easy 4 stars out of five! Yes, that’s how nice the rest of this well-detailed kit was to build. I’m already planning the color scheme for the next one I build, now that I’ve finished this one in DupliColor Hampstead Green with DupliColor “Vinyl and Fabric” gray interior. I highly recommend this kit to everyone.

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