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AMT 1:25 'Surf Woody' model kit


richellis

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'Surf Woody' custom car

1:25 kit from AMT

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Here we have something completely different, a scale model of a car built by George Barris of Barris Kustoms in the USA. If you don’t know the Barris name you probably know his work including the original Batmobile (from the 60s TV series) and many more film and TV vehicles. The ‘Surf Woody’ was created to carry a motorised surf board with its twin rear wheels to help it drive on the beach and with this kit you can build one of 3 versions, the Surf Woody, Surf Hearse or as a Street Rod. The kit comes in box and is packed with parts, most of the kit is moulded in a bright orange with a couple of chrome sprues and the clear parts, remember it is an old kit so there is flash on the parts, nothing that will take too much to trim and sand clean.

 In the box you get a nice booklet showing pictures of the real car, a nice touch as details on the real vehicles are sparse as the real one seems to have vanished into a garage or barn presently.

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The build starts with the much modified Ford Cobra engine and there is a lot of chrome parts, I will be stripping the chrome and redoing myself as the chrome looks a little ‘toy’ like and some parts will need joining, the seams dealing with. The engine is a typical customised engine with a couple of massive supercharges poking out of the bonnet (hood) and with some help from the booklet you could add some detail to the engine with some HT leads and other cables.

The instructions now move on to the tubular chassis along with the axles and suspension with some nice fine parts that will make a well detailed unit, including the Mercedes rear axle system and the front beam type axle.

There are differences here between the 3 vehicles so you will need to make a decision on the version your building.

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The wheels are also built up in this stage, they all have ‘astro’ style rims with big duel wheels for the Surf and Hearse Woodys the wheels finish with some rubber tyres with white rings on the wall, be careful here as 2 tyres have tread for the front wheels, and there are 4 slick tyres for the back axle that are slightly taller too. Read, look again, and check you have the correct parts for the version you are building as the instructions are not very clear.

Section 3 splits in two, depending on what you build, firstly the Surf or Hearse woody, the seats are very unusual being ‘Airfoam’ seats, basically lots of narrow horizontal cushions on a shaped frame that in the real vehicle ‘rock in a wave like motion’ possibly not great if you get car sick! You also get the luxury of a Sony TV, car phone and a Muntz 6 speaker stereo with tape player, but oddly no steering wheel or column? The roadster has more conventional seats and a steering wheel! Both versions have a chrome fuel tank made from a 10-gallon beer keg behind the seats.

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The main body comes as a single moulded part in the same orange plastic, there are some strengthening bars that need removing, 2 at the back and one at the front, don’t remove the one closest to the front as this needs to stay. In the nose is a headlamp pod that is built up and sandwiched between the upper body and a lower nose, if you are careful this can be made to rotate between the clean nose, or to show the horizontal fluorescent tube headlamps.

Now the 3 versions split on the instructions to finish the upper body, both the hearse and the woody have a box type body that has some large decals for the murals on the sides, with the roadster getting a flat rear deck and low windscreen.

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You get a clear sprue, and a second that has a retro orange tint, both are the same so you can choose to suit your build. Both look to a scale thickness and they are bagged separately to save them from getting scratched in the box.

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A decals sheet is included and is well printed it includes some nice surfer murals for the surf woody, with some wood effect decals for the outside of the body, and other details and scrolls for the bodywork. The sheet gives details of where each decal should go, but take your time as some will need to be applied before putting the parts together, study the construction sequence again before making a start on this build.

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In the box you get a stand/ backdrop for your finished model, this comes flat and will need folding and sticking together to get the best from it, mine is just temporarily held for the photo.

Conclusion

Now this is something completely different, straight from the mind of George Barris, onto your model bench! Not the most straight forward instructions I’ve seen, so go through the option you want to build, and make a plan of action!

One for someone who likes something unusual!

 

Review sample courtesy of

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