Reviews : AMT 1955 Chevy Bel Air Sedan

I am a big fan of Round 2, but this one missed the mark for me. I have, and always will be, a big fan of the ’55 Bel Air. This model, out of the box, looks like it would be fun and featured enough parts to make it detailed and realistic. The interior builds up perfectly, and looks just neat. The body shell is gorgeous and looks just like the 1:1. Almost everything else is oversimplified and toy-like. The engine is simple. The engine bay is simple. The hood didn’t fit well. Fit was an issue with so many areas of the car. The bumpers didn’t fit well, and cleaning the bumpers takes off a considerable amount of chrome. The front grille fit, but cleaning it removed tons of chrome on the edges. Fitment was so iffy, I didn’t bother with the dahgmar bumper nubs. Fitting the body to the bottom pan was difficult, and I actually had to install the engine after I secured the upper and lower. Seriously, I had to put the model to the side multiple times just to recover from the constant planning, plotting, figuring, tinkering and surgery required to complete it. Once built, it looks just like a ’55 and is very beautiful. I’m just not sure it was worth it.

When I first opened and started off I was a little disappointed, but as I started planning how to approach the build my opinion changed. Yes some detail is lacking, the molded muffler is a bummer, but the interior and body are very good. I decided to go full blown custom and did some kit bashing. I narrowed the rear axle to use some extra wide tires and added mag wheels from another kit. I used the big block blown engine from AMT 1963 Corvette. I cut out the stock rear seat and used a modern seat insert I had from an AMT 1957 Ford Fairlane, along with the 2 bucket seats. I also cut out the molded muffler and shaved down the exhaust pipes so I can use some custom header pipes and mufflers to add a bit more realism. I'm now having to reengineer how the radiator piece will fit in and look proper. I'll be painting the top half using Tamiya TS45 pearl white and bottom half Tamiya T89 pearl blue. All the chrome molding will get bare metal foil. I'm having a lot of fun kit bashing with this model. There are a lot of great pictures in the gallery to get ideas. Whether you build out of the box or kit bash, enjoy the build.

I had to re-check the box art after opening this kit to make sure it actually said AMT. Made me a little sad. A chassis with single exhaust molded in, massive amounts of flash to trim and one of the two tire choices actually consists of the two matching larger tires for the rear and a mismatched pair for the front. Yes, two tires with actually different tread and sidewalls and a slightly different diameter. The rest of the kit is simplistic with a lot of warped parts and the aforementioned flash. The rear axle and leaf springs are cast together and the leaf springs are warped into a twist. If AMT held this forth as a Craftsman or Showroom edition I might feel a little better. To say something positive.... the stock wheel cover style wheels are nice as are the skinny whitewall tires. I almost feel guilty about this review, but in 60+ years of building model cars I've never had this negative of an opinion about an AMT product.

A rebox of AMT's 1991-ish release, it includes the same parts, molded in white. Features steerable front wheels, two engine options and two rim options. Full-detail front/rear suspensions. It does have an exhaust pipe/muffler molded into the chassis, however. Mine included a warped interior tub; thankfully Round 2 came through and sent a perfect replacement (took a couple weeks of waiting, though). Overall, it has nice details and makes a perfect canvas for either a stock or custom machine. Recommended.

This is a decent kit, there is some flash on the parts to clean up and the build can get a little tricky in the front suspension area, but overall the parts fitment is fair to good. The details are not as crisp as hoped for, especially the door panels, and the molded in single exhaust is a bit of a let-down. The chrome is good and the decals are colorful look very good.

In 50+ years of modeling this kit sure was a surprise from AMT. This was kit was the kit from hades that you hear about. It must have been the final kit made at the end of the shift on friday, before a 3 day weekend. Nothing fit together properly, lot of warpage, lots of parts missing or broken off the sprue then broken again. Just a bad kit all around.

Great kit overall. Personally I had no issues with this kit other than the normal stuff. Several great options for this kit. I was taken back to my childhood builds when I started this kit. Really fun and excellent for two tone paint. I plan on several more, and definitely recommend this kit highly for any serious model enthusiast.

Nicest 55 kit currently issued, especially after AMT expanded the decal sheet to include badges & scripts, needs gauges.. Now the not so good,the chassis plate with molded in exhaust leaves alot to be desired, posable steering is nice, but an undercarriage with seperate exhaust & suspension would be nicer...

One of my favorite kits to build! I could build this kit over and over again and not get tired of it! One piece of advice I can offer is to pay close attention when assembling the front suspension, it’s easy to get the right and left side uneven from each other.

My only issue with this kit was fitting the glass. The curve of the glass was not the same as the curve of the opening. Some very hot water and quick set epoxy fixed the problem. Otherwise a very nice kit and some leftovers for the parts box

Just a great kit all around. I love the body style anyway. Very little to trim and instructions are clear and accurate. A bit of trouble getting the body over the chassis without pulling parts loose. Other than that, things went very well.

Just received this kit, all I can say is WOW, I really don't see any flash worth mentioning. Plans are to make it as close as I can to the American Graffiti '55 Chevy. Once finished, I will post pictures of the finished model.

I will be building another one soon. Was some twisting to get all tires touching without rocking. Other wise went together very well. Options for engine and interior. Stock version has a little more detail. Little to no molding flash.

This kit has been around for years and the molds show it on this kit. Flash is everywhere, parts fit together with help. I understand its one of the most popular cars of all time so it would be reproduced multiple times.

This model is very nice. Reminds meca little of my grandfathers car. Arrived in excellent condition. Looking forward to putting it together. I will continue to shop at hobbilinc. Great service and delivery.

I have built this model twice in the past nicely detailed representation of a 55 Bel Air

The perfect kit if you like the old school Chevy's, good choice AMT

Very nice model! Made mine into a gasser. Little to no flashing.