AMT 1/25 2012 Corvette C6 Convertible Build Review

By Phil Cooley, Front Range Auto Modelers (FRAM)

Review

This my building impression of the 1/25 scale AMT/Round 2 2012 Corvette C6 convertible, curbside. It is a follow up to the "in the Box" review I wrote in May of 2012.

It figures.... .  Now that Chevrolet has introduced the C7 Corvette, I am finally getting around to building AMT/Round 2's C6 convertible.  This is a curbside kit with no options, save for a couple of decals.  Out of the box, it can be built one way—stock.

As it is basically an unbuilt promo, it goes together well.  The body needed almost no preparation, except for cleaning, prior to painting.  The factory didn't build any C6's with a  paint scheme like mine—when I started planning my build and got to looking at the body, it just seemed like a two-tone using the body's lines was a natural.  I used both Testor's One Coat lacquers and one of their candy enamels to come up with the finish you see in the pictures.

First I painted the body with a light-to-medium green color One Coat Lacquer (I don't remember the name and the color is discontinued).  Then I masked it off using Tamiya's 1/4" and 1" masking tape.  I shot 2 coats of the Testor's Emerald Green One Coat Lacquer, taking the tape off immediately after the second coat.  Then it went into my dehydrator for a couple of hours.  I lightly sanded a couple of flaws with 3600, then 4,000 and 6,000 grit, cleaned the body, then shot 3 coats of Testor's  Candy Green Enamel.  That too, went into the dehydrator and the next day I had a nice two-tone, green C6 convertible.  (When you paint yours, don't forget the mirrors—they need to be painted the same color as the body).

I fogged the light-to-medium green onto the sides, front and rear of the chassis and hand painted the suspension and exhaust components.  The chassis is not as nice as the full-detail Revell C6's, but does look fairly convincing.

You have to be observant with the wheels and tires—this kit has big and little wheels/tires, though they are the same style.  The wider tires and wheels are for the back, but you can easily put a front tire on one of the rear wheels, and vice versa.  You might not notice if you put a front tire on a rear wheel, but you should notice if you put one of the rear tires on a front wheel, as it will be slightly loose. 

I had some difficulty getting the wire axles to fit into the wheels.  I don't know if the plating process used on the wheels made the holes too small for the axles, or what.  I was able to get the axles to go into the wheels by chucking them in my drill and "drilling" the axle into the wheel.

The interior of the kit features molded vinyl seats.  This is OK, but using regular brush paint won't work, as the seats are flexible.  Some people have had success using acrylic paints on the vinyl seats.  I decided to go a different route.  I used Dupli-Color Fabric and Vinyl Dye, the same stuff you can use to dye the interior on your full scale car.  I really like this product and think the C6's interior came out nice.  I modeled my interior after a real C6's in champagne and black.

As I noted in my "In the Box" review, some of the decals are a little flimsy and AMT/Round 2 includes two of each, "just in case".  I am glad they did, because there are many details you just can't add to one of these kits, without them.  (I had some difficulty with the side marker lights and one of the seat decals as you can see in the interior pic).  One set of decals I really appreciate, are those for the dashboard.  I can't imagine trying to detail paint molded in gauges/images on this model.  It's much easier (and more realistic) to use decals.  Two other minor issues I have about the decals is the Corvette flags don't show up very well on the dark green body and where to put the flag on the rear body panel is a little vague.

The only other slightly negative thing about the kit is the tailights are molded in clear.  I understand this, as it saves money.  It was easy to rectify with some Testor's Stop Light Red, which I also used to paint the center mounted stop light.

I'm quite pleased with the final result and I want to thank AMT/Round 2 for the kit to review.  I do have a follow up Q, though—when will we see a C7?

My sincere thanks to Round2 Models for this review sample