K.I.T.T. Completed

Starbase101
Looks good, but needs 3 additional modifications to REALLY look like K.I.T.T. Black-out that glaring rear red lens, smoke tint the roof panels, and less likely to happen now that you're done is swap out the wheels from a different (non-K.R.) Firebird kit - the "bowling ball" hub caps are too small on the K.I.T.T. kit. Besides that, it looks good. Nice job on modifying the PMD seats - did you modify them or swap them out? The WIP photo album has no captions on any of the pictures to give details/insight at each step, and many of the album's photos are broken links (missing photos).

Villiers de Vos
Very nice. A classic.

Christian W
@starbase101 ... I don't see any different of the seats to the seats out of the kit. Which hub caps do you mean? I think from Aoshima? Because any kit by AMT/ERTL / MPC or Airfix have the same sprues. And the hub caps by Revell are to small in diameter. On my point of view, those rims looking pretty good. The only thing I'd change is a little wash on the rims.

I see 18 pictures in the wip 🙂

You're KITT is nice as it is. Okay, you could tint the rear lights and T-Tops but you don't have to. I built one in red - because it's my kit and I want it that way.
I saw in your wip, that you modified the center console. This is one imperfection of the KITT-kit after the 1988 release. The center console and the door panels are wrong. The most wrong part is the body. Each time, AMT/ERTL trew a new 3rd gen Pontiac Firebird Trans Am on the market, they changed the parts within the KITT-kit too. So you can find KITT-body with the fender fents (like KITT has!) out of the issues 1982 - 1988 and after that they are gone and there are some letterings on the fenders (GTA or Turbo - like yours) as well as the "Turbo"-badge on the b-pillar or the symbol of Indianapolis (Pace-Car) at the rocker rail / rocker panel and/or side strips, which KITT not realy had.
You've built your KITT quite nice. The chassis is nice and clean and the interior looks awesome! You did an awesome job on the instruments. Well done, well done.

Starbase101
Well, true about the cruddy changes having been done to the kit since its original release. All the raised details can be sanded off, but the missing fender vents is a bigger issue. Not all 3rd-gen Firebird kits have the same trees, and at least one MPC kit Firebird T-Roof (MPC 1-0832, 1:25) has the rims and hub caps as two separate pieces instead of the one-part chromed piece. (Those hub caps are also too small, but at least being a separate piece they can be more-easily swapped out with a different hub cap.) Also, a few of my Firebird kits have the fender vents as a separate piece that glues into the body from the inside instead of molded-in. So, different parts from different kits. I've collected nearly every 1982-1992 Firebird kit for "cherry-picking" parts to build an ultimate K.I.T.T., at least in 1:25 scale, before the Aoshima and DeAgostini kits came around.

Regarding the hub cap size, my comparison is to the actual Pontiac aluminum turbo-fin wheels and not the Aoshima kit. Ertl's rims have a fat edge around them and the molded-in hub caps are too small: nebula.wsimg.com/507..=0&alloworigin=1

Photo 14 of this project's WIP album (a different photo album) shows what looks maybe like modified PMD seats so I was just asking about that. (The kit's seat parts are too "square".)

And I did say the kit looks good, was simply offering a couple suggestions that could be made to the finished kit for looking more like the TV show's car (blacked-out tail lights and tinted roof panels).

Christian W
Thank you for your words. I didn't want to criticize your comment. Please, don't miss understand me.

As you wrote about the PMD seats, i had to look again to the pictures. My first thought was the use of the seats out of the Aoshima kit. But the right seat on the picture told me, that because of the angle of the left seat it looks really different.


I have to check the box of the red Trans Am. I can't remember that different of the rims. Could be, that my kit is still sealed.
I know about the body problems of the ERTL / MPC or AMT/ERTL kits. When I gathered my kits together it was still a surprise, which body will be packed *lol*. I know, that the black gold edition (1-0733) has the fender vents too. Or the yellow one (1-0783 / 6311), the earlier hard top (Q-0807 / 1-0808) or the red one on the box (6396).
I will tell: each kit before (c) 1985 has it's fender tents. As soon they brought the GTA, the fender vents were gone.

The Revell kit has them separately like you wrote: glued in from the inside. In my early years, I built my KITT out of one of those. Handbuild dash board and nose.

The Monogram Trans Am (2281 / 2202) (1/24) have nice fender vents too.

The ARII or LS kit (1/24) has some fender vents too. The rest is - hm. It makes a nice car in the shelf with tinted glas (because if the Camaro interior).

Good conversation!

Christian W
I checked my red Trans Am. Mine has the same sprue like the KITT kit as well as the first (and only) issue of the Coupe. Hmm.
[img1]

Funny detail: this edition didn't have the scanner in the front. After KITT, each F-Body 3rd generation has it 🙂
[img1]

;)

Starbase101
Oops, my bad - wrong kit regarding the rims (too many Firebird kits = easily confused). The kit with separate rims and hub caps is the Revell kit, '83 Firebird (Revell 7247, 1:25)

Here is a comparison pic. ibb.co/tMjmVt5

On the left is the Revell rim and hub cap. The hub cap is too small and missing a Pontiac emblem in the center, but at least is separate from the rim so a custom properly-sized cap can be used instead. (I plan to 3D print a set from resin for using with these rims.) The Revell rim has a better shape and "crisper" definition than the MPC rim. On the right is the MPC rim/cap combo with the chrome stripped off (they should be painted aluminum rather than chrome). The hub cap is larger than the Revell cap, but is still too small for the rim - too much of the "fins" are visible around the cap, and the outer ring is too wide (where it would touch the tire).

But, I never meant to "hijack" this thread with a discussion about MPC K.I.T.T. model inaccuracies. Schmobeard did a nice job with the parts available in the box, but in my opinion the tail light and roof panels detract from the "stealth" styling of the actual car.

Rod -
Aoshima do a very nice kitt kit. I've made an led scanner with an Arduino board that should fit in anything 1/24 ~ 1/25

Christian W
There I'd be Interested in buying one or two 🙂
Since 2002 I'm building on a KITT slot car. It's painted ect and prepared for all lights. The time, before I got to use to know those SMD LED.
I think, I'd show them in my KITT album

Rod -
Video of my home made scanner
Youtube Video

Christian W
Awesome!