Kit: No. 6268
Scale: 1/25
Manufacturer: AMT/Ertl, P.O. Box 500, Dyersville, IA 53040-0500, phone 800-553-4886
Price: $11
Comments: Injection molded, 106 parts, decals.
The W-30 ultra-high-performance option, first offered by Oldsmobile in 1966, was kept a secret from most buyers and dealers. Street legal, the package consisted of a 4-4-2 with a hotter 308-degree camshaft, the L-69 triple two-barrel carburetor (available only on 4-4-2s equipped with three- or four-speed manual transmissions), a 433 gears in the rear end, and the seldom-seen forced air system. Only 54 of the factory-made originals were produced, but buyers equipped many 4-4-2s with over-the-counter W-30 parts.
This new kit from AMT has all the visuals: 4-4-2 badges front and rear, dash-mounted tachometer, console-mounted manifold vacuum pressure gauge, the 400-ci, 360-horsepower engine, and tires with grooved sidewalls for those who wish to paint the red lines.
The body is almost free of mold marks, and the engine and chassis have good detail. The assembled interior looks just like photos and drawings found in Olds sales brochures. The only flaw I found was a sinkhole on top of the left front fender just behind the headlight frame.
The 17-step assembly drawings, generally easy to follow, show parts numbered to match the parts trees and have lettered detail color suggestions. However, the parts aren’t named, and there is no factory interior/exterior color list.
Following the order of assembly, I ran into several problems. In step 1, the alignment guides on one of the identical heads (part Nos. 3) were molded backwards and had to be filed off.
In step 4, the assembled wheels are too wide for the tires, and the rims of the wheels are molded thicker than scale, making the wheels stick out from the tires in an unsightly manner. The fit of the wheel keepers (44) into the inner wheel halves (43) is sloppy. Once the wheels are mounted to the axles in step 12, there is too much distance between the inside of the wheels and the wheel stops, allowing the wheels to wobble.
Not enough space was provided between the windshield and the dash top to accommodate the tach (511) as shown in step 6. Exhaust pipes (32 and 33) shown in step 9 must be mounted under bending tension. The location of parts 40 (I don’t know what they’re supposed to be) in step 11 is vague, and the position of the windshield washer bottle in step 15 is equally unclear.
Oddly, a tie rod to connect the steerable front wheels was not included in the kit. Trim strips that separate the steel body from a factory-installed vinyl roof are molded on, but the roof has no seams or texture. If I were to do this kit again, I’d sand off the trim strips and paint the roof the same as the body.
The biggest problem is the mounting of the body to the chassis in step 14. The inner front fender wells do not fit over the fan belt assembly installed in step 3. To mount the body without breaking something, the fan, fan belt (step 3), and the radiator (step 12) should be installed after step 14. You will need to slip the radiator fan opening over the fan before lowering the belt/radiator assembly between the front of the engine block and the radiator support deck.
Motorbooks International’s Oldsmobile 4-4-2 & W-Machines Restoration Guide by T. Patrick Sullivan provided names for parts, original photos, and a complete interior/exterior color list. The 4-4-2 Club Internet website (www.sns-access.com/~ lamackey/442club/66_442.html) has color images from the Olds sales brochure.
Solving the fit and assembly problems and applying chrome foil to all the trim will give beginners headaches. I spent 22 hours on mine, more time than I expected.
The finished model reflects one of the most attractive Oldsmobiles of all time. It sits a bit high in the back, whereas photos show the real car level. Regardless, it looks great alongside my Lindberg ’67 Olds 4-4-2.
– Al Jones