The AMT Stingaree first appeared in 1971, saw the light of day again back in 2008, and now Round 2 has brought it back as part of its Retro Deluxe line. It includes plenty of chrome parts, pad-printed rear slicks, an expanded decal sheet, and even a tiny replica of the model box.
I dug in with the six-piece body. The rear (Part 8) does not fit very well or positively, but once it is cemented in place it is not difficult to fill the seams and shape it to flow with the main body. I filled and shaped a seam where the front lower valence (Part 9) attached to the nose.
Rather than assemble the body in the order shown in the instructions, I found it easier to add the lower sides (parts 6 and 7) to the main rear section and then cement the front to that assembly. I used superglue as filler and roughed it all out with 320-grit wet sandpaper.
After the first coat of primer, I filled the low spots and wet-sanded with 400-grit sandpaper to finish the seams. It only took 2-3 hours of work to get the body ready for paint. Despite how rough the body may look when first assembled, it is actually pretty easy to sand into a smooth, single piece.
I painted the body with a metallic blue lacquer called Body Shop by Dupli-Color. It covered very well and the metallic was not as coarse as I expected. But for this project, I wanted a lot of metallic. So when I clear-coated it with two-part urethane, I added a few drops of the metallic blue into the clear to create a dune buggy/bass boat grade of flake. I declined to use the colorful flame decals — though there are many and Round 2 has its decal game down — because the colors really didn't go with the blue.
The frame has several chrome plated parts that I intended to use as such. However, I also wanted the basic frame to be assembled to make painting easier. Be aware the frame needs some of those chrome parts to true it up. Therefore, on my build, they became the same color as the frame.
The engine features plenty of chrome, but the sprue attachment points are visible on most of those pieces. Understandable for a kit of its era, but a bit of a bummer. Rather than touch them up with silver paint, I used various shades of grays and black to busy up the look. I accentuated the molded-in texture on the valve covers by applying flat black from the can in several light dry passes. The engine parts fit OK, except for the blower belt (Part 20). To get it straight, I cut off the middle and lower mounting posts and drilled the hole in the front of the blower (Part 37) to allow fore and aft adjustment of the belt.
The instructions do not show the rear hinge/body mount (Part 9) or the two body supports (parts 23) to display the model with the body in the up position; the latter seemed obvious, but might not be to some modelers. There are two pairs of holes in the rear of the frame rails. The instructions show the shocks cemented to the rearmost holes, but it seemed logical that they were for the hinge as it fit well there and allowed for movement. I installed the shocks in the forward holes and they fit well.
After finishing the body, I tried to cement it to the frame via the rear hinge. Try as I might, if the hinge was in the up position, the body sat too high. With the hinge in the horizontal position, the arc of the action did not allow the body to be opened. So the choices were to loosely set the body on the frame or cement it. I couldn’t get the body to stay centered or level without cement, so I glued it. Unfortunately if the rear tires are centered under the body, the engine is noticeably offset to the left. In the end I don't think it mattered whether the hinge was used or not and the supports were too fiddly to use without cementing something.
Alignment issues aside, the Stingaree looks cool when finished, and it was fun to build. It's not meant to be a super detailed or accurate replica, but it would fit in well with a collection of Zingers and Deal's Wheels type models. A duplicate set of transparent plastic provides an option of blue or clear windows. There are also headlights with clear lenses that are optional.