AMT 1/25 Munster Koach Build Review

By Ken Kitchen, Front Range Auto Modelers (FRAM)

Review

The Munster Koach was the featured vehicle on the TV show the Munsters.  It was a wild looking vehicle derived from several Model T Fords and powered by a small block Ford.  It provided plenty of room for the whole Munster clan, including Lilly, Grandpa, Eddie, Marilyn, and driver, Herman.  This is another kit I built as a kid and I had been looking forward to building it again, too.

This is a very simple kit, but once its built up, it makes a very pleasing model—especially when you use the cardboard display stand that is part of the kit.  Once again, I don't like plastic tires, so I used some from my parts box for both front and rear.

I painted the body with a combination of flat, gloss, and semi-gloss black.  For the interior I used blood red.   I deviated from the kit just a little by using the pinstripe decals from the more expensive Muster Koach/Dragula collector's kit with decorative tin.  It added just a little more realism.

When I remembered back to building this kit as a kid, I realized that my memory was playing tricks on me.  I had forgotten how simple the kit was and its shortcomings.  There is the issue of the tires, that I mentioned earlier, the engine is a little undersized, and the chassis is not much more than a plate with slots in it for the wire axles.  In other words, this one would require some kit-bashing to super-detail it.   They could also improve the kit by doing gold or brass plating as most of the plated parts should be brass (you can easily rectify this with a yellow Sharpie).

Even with the shortcomings of the basic kit, it builds up nicely and is a lot of fun.  With the exception of the tires and pin stripe decals, I built it straight out of the box.

My sincere thanks to Round2 Models for this review sample!