Best nose for replicas I've seen. And pommie too!

[aussieknight]

I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow when I posted this topic last night it went south. But anyway, I'll try again.
After browsing around I thought I'd see what's new down at the Knights of England website. I happened upon one of the best looking noses for replicas that anyone could find. Now I realise it doesn't have the blackout covers which I prefer, but it still looks more accurate than anyone else makes. Some of the replica companies say their product is also molded off an original, but they just don't look right. Have a look at how they build them:
http://www.knightsofengland.fsnet.co.uk ... inal_2.htm
Here's the finished product:

Looks good, eh?
The noses that Advanced Designs In Automotive Technology, run by Don Colie make, are one of the best I've seen up until this point. At least Don builds them with the blackout panels. Still, if you're in the UK, you could do much worse! Have a look at their dash panels too. Pretty good stuff!

[aussieknight]

OK, just checking, it's definitely there this time!

[FuzzieDice]

Definitely a nice nose!! I like the fact the fog lights are visible on the noses without blacking them out. Makes KITT look meaner.

Wonder why KITT is half-parked on the curb in the photo...

[R.J.1984]

I think Marks Custom Classics is the place to go for replicas, just check out their website and judge for yourself. Once I can Afford it I am going to purchase one from them myself.

[K.I.A.N]

Look's very good. I plan on geting or making a KITT car when I can drive a car.

[aussieknight]

I think Marks Custom Classics is the place to go for replicas, just check out their website and judge for yourself. Once I can Afford it I am going to purchase one from them myself.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying their product is rubbish. It's just that some manufacturer's parts, ie noses, look better than others. Here's the one from Mark's Custom Kits:


Here's one from Advanced Designs in Automotive Technology:


Now here's the one from KOE, on a different angle, but I think you can see the main differences. The length and width of the raised part directly below the scanner for one. Also the nose openings are different angles, etc...


Now here is the real deal, as it were. Just the main part anyway:


There's a definite curve in the shape of the nose. That's something else that a few of the other manufacturers either ignore, or just leave out.
But as you say, the choice is up to you.

[SwEeTiNsAnItY]

Wow, that really is one of the best!!! I always thought Marks' noses were too droopy; this one's close to perfect! Thanks for sharing it with us!

[TurbomanKnight]

I think the Advance Designs nose is the best, then Mark's follows, and K.O.E.

[FuzzieDice]

I liked the KOE one the best. But that's just my opinion. It has more definition than the other two, somehow. If I was building up a T/A I think I'd save and get the KOE, even if I had to pay extra shipping, VAT and such (being in the USA). It'd be worth it.

But I am making a "Knighted Ride" out of my 6000 hopefully, so I won't be in the market for a new nose. My car's schnozola looks fine the way it is.

[sarfraz]

Well, after seeing the KOE nose at the UK nationals, I was very impressed. To be fair though this little comparison is unfair. You have pics of a finished KOE nose to 2 pics of unfinished nose.

both Mark and advance designs have pics of complete noses on their sites:

http://www.markscustomkits.com/Exterior.html

http://www.adiautotech.com/turnkey.htm#

Not gonna post more pics...my tiny modem can't cope

...had a look. Well the first thing I did notice is that marks custom nose does seem alittle too long to my eye. There is one top down pic which shows this up pretty well.

The other two I believe are finely balanced. The advanced design nose looks more define. Eg the raised section seems sharper on the advance design and it does fit better than the KOE nose (look at the gap between the hood and nose). However, I reckon the KOE nose looks the most accurate. It definitely has the right looking angle on the cutout section where the sports light go. Also that front lip/wing looks the correct depth...seems alittle too large at the corner edges of the advance design. The lip is not meant to be uniformed in depth and this aspect looks perfect on the KOE design.

I'd probably go with the KOE design....as its in the UK, and would cost me alot less than trying to ship the other 2.

Sarfraz

[knightsofengland]

Hi,
Not posted much here so let me introduce myself. I am Steve from Knights of England. This topic has just been brought to my attention so I thought I would clarify a few things for you all. First can I say thanks to all who have posted their opinions. Now the noses you have chosen by MCK and AIDT are both custom built to look like the original noses from the show. The one KOE offer was moulded from a prop nose and this is why it looks so accurate... how much more accurte could it get lol anyway... we did find that as it had been moulded from a prop rubber trype nose the mould weight had saged the nose and the finsihed product was not a true lickness.... much like the yancy nose it would fit top or bottom but not both together. so Peter Warner from the KOE forum Peter W25 set to work re finishing the pattern to make it look like it should have done the first time. He did a great job and went on to add the ears (fender fixing parts) and the full return edge for added support. Now this edge is not accurate but makes a big differnece to the stability of the nose and and also allows the owner to fit further support braces back to the car from the underside should he/she wish and also to fit a licence plate on hinges to the return edge.

Also the pic you posted of the KOE nose... I should tell you is not finished it is OOM and only part fitted to the car. It was the first of the new noses out of the mould and went to a guy called Mark who was also at this years nationals with his car and his own digital dash. Now for those who saw the nose and did not know he has still not painted it... thats right the nose in the pic and that people saw fitted to his car is just an OOM nose polished. Looks great if I do say so myself. Credit for this nose goes 110% to Pete he did a great job on it and gets a big thanks from me.

Hope this helps you all in making a fair decision on the nose. At the end of the day you should buy from who you want to basedon the finished design look, quality of the product and price you feel is fair. Then you should not be dissatisfied.

Regards
Steve
KOE

[aussieknight]

Hey, great to hear from you, Steve! I must say, you guys have done really well. A few replica nose producers say theirs is molded from an original, but yours is the nicest I've seen. Via the net, anyway! Have to ask though, why did you guys leave out the dreaded blackout panels? Even in season 4 KITT still had them. Granted, the SPM nose didn't, but it was a complete hack job of the nose, anyway. Possible the convertible model didn't either, I'm not sure. I say dreaded cause a lot of people don't miss them. But you can't deny they were there!

[sarfraz]

Wow, thought it was painted. Thanks for clearing up the debate Steve. So hows work going on the season 3/4 voice mod?

Sarfraz

[knightsofengland]

glad I could help clear it up. The voice mod will be available soon. We just this week finished the design and will have the first built in the next 4 weeks if we can get the boards made fast enough. Then if all looks good they will be for sale. The new voice mod will also have the 9 step sequencer built into it and will all be on 1 small circuit board. Yes 1 no seperate drive all on the one board.
Steve
KOE

[R.J.1984]

Marks Custom Classics sells the nose in two ways. Unfinnished - meaning just out of the mold, as well as finnished - meaning that all you have to do is paint it what ever colour that you want it to look. When you have a look at other photo's of the nose at that site you will notice the difference between straight out of the mode as well as the way it looks when it is finnished. I am not saying that they are the best - because that is just the only site I have really ever visited. I am just saying that it looks like a great job done to mean. But to each his/her own. Have a great day.

[aussieknight]

Yeah, thanks Steve for clearing that bit up. So....what about the blackout panels? Why leave them out?

[sarfraz]

...thats because its a season 3/4 nose, right? which never had black outs.

Sarfraz

[TurbomanKnight]

You know when I'm old enough for a car I might Buy a Trans Am and make a replica. But I dont think i can complete it because parts are going scarce. Those rims are hard as mother.... to get. I might buy a 1986.5 to 1993.5 Toyota Supra. Just like the one on my avatar. That was my dad's. I might get a Toyota 4 Runner from the 80's.

[aussieknight]

...thats because its a season 3/4 nose, right? which never had black outs.

Sarfraz

HEEERRRRNNNTTT!!!!!! Sorry! The buzzer indicates you are, indeed, indisputably, irreversibly and emphaticably, wrong! Look here:



And here:



These are all season 4 episodes, the first two from Knight of the Rising Sun, and the other, Knight Racer, and alas, all show the blackout panels. Your move!

[aussieknight]

As at posting, the pics didn't work. Let's hope Knight Replicas comes back online soon! :-S

[KITTfan]

I believe it's only the season 4 when the nose doesn't have those blackoutpanels for turnsignals, except when they used stock footage.

Here's how I have understood how the front nose generally is in each season:
1st season: KITT had the plexiglass covers for turnsignals
2nd season: The plexiglass was gone but there was indents for turn signals next to the scanner opening.
3rd season: same as 2nd season
4th season: The nose was smooth without turnsignal covers or indents and the front corners were sharper in the nose.

<edit>
Now that I saw the Knighreplicas pics Aussieknight posted, the 1st pic seems to be the real 4th season nose having some kind of slight "bend" or different angle in the turnsignal area that reflects the environment differently than the area elsewhere in the nose. I still don't think it's the actual turnsignal blackout.
The second pic is stock footage and can be seen for example in "Soul Survivor".
</edit>

-KITTfan-

[sarfraz]

I meant to say season 4 but I was thinking of the voice mod when I wrote that In any case, aussieknight is adamant that season 4's nose has blackouts. Well we can't comment on images that didn't post but as KITTfan has stated, there was quite abit of stock footage used in season 4. In general I'll stick with my point, season 4 KITT did not have blackouts.

I assume you've been to those conversion sites? look again,

http://www.adiautotech.com/extone.htm

Don Colies site states strightaway the difference between season 1 and 4 noses.

http://www.knightsofengland.fsnet.co.uk ... ection.htm

KOE state a 100% accurate season 3/4 nose. Something as obvious as blackouts would not be omitted if it were not accurate.

I wish I could show you pics of the season 4 primiere, as its the good example of a complete season 4 episode without stock footage. Its pretty clear in that ep that KITT does not have blackouts.

Sarfraz.....checkmate???

[aussieknight]

After a bit of stuffing around, I have come to the conclusion that Knight replicas do not allow hotlinking. However, boys, if you go to their site and check out the reference files, you will see that not all that sort of footage was recycled, and in fact, there was some new stuff. I personally believe that the nose did change slightly around the blackout areas, and yes, the covers were eventually recessed, but they were always there. This is from the very last episode:
http://www.knightreplicas.com/library/K ... 3-0760.jpg
When the SPM and covertible noses were made, it looks like they left them out altogether then. However, the original nose remained as designed. If Steve were to reply I'm sure he'd say that the nose they copied has these areas. However, he seems possibly reluctant to enter this discussion beyond what he already has said. Check out the site here, specifically the Knight Racer episode(66) and see what you think:
http://www.knightreplicas.com/library/KITTandKARR.asp

As for ADIAT, did you read this?-

Don Colie- " Many months of design research went into the creating of this bumper to assure accuracy as well as durability. A 3-D model was used as well as photos of the best aesthetically pleasing views and then this bumper was sculpted out of high quality foam to assure a solid model in which to cast from. The sculpting alone took nearly 2 months in itself to complete. Once the sculpture was complete, it was cast out of high quality tooling gel coat and casting resins to assure a long lasting, durable mold in which the bumper would be reproduced from.

So it's not molded off an original then? Look, don't get me wrong, I think Don's KITT nose is great! One of the better one's available. Certainly better than MCK's. And the fact that you can get the blackouts at ALL is great! There just so happens to be a lot of inaccuracies around being quoted as fact, tassall. In fact, where's Joe and Richie? They'll be able to verify all this!
Play on!

[sarfraz]

Aussieknight, have you got knight of the juggernaut on tape? I would recommend you have a look at that. It does show the new nose on a standard KITT without the blackouts. I do think we need some additional help clearing this up though.

Sarfraz