Sunray Corvette Cutaway

[Peter Lombardo]

A couple of years ago, while looking around on the internet, I found www.v-r-m.com, which many of you know as Vintage Racing Miniatures. There I found some great looking decals for older race cars. I thought the decals for the Sunray Corvettes looked so good that even though I did not have a kit for them, I would get them for a future project. Fast forward to about 6 months ago, I found the Revell model of the John Greenwood, "Stars & Stripes" Corvette. Now, I'm a patriotic guy, but I did not care for the decal sheet for that car.

Then I remembered the Sunray decal sheet that I had, and the two items came together in my head like a perfect storm. ( Nice thing about the decal sheet, you can do multiple cars, different numbers, and different years from one decal sheet)....(Next, I will modify a Revell Penske '64 Corvette to a Sunray car) Anyway, I began building the Sunray car, pictures of the number 29 car that I recently completed are included here, but that is not the reason for this post. While I was researching photos of this car on the Internet, I came across pictures of the number 3 car, that was raced at the same time as the #29 car. This car had been refurbished but when rebuilt, it was split down the middle to reveal the "bare bones" drivers side and the fully clothed passenger side. ( I have, obviously included these pictures, and the link to the website.

As I was finishing the build of the #29 car, the thought hit me, why not replicate the "cutaway" car too! So, I sent for another set of the decals, ( If you have never used v-r-m decals, I recommend them, and the guys over there highly. The decals are great.) searched out another John Greenwood Corvette, and began construction. On the completed number 29 car, I lowered the stance about 1/8 of an inch and opened the doors. I wired and plumbed the engine (hard to tell in the photos), switched out the passenger "race seat" for the correct stock unit from a stock 68 Corvette then added a photoetched race seat belt for the driver seat. I cut out the headlight covers and recessed the headlights down into the opened area. I made "real" headlights from jewel lenses that are available in the hobby shops that carry HO train stuff, instead of the "decal" sheet that came with the Greenwood car. Then I added the rear fender wheel flares from the Greenwood car. I know, the Sunray did not have them, but I think they look way too cool to omit, so they went on. Sorry, all of you purists, out there. Anyway, I used Tamiya Mica Blue rattle can paint, and Dupli-color white, all covered with clear coat.

On the number 3 car, under construction, I have modified the chassis by removing the spare tire well, and reworked the area around the differential. I built a new floor to the rear of the rear end, and have roughed out the new gas tank. The engine will be completely wired and plumbed, as it is wide open for inspection, and of course, the dashboard area will need to be completely scratch built. The Greenwood car has the wrong dashboard for the Sunray car, so I will make a small mold of the right side of the stock dash, and cast a new half for the Sunray #3 car. I have begun, as you can see, the roll bar and I have split the car down the middle with a razer saw. I will keep you posted as to the progress, if you care, and I am also going to post an update on the long term project 2007 Ford Interceptor, with new pictures later tonight. Thanks, I hope I did not bore you guys too much with my "long winded" style of writing.

My Finished Model:

Real car:

[Peter Lombardo]

Construction:

Link to real car website:

http://corvetterepair.com/Cutaway/Cutaway.htm

[Raul_Perez]

The cutaway cars look like a lot of fun (and work)!! Keep posting your progress!!

[Ken]

The 29 car is way too cool for school!! The cutaway is down right scary !!! can't wait to see you finish this one

[ismaelg]

That 29 looks great.

The cutaway project is soooooo cool for words! I'll be following up this one....

There is an article about the cutaway car in the January 1996 Corvette Fever.

Thanks,