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1/12 `67 Corvette L-88 - in progress


Hawk312

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Ok, I am going to give a try on a work in progress thread. Updates might be few and far between as I am not good with these. :D
So I am going to try to build a red on red L88 coupe without side pipes and with Rallye wheels, like the one that went across Barrett Jackson.
I will be using the Monogram `67 Covette Coupe kit from the mid-90`s. This will take alot of modification to get right. Some of you may remember the "Big Scale Beauty" issue from a few years ago. I will follow the same procedures as I documented there, but this will take more modification given the exhaust, chassis, and body work needed to match the real car.

The first problem is the sink marks in the chassis. Since this will be a full detail build including chalk markings, it would make no sense to not address this.
achassis_zpsc2a9ccf8.jpg

After some sanding:

achassis3_zps7384e55c.jpg

Since the 1:1 car doesn`t have side pipes, exhaust pipes that make their way through the frame cross-member will need to be fabricated. And since the cross member is solid, I needed to carve out holes for the pipes. Given the surrounding surfaces that get in the way, this was a little more difficult than it looks:

achassis2_zpsa86ab7e9.jpg

The finished and painted chassis:

achassis4_zps35e84add.jpg

I have a gripe with kits that have two engine halves that divide the oil pan. Sanding, filling, priming, and eventually painting rectify this:



aengine_zps3c705d53.jpg

This car has no heater. That means removing the heater box from the firewall. It also has a special intake that needed to be fabricated. The bottom carburetor cover piece is actually one of the drag wheels conformed to the general shape of the cover using an open flame, then the outer rim removed. I am using filler putty to fill in the details and to get an accurate shape. The top small cover is actually the aftermarket Moroso air cleaner lid trimmed to the size you see here. The L-88 cars had the unshielded spark plug wires (no radios) and were a flat orangish red.

aparts_zpsa4b37132.jpg

Since there is no heater and radio, and the kit version comes with these, I needed to carefully remove them. This is tricky because of the surrounding ridges in the dash. But lots of careful trimming, sanding, and filling results in this:

adash_zpsb8e6b564.jpg

The 1:1 car is Rally Red with Tuxedo Black striping. This is what it looks like right after being sprayed from the can before any sanding or polishing. I have my work cut out. Automotive lacquers are used throughout.

abody_zps1155855d.jpg

Edited by Hawk312
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Thanks everyone!

I don't know how you do it, but your paint, even straight out of the can with no polishing at all, looks better than any paint job I could ever even hope to achieve.

Thanks Harry!

Let's see... the 1:1 L88 goes for a bit over a million. So this model should go for 1:12 of that, right?

:lol::lol:

The real one went for $3,500,000 at Barret Jackson in January. I would be happy with 1:120th of that! :D

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Great project and beautiful work David.

Did you mock-up the body and chassis?-you go to paint very early.

Thanks!

No, I didn`t really mock up the body and chassis. I`ve built about a dozen or so of these so far, and all of them have went together pretty well in final assembly. The paint work is usually one of the first things I do because I use lots of clear, and i want it to be fully cured by the time it is ready to be rubbed out prior to final assembly.

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Sorry, not too much progress on this. I`m not really good with in progress threads with my crazy schedule. :D

But here is what I have so far. I got the carb cover where I want it to be, and am going to cast it soon. It took me a while to simulate the colors on the exhaust manifolds. It was a 4 step process to get it right. The spark plug wires were painted with red primer, which looks more orangish than red, which is what i was shooting for.

aengine3_zps712ca992.jpg

aengine2_zps67b98d93.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

haha, I hear ya. I recently bought one of the 1/12 vette kits [can't wait till it arrives], when I get around to building it, your builds and this build thread will be my inspiration/motivation.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Danno.

I`m making some progress on the chassis, I am just mocking up the engine to the chassis, so it isn`t glued down yet. For some reason, with this build, I am constantly going back to reference pictures of the real car to get all the painting right. I still have to add some of the chalk/paint markings on chassis components and the front suspension. I`m also making progress on the red interior. Hopefully I will be wrapping up this build soon.

chassis5_zps158c9176.jpg

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