67 Corvette Convertible Finished! Posted in Under Glass

[microwheel]

Howdy guys, I decided to give this kit a try. It's in the early planning out stage, but thought I'd just share what I'm working on and my thoughts for it. The plan so far is to attempt to make it a optional 4 wheel disc brake factory stock version with maybe also optional factory air. I'm currently planning out the suspension mods for the disc brakes to fit like I want them. My plan for the color will be Model Masters Burgundy Red Enamel with a saddle colored interior. How far I take the detailing will depend on how the kit speaks to me as I go on the build. Right now I am also attempting to plan out making the rear end half shafts rotate with the rear wheels and brake rotors. Updates may be a little slower on this one compared to how often I updated the 70 Baldwin Motion Camaro build, just do to the fact that I need to plan this one out a little differently, and I'm still working out what and how much detail I want to do.

The paint color for the body

Some basic clean up and testing fitting of parts as the planning starts.

The rear end assembly sitting on the bench and the one test fitted in the car may be cut apart and combined to give me the fit I need to add the disc brake rotors. I'll post more as I figure it all out. I want it to have a factory stock stance and look with moving rear end components such as the half shafts and disc brake rotors. So there is still more planning and fitting to do.

Edited February 24, 2015 by microwheel

[microwheel]

Here are a few reference pics for now of what I'm thinking I might try to do with this one.

The look I'm going for, except a saddle colored interior.

Maybe go with wheel style a little more along this line.

rear brakes idea

front brakes idea

engine bay with factory air (maybe)

Interior color idea

Just a good chassis detail shot

anyways, it kinda gives you a idea of what I'd like to do with this kit. We'll see what the kit lets me do as far as how much gets detailed.

[slusher]

Jim, sounds great. You know I will be following along. Love your Camaro build...

[om617]

63-67 Corvette are my favorite generation,excited to see what you will do with this one.

[Snake45]

If you're going for factory stock, MM Burgundy isn't even close to any factory '67 Corvette color. It's a true burgundy, whereas the '67 Vette maroon--I think it was called Milano Maroon--was more of a brick or rusty maroon color. Your second photo above is a pretty good representation of this. I don't know what paint's on that car in the first pic. I don't know of any good match in model colors, but I don't think it would be hard to get a good match by mixing Stop Light Red and one or the other of the Model Master metallic browns (Sable or Manganese). That's what I'm going to do when I get around to building a maroon '67, anyway.

BTW, couple years ago, just to get it off my workbench after more than a decade, I finished a Revell '67 Corvette in MM Mythic Maroon. It's a nice looking model but it isn't really close to a factory color. (I suppose it's not TOO far from the car in your first pic.)

If you're not going for a factory stock look, then....never mind.

[freakshow12]

Can't wait to see where this goes Jim

[microwheel]

If you're going for factory stock, MM Burgundy isn't even close to any factory '67 Corvette color. It's a true burgundy, whereas the '67 Vette maroon--I think it was called Milano Maroon--was more of a brick or rusty maroon color. Your second photo above is a pretty good representation of this. I don't know what paint's on that car in the first pic. I don't know of any good match in model colors, but I don't think it would be hard to get a good match by mixing Stop Light Red and one or the other of the Model Master metallic browns (Sable or Manganese). That's what I'm going to do when I get around to building a maroon '67, anyway.

BTW, couple years ago, just to get it off my workbench after more than a decade, I finished a Revell '67 Corvette in MM Mythic Maroon. It's a nice looking model but it isn't really close to a factory color. (I suppose it's not TOO far from the car in your first pic.)

If you're not going for a factory stock look, then....never mind.

Thanks for the info about the color. I totally understand the color I have out isn't close to the factory color, and yes your right about the second pic being pretty much the maroon color the factory lists. But aside from ordering some online or using a automotive paint mixed at the local Auto Value store, there weren't alot of option for anything pre-mixed. I'm a long way from applying body color yet, so lots of time to work it out. And I may mix a little up of what I have and see how it lays out on a old test body. I may go with your idea about mixing some stop light red and some sable and see how it looks. Or I still may go with something along the lines of the color in the top reference photo yet. The wheels I'm thinking of going with, are sorta close to the ones in the second pic, but I think they are a newer style, I pulled them out of Revells 69 Camaro convertible kit, so I'm sure they are gonna be close to a 69 year style, which would also be a little incorrect for the 67 vet Im sure. So it may end up being built as a mild custom with a factory stock feel. But we'll see. When I get the chance to post more pics, I'll try to get a pic of the wheels and you can look at them and maybe look at the top pic thinking about the wheels I'll post a pic of as well and give me your impression of if it would work overall or not. I'm not a up to speed true GM guy, I just build the GMs kinda to taste of you know what I mean. But I at least try to capture the spirit of the factory look.

Edited November 25, 2014 by microwheel

[Snake45]

Glad you mentioned the wheels. Chevy Rally Wheels were introduced in 1967 and the center caps used that year were unique to 1967. They changed them for '68 and '69. The wheels you need can be found in the coupe version of the Revell Corvette '67 kit, and also in their '67 Chevelle SS. You shouldn't have any trouble coming up with a set of the latter here if you ask, as LOTS of guys have built that kit with nonstock wheels and there should be a lot of the stockers floating around.

With your permission, I'll post a couple pics here to show some colors--I don't want to hijack your build thread.

ETA: BTW, I just checked and I was wrong about the color. The '67 color was called Marlboro Maroon. Milano Maroon was a '65 and/or '66 color.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Snake45

[microwheel]

Glad you mentioned the wheels. Chevy Rally Wheels were introduced in 1967 and the center caps used that year were unique to 1967. They changed them for '68 and '69. The wheels you need can be found in the coupe version of the Revell Corvette '67 kit, and also in their '67 Chevelle SS. You shouldn't have any trouble coming up with a set of the latter here if you ask, as LOTS of guys have built that kit with nonstock wheels and there should be a lot of the stockers floating around.

With your permission, I'll post a couple pics here to show some colors--I don't want to hijack your build thread.

ETA: BTW, I just checked and I was wrong about the color. The '67 color was called Marlboro Maroon. Milano Maroon was a '65 and/or '66 color.

Why sure you can post some pics.. anything you can share to help is welcome.

[Snake45]

Why sure you can post some pics.. anything you can share to help is welcome.

Thanks, glad to help.

Here's a '69 4-4-2 painted with that MM Burgundy, a correct color for that year and make. As you can see, it looks quite a bit different from '67 Corvette Marlboro Maroon.

Here's a '90s Vette painted with a 50-50 blend of MM Stop Light Red and Kiln Red. Not a perfect match for '67 Marlboro Maroon but prolly closer than the Burgundy.

Here's a few pics of my Revell '67 painted with rattlecan Testor Mythic Maroon. The color's not far off but the paint itself is much too sparkly/flaky for factory paint. I was going for the Saddle interior on this one; the interior is some kind of Krylon satin paint, IIRC. Krylon does make a Saddle paint but I didn't have that at the time I built it.

The wheels on this one are from the Coupe kit. As I said above, I think you can match Marlboro Maroon by mixing Stop Light Red and either Sable or Manganese Brown. The Manganese being darker, it would take less of that to get to the maroon. Hope this helps.

[microwheel]

Thanks Snake, sure it helps. At least now I have a fairly good idea of how the colors look. I'll check this week with the LHS and see what they have on hand for mixing colors. The aren't the best at keeping things in stock, but they are pretty good at ordering what I ask them to, if they don't have it. And since I am no where near ready for color yet, there is plenty of time to take care of it.

[microwheel]

Snake I did a little checking online on model masters site for both the colors you mentioned and they list both those colors as being discontinued or no longer available. So I will have to do a little more digging and see if I can come up with another solution. But thanks for the idea anyways.

[Snake45]

Snake I did a little checking online on model masters site for both the colors you mentioned and they list both those colors as being discontinued or no longer available. So I will have to do a little more digging and see if I can come up with another solution. But thanks for the idea anyways.

I checked too (Testors website doesn't make it easy) and apparently they've dropped the two metallic browns. You might be able to ask here and someone can find some in a LHS--those colors were never big sellers, no doubt why they were dropped. If need be you can add one of their solid browns or even black to the Stop Light Red (which is still in the line, now even available in the little bottles) to get to your maroon. Yes you can mix a solid color and a metallic and the result will still have a great deal of flake showing. In fact, it might even be more in scale than the regular metallics.

The pic you posted above of air conditioning is on a 327 small block. If you go that way, you'll have to piece together a proper '67 Vette smallblock but that shouldn't be that difficult. Both Revell kits have the big-block "stinger" hoods, so you'll need a standard hood. Modelhaus sells repros of the '65-'67 AMT smallblock hoods that could be adapted. But there's another out on that, too: For a period in the spring of 1967, the factory ran out of the standard hoods and ended up building some number of smallblock Corvettes with the Stinger hoods on them, so you can always say your model represents one of those oddball cars.

[SuperDuty]

I don't have a reference pic to show (it was years ago) but I got a pretty good maroon color by spraying several coats of testors candy-apple red over a medium gray primer.

[microwheel]

Thanks Robert, I think I have a few ideas though for mixing something close.

Snake, the pic I posted was just to give people a idea of what I was thinking about for air on the vette. Yes according to some of the research I have done on the 427 vettes, including talking with my brother in Law who is retired from GM after putting in almost 45 years with them, they did make a few and I mean only a very few (which makes them rare now I guess) 67 427 vette convertibles with factory installed air. And he also confirmed what you said about them running out of hoods on the 327's and using a few big block hoods on the small block cars. He said he was actually working there at the time that happened, go figure. He also mentioned that back then customers could go around the dealer supplied customer option list and do factory direct special orders of almost any feature that GM offered on their product lines as long as the parts for them interchanged and they were willing to pay the costs. Though it didn't happen very often with very many models across the production lines. He said it wouldn't be surprising to hear of some rare barn find with a odd ball option that didn't seem to belong on the car. He said that kind of stuff happened alot more than you would know, but mostly and especially on corporate employee supplied cars. He worked as a supervisor at a couple of different plants during that era, for both the Chevrolet and the Buick divisions of GM at different times. And even spent some time in the engine assembly, and corvette plants. I'm going down to his house just out side of Flint,Michigan, in a few weeks for a family Christmas get together, and he told me he would let me look through a YOU-KNOW-WHAT load of internal documents he has from his time with GM. I told the wife that will be all the Christmas present I could ever ask for this year LOL. If I find any really cool stuff, I hope to be able to bring some home with me for reference. I'll let you know what I come up with for color on the vette. But I have a few ideas and will be playing around with a few mixes.

Edited November 26, 2014 by microwheel

[microwheel]

Looks like the forums had issues again and anything posted since November 25th got lost, so I will try to re post the work that had been posted earlier, later this evening before posting the stuff I got done the past few days. I hope they got it all worked out so we dont have to do this again lol.

[microwheel]

Hi guys,

I'll try to take time tomorrow to re post the missing portions of my vette topic. As well as hopefully add a few updates on it.

Also for everyone that has been concerned about the personal issues going on with my wife, you can read about the good news we got today in the Off Topic area of the Forums here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=96216

[microwheel]

Morning guys,

Rather than go through re posting everything I had posted earlier on the vette I will only be posting a general summery of what had been posted before. I'm not the worlds fasted typer on the keyboard so I am not about to try to re post everything in detail. I would rather spend that kind of time working on the model. Taking time away to try to go through and repost everything is time better spent on the model and giving you new updates.

So for now. The idea to start with, was to separate all the rear end half shaft components so they would rotate with the rear wheels and then later add disc brakes to all four wheels.

I started with the making a few spacers cutting apart the rear end assembly and drilling some holes. I then made and installed a pass through tube in the rear end gear housing, and added some evergreen round rod on the ends of each half shaft. A straight pin was then measured and cut and added to the inner side of the passenger side half-shaft to slide through the pass through tube in the rear end housing. the drivers side half shaft will slide onto this pin later.

Here is the work after it was done.

Here is rear suspension with the rotating half shafts mock assembled and test fitted into place on the chassis. Any tweaking for alignment will be done with outer spacers once everything is painted before the brake parts and wheels go on.

I also took time to get some color in the body. I attempted to get as close to Marlboro Maroon as I could by doing a custom mix of Model Masters enamels Stop light red, with a few drops of testors gloss blue, and a quarter oz of testors copper. It's about as close as I can get it. Maybe just a little too much metal flake for 1967 Marlboro Maroon, but I think it's close enough to work.

That's where I'm at with it at this point, I do have stinger decals on the hood now and the body is clear coated and sat aside to cure so it can later be wet sanded and polished out. I will try to get a few pics of the cleared body up later today if time allows. As well as a few pics of a few other odds and ends I have worked on since doing this work.

[microwheel]

Evening Guys, well I been promising to try to get a few updates posted for awhile now. I guess it's time to try to give you something new on the vette project.

here is a reference pic of my plans for the chassis,

I finally got the rear end assembly painted and mocked together, Yes the half shafts rotate as planned. I still have to do work on the disc brakes for the rear end, but that will get done when I start working on the over all chassis detail.

I did get the the chasis painted in its base coat of semi-gloss and flat black, I still got alot more work to do on the chassis though. So keep that in mind. This pic is with the rear end assembly just mocked up to the chassis, it's not fixed permanently yet.

Started working on the interior as well. To get close to the 67 vette saddle color, I custom mixed model masters leather acrylic enamel with insignia yellow acrylic enamel with and a little bit of insignia red acrylic enamel to get something close to a better saddle color than just using the traditional tans that most people use. Once the interior tub was painted, I flocked the floor with tan flocking, and then detailed the center console, Still a little more work to do but you get the idea.

Door panels painted and waiting for detailing.

This is the look I'm after for the interior. I still got lots more to go on it.. lol.

[microwheel]

Got the stinger decals on the front of the vette and got the body clear coated, it still needs wet sanding and polishing, and after the body has time to cure for a few more days I hope to get that part done. I mocked up the interior tub to the body to give you an idea of how it will look.

Thats pretty much where it's at for now.. More as I get things done. So stay tuned..

[Hawk312]

Nice work so far! Those colors, both the interior and exterior, look like they are spot on!

Did you clear over the decal? If so, how long did you allow the decal to cure?

[microwheel]

Nice work so far! Those colors, both the interior and exterior, look like they are spot on!

Did you clear over the decal? If so, how long did you allow the decal to cure?

Thanks David, yes I always clear over the decals. My personal preference I guess. As far as how long to wait after applying the decals, usually within a hour or two.

[jaftygas]

Sure is good to see you back Jim, model looks great.

[slusher]

Great body and interior colors Jim...

[microwheel]

Hi Guys, gonna be gone for the weekend. Going to Detroit to visit wife's sister for a Christmas get together over the weekend. I did get a few things start on the vette interior today, so thought I would post a small update till I get back.

I got the door panels detailed out with BMF and started on the Dash. I primed and painted the dash interior color, then added BMF to the instrument panel. After the BMF was apply to the instrument panel, I went over it with a black wash many many times till it blackened the areas around the gauges. I w use the same process for the glove box side of the dash. I still need to apply the gauge face decals to the dash and and a few photo etched parts from the Model Care Garage Vette Detail set. I will try to finish up the interior when I get back and post some more updates.

Thanks in advance for looking and for any comments.