1/25 Lindberg '66 Chevelle Super Sport

['70 Grande]

I'm looking forward to the reissue of this Lindberg '66 Chevelle kit. Am I correct in understanding that the chrome window trim is done as separate pieces that'll need to be glued into place? If so, can anyone provide some builder's insight here; are those chrome pieces tough to work with/make look good?

I never really cared for the 1:1 large, optional bumper guards that are molded into this kit's front and rear bumpers. Anybody know if the bumpers from a Revell '66 Chevelle Station Wagon kit would drop-into-place on this Lindberg '66 Chevelle kit? Or what a good source for straight/bumper-guard-less bumpers might be?

['70 Grande]

Ron, where'd you get those dog-dish hubcaps on your great-looking build?

[Casey]

Am I correct in understanding that the chrome window trim is done as separate pieces that'll need to be glued into place?

Yes, you are correct. The rear window is put in place first from the inside, then the trim is added from the outside.

['70 Grande]

Casey,

So, are those separate, chrome window trim pieces hard to install and do they look okay once in-place?

[Guest]

I'm sorry - are you talking about the Lindberg Chevelle or a Revell version?

The Lindberg kit. Revell never made a '66. I converted a Revell '67 into a '66 300 sedan.

[Snake45]

I never really cared for the 1:1 large, optional bumper guards that are molded into this kit's front and rear bumpers. Anybody know if the bumpers from a Revell '66 Chevelle Station Wagon kit would drop-into-place on this Lindberg '66 Chevelle kit? Or what a good source for straight/bumper-guard-less bumpers might be?

The front bumper from the Revell SW or El Camino SHOULD be a drop-in fit but I have no idea if it would be that easy or not. I'm not sure if the SW or Elky rear bumper is the same as a hardtop's--probably not. The '67 Chevelle rear bumper is almost certainly different. Might try the rear bumper from the old Monogram '66 Malibu. This is supposedly 1/24 but as others have noted, it's very close in size and fit to the Revell '67 so it might work. Hmmmmm.

[Ron Hamilton]

Ron, where'd you get those dog-dish hubcaps on your great-looking build?

I bought them from Replicas and Miniatures Co of MD. They were not plated. I Alcadded them and detailed them. I was going to put a set on a '66 Malibu Wagon,

but now they may end up on a '67 Camaro instead.

['70 Grande]

I'm pretty certain that this kit is now available to purchase. I'd like to know if anyone has purchased it yet, and if so, how does it look? Does it have much flash? Decent chrome-plating? Anything new inside the box? etc.

[fiatboy]

I'm primarily interested in the wheels and tires and any new parts in this reissue. Overall, is it an OK kit? Thanks

['70 Grande]

Jeffrey,

I have just started working on mine; it looks like an excellent kit with cleanly and crisply molded parts. I don't believe there are any new parts inside this kit other than what came in the box back when it was first issued several years ago by Lindberg. The wheels are chrome-plated, factory-stock covers that are made to look like typical mag wheels of that mid-1960's era. They are the only wheel choice inside the kit, but are correct for an optioned, factory-stock build. They do not have any steel wheel details behind them, (no lugnuts or center-caps). The tires are pretty plain, but have nice tread detail. They seem alittle narrow for my tastes, so I will be swapping them out for some parts box Goodyears.

I think this kit is more than just, "OK". I think it'll build into a fine-looking replica of mid-1960's Chevrolet muscle. I'd suggest getting one!

[tbill]

wheels/tires are my only dislike of this kit. i could live without the bumper gaurds as well, but they aren't that bad.

['70 Grande]

Tom,

I'm building mine with a different set of resin Keystone wheels because I, like you, don't really care for the factory-stock mag wheel covers found inside the kit.  I also removed the bumper guards from both bumpers because I don't like the look of those either.  I'll try to post a pic of them sometime soon.

[tbill]

interested to see how you do the bumpers, have one more of these to build and would love to have 'plain' bumpers.  i used camaro ZL1 wheels/caps and parts pack red lines on one build, and revell camaro rally wheels and polyglas tires on another.

[Ace-Garageguy]

This is one of those ancient threads I find immensely valuable. Turns out the 1:1 I'm building is actually a '66, not a '67 (she has no front fenders or any bumpers, rear fender caps or lights, and no hood or decklid at the moment) and for the parts of the build I'm doing, the year makes no difference whatsoever).

Anyway, the mission is to build a model of the car for the client, who has been one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure to work for. 

This old thread gave me everything I needed to know 'bout the Lindberg '66.   

[Ron Hamilton]

I like the look of the Lindberg/AMT 66 Chevelle SS396. The shortcomings mentioned about the kit details are not a deal breaker to me for my purposes. Years ago, I made an attempt to convert a Revell 67 into a 66, by cutting up a Monogram 66 Race car and grafting the parts onto the 67. It looked pretty good until the heat of the sun on a 90 degree day melted the glue joints. I did this around 1990 before I discovered using super Glue and baking soda. Of course I scrapped the thing, but I acquired and still have the Excellent Shawn Carpenter 66 SS396 resin trans kit. I am keeping this one, as I plan to do it as another 66 hardtop, and I am going to take the other Lindberg 66 Chevelles I have and do some conversions with them.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I just bought one, have it sitting in front of me.

The nose looks wrong, and comparing it to online photos, I see the front of the front fenders, including the body line, actually goes UP on the model, whereas it goes DOWN slightly on the real car.

The model also renders the base of the windshield pillar klugey and wrong, where it intersects the door. The pillars are also shaped and tapered incorrectly.

The front wheel arches are wrong, and the rear edge of the hood and the cowl are too low relative to the windshield opening as well.

It's subtle, but at the same time so bad, it almost looks like the front fenders are short-shotted, or warped...but the hood fits what's there perfectly.

Careful comparison with the box-art photo shows the same problems I'm seeing with the parts in my hands.

The upside is that it looks like a lot of the problems can be corrected with heavy file work, as there seems to be sufficient meat in the affected areas to re-sculpt them somewhat. It also looks like it should be possible to add meat to the undersides of the fender tops, should it become necessary.

I am however, frankly, disgusted at the prospect of, ONCE AGAIN, having to RE-DO work the kit manufacturer SHOULD HAVE GOT RIGHT.

 

 

[SfanGoch]

8 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I am however, frankly, disgusted at the prospect of, ONCE AGAIN, having to RE-DO work the kit manufacturer SHOULD HAVE GOT RIGHT.

That's bordering on blasphemy, Bill.  Isn't the prospect of countless, agonizing hours of reworking and correcting a kit manufacturer's mess something we all look forward to tackling? It seems that car modelers are supposed to have lower expectations and standards when it comes to accuracy and like it.

[Snake45]

9 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I am however, frankly, disgusted at the prospect of, ONCE AGAIN, having to RE-DO work the kit manufacturer SHOULD HAVE GOT RIGHT.

 

 

That's why it's called MODELING, and not "Gluin' Stuff Together."

I own a couple copies of the Lindberg '66, but have never built or even taken a good hard look at one. Have seen a few built and thought something looked a little off, but not enough to turn me off completely. There's an inexpensive '66 Chevelle diecast available and IMHO it looks pretty good. It looks SO good in fact that it's been holding down the '66 Chevelle slot on my shelf for a decade or more, which is why I've never bothered getting around to building the Lindberg....

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

That's why it's called MODELING, and not "Gluin' Stuff Together." ...

Boy, am I tired of hearing THAT one.

If I did MY work as poorly as the nose on this thing is done...well, I'd be just another average idiot hacker "mechanic".  

Of course, judging from the REST of the review, it would seem I'm the first one to have a problem with the odd lines and shapes. 

NOTE: The idea behind getting involved with this kit was to do a relatively simple, mostly OOB build for a 1:1 client, with different wheels, valve covers, and a few other things to make it more accurately represent HIS heavily modified car.

I had NO INTEREST in or INTENTION of getting involved with an entire re-tooling exercise, but I will NOT present a model of something that's warped and twisted and just flat WRONG in so many areas.

So I guess the guy ISN'T going to get a model of his car after all.

And I've WASTED about $30 on this piece of trash, for nothing.

 

[SfanGoch]

Bill's right. Why should you have to do the kit manufacturer's job? You're paying for something that should have been "right" in the first place.

[Snake45]

9 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

Bill's right. Why should you have to do the kit manufacturer's job? You're paying for something that should have been "right" in the first place.

You're both perfectly right in theory. But welcome to Planet Earth. It's full of Stuff That Should Be, But Isn't,  and also Stuff That Shouldn't Be, But Is. Sometimes your challenge is to move things from one category to the other. Sometimes it's not worth the effort. Sometimes it is, and is rewarding and fun in the bargain.

[Ace-Garageguy]

37 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

You're both perfectly right in theory. But welcome to Planet Earth. It's full of Stuff That Should Be, But Isn't,  and also Stuff That Shouldn't Be, But Is. Sometimes your challenge is to move things from one category to the other. Sometimes it's not worth the effort. Sometimes it is, and is rewarding and fun in the bargain.

I've spent WAY too much of my life going behind people, fixing their "accidents" or re-doing work THEY WERE PAID TO DO RIGHT AND DIDN'T.

I'm done. No more. 

The REST of my life will be spent on building MY OWN VISIONS, not correcting work someone else was too damm inept or too damm lazy to do right.

Challenge? I can tell you a little about rising to challenges and overcoming them.

But this piece of crapp just isn't worth my time.

Of course, watching the news, I get the impression that unfolding events may make this entire hobby seem pretty irrelevant in not too long.

It's not just the model car industry that has incompetents in positions of authority. It's the entire planet.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

         Time to beat the dead horse.        

I believe I mentioned earlier the last customer car I ever intend to do is a nightmare '66 Chevelle SS 396. The owner is the nicest guy I've ever done a build for, the shop where I'm doing it has some of the best people in the business, and I thought it would be nice to present both the shop and the owner with models of the car at the end. We're coming up on completion, at least my part, which is 100% functional, all the custom bits finished, all the body panels corrected and aligned and marked, and needing absolutely nothing but to be blown apart for paint, and reassembled.

So, I decided to look deeper into getting a '66 Chevelle that actually LOOKS like a '66 Chevelle. It's not easy. I mentioned all the shortcomings I found on the Lindberg kit previously, and thought I'd look into the possibility of putting the MUCH BETTER LOOKING front clip from the Revell '66 wagon on the Lindberg mess. No dice. It's as if they're models of two different cars, in different scales.

Overall, the Revell kit LOOKS pretty good, though I haven't compared the measurements with the real car yet.

After finding just how much difference there was in front door lines and width between the Revell and Lindberg '66s, I thought it might be interesting to see about possibly grafting the nice Revell '66 front clip to the old '66 Monogram body shell, as it's 1/24 and considerably wider than the Lindberg, naturally. Sadlly, it's considerably wider than the Revell kit as well...and the front of the roof is too awful to even contemplate trying to rework.

I saw somebody above mentioned grafting the Revell '66 front clip to a Revell '67, and I don't know exactly what for the tail. I'll be looking into this too, so it looks like I'll be needing the Revell '66 El Camino kit also.

This is becoming a ridiculously expensive proposition, considering I just wanted a couple of low-effort but reasonable models, shot in the right color, with wheels and tires close to what's on the real one.

One final option...and most likely the one I'll go with...is re-carving the nose of the Lindberg body shell. The more I look at the Lindberg shell, the more I'm seeing it shouldn't really be too bad.

Look carefully at the Lindberg kit, and it looks like a movie stunt car after it's been over a jump and landed on its nose. The front of the fenders go UP where they're not supposed to...and it's very noticeable.

We'll see...

 

[Mark]

44 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

 

I saw somebody above mentioned grafting the Revell '66 front clip to a Revell '67, and I don't know exactly what for the tail. I'll be looking into this too, so it looks like I'll be needing the Revell '66 El Camino kit also.

 

If you are in this far, may as well go all the way and bring in the Revell El Camino and the old Monogram flip-front '66.

The Revell El Camino and wagon bodies are different widths.  I want to say the El Camino is narrower, not 100% certain though.  I do seem to remember that when the wagon came out with the SS hood, some folks tried the El Camino hood on the wagon and found it a loose fit.

The old Monogram kit is 1/24 but seems to taper off to 1/25 at the ends.  There might be something useful there, the taillight panel for one piece.  

If the front clip rises up towards the front, maybe take a thin vertical "wedge cut" to tilt it down a bit?  If you are set on going further, I'd probably start with the '67 hardtop body and graft the '66 styling onto it.

The size/width thing has happened often.  Of all the kit manufacturers, seemingly only Jo-Han has been consistent in getting different cars on common bodies right.  I've bought kits with cracked windshields guessing that the piece from another kit would fit, and I haven't been disappointed yet.

[Snake45]

I'm currently trying to finish up (by the end of the year) a Monogram Chevelle I started in the '70s and have thrown back in the box in disgust many, many times over the years. I'm now determined to GITTER DONE. But the more I look at it, the less I like the shape of the mid-body. Looks like about 1/8" should come out of the c-pillars. 

I spent a LOT of time fitting the front end to the body, and a certain amount of time straightening out the front of the roof. I'm currently polishing the body. Here's what it look like a couple weeks ago: 

You have one more option: There's an inexpensive 1/24 diecast (Maisto, I think?); I've seen it in Marina Blue and black and other colors might be available. Shape is right and it looks good on the shelf.