46 replies to this topic

[Jdurg]

When working on my last kit (a 1996 Grand Sport Convertible), I had gotten a bunch of photo-etch frets including wire looms, seat belt latches/buckles, and the set of photo-etch parts for the 1/12 Scale 1967 kit made by Revell/Monogram. Last week, I finally got the kit I've been hoping for a while in the 1/12 Scale 1967 Corvette coupe.

I plan to take a very long time with this kit and be more patient than I have ever been. I'll take the chrome pieces from the kit, de-chrome them and remove the lacquer base before cutting open holes where needed (for the side pipes) and removing imperfections. After getting everything just how I want it, I'll bag them up and ship them out to Chrome Tech USA for re-chroming so that I won't have to worry about the attachment points, chrome scraped from smoothing out the detachment points from the fret, etc. I know this will take a month or more to get done and get back to me, but it will be worth it. (And by the time they come back, my 60 day separation from the job I will have been laid off from will have ended and I'll be back to a 40 hour work week again).

Just wanted to start up a thread here in the Big Boyz section to document my progress. Thus far, I have only done some preliminary work on the photo-etch fret getting the emblems painted properly. I also painted the back of the thin plastic sheet that they printed out the gauges on so that when the front side of them are observed they look absolutely stunning. Once I get the Vette in the mail, I'll take a look at the interior dashboard first and sand away the back where the gauges are so that the film can be placed there after sealing it to some very thing white styrene for support.

For modifications to the kit, I plan on doing very little. The 63-67 coupes have doors which would be a nightmare to fully open up so I do not plan on doing that. All I'm going to do is cut open the headlights (God I love my jeweler's saw. It cuts fast, and more importantly, very straight) and build some light bezels to use for the headlights. Getting them to rotate will be pretty simple to do with some straight metal tubing.

For paint, I'm going with Goodwood Green Metallic. I got this from the automotive touch-up site I got my Admiral Blue Metallic paint from when I built the '96 Grand Sport. I picked up two 12 ounce spray cans of the base color, two 12 ounce cans of the gray primer, and two 12 ounce cans of their incredible clear coat. All their paints dry super quick, super smooth, and incredibly hard. The price of all the paint was quite expensive ($75.00), but a good run at the poker table this past week has paid for it, and even if I didn't have a good night at the table, I'd have gone and bought the paint anyway as it is great stuff. For the interior, I'm going to go to AutoZone and pick up a can of the interior fabric/vinyl flat black paint from Rust-o-leum or Duplicor. Whichever brand they have. I'll also test out the paint on the sprue once I've primed it with the gray primer I have coming in the mail. This way I'll know if it will harm the plastic.

For the hood stripe, I was worried that I'd need to go and cut out precise decals from the white decal film I have as I read many places which stated that a Goodwood Green Metallic with black interior 1967 Corvette used a white stripe. Doing further searching, I saw a 1963-1967 Corvette Restoration guide preview on Google. The preview contained the color options available for the Vette and showed that cars which came from the factory in Goodwood Green Metallic with a black interior had a black stripe on the hood. Only the cars with a black interior with white seats had the white stripe. Since mine is fully black, I can use the black decal which came with the kit which shouldn't be a problem at all. I'll need to test out the clear coat I'm getting (and for which I have a little bit left in a can I have) on one of the other stripe decals that the kit comes with, but I'm pretty sure it won't cause any harm.

The engine will be fully wired and detailed as it's pretty simple doing this on large scale cars. For the spark plug wiring, I'm going to use some silver solder I have as it keeps its shape incredibly well, and I can put in the braided pattern that the shielded wires on radio equipped Vettes came with onto the solder by rolling it over the teeth of some pliers I have.

The painting process will be starting out with smoothing out any areas where flash was removed from the body, filling in any small depressions with putty, fully sanding the entire body to give the primer some "teeth" to grab onto, and deepen the panel lines to ensure the multiple layers of paint don't fill them in. I'll then put a light coat of primer on there, check to see if more body work needs to be done, then put another coat of primer on to fully ensure the body is sealed. I will then put on two or three coats of the Goodwood Green Metallic paint depending on how smoothly they go on. If the second coat goes on and appears smooth, then I'll stop at two. If I have to do any sanding of heavy orange peel I'll put on a third after smoothing out the second. After that, I'll put my first coat of clear on. When it's dry, the black hood stripe decals will go on, then I'll let it fully dry and put on another heavier coat of clear. Once that second coat is dry, I'll know if I need to add another coat of clear, but the way this clear covers and smooths out on its own, I doubt I'll need to. At this point, the body should be incredibly beautiful and completely cured before I even get going with the rest. (As I'll be waiting for my parts to come back from Chrome Tech USA).

Anyway, any suggestions or comments on my plans are fully welcomed. I really want this thing to stand out. When it's done, I'll build a display case for it out of the bunch of Lexan I have lying around and some spare wood. This way I'll be able to display it without having to dust it every few weeks. I REALLY can't wait for this to come in. Especially after finding the Chevy Engine Red paint in the MM Acrylic Line.

Edited by Jdurg, 25 October 2012 - 11:33 AM.

[Jdurg]

No pics yet, but my kit came in a day early. Everything is in perfect shape, and the engine build has begun. The puttying and first coat of primer has gone on, and there's still a few other touch-ups to do. What's really nice is that the kit includes a distributor and ignition coil with holes molded into the tops for the spark plug wiring that is included with the kit. The instruction sheet gives templates for cutting the wire to the proper length, and although they provided black wire for the wiring, I can use my solder of the same size that has been imprinted with the braided pattern on it. The engine is very detailed, even for a 1/12 size kit. The belts on the pulley assembly are perfect in terms of thickness, so no need to modify those. The alternator has a bracket on it which is great, and the fuel pump is large enough for me to be able to drill small holes for the fuel lines. I got the headlights cut out, and now just need to some filling and body work to clean up the stray cut marks. Then I'll figure out how to get the headlights to turn properly.

[Hawk312]

Sounds really interesting. I am looking forward to seeing pics. I built one of these in green a looooong time ago, but I guess mine was incorrect cause I used the black seats with the white stripes. The only suggestion I would have would be to consider using the rims from the Camaro kit. Let me know if you have any questions. I have built over 10 of these over the past 20 years, and have a couple more kits to be built.

[Jdurg]

Looks beautiful! I had applied a coat of primer on my engine yesterday, but the primer never really dried out. It had some tackiness to it so I dunked the engine in a vat of Simple Green overnight and just finished getting the primer off. It still left a very thin, dark coloration on the plastic, but that stuff was perfectly dry. I've applied the first two coats of color to the engine block and bell housing and that is drying right now. Need to let it fully dry so that the final couple of coats will bond better to the high points and edges. I have some aluminum paint drying on other parts of the engine pieces and will put some more coats on there so that it will look right. I also have a bunch of decals I need to print out and apply to the engine block. Things like the oil filter decal, the valve cover decals that I found on a website which sells reproduction decals for 1:1 1967 Corvettes, and a few others. When those are printed, sealed, then applied to the proper spots on the engine block I'll be able to go and take a photo. So that might be a few days. I also applied a coat of the Duplicolor Vinyl/Fabric paint to the seats and dashboard. Need to let those dry and I can apply Bare Metal Foil to the proper spots and get those parts done.

So I'm thinking that my first photos will come up this weekend.

[Jdurg]

Well, I have some sad news to report on my Corvette build. Got the interior just about complete, and the engine build is progressing nicely (pics to come this weekend), so I went and looked through the instructions and the parts in the box to plan out the various sub-assemblies to come. When looking at the rear lights setup for the kit, I realized that the kit is missing the red tail-lights for the car. As a result, I won't be able to finish this build unless I can somehow come across the four red tail-lights (Part #125 in the kit). I'm fairly bummed about this right now. I guess I'll go and post a request for these in the Wanted forum in case somebody has these parts available for some reason. With this kit being long out of production and going for around $80 on e-bay, chances are I'll be without them and have to figure out a way to scratch build them. Uggggh.

[comp1839]

justin, don't give up. while i'm not the guy that can help you ( the stuff i build either has no lights or painted on lights ) i'm more than positive some one on this board will be able to help you out with some ideas / suggestions,

[Hawk312]

PM sent.

[Jdurg]

PM sent.

PM response sent. You are my hero right now.

In other news, I got more of the interior finished today, and did some more engine assembly. Was able to make some decals that came out really great so that I was able to produce license plates using my actual license plate number/lettering and in a Connecticut 1967 style. Also had some additional decals to print for the engine. I may want to go and print out a decal for the air cleaner as the glue on the decals from the kit has yellowed tremendously. Otherwise, things are looking good.

Quick Edit: No need to print a new air-cleaner decal. With a brand new x-acto blade, some magnification, and a steady hand, I was able to trim the clear from around the decal itself and remove the yellowed part of it. It now looks incredibly sharp and clean. Finally had some steady hands. lol.

Edited by Jdurg, 01 September 2012 - 01:19 PM.

[Jdurg]

Okay, I finally have some images I can post. These are just three engine shots I have that I took with my iPhone as my digital camera is a bit finicky right now. This is before I started on the wiring.


Front shot of the engine with the air-cleaner decal that I carefully trimmed the excess, yellowed clear from.


Side view of the engine.


Finally, a somewhat blurry back view showing off the IU decal I printed out and put on the back of the valve cover. So far, I think it's coming out pretty good. Just haven't gotten much done lately as I have come down with a nasty upper respiratory infection that has sapped me of all energy.

[Jdurg]

David, you are my hero. David was able to provide me with the four lenses I desperately needed in order to complete this model and they arrived today. I also see that my paint from automotive touch-up will be at my house on Monday, so I'll be able to begin body work as well. Things are looking up right now, and I was able to get my interior bucket complete. The Duplicolor fabric/vinyl paint works great for interior surfaces, and the flocking looks perfect at 1/12 scale. The seatbelts were made with first aid tape that I "painted" with a black sharpee marker as that just dyes the fabric and doesn't make it stiff. The hardware was made from thin styrene sheet and some careful sanding, and while it didn't turn out as great as I had hoped, this is a coupe so it's not going to be as glaring once everything is completely assembled. Below are some photos.

[comp1839]

looks great justin. the engine and the interior are both very cleanly executed.

[Jdurg]

Thanks Dave. The kind words mean a lot, especially after following your Camaro Pro Mod thread and picking my jaw up off of the floor many times over!

Hope the weather out there in PA hasn't been too bad for ya. (Seeing some nasty stuff moving through the area today).

Edited by Jdurg, 08 September 2012 - 10:37 AM.

[comp1839]

we're getting hammered now.

[Jdurg]

Got a small bit of progress this evening. Started looking more at the headlight buckets for the '67 Vette and seeing how I'm going to make them rotate properly and look good. Started working on the passenger side headlight bucket as that side won't require as much body filler (going to pick up some Bondo spot putty tomorrow) to smooth out some of the rough cuts. I figure I can drill a small hole on each side of the bucket I constructed and run some thin metal tubing through there. I'll then be able to easily fit this all together in the body shell before that is completed and secure it.

Next idea to run through is what to make the actual lights out of. I'm figuring, if the scale is right, that I can take a simple cheap plastic pen, cut some discs out of it, then use scrap parts from that same pen tube and create some mounds of lights. Put some thin wire on there to simulate the support pieces on a light, cover it all with bare-metal foil, then take this piece and put it inside the discs I cut out for use as the real lights. Fill that it with the clear cement from Testors which dries perfectly clear and it will look like glass and the lights will be perfect. I figure I can test that out over the next few days and see what comes of it. I'll post pictures of that as I finalize the idea.

[Jdurg]

A little more progress. Got my Bondo today, and unfortunately it seems like the glazing/spot putty stuff doesn't cure nearly as hard as the regular body filler stuff does, so I will need to be a bit cautious when using it. (Either that, or I just haven't let it fully cure yet. I did mix in enough hardener so that it turned the "Bondo Pink" color when fully mixed, and the stuff actually did solidify fairly quickly, so it may just be that it needs to cure overnight to get fully "hard". I'll see tomorrow).

I cut apart a standard sized pen and saw that the tube isn't anywhere near big enough for 1/12 scale. What is perfect, however, is the top part of a Sharpie pen. I took one apart and the smaller black insert of the top, when cut into discs, is the exact perfect size. So I have the round frames for the lenses.

Edit: Discovered that the most complex thought processes can have the simplest answers. Instead of setting up some complex dowel into softened plastic jig, I did a simple thing. I had a rounded out electrical twist-off connector that I cut the top off of. It's the perfect diameter, if not a bit small. I took some athletic tape and covered the surface, then took a bunch of Teflon tape and covered that to smooth everything out and create a non-stick surface. I then set this on my kitchen counter top. In the Sharpie pen, where the narrow black tube expands to the rest of the pen diameter, I had already cut off the narrower tube to use as the headlight frame. The thicker walled black tube at the top still had the same internal diameter, but had thicker walls making it much sturdier. So I went and lit a candle near the rounded "mold" that I made, and took some thin sheet styrene and carefully moved it back and forth a few inches over the top of the flame until it started to wrinkle up a bit. I then quickly took the softened styrene and placed it over the mold on the countertop and took the thick walled black tube and pressed it over the top of the "mold". This caused the soft styrene to mold smoothly over the top of it and quickly cool off and hold its shape. It looks PERFECT! I made about ten of them with the best four destined to be used as the headlights on the Vette. I have the silver paint on the interior of this first test bucket drying, and when it's dried I'll be able to put the round frame I had already cut from the tube on it. When this is all done, I'll post a photo. I'm hoping to get this in tonight!

Edited by Jdurg, 09 September 2012 - 04:08 PM.

[Jdurg]

Some quick pics of where I am with the headlight design/construction.


This is simply a sheet of 0.015" thick styrene sheet that I softened over a candle flame and then quickly pressed over a mold I had made using the inner part of a Sharpie Marker. The quick cooling allowed the shape to set. This is one of my better turnouts. (I made an excess of ten total "tubs").


Here's the concave part of the tub that I have already applied Model Master Silver Chrome Trim enamel paint to. You can see the darkened color from the candle soot that adheres to the soft plastic when it is heated. Please note: If you are going to try and replicate this, make sure you keep the plastic WELL above the flame. The flame itself should never come close to touching the plastic. High enough off of the flame the heat is still strong enough to soften the styrene.


And here's my first completed "test bucket". The black ring is a section of Sharpie Marker tubing that I cut, and the "bucket" is another of the many I made and painted. I just trimmed it around the outside and superglued the black ring to it, then trimmed it up with a sharp x-acto blade. Since the mold press I used to create the bucket is the same internal diameter as the black ring section I cut out, this created the perfect size bucket. I then found a bunch of CD cases in my office upstairs and realized that the clear plastic there would be perfect for the lens itself! I carefully scribed out a rough shape of the round lens, then using some nippers and a sharp x-acto blade, and a lot of sanding, I got a nice round disc. The CD casing plastic is somewhat thick and doesn't crack like kit clear styrene does. It still didn't look quite right to me, so I took some 600 grit sandpaper and roughed up the interior side of the lens. After wiping away the sanding dust/particles, it looked perfect for what I was hoping for. I used some Testors clear part cement and cemented it to the top of the ring, and my first test is done.


When I move into production for the four headlights on the car, I think I'll make the clear lens part smaller so that it fits directly into the black ring cutout. This will make it look a little bit better, and allow more surface area for the clear cement to bond to. In addition, if it fits tight enough, I'll never have to worry about it falling out as time goes on. The bucket itself is nice and sturdy and that makes me very happy. The picture doesn't capture it well enough, but in person it looks really convincing. Still thinking about other things I may be able to do with these, but I'm not going to rush things. The body paint arrives tomorrow, and with my interior done and my engine almost complete (still need to do the spark plug wiring) I'm approaching the inevitable "hurry up and finish it!!!!!!" stage of building.

[Jdurg]

Got my paint today. I'm giddy. This stuff is quite expensive, but oh so incredibly good. I don't know the exact composition of it (aside from all the chemical compounds listed on the container), but it dries incredibly quickly, then cures to a rock hard surface over a period of a few hours. It is not a urethane as there is no requirement for a catalyst or full breathing apparatus, but the color and clear does mention that it is an acrylic urethane lacquer. I really don't care. It does not eat plastic, and goes great over decals, and gives a fantastic surface to polish out. The color coats dry to a dull finish which requires the clear coat to achieve gloss. The dull finish, however, lets the clear bite into the base coat and make it nice and sturdy.

I did a test primer application earlier today and that dried beautifully and smoothly. I just now applied a test coat of the Goodwood Green Metallic and WOW! This stuff is beautiful. I have my weekly card game later tonight, and when I get back home I'll be able to get a good look at it and put some spare decals on there so I can test decal adhesion and the reaction of the clear coat with it. If it passes the test, then I can rest easy knowing that when I go full production on this car it will all work out just fine.

[Jdurg]

The good news is that the paint does NOT eat up the plastic or the decals. Got a test coat of clear on the spare hood in the kit over the green and some spare decals. It's perfect, and was a nice way to finish up the last bit of clear I had in a spare can from earlier. Will probably slow down a bit right now as I further work on creating headlights and doing body work for the headlights. Still not fully sure on the headlights I'm building. I got one "production" headlight completed but won't be able to really tell how it looks until I get one of the two headlight assemblies completed.

[Jdurg]

Alright, a little more progress on the kit and hence another update to my "blog". I got the engine completed aside from cleaning up the spark plug wiring. I decided to just go with some white insulated wire I had lying around instead of trying to find a different diameter solder to use. Solder is MUCH easier to use as wiring since it holds its shape and you can make it look like it's draped over. The white wiring I used was a little "finicky", but some carefully placed dabs of superglue and some bending with pliers has helped big time. Just have a few more super glue "dabs" to place there to get the wire to look perfect. When that is done, the engine will be fully complete.

I cleaned up the chassis and applied paint to the areas where it was needed in order to "bring out" some detail. For the frame itself and the suspension components, I painted them using the MM Acryl Gunmetal paint. It's nice and dark with the slightest hint of blue to it and a perfect satin sheen. It looks really good when up next to parts I painted flat black, or flat black with a semi-gloss coating on it. With some dabs of aluminum for certain components, the suspension pieces really look sharp. Looks like I'll have to get going on the wheels and tires so that I can get this to be a rolling chassis. I'll take photos as I accomplish that.

I also finally figured out how to do the headlights and have actually applied my first color coat of paint to the one headlight bucket I've completed and the hood of the car. Looks great. For the headlights, I took use of my dremel and drilled out holes on opposite sides of the headlight bucket. I then took some styrene rod and epoxied them into the holes on each side and cut them to a short length. On the interior of the car body, I will fill out the sides of the bucket with strip styrene and will have space behind the styrene to stabilize it. The side of the hole closest to the sides of the car will have the flat piece with a hole drilled in it the same diameter as that on the sides of the bucket. The other side will have a channel the same diameter as the rod so that I can slip the finished headlight buckets into the side holes, and push the other side of the bucket along the channel until it reaches the front. Then, with the buckets temporarily taped in position, I will take some other styrene strip and "close off" the channel so that the headlights are secured. They will then just rotate around the rods on the side of the bucket to open and close. I did a test run with some quickly mocked up side pieces and it rotates smoothly and perfectly. I just have to make sure my measurements are perfect.

A picture of the headlight bucket will be posted once I have the clear coats on, polished out, and the lights installed in the holes.

[Jdurg]

Little bit of progress. Got the final coats of clear on the headlight bucket, and the first coat of clear on the hood after which I went and applied the stripe decals. At first, the clear part between the main stripe and the pin-stripe was pretty yellow and cloudy, but as the decal has dried over the past few hours that cloudiness has disappeared. I'll coat this with a second and third coat of clear on Tuesday so that the decals can be 100% dry.

I also got the headlights placed in the bucket that I had finished. When doing so, I discovered a mistake I made in the building. I used thin styrene for the part of the bucket that has the two holes cut out. This styrene is too thin to allow for any pressure that was applied when the headlights themselves were being installed. So the thin sheet split a bit in between the two headlights and also did some funky stuff with the thick paint coat on the top. If I were trying to achieve perfection here, I'd scrap it all and start over, but I have used enough of the green paint on it and the clear coat and blood, sweat, and tears to worry about it. It's only going to be noticeable if I have the headlights up, and it's the passenger side one anyway so I'm not going to worry about it and just remember this mistake when working on the driver's side bucket.

Anyway, onto the photos.


Semi-blurry photo of the front where you can see the small crack in the plastic and how it kind of warped. Not really satisfied with this, but I'll take it since with the headlights down it won't be noticeable.


Here's a bottom view of the same thing. The issue with the headlight insertion can be noticed here as well, but again, this side is the side that will be parallel to the ground when the headlights are up, and pointing to the inside of the car when they are down so I will just deal with this problem and ensure it doesn't happen to me again on the next headlight.


My favorite view. This captures the color of the car PERFECTLY and also shows how nice and deep the clear coats are. My goal is to have the entire body of the car look the same. It's simply two coats of primer, two coats of Goodwood Green Metallic base coat, and three coats of the clear finish that was sanded lightly and rubbed between coats before the final coat was just buffed and polished.