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1967 Chevelle Concours Wagon


Ron Hamilton

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Several years ago,  I built a Revell 1966 Chevelle Malibu Wagon. I was a little miffed that Revell decided to do the car as a street machine instead of a Replica Stocker, so I did mine as the car out of the brochure. About a week ago, I received my subsciption copy of Muscle Car Review Magazine, and one of the article had a story about a '67 Chevelle Concours Wagon, with a L79 (327/325) Engine, with a 4-speed transmission.

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The car grabbed me, and I said, Why Not?

Several months ago, I purchased a flat hood off of Ebay, and I had several of the '66 Station Wagon kits, as well as a '67 SS396 Body and some other parts, so I went to work. I removed the front fenders from both cars, and grafted the '67 front end onto the '66 body.

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It took a little more work, in that the tooling of the two cars, while similar are not the same. I had to do a little fabrication to make it work. I got the front end to work, as everything fits the way I want it to. Also, I made the trim for the wood grain. I still have some tweaking to do to it, but it is close to being ready for primer.

 My next step is to do the rear treatment. So far I filled in the tail light openings.

I have to fit the '67 tail lights in, and make a trim panel for the tail gate. 

The next part is the interior.

 

 

Edited by Ron Hamilton
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I like what you're doing with this Ron. Can you share a little bit about what you had to do on the front fenders ? I would like to do something similar only with the '66 El Camino. I once owned a '67 El Camino and have wanted to update the '66 El Camino body using the Revell '67 Chevelle body. I already have both kits, but you mentioned the problems you had with the front end. Any additional information you could share would be appreciated.   I also read that article and think this would have been a really trick car to have owned.

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I like what you're doing with this Ron. Can you share a little bit about what you had to do on the front fenders ? I would like to do something similar only with the '66 El Camino. I once owned a '67 El Camino and have wanted to update the '66 El Camino body using the Revell '67 Chevelle body. I already have both kits, but you mentioned the problems you had with the front end. Any additional information you could share would be appreciated.   I also read that article and think this would have been a really trick car to have owned.

I found that while the Revell '66 Chevelle Wagon, '66 El Camino, and the '67 SS396 could have been made from the same tooling, they are not. They are similar, but not exact. Everything can be made to work, with a little measuring, cutting filing and filling. When I did my Replica Stock '66 Chevelle Malibu Wagon,

 

I thought it would be just as simple as swapping the hoods and wheels, and procuring the small block. The wheels worked, but the hoods were off about .020", which required that I add plastic strip to it, and fitting it to the Wagon. Everything else worked into place.

In the case of going from the '66 to '67 Wagon, and I would guess the '66 to '67 El Camino too, I looked at the bodies of the two cars. Since the '66 body was the greater part of the conversion, I kept as much of that car as I could. I did a rough cut of the front fenders (inner and outer) off of the' 66 wagon, staying close to the door line, and keeping the cowl and the firewall. The only things I am using from the '67 are the differences between the '66 and '67, namely the fenders front grille, bumper, hood and tail lamps. The rear contour, and the sides of the '67 hood had to be trimmed to fit the '66 Cowl and fender lines. I used the '67 hood as the guide to fenders (inner and outer) and core support to the body at the front doors and cowl. The side contours are different between the two cars are different on the models had to be adjusted between the two cars, with some filling and filing. I re-cut the door and cowl lines until I was satisfied with the fit. I saved the bottom of the '66 front fenders, and grafted it back under the '67 Fenders to retain the chrome rocker panels. I also cut the inner fenders from the '66 chassis so that it will fit with the '67 fender unit. This model is not very simple, but because there is more work than I anticipated, will be more satisfying if it works out. I hope to get the back end done today, so I can put some primer on it before the holiday. 

I have to cut the mesh from the grille, and replace it with the photoetch grille from the Model Car Garage set.

At this time, I have not tackled the interior yet, as that work will be much more involved, and will probably involve some scratchbuilding.

Edited by Ron Hamilton
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Thank you for the input. The interior will be an additional challenge since the seat patterns are different. The '67 seat inserts had horizontal detailing and the '66 pattern was a vertical design. Your wagon and El Camino are outstanding. I really like the showroom look.   

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I did a little work on the wagon yesterday and today. I changed the rear end from the 1966 to the 1967 configuration. I also sprayed the first coat of primer.

For some reason, the primer does not want to stick to the resin hood, even though I cleaned it. I put 3 coats of primer/sealer on it, which was Duplicolor. I may strip it, and soak it in some Westley's Bleache White. Sometimes the release used by the caster does not come completely off of the part after cleaning.

I have to look through the paint I have on hand for the exterior and interior colors. I looked at the '67 Chevelle brochure, and I may go with a different color. I am leaning towards a different color that the gold. My only criteria is that it coordinates with the wood-grain panels, and no black for the exterior. I am leaning towards Maroon, or Dark Blue. Just has to be period correct as a Factory Color, or as a re-paint, as just about every '60 car needed at one time or another after about 4 or 5 years. Since I am on the strictest of budgets, I cannot invest any more funds into this project, so I will use what I have to do the model. I have a lot of parts and paint, so I do not have to pirate anything from another kit, or buy any paint except for some clear.

Now on to the interior. With any kind of luck, I plan to paint this one by next week.

Thanks for the comments.  

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Really good work so far,not to be critical but the moulding trim you're using on the sides of the body looks just a little to large compared to the 1:1 picture.

You're right about the mouldings being large. I had to use what I had.  I may be able to shave them down, but if not, I may just leave them alone.

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Steve, The only problem with that method is that there is not enough 3-d effect.  I may have to cut them down.

From the posted photo, it doesn't look like you need much 3D effect at all. You could double up the aluminum tape--peel the backing off one strip and apply it to another (perhaps roughing up the under-strip with Scotchbrite for REALLY good grip between the two), and THEN cut your thin strips from the laminate with straightedge and Xacto or single-edge razor blade. Should be able to get to .004" or .005" that way, plenty of 3D effect.

Just a thought. B)

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I

From the posted photo, it doesn't look like you need much 3D effect at all. You could double up the aluminum tape--peel the backing off one strip and apply it to another (perhaps roughing up the under-strip with Scotchbrite for REALLY good grip between the two), and THEN cut your thin strips from the laminate with straightedge and Xacto or single-edge razor blade. Should be able to get to .004" or .005" that way, plenty of 3D effect.

Just a thought. B)

Sounds good, but I have another Idea. I may work on it tonight or tomorrow, but today, I am going to work on Dinner, Football, and time with the In-Laws.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Edited by Ron Hamilton
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Hear you on the strict budget. That's been a lot of the last several years for me.

I always thought dark blue looked nice with woodgrain. 

If you decide on maroon, I have a bottle of MCW Madiera Maroon I was going to use on another project, but I've been reconsidering my color choice. Yours if you'd like it.

Charlie Larkin

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Your tail light conversion looks dead on. Since you're trying to stay with OEM type colors you might want to look at Auto Color Library.Com and Old Car Brochures. Com for color ideas. I like the looks of the Granada Gold on the 1:1, but I am prejudice because  my '67 El Camino was that color. The Chevelle colors included a very dark blue metallic ( Danube Blue I believe ) and a light Blue metallic. They also had a dark Maroon with very little or no metallic in it. Another color you might look at is a very light Green metallic that was not very common but looked good on a body style that had a lot of trim on it.

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Your tail light conversion looks dead on. Since you're trying to stay with OEM type colors you might want to look at Auto Color Library.Com and Old Car Brochures. Com for color ideas. I like the looks of the Granada Gold on the 1:1, but I am prejudice because  my '67 El Camino was that color. The Chevelle colors included a very dark blue metallic ( Danube Blue I believe ) and a light Blue metallic. They also had a dark Maroon with very little or no metallic in it. Another color you might look at is a very light Green metallic that was not very common but looked good on a body style that had a lot of trim on it.

Making that back panel was a little tedious. I normally do what you suggested for this build, looking at the brochure, and Auto Color Library. At this point, I removed the moldings, as I found something that should work better. Years ago, a very good friend of mine (Lyle Willits) did the '67 El Camino conversion in Granada Gold, which came out great. Maybe he can post a picture of it, or else I will. I hope to get the work done on the body this afternoon.

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I revised the moldings for the wood-grain today, using a set of half round styrene strip.

I think it came out a lot better. I'll get a better sense of things once the primer dries. I also started on the interior revisions of changing the '66 interior to something that somewhat resembles a '67 interior.

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