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1975 NHRA Modified Production '70 Malibu 10/28 On The Wheels (Again)


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How's the Revell body? I picked up one of their snap kits, today, and that body doesn't have the side issue, at all. Looks great, in fact, in that regard. The character lines just fade down into the fenders. If I am going to go through all this work on the front suspension, then, it's pretty important for the body to be right.

Ordered these nuts and bolts, online. I think I am going to use them to do the final assembly on this suspension. Yeah, they're tiny!

 

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Edited by Straightliner59
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For the first time, I have all the wheels on the chassis. I'd say the chassis was on the wheels, but I forgot to tacky glue the lower A-arm assembly to the chassis, so this will have to do, for now. Next up, I will turn the front rotors, and get the front brakes set up. I haven't yet decided on discs or drums, for the rear.

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That front suspension is beautiful work, and will paint up nicely! That Revell SnapTite Chevelle is a really nice kit, and is arguably the most accurate '70 Chevelle body we have to work with. It wouldn't take alot to open up the hood and use over a full detail chassis. It gets points in my book for being in God's Favorite Scale ; 1/25. Still, there's something satisfying about beating the old AMT body into shape. Will be watching...

 

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That front suspension is beautiful work, and will paint up nicely! That Revell SnapTite Chevelle is a really nice kit, and is arguably the most accurate '70 Chevelle body we have to work with. It wouldn't take alot to open up the hood and use over a full detail chassis. It gets points in my book for being in God's Favorite Scale ; 1/25. Still, there's something satisfying about beating the old AMT body into shape. Will be watching...

 

Thanks for the kind words, re: the suspension. I think I have about 30 hours in it, and that might be conservative! I am still interested in seeing your rear window treatment. I started working on mine, but am not sure I'm going about it correctly. The body sides don't look to be too difficult to correct. That said, I am giving the Revell body some consideration. Here's the car finally on the wheels...

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I've decided to go with the Revell SnapTite body. It's much nicer, and actually fits the AMT chassis better than the AMT body does--check the alignment of the tires/wheels in the wheelwells. It will work with the AMT interior tub (I favor it, because it doesn't have the rear seat, which is legal for MP, so long as the area's "finished"), which I will fit with the side panels from the snapper. I got two photos taken before the tacky glue bond came apart, and the front suspension collapsed--again! Can't wait until THAT assembly is finally assembled and mounted. Alas, that's going to be a while, yet...

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There's a surprising amount of difference in the rear wheelwells, the slicks sure do fit the snap body better. That's got to be the most detailed and accurate front suspension work I've seen on a Chevelle. Good work!

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There's a surprising amount of difference in the rear wheelwells, the slicks sure do fit the snap body better. That's got to be the most detailed and accurate front suspension work I've seen on a Chevelle. Good work!

Thanks, Glenn! It's definitely the most effort I've ever put into a front suspension. Your words are much appreciated! That snap body is really nice. Wish they'd use it as the basis for a full detail kit!

 

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Update: I got the hood cut out of the SnapTite body, and installed the inner fender wells. Rear shocks are built from aluminum tubing. The "eyes" are glued to the shocks with JB Weld. There's a small amount of material that needs to be removed from the back seat area of the AMT tub, so that the Revell side panels will fit in the interior properly. Next up, I am going to begin working on the cowl/firewall assembly.

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While you're fiddlin with the hood, you may want to re-sculpt the cowl induction scoop, either with putty, or by cutting it out and splicing in the AMT piece - Revell under-sized it, AMT is much closer to correct. I'll get a pic up as soon as I can, showing measurements on an actual hood. That, the soft detail and "rounding" of the grille, and the four mystery objects molded to the sides of the console are the only real problems I see with the Revell kit, and none are too difficult to overcome. Is that chassis not a beaut for a snapper?!

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While you're fiddlin with the hood, you may want to re-sculpt the cowl induction scoop, either with putty, or by cutting it out and splicing in the AMT piece - Revell under-sized it, AMT is much closer to correct. I'll get a pic up as soon as I can, showing measurements on an actual hood. That, the soft detail and "rounding" of the grille, and the four mystery objects molded to the sides of the console are the only real problems I see with the Revell kit, and none are too difficult to overcome. Is that chassis not a beaut for a snapper?!

My so far ever-evolving plan is to use the AMT grille, which is shown, attached below. I've only just cut it  out of the rest of the part, and sanded it, to fit. I am leaning toward using the entire AMT hood, sectioned crosswise somewhere behind the headlights and the front of the scoop, and adding a (roughly .125") strip from the same area of the snapper. Of course, I hadn't noticed the "roundness" of the grille, until you mentioned it. As soon as I looked at it, I knew what you meant, so thanks again for your commentary. The engraving on that chassis is pure art!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Been a while since I updated this thread. That's mainly because I was struggling with how I was going to do the cowl; In the meantime, I finished up a couple of projects that were close to complete. Those are now posted on the Drag Racing Models thread/board. I digress. A friend suggested the cowl from AMT's '68 El Camino. Bingo! It's now cut to size. I think I am going to clean it all up (no need for wipers on a MP racer!), open the grilles and install some sheet to replicate the duct/plenum, beneath. I've also cemented strip to the edges of the hood, to replace the kerf from removing it from the body. I'll remove the heater and wiper motor from the firewall, as well--again, no need for that stuff on a race car! I'll also install the Cowl Induction scoop from AMT's '70 Chevelle (thanks, Rusty Shackleford! Good call!). Not a ton of physical progress, but, progress nonetheless. The Revell hood will need to be thinned considerably, but, it appears that the hood will nestle beautifully between the fenders, once it's cleaned up.

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Edited by Straightliner59
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  • 1 month later...

It's been a while since I've updated this. That's because it's been a while since I made any kind of progress on it. That's a long story...suffice to say, this project has been on life support. Everything that's led to this point has been a part of that story. Those white pieces at the front of the floorpan are from AMT's '68 El Camino, as are the firewall and the cowl. The El Camino's firewall didn't align with the older AMT chassis, partly because the area filled by those white pieces was empty, before. Fixing that led to a lot of judicious (and some not so judicious) cutting and sanding and fitting and repeating. Cutting the front clip loose was also a big help. It's finally close enough that I figured I could share it. I added a thin strip of styrene at the cowl/firewall joint. Also visible are the smoothed firewall and the heater block-off plate. I chickened out at the idea of opening the cowl vents and covering them with screen, although, you never know!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I added some detail to the area  around the trans hump. I replaced the center of the AMT Chevelle's chassis trans mount with the center section of one from the Monte Carlo. I also made the ends of the firewall. I just about have this area all worked out, now. I've begun to rework the interior door panels of the Revell kit to fit the interior tub of the AMT kit, because the Revell's interior assembly is too deep to fit and have this chassis sit up under the body. I am going to attempt working hood hinges from brass. We'll see how that goes!

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Alan, what you are seeing in the photos is just the highlight at the top of a convex form, not a separate shape ( i.e; the outward "bulge" of the fenders) The cats at AMT (or MPC, whoever first tooled this) saw those outlines (Very much mistakenly) as another convex (Inward cut) area.  If you get a chance to hold the AMT body up to the real car, or even the Revell snapper, you'll see exactly what we're going on about with regards to the body's "over-sculpting"; there is a trench created that just should not be there. Revell got it right, even the old Monogram 1/24 got that right.

Daniel; so glad to see you back on this; you really are going above and beyond here, and are creating a very accurate model. Well done, sir!

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Alan, what you are seeing in the photos is just the highlight at the top of a convex form, not a separate shape ( i.e; the outward "bulge" of the fenders) The cats at AMT (or MPC, whoever first tooled this) saw those outlines (Very much mistakenly) as another convex (Inward cut) area.  If you get a chance to hold the AMT body up to the real car, or even the Revell snapper, you'll see exactly what we're going on about with regards to the body's "over-sculpting"; there is a trench created that just should not be there. Revell got it right, even the old Monogram 1/24 got that right.

Daniel; so glad to see you back on this; you really are going above and beyond here, and are creating a very accurate model. Well done, sir!

Thanks, Rusty! It's not perfect, but, it's better than it was! If I had it to do over? I'm having fun with it. This primered Chevelle really removes the illusion that led to the AMT body's warts. It's a lot of work to use the Revell snapper's body, but I am happy I chose it.

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