57 Chevy Nomad - revell

[freddy_fo]

Well the adventure has begun. I've taken a 4 year hiatus from model building but the bug has bit again after dusting off my neglected ones recently. My re-entry is a 57 Chevy nomad which I first built as a young kid. I loved that car so much I used to take it everywhere with me. Eventually it met it's end when I left it on the dash of my aunt's car during a hot summer day. Back then I just assembled the kits without paint but was still deeply upset when I found the twisted/warped remains after a day at the zoo.

So off to fleabay and I found this opened kit for a good price and pulled the trigger. For the past 20 years I've built primarily tamiya and fujimi kits because they are straight and require little work to get them to piece together correctly. Having started on this nomad I'm reminded how terrible these older kits are in comparison. Some of the injection molding did not take completely and the chrome is awful with satin mottling everywhere as  well as excessive flashing. Then there is the molded trim which is uneven and blends into the body at places. 

 

Fortunately I've been able to correct most of the body issues but the engine which suffered most from the improper injections is going in the garbage. Instead I've order a resin kit of a 400 small block chevy from BNL resins.

 

I'm also going to try my hand at re-chroming the trim parts with molotow and an airbrush. I've never used that stuff before so this will be an experience that I hope brings satisfactory results. If not I'm going to black out the car so I haven't yet decided what the paint will be yet. 

I'm also going to try my hand at building leaf springs for the rear suspension using styrene strips and am pulling out the stops for all the other detailing items I typically skip over. This means it will be a slow build.

So far I'm happy with the shell after 12 or so hours of filing, sanding and fitting parts. As a kid I recall it was tricky to get all the opening parts to line up so this time I've spent extra time to ensure I get the gaps even. Getting the headlight trim to sit flush has been a challenge. I'm going to have to fill and my 15 year old tube of model putty is no good so back to the hobby store. Going to toss the hood and get a resin high rise with chrome delete instead. This will allow me to toss the hood hinge and fill in the firewall where the hinge openings are currently.

 

Finally I need some wheels. Don't want to go 20" low profile but would like to get something a little more updated. Haven't decided on anything yet so if there are suggestions please let me know your thoughts.

Anyways this is the start of what I hope to be my best build yet.

 

 

[GMCMAN52]

I'm liking your project will be following along

[Jantrix]

1 hour ago, freddy_fo said:

Finally I need some wheels. Don't want to go 20" low profile but would like to get something a little more updated. Haven't decided on anything yet so if there are suggestions please let me know your thoughts.

 

Updated is tough to do without going with a lower profile tire. Several of the Revell California Wheels kits have modern wheels/tires but aren't super-low profile, and might be what you are looking for.

[espo]

On the Wheel and Tires if you're trying to stay somewhat close to the OEM 14 inch wheels you might look at one of the current Revell '57 Chevrolet  kits that also offer white wall tires. Any hub caps you might use would cover the incorrect 6 lug wheels in these kits. The Revell '56 Chevy kits would work also. I think that the tires are the same diameter as the '57 models but they are supposed to represent a 15 inch wheel as that is what was used in '56 Chevrolet. .  

[freddy_fo]

Hmm, interesting espo. I was actually looking at getting an "updated" 57 kit just for the chrome. I like the wheels on this but not sure if I'd be buying the same problems chrome-wise or how well the parts would fit.

 

[espo]

If you have that Revell Bel Air two door kit I think that would be a great source for both the wheels and tires but also the Grill/front Bumper combination would be a better looking setup compared to the Revell Nomad kits. Another source of parts if you have an old or reissued AMT '57 Chevrolet Hardtop kit.   

[Jantrix]

On 2/20/2018 at 12:15 PM, freddy_fo said:

Hmm, interesting espo. I was actually looking at getting an "updated" 57 kit just for the chrome. I like the wheels on this but not sure if I'd be buying the same problems chrome-wise or how well the parts would fit.

 

Your Nomad is a 35 year old kit. The Bel Air kit is maybe five year old. The chrome will likely be top notch. As for the fit ................... no idea, but it should be close.

[ATHU]

Very interesting project, looking forward to follow this!

[geewhiz]

Great project for your return!!!  Im looking forward to seeing your progress!!!????????

[freddy_fo]

Cold miserable weekend so a good time to dig into the build. I built the leaf springs for the rear using evergreen styrene strips .030 x .080 for the bottom two and .020 x .080 for the top two. Used some parts trees from a detail masters metal etched distributor kit for the baling. 

Ordered a 400 CI small block from BNL resins and am getting that ready for paint. Used some canopy glue to temporarily join the transmission to the block so I could test the fit in the car and it looks like it will work well.

Did some detailing on the carb as well using the detail masters carb linkage kit and the fuel line kit that BNL also supplies. 

 

[freddy_fo]

Weather warmed up just right for shooting paint so that is what I did this weekend. Primer on the body showed up a few flaws so I need to do a little work there and hopefully be ready to shoot the body color next weekend. I still need to paint the interior panel insets once the brown dries. Thinking a light tan should work and planning on doing the insets on the bucket seats (pulled from a 68 camaro) the same.

 

 

I also stripped the original  chrome and re-shot with molotow chrome. Looks more like polished aluminum but I'm good with that so I'll keep it.

 

 

Final base body color will be graphite metallic like I used on my Ferrari 360 spyder.

 

[freddy_fo]

Some more progress. The dash required a bit of work. Was hoping to use the one that came with the 57 couple but it was too wide to work with the functional doors on this model so I built up the thin spots/holes around the gauges with epoxy and fortunately the natural surface tension of the uncured epoxy almost did a perfect job filling in the holes and keeping the contour. I had to drill out the fuel and temp gauges then shape a plastic dowel to go in the holes then applied decals. Was hoping to show a mounted tach but as I was working on the mount from a detail masters kit I walked away while almost done and when I came back the tiny little bugger was not where I remembered placing it. Somewhere in the carpet now I'm sure so moved on to other things. 

 

Got the body base coat painted and applied foil to the trim pieces in the interior. Found the perfect bucket seat mounts from leftover parts of a revell 250 gto detail kit. Woo hoo! Then I needed a boot to go around the detail masters hurst shifter kit so I scratch built one by layering gradually smaller and beveled rectangles from a .030" inch styrene sheet. 

 

 

Engine almost ready for install. 

 

Dash temporarily glued into place with canopy glue normally used for RC airplanes but works great for glueing windows on models. I'm going to have to swap out the brake pedal with another I have that has a longer arm to get it lower and more to the left as this one sits almost over the gas pedal.

 

These are the wheels that came with the newer revell california 57 chevy. 

 

Edited March 19, 2018 by freddy_fo

[bisc63]

Nice job so far! That is a really clean build there. The dark gray paint is handsome on that body, and should help the chrome trim really pop!

[espo]

Outstanding interior detailing. I'm going to steal your shift boot idea. That looks better than what comes in most kits.  

[freddy_fo]

Thanks for the nice words. Funny now that I review my pics I start to find some little nagging issues I didn't catch in person. Need to thin the walls of the hood scoop to start and that seam in the passenger floor looks pretty substantial. For the latter I think I'll fix that with some floor mats I didn't want to sand down the seam and remove the carpet texture but that is how the seam lines up on the top when the bottom side is lined up.  Should have made the top line up and sand the underside but to the naked eye it's barely noticeable. 

 

[ATHU]

Awesome job so far. Nice attention to detail!!

[freddy_fo]

On 3/19/2018 at 2:01 PM, ATHU said:

Awesome job so far. Nice attention to detail!!

Thanks!

[freddy_fo]

A little more work done.

 

Underside is pretty much done. I took liberties with the fuel line since it's a custom build.

 

Final base coat on the hood. Two weeks it and the body should be ready for the flames.

 

 

Wrapped up the shifter and found a better brake pedal from my leftover metal etched parts.

 

 

Experimented with foil on the tailgate and super pleased with the result. The only downside is the nomad emblem like a lot of the other emblems wasn't molded well. I wish someone made metal transfers... google search proved fruitless for me. I can save the V but the nomad part may be more effort than it's worth. 

 

 

So now on to painting the seat insets, and fabbing up some floor mats.

[espo]

You might try a Motolow pen for the trim.

[Rider]

The interior is amazing. 

[OldTrucker]

Looks great so far!

Not the easiest subject to work with either!

But I have a fondness for those Tri Five kits!

[Ron Hamilton]

You are doing an exceptional job on that kit.

[montecarlo1980]

 This is an awesome job!! I'm loving how this is turning out. I too had a 57 Nomad when I was a kid and built it straight up no paint. It was the Revell Skips Fiesta edition nomad. I loved that thing cause it was the first car I had gotten molded in the metallic blue. I built it as is and I always dug that thing! It eventually started missing pieces and got lost in the shuffle. But this is really making me want to look for a Skips Fiesta edition one and do a revisit build. Really digging this!!

[freddy_fo]

Thank you everyone for the nice words.

 

David, I have a 1mm molotow pen but it's still too big for that emblem job. Some of the lettering almost blends into the body where it is only bumps. I've foiled the area and dropped paint over it to see if it will darken up the valleys and it looks a little better but still not great. Need to head to the art store to see if I can find a super fine paint brush to help with that. 

Ruben, I saw a couple of the skip fiesta versions come up on ebay while I was looking for mine. None there at the moment but I'm sure one will pop up eventually.

[freddy_fo]

Just an update. Paint finish is pretty raw as I scrubbed it with 12000 grit pads and have a few more foil/paint touch-ups before I apply the clear coat.  I'm on the fence as to whether I did the right thing with the flames. I really liked the charcoal finish all the way around and the blue flames/front end isn't quite what I was hoping for. Maybe a few more weeks of staring at it and I'll come to like it.

A little nervous about final assembly. The frame is twisted and going to take a few glue sessions to get it aligned. I think the first best step is to glue the rear inside panels to the body so that the tailgate is aligned. Then once that is dried/set align, glue and clamp the front of the frame to the body and finally the rocker panels to the pan. 

The molotow chrome I applied to the bumpers and other plastic trim pieces did not work out well. After 1 month of drying they still dulled to the touch so I've stripped those and am going to try the alclad method.