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Toy Show Rescue: '70 Chevelle SS


Snake45

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I first spotted this Franklin Mint ’70 Chevelle at the local toy show about six months ago. It was priced right ($20) but as I was reaching for my wallet, I noticed a fatal flaw: It was missing the left front fender cap/headlight bucket.  Soon as I saw that, I put it right back on the vendor’s table.

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After I got home, I had a great idea: Could the fender cap be cut from a common Monogram ’70 Chevelle body and used? For the next two or three shows, I took the Monogram body and a dial caliper to the monthly show with me, but the vendor wasn’t there. Then the show took a month off. This month (September) I gave up on the idea and didn’t take the kit body or calipers, and of course I spotted the thing on another vendor’s table, still priced at $20. It followed me home.

Here’s the donor Monogram body.

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The cut-off fender cap turned out to be a less-than perfect fit. I had to add a piece of Evergreen styrene to get the inner end thick enough (front-to-back) to not leave an objectionably large gap with the hood, then airbrushed the whole cap Testor Arctic Blue, which didn't match as well as I thought it would. I first thought that the FM and Monogram headlights were identically spaced and I’d be able to use the cap piece over the FM headlights, but they were off just enough to make this not possible. So I had to use the Monogram headlights and bezels. Now the new ones on the left side don’t match the originals on the right, but oh well, you’ll just have this kind of thing sometimes with lash-up jobs like this.

The Chevelle turned out to have other problems as well (looks like it had either been played with and/or dropped at least once). I assumed the white SS stripes were tampo-printed, but there was a large bubble in the stripe on the left side of the hood, so apparently the stripes are some sort of stick-on vinyl. Pressing it down didn’t help at all. I slit the bubble with a new Xacto blade to let the air out and pressed again; that worked. Now you’d have to really look for it to see the fix.

The model also turned out to be missing the driver’s door handle and the right-side hood pin. I ignored these for the time being but hope to fix them eventually. I did paint the chrome Magnum 500 wheel spokes flat aluminum to look like Chevy SS wheels, and black out the grille.

So it’s not perfect, but it’s on the shelf for about the same cost as a Walmart diecast, and it goes in the DONE column for the year. I’ve done worse. Thanks for looking and as always, comments welcome.

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I don't think I'd have noticed the different bezels unless you pointed them out, and the blue looks pretty good in these pics.  It strikes me as the kind of thing I'd see at the local cruise-ins, a 99% complete restoration that the owner couldn't wait to get back on the road with.  Nice job on the save!

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Wow.   Yours MAY be rougher than mine was.   Mine was also missing driver's door handle.   Fireball came to the rescue.   While they aren't perfect, they do put an object in the place.   You got a better deal initially, so you win?  lol.

I was thinking Arctic Blue as well.   Interesting that it didn't match, but good job on replacing the headlight door.

I'll have to look but I think mine had some sort of suspension repair needed.  And is missing a sill plate, which will be near impossible to find a replacement.   And the trim on these is more like Sharpie than foil.  I foiled mine mostly I think.   Shoulda left it alone.  The juice wasn't worth the squeeze really.  

Good thread and nice job repairing.  the Mint cars can be had pretty cheap if you are willing and able to work on them a little.   Strictly collectors want them pristine and many don't build, so it leaves plenty for us to repair to have nice models.  

 

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Great save, it looks good Rich, I have one I picked up cheap as the stripes were flaking off, I removed the old ones and replaced them with a set of Keith Marks decals as they had the more realistic thinner striping around the edges. I also Bare Metal Foiled the trim as well and gave the whole car a good polishing and detailing. I think it turned out pretty nice for getting it cheap.

 

 

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Edited by Geno
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43 minutes ago, crowe-t said:

Did you ever build that Monogram Chevelle body you have in the picture with all the fixes?

No, not that one. (I just cut the front fender cap off of it.) The writing is all over that one to show the changes I made to the one I DID build about 10 years ago. 

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2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

No, not that one. (I just cut the front fender cap off of it.) The writing is all over that one to show the changes I made to the one I DID build about 10 years ago. 

Do you have pictures of the one you built 10 years ago?

Edited by crowe-t
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2 hours ago, Geno said:

Love that green one Rich, that bad boy rocks.?

Yah, I wish the body underneath was as good as all the good work I put into it. 

I have one of the Revell snappers molded in dark green I'm gonna polish up. I'm hoping it will end up looking even better than this one. B)

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On 9/17/2019 at 8:25 AM, randyc said:

 Mine was also missing driver's door handle.   Fireball came to the rescue...And the trim on these is more like Sharpie than foil.   

 

I've got to order some of those Fireball handles sometime soon. And yes the trim is very Sharpie-like--I was able to touch mine up in a couple places with My Beloved Silver Sharpie. B)

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On 9/18/2019 at 7:16 PM, Bucky said:

Nice work on this ol' Chebbie! How hard would it be to replace the headlight bezel on the right side with the other piece from the donor body? That way, both sets of headlights would match, even if the paint is a shade or two off.

Thanks for the kind words. It would be a certain amount of work, and the part doesn't fit all that well anyway. Truth to tell, I'd rather put my efforts into something else at this point. :rolleyes:

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