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2019 Corvette C7 Grand Sport


AJM

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The inspiration for this build is the 1:1 vehicle that I purchased last year, on the 'bucket list' -- 2019 C7 Grand Sport , Coupe, Arctic White, Heritage package, Carbon Flash badging, machined face 'cup' wheels, two-tone interior. Last version of the front engine/rear wheel drive Corvette. This will be a challenge, but lets give it a go.. .picture below is what I will be striving to recreate!

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Since there is no 1/25 scale(or any scale) model kit of the C7 Grand Sport, Z06 or ZR1 version of the Vette, I took advice from some builds and comments on this forum about doing a kitbash to recreate this. So the approach will be to combine the 1/25 Revell 2016 C7 kit, the C7R Revell kit, bits from the 1/24 Maisto Diecast 'Z06', C1 models resin kit, 'Cup' wheels from Plazmos, I had custom decals made by Thomas at Speedway Decals and much advice from builders, Ismael G., Len Woodruff and Bob Downie, on the use of Automotive Touchup paint. Below are the kits that will be used

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So here we go -- biggest difference between the Z51 C7 and the Grand Sport is the rear fender wide body, among other differences such as front grill, rear xmission cooler vents, side cove vents and vent trim pieces and rocker skirts. I took measurements from the 1:1 across the rear fenders and scaled the dimensions and compared to the C7R model and the fender width was almost exact. I also measured the front fenders and decided that I had to provide a 'little more flare' to the front . So the plan is to cut out the C7R rear fenders and rocker panels and graft them onto the C7. So let the surgery begin...

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As you can see from above and below, i had to open up the front grill, top rear fender air extractors and also the side vent coves were cut out --many hours spent doing this. also, much test fitting of the Maisto parts to integrate into this.

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After grafting the C7R fenders/rockers and keeping the C7 stock wheel arch with the 'signal indicator' -- now the real fun begins --many/many hours of filling, sanding ahead. used 3M two part glazing putty and Apoxie filler. But the general shape looks good at this point --fingers crossed!

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A little work on the front fenders and a comparison to the stock Z51 C7 kit - -Apoxie putty was used after a 'lip' of strip styrene was placed in the wheel arch. i had to study many pictures of the front fenders to get the look correct. Also another comparison of the rear of the GS with the Z51 stock model. you can see that the GS is much more aggressive looking

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Yes, your quite correct, matter of fact I have most of it on my work bench! Thanx for the complement, it's most appreciated. 

Onto the build -- with much fitting, the front grill from the 1/24 Maisto looks pretty good. This is the correct grill for the GS and the Z06. Due to the slightly larger scale it had to be massaged into place. it will be primed and painted Semi-gloss black.

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The two big distinguishing design features of the GS is the rear wide body and the side cove air extractors(see pic below) -- if you look at the pictures above you'll notice that the side cove from the 1/24 Maisto is really for a 'Z06'. The GS side cove has the GS emblem area located almost in the middle of the cove and it also has side vent trim that harkens back to the original GS. This turned out, for me anyway, to be one of the most challenging aspects of the build. I did take measurements from the 1:1 car and scaled them. I filed down the 'Z06' logo and then used a small strip of styrene to reposition where the GS emblem should be --this was filled in with 2 part epoxy and cleaned up. you can see the results below.. 

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Now the real fun begins --trying to replicate , in scale, the side cove vent trim. you can see this in the 1:1 picture above. My approach was to photo reduce an image of the vent trim that I found on-line(I think it was from Corvette-Mods) and then I placed this onto .010" plastic sheet and carefully cut these out. I then used 'half-round' for the vertical sections and rectangular styrene strip fo the horizontal sections -- measurements were taken from the 1:1. I think the results come close, I still need to do a little more trimming and sanding --you can see the many parts I made and the templates, that were used --much trial and error to get the correct 'look' on the model .. nervous about how these are going to placed onto the finished car!

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Next up was trying to replicate the 'Stage1 Spoiler' -- This spoiler has a body colored section nestled into the 'Gurney flaps', how far this section is placed beneath the flaps determine the down force that the car can achieve or something like that! This is where I used a combination of the C1 Tru-fiber 'gurney flap' and the C7 kits' spoiler. To finish this off, I used photoetched bolt heads from Scale Motorsports, spaced at intervals measured from the 1:1.

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1 hour ago, Len Woodruff said:

Thanks for posting this. I want to build this to replicate my Torch Red Grand Sport.

Using the C7R rear quarters was brilliant idea.

 

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Len -- what a beauty , that is my other favorite color , love the black cup wheels. I'm going to use the rocker skirts from C1 and modify to look like what's on your car -- I'm using Automotive Touchup paint's 'Carbon Flash' -- it looks great, metal flake does not look out of scale. You'll see these later as I continue the build! Best of luck w ur Vette!

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Next up the Wheels/Tires -- Used the Plazmos C6 -Cup Wheels, which I think were originally debuted on the 20113 60th Anniversary Vette --the ones I'm replicating are called the 'machined faced aluminum'(see pic below) . So after the wheels were cleaned up and primed, small hole was drilled for the valve stems(Detail master) and then the wheels were AB with Model Master's Metallizer Polished Aluminum and after they dried, AB with Vallejo Gunmetal -- the spokes and rim circumference were then wiped with Acrylic thinner to remove the Gunmetal in those areas. Speedway decal did some very small 'corvette' decals that were placed on the rims, to replicater the cast 'corveet' writing in the aluminum wheel -- although this was very difficult to see and to put down. Also had decals made for the 'Argent' center caps

Finding the proper tires was difficult -- the rear are Michelin Pilot Sport (20") and the front are 19" -- I wound using rears from Ukrainian Scale Auto and the front will be from Pegas --but still searching for a better fit, but more on this when the car body and chassis come together . i f anyone has suggestions on 19" Michelin's for the front please let me know. Also shown in the picture with the 4 wheels is a set of 19" Michelins, but the side wall looks to tall.

Plazmos was supposed to do a set of Michelins, for the Cup wheels, but that never happened.

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Fitted the Maisto cooling vents on the top of the rear fenders and blended them in, these will be painted in the Arctic white body color. Also decided to open up the lower air intakes in the front of the rear fender and added some styrene strip for the trim --this will be painted 'Carbon Flash'.

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8 minutes ago, gtx6970 said:

Makes it nice ( easier )  when you can walk out in the garage and ck details

Yes it sure does -- there is also a lot of info on-line with regard to pictures and dimensions

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The interior build went pretty smoothly a lot of detail painting and AB work/masking and many small decals, but it looked impressive when completed. I also made up a set of floor mats with the GS logo, from a photo reduced picture that was then put onto masking tape and the gray was touched up with Vallejo Gray-Z. 

The interior I'm replicating is called the 2LT and this one has a two-tone interior --Gray/Black and the there are Aluminum 'Hash' marks on the side of the dash. the console cover has an optional GS logo, which Thomas at Speedway decals replicated. the top dash, seat inserts, and arm rests are Vallejo 'Gray-Z' and the carpet floor are forward of the seats is Testors flat Neutral Gray. the rear carpet area is Tamiya flat black and the door inserts are Vallejo 'Pure Black'

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Brought the interior and engine/chassis assembly together and added the engine beauty cover 'Corvette' decals and otter under hood decals . You can also see the seat belt retainers in the shot below. Below is a top view of the assembly.

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