AMT ERTL 1969 Chevrolet Corvair

Cuba_13 · September 26, 2020

The builds cannot stand still and I took out a new box, which I had wanted to build for a long time.

A car that I really, really like - the Chevrolet Corvair. In the middle of its life it was positioned as a compact sports car, an analogue of "imported" (European) sports cars and a less expensive alternative to the Chevrolet Corvette. One of the main characters in Ralph Nader's book Dangerous at Any Speed. Little known due to the almost complete absence of advertising in production. Unique in that it is rear-engined. And all this he is the most beautiful Corvair.

Re-issue 2004.

We open the sprues.

We are given the opportunity to make 2 landing options, it's interesting.

Interior. Quite good indeed. The detailing, apart from the floor, is excellent, it is a pity that the rug was damaged by the pusher.

Dashboard, stock steering wheel and rear folding roof. The funny thing is that the instructions do not say a word about what you can do with a convertible.

The detailing of the dashboard is excellent.

Engine.

Gadgets for customizing.

Custom hood.

Front seats and stock hood.

Why AMT ERTL they give plastic 2-piece tires, I have no idea.

Further details for the wild custom version.

The body is carefully reinforced with thick hard cardboard, this moment could be taken by all manufacturers, so that the modelers later would not be upset about the broken roof pillars.

The body itself is very well made, all the nameplates and emblems are very clear, there will be no problems to highlight.

Chrome sprue.

2 sets of tires.

Red glasses for customization.

And transparent for the body, and, for some reason, the engine cover in transparent. It's weird...

Awesome decals.

Manual, huge, A2 size!

The set is, of course, wood-fired, but so many possibilities! So far I'm torn between stock, racing and wild custom versions, I like all 3 of them. I haven't decided on the painting yet, but I like this color scheme:

That's all for now.

espo · September 26, 2020

Some info on the two piece plastic tires. The original kit offered the option of mounting the plastic parts to the outside of the wide tires in the kit to make them appear as if they were racing tires. I tried this years ago and it did look good. On the plastic portion I painted it a flat black color and then scraped the paint off of the raised lettering so that it looked like a raised white lettered tire.

dave branson · September 26, 2020

5 hours ago, Cuba_13 said:

The builds cannot stand still and I took out a new box, which I had wanted to build for a long time.

A car that I really, really like - the Chevrolet Corvair. In the middle of its life it was positioned as a compact sports car, an analogue of "imported" (European) sports cars and a less expensive alternative to the Chevrolet Corvette. One of the main characters in Ralph Nader's book Dangerous at Any Speed. Little known due to the almost complete absence of advertising in production. Unique in that it is rear-engined. And all this he is the most beautiful Corvair.

Re-issue 2004.

We open the sprues.

We are given the opportunity to make 2 landing options, it's interesting.

Interior. Quite good indeed. The detailing, apart from the floor, is excellent, it is a pity that the rug was damaged by the pusher.

Dashboard, stock steering wheel and rear folding roof. The funny thing is that the instructions do not say a word about what you can do with a convertible.

The detailing of the dashboard is excellent.

Engine.

Gadgets for customizing.

Custom hood.

Front seats and stock hood.

Why AMT ERTL they give plastic 2-piece tires, I have no idea.

Further details for the wild custom version.

The body is carefully reinforced with thick hard cardboard, this moment could be taken by all manufacturers, so that the modelers later would not be upset about the broken roof pillars.

The body itself is very well made, all the nameplates and emblems are very clear, there will be no problems to highlight.

Chrome sprue.

2 sets of tires.

Red glasses for customization.

And transparent for the body, and, for some reason, the engine cover in transparent. It's weird...

Awesome decals.

Manual, huge, A2 size!

The set is, of course, wood-fired, but so many possibilities! So far I'm torn between stock, racing and wild custom versions, I like all 3 of them. I haven't decided on the painting yet, but I like this color scheme:

That's all for now.

Awesome box art

THarrison351 · September 27, 2020

12 hours ago, Cuba_13 said:

12 hours ago, Cuba_13 said:

The funny thing is that the instructions do not say a word about what you can do with a convertible.

It's funny too that the interior is for a convertible.

Misha · September 27, 2020

This is a good choice for a build Roman. My very first car was a 65 Corvair Monza with the 140 HP engine with four single barrel carbs. GM also offered a turbo engine in the Corsa model that was discontinued in 67 if I remember. The turbo was also an option in the earlier annual Corvair kits. It may be of interest to check out the Yenko and Sprint versions for further inspiration. My first modification to my 65 was to have it repainted in Hugger Orange.

I’ll keep an eye out for your WIP build of this kit, as I always enjoy your work and am always amazed at your output of quality models.

Cheers Misha

PS: it is very odd that a convertible boot is included as there never was one offered by AMT. yet the inclusion of a convertible Interior tub was quite common in the early days when models were offered in both versions and it was cheaper to design a single tub for both.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Misha
Comment added

vairnut · September 30, 2020

The convertible boot first showed up in this issue of the Corvair kit. It was not present in any of the 1965 - 1969 original annual kits or in any of the 1970's reissues or the prestige series reissue. The boot exists as a remnant from the original annual convertible promo models. When this early 2000's issue was released many former "blocked" gates on the sprues were opened up on many older AMT kits so parts that were never seen before or had not been in other earlier reissues showed up.

Cuba_13 · October 11, 2020

Good afternoon, friends, the build does not stand still, the first update is ready.

I chose these wheels and stock tires, tk. the second set with wide tires seemed completely irrelevant to me, after all, this is not an SUV.

One problem immediately appeared.

There are 2 types of tires in the set, but the rear disc mounts are only suitable for wide tire.

I decided to get out of the situation in the following way.

I cut off around the perimeter what treacherously sticks out. From the back inside it is still not visible.

He removed the chrome from the wheels, will be painted in body color.

Processed and prepared all engine parts.

With the water pump, I cut off all the unnecessary, cast is not clear how and for what.

I apologize for the quality of the photo, I did not take a picture after removing the chrome.

Here we have an indistinct distributor for wiring with mold displacements on the right. The oil filter is a gnome on the left, although on a real car it is on the front mount between the pulleys belts. Well, from above, something incomprehensible.

The oil filter with mount is made from scratch.

As well as the distributor for wiring.

I made the terminals for the battery.

I processed and prepared the details of the interior, it will be stock for me. Made the door armrests.

And prepared the rear suspension parts.

For today, there is nothing more to show, everything else is still in work. Thank you for attention.

espo · October 11, 2020

You have a very methodical build style that is enjoyable to watch . You mentioned in your post that you were removing the Water Pump. My concern is since this is an air cooled engine what part did you remove. There is a part on the engine that would attach to the two posts facing the rear of the car. This would have been the Timing Chain Cover and be essential for the engine.

slusher · October 13, 2020

Real nice start looking forward to your progress!

ChrisBcritter · October 13, 2020

On 9/26/2020 at 11:18 AM, espo said:

Some info on the two piece plastic tires. The original kit offered the option of mounting the plastic parts to the outside of the wide tires in the kit to make them appear as if they were racing tires. I tried this years ago and it did look good. On the plastic portion I painted it a flat black color and then scraped the paint off of the raised lettering so that it looked like a raised white lettered tire.

I did something similar: I put one on either side of an original AMT compact tire, carved new treads, then cast them in resin and ended up with nice wide 13s:

ChrisBcritter · October 13, 2020

Nice work so far! Also, Roman, you may have some trouble fitting that clear shroud on top of the engine - AMT redid the glass molds at some point and they messed up that part.

Edited October 13, 2020 by ChrisBcritter

Dominik · October 13, 2020

nice work! i built the same kit years ago and choosed a frontengined 69 Camaro untercarriage...now, i bought the kit again to build it stock.

Your built makes me feel, to grab my Hands on mine.

espo · October 13, 2020

6 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

I did something similar: I put one on either side of an original AMT compact tire, carved new treads, then cast them in resin and ended up with nice wide 13s:

I like the looks of this. I wonder if you couldn't do something like that but use a more normal size kit tire. Glue the outer faces of one tire on either side of the regular tire to make a 50 or 40 series tire .

Cuba_13 · October 13, 2020

8 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

you may have some trouble fitting that clear shroud on top of the engine - AMT redid the glass molds at some point and they messed up that part.

There will be no problems, because I will be painting this transparent shroud.

blizzy63 · October 14, 2020

Here's my AMT/Ertl '69 Corvair build from a dozen years ago or so.

I did it up as my own version of a late-'60s "Yenko Stinger" track racer.

The wheels are those Firestone Super Sport GP tire faces over original 13" compact car tires on 13" open-wheel steelies that were in the original AMT Corvair kits from 1965-68.

Cuba_13 · October 18, 2020

Good afternoon friends. Last pre-paint update.: D

Headlights with a bumper, it was decided to choose stock.

But leave it like that, the stump is clear, I don't plan, it's a quiet horror - chrome optics.

I removed the chrome completely, tk. The quality of the bumper was terrible with a flash and other joys.

Well, for the first time in modeling practice, I sculpted reflectors from 2k putty.

Back lights.

With some kind of fright, we are given one through back light. We take a transparent sprue and adjust it.

Before-after.

Made a kind of firewall that they gave us.

I didn't cut holes in it, it is not necessary, there is not much to look at.)))

Well, a general view of my future custom.

All the parts are washed and ready at the ground, in the next runs I will be primed and put the main first color.

Thank you for attention.

afx · October 18, 2020

Nice project Roman.

Cuba_13 · October 18, 2020

2 hours ago, afx said:

Nice project Roman.

Thanks!

Cuba_13 · October 27, 2020

Good evening, colleagues! The engine is done.?

Bob Ellis · October 27, 2020

1 hour ago, Cuba_13 said:

Good evening, colleagues! The engine is done.?

That engine looks great. I liked the turbo charger so I snagged an AMT parts pack with the Corvair engine . I cut the transmission off and glued it to the parts pack engine. The 1965-1967 Corvair kits included the turbo though '67 didn't have it. The parts pack includes a generator that must be swapped for an alternator.

rustybill1960 · October 27, 2020

I am in awe of that engine build Sir

I am going to use Your build as referance as I have two of these kits to build

one stock, My Father hsd one several years ago and I am going to do a Stinger type build as well

Thank You for sharing with Us here

I am looking forward to more of Your build Later

Ruuss

doorsovdoon · October 27, 2020

Very nicely done. Can't wait to see the completed car!

bisc63 · October 27, 2020

You are really doing a fantastic job on this kit. Keep it up!

espo · October 28, 2020

The engine looks like it has had many years of service, great looking finish on this.

Cuba_13 · November 1, 2020

Friends, hello everyone!

Details in the white primer from Tamia, I was once again convinced that it was necessary to switch to Gunze, but it’s a pity to throw it away, so I’ll waste it and suffer.