Accurate Miniatures Corvette Grand Sport

[Pierre Rivard]

Thanks Mark, I have seen these 2 pics as well as the video showing the car being unloaded from the ship. Looks like a bright blue with a touch of gray. I think the restored car may be too much on the bright side, possibly from a basecoat/clearcoat paint process. The original paint would have been a lacquer and not with so much travel.

I have an idea of where I want to go for my color mix but just inquiring in case someone has better knowledge of the period color.

[Ace-Garageguy]

The color balance in the photograph of the restored #3 car above is very good.

Shoot for that blue and you'll be as close as anyone who doesn't have access to a real one will ever get.

Just FYI, the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum restored car #002, a roadster, supposedly found a perfectly preserved, un-faded area of the original metallic blue under a door sill plate, and had a precise match made up.

If you want to go crazy with the color accuracy, you might try contacting somebody there for more info.

[Len Woodruff]

I belie the original cars were Pelham Blue a Cadillac color. At some point some of them like the #2 were painted Daytona Blue.

[250 Testa Rossa]

To my understanding, 004 was painted in Silver Blue and not the Pelham Blue. I talked to John Morton, who drove the car at Laguna Seca, and he's the one who told me. 

[Pierre Rivard]

1 hour ago, 250 Testa Rossa said:

To my understanding, 004 was painted in Silver Blue and not the Pelham Blue. I talked to John Morton, who drove the car at Laguna Seca, and he's the one who told me. 

Thank you Maxx, this is great insight into the history of the car. I will try to match this color in my mixing experiments.

[250 Testa Rossa]

3 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Thank you Maxx, this is great insight into the history of the car. I will try to match this color in my mixing experiments.

The paint is available from MCW Finishes. 

[vamach1]

On 5/26/2022 at 12:26 AM, absmiami said:

Re Harold bradford 

phone orders and checks…. No rubles …

you can also  buy his stuff on Randy Ditton’s Model Builder Warehouse site  -  I mite see the old gent in July - ill ask about the tires …

Maybe they are discussing using VENMO for payments.  😄  Okay maybe not but glad to see Norm and Brad are doing great and keeping their customers happy.  Photo is from MAMA webpage taken at a club meeting in April.

[absmiami]

Wait til I show them this post ….  There goes the witness protection program !!!

[Pierre Rivard]

Work on prepping the body before paint is turning out to be pretty easy. Some cleanup and very little fab work.

I did carve out the molded in front grille, added a radius to the lower opening and made a new grille from 0.5 mm Evergreen.

The only other change is fixing the abrupt cutout of the rear fender flare. Minor stuff to fix.

And finally I tackled the hood louvers. That part of the job really scared me without good cause. AM's engineering of the PE parts is as good as it gets. So far the front opening louvers went together easily with only minimal under hoof finessing to get a nice flush fit.

[MarkJ]

Liked the way you fixed that fender flare and I'm glad the #005 car I did, did not have any louvers in the hood bubble. I guess they were added after the Nassau races. 

[David G.]

Nice work blending the flare, the louvers look great!

David G.

[Cliff W]

Great work so far!  I am following your build closely.

The actual car #004 is at the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida and I see it regularly. I have wondered about the color myself.

I'm sure that it was in Mecom's Pelham blue in Nassau 1963. It wouldn't make sense for it to be different at that time. 

The big question then becomes - did Delmo Johnson repaint it Silver Blue before taking it to Sebring in 1964? It's likely the car was repainted since the new louvered hood had been added by then.  Also, the other two coupes wore new paint, too. 

The Revs home page has a place where you can contact them. There is a button on the right edge that says "Ask Revs Now". It might be worth a shot! Their staff is very good at following up on questions.

Home page - https://revsinstitute.org/

Here is the Grand Sport page. Lots of great pictures there!

https://revsinstitute.org/the-collection/1963-chevrolet-corvette-grand-sport/

And, just to see if I can post a picture!

 

[MarkJ]

Great links. Thanks for those. The car you posted seems lighter in color then the photo of the car in the link. But you know it's the same car, so how does one choose what to use? Thats a great shot of the interior in the link.

Edited June 27, 2022 by MarkJ

[Pierre Rivard]

Thanks Cliff. I very much appreciate the help. Unfortunately the Rev's chat is down and I am already it the painting process. I will attempt to replicate silver blue as best as I can with my mixing capabilities. If I get there 75% I'll be happy.

[Pierre Rivard]

2 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Great links. Thanks for those. The car you posted seems lighter in color then the photo of the car in the link. But you know it's the same car, so how does one choose what to use? Thats a great shot of the interior in the link.

That color seems to move quite a bit depending on lighting. Sometimes lighter/darker or ice blue to gray-blue in tone. I'll do what I can but using GM Silver Blue as my reference.

[MarkJ]

7 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Thanks Cliff. I very much appreciate the help. Unfortunately the Rev's chat is down and I am already it the painting process. I will attempt to replicate silver blue as best as I can with my mixing capabilities. If I get there 75% I'll be happy.

Pierre, whatever you choose for your mix, I'm sure it will look awesome.

[Pierre Rivard]

Body primed a few days ago. Some minimal wet sanding 4000 to 12000 grit, then 2 coats of color brushed on today. A bit early to see what the color will look like with clear and in good light but I am happy it went on smooth with not a trace of brush marks.

I'm gonna let her sit there in the cabinet for 2 or 3 days before moving on with the clear coats. Polishing that clear should be "fun" with all the surface changes and creases.

 

[MarkJ]

Wow, that color looks perfect and like you said no brush marks. Did you use more reducer?  Polishing will be tough with all those nooks and crannys. Have you thought about using one of the polishing compounds out there?

[Nacho Z]

I haven't really commented on this build yet.  I'm not really sure what to say that hasn't already been said.  I'm really loving the thread and I appreciate not only the time you've put into the model but also the time you have taken to photograph, post and caption all of the work that you are doing.  Great job so far and please keep it up!

[Pierre Rivard]

10 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

I haven't really commented on this build yet.  I'm not really sure what to say that hasn't already been said.  I'm really loving the thread and I appreciate not only the time you've put into the model but also the time you have taken to photograph, post and caption all of the work that you are doing.  Great job so far and please keep it up!

Thank you John, I appreciate the support. I learn so much from other people's build so I share my learnings thinking I might occasionally provide useful information to other builders.

[Pierre Rivard]

12 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Wow, that color looks perfect and like you said no brush marks. Did you use more reducer?  Polishing will be tough with all those nooks and crannys. Have you thought about using one of the polishing compounds out there?

For this one I used 2 drops 930 dark blue, 4 drops 990 light grey, 6 drops 521 metal medium and 15 drops 524 thinner medium for each of the 2 very thin coats over a light grey primer. Here's a photo in natural lighting.

I plan to try polishing compound for the clear. I have Tamiya Fine and Finish to try. Any input would be helpful as this is a first for me. I was thinking I would do the usual 6000, 8000 & 12000 wet sand carefully staying away from all these edges and then Fine compound and finally Finish compound. Enough or too many steps? Input from other builders would be helpful.

 

[Cliff W]

Nice work, Pierre!

I agree - the actual color can be a moving target.  Indoor vs. outdoor photos, flash vs. none. all make a difference.

Even your computer monitor will influence what you see. 

Unless you park the model on top of the actual car then close enough is good enough!

Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Cliff 

[MarkJ]

Pierre, the fine and finish tamiya sounds like a good way to polish the clear after the sanding. The compound is much more forgiving then the sandpaper. Will you finish it up finally with some future after the polishing? That hood looks amazing like the body as far as no brush marks. I wish I could get those kinds of results with a brush. 

 

 

[Pierre Rivard]

14 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Pierre, the fine and finish tamiya sounds like a good way to polish the clear after the sanding. The compound is much more forgiving then the sandpaper. Will you finish it up finally with some future after the polishing? That hood looks amazing like the body as far as no brush marks. I wish I could get those kinds of results with a brush. 

 

 

Thanks Mark for info on polishing compounds.

Low viscosity and thin coats is what works best for me brush painting the color. I work it in with the brush barely touching the surface and the low viscounts allows time to work the paint in multiple times. Think opposite of how we need to handle Future.

As for Future. I plan to follow what I did on my Porsche 917K project. Polishing the acrylic clear, decals and only one coat of Future in the end to seal decals.

[DustyMojave]

On 6/23/2022 at 1:59 PM, 250 Testa Rossa said:

To my understanding, 004 was painted in Silver Blue and not the Pelham Blue. I talked to John Morton, who drove the car at Laguna Seca, and he's the one who told me. 

I worked with John Morton on a '67 Mustang Shelby Trans Am car restoration a few years ago.  I did fabrication and Prep, John was the driver. Still VERY sharp at the time. So I expect any info you got from talking to him was accurate.