Hawk312 Posted July 23, 2011 Posted July 23, 2011 Not too much to say about this one....just wanted to build something weird. All the fitment issues, and there were alot of them, makes me appreciate how far the hobby has come in the last 25 years.
crazyjim Posted July 23, 2011 Posted July 23, 2011 Never been into Corvettes, but that is one terrific looking build. I like SHINY!
sjordan2 Posted July 23, 2011 Posted July 23, 2011 Beautiful work. What brand of paint did you use? The photos make the paint look more like two shades of gunmetal rather than copper.
High octane Posted July 23, 2011 Posted July 23, 2011 The body style reminds me of the "89 Coupe I had and you did a fine job with your build.
Mike Kucaba Posted July 23, 2011 Posted July 23, 2011 Fit issues aside,you did a great job What kit was used?
Guest Posted July 23, 2011 Posted July 23, 2011 Very sharp Corvette David! One would never know you had any fitment issues with it. Excellent work as usual! BTW, is this the Monogram kit or..?
Monty Posted July 23, 2011 Posted July 23, 2011 David, can you elaborate on the fitment issues? I thought MPC's cars were getting better toward the end...
Hawk312 Posted July 23, 2011 Author Posted July 23, 2011 Wow. Really surprised to see so many comments on this one! Thanks everyone! Here is the exact kit I used: Most of the fitment issues were with the body, especially the hood which seemed like it just did not want to line up with the rest of the body. It took alot of sanding and bending to get it close. I didn`t even bother to install the headlights bracket and all that under the hood, as it interfered with the engine and lifted the hood off the car a good scale 4 inches or so. The rest of the body took alot af sanding, filling, and scribing. The rear suspension was just a mess. With all the problems worked out, it seems to be a pretty accurate and detailed kit though. I was actually surprised at the amount of detail on this kit (even though I built versions of this kit about 20 times in the `80s and early 90`s), with the exception of the decal sheet, which only contained two decals neither of which was a real license plate. And.....I stand corrected on the year. I had this sitting right next to my `85 coupe kit, and assumed it was the same year cause they looked the same. I think it is an `87. Good eye to those that caught it.
Hawk312 Posted July 23, 2011 Author Posted July 23, 2011 Secondly, all of the Monogram '84-9 Corvettes have absolutely diabolical hood fit issues which I unfortunately know firsthand. I hate to tell you, but I have a stalled '85 Vette project that probably has 3 hours of hood-bending in it, which means you'll go through this again with that kit. I gave up when the "hood gap lilly pad" left me fixing and causing the same gaps over and over again. You did a great job with yours. Uggh. And I have like 10 more `8x-`9x kits left to build.
bigmikevee Posted July 24, 2011 Posted July 24, 2011 Hey David, Looks great, whatever the issues it looks like you overcame them and made a really cool 'vette. Agree with Jim, I like shiny too. Thanks for posting!! Mike
W-409 Posted July 24, 2011 Posted July 24, 2011 Really great build. Paintjob looks very good, and every details on the model are looking cool. It's clean build, with no big mistakes. Interior looks good too, how about the engine pictures? Nice model.
kelson Posted July 24, 2011 Posted July 24, 2011 Very nice looking build!i totally agree with the hood problem,years ago i tried building the 92'vette convertible and gave up,the dash interferes with the windshield laying back properly and other issues made me throw it back in the box.I like the two tone paint job don't remember seeing to many painted that way,since you felt like building something weird for your next project how about kitbashing the 84'vette snap tite kit with the 85'vette kit and build the corvette Dirk Benedicts character drove in the 80's t.v show the A-TEAM?,the striping scheme is beyond my talents.
Jeff Johnston Posted July 27, 2011 Posted July 27, 2011 This is a really nice build. It totally captures the look of the day, in the typical bland colors of the day. Not to suggest this is a bland built...its a fantastic build. Probably the best build of this kit I've ever seen. I have no opened one of thee since the 80s, and I never got one right back then due to fit issues you mention.
Scale-Master Posted July 27, 2011 Posted July 27, 2011 Great job, looks like you took care of the hood issue very well. For what it's worth, they must have addressed that issue when they produced the ZR-1 reworking of that tooling, those hoods fit well... Great job, looks like you took care of the hood issue very well. For what it's worth, they must have addressed that issue when they produced the ZR-1 reworking of that tooling, those hoods fit well...
sjordan2 Posted July 27, 2011 Posted July 27, 2011 (edited) I don't know what they changed, but the '91-up cars don't seem to suffer the same wonky hood fit. I'm not a 1:1 Vette expert but I didn't think the hood actually changed on those cars. They may have just tooled a new mold for the entire body since everything beyond the hood/roof/glass was different on the real car after the restyle. The hood per se doesn't appear to have changed for the '92-'96 models. The model looks the same as my '93 hood, at least from the outside. The only obvious external differences were to incorporate the side markers in a wraparaound lighting design with parking lights, turn signals and fog lights. The side louvers changed to have horizontal strakes (further modified for '96), and the taillight section changed to a convex shape, with the lights modified from completely round to a more square shape with rounded corners. So, it's really just a few panels that were modified and retained the basic body shape. Wheels became more directional looking, not interchangeable from side to side. On the coupe, the brake light mounted on top of the hatch was kept only for the ZR1 and moved to the tail section for the standard version. Edited July 27, 2011 by sjordan2
sjordan2 Posted July 27, 2011 Posted July 27, 2011 Quite right, the 1990 ZR1 had a wider rear section, but the changes to the base car body were minor and, as Edmiunds noted, "Restyling came to the Corvette for 1991 with a slicker front end incorporating wraparound foglights, a new rear fascia reminiscent of the ZR-1's that incorporated the third brake light (the latter would remain on the hatch of the ZR-1) and new wheels. Everything else was pretty much a carryover, though the price of the ZR-1 had now ballooned to $64,138 — the first GM automobile to carry a price beyond $60,000."
redknight Posted July 28, 2011 Posted July 28, 2011 That is an extremely nice build on what I remember being a very tough kit to work with. I've always loved Corvettes, and own one now. I just finished reading a good book on Corvettes, and just started reading another. You did great on that paint job, too.
jeff ewaskey Posted July 30, 2011 Posted July 30, 2011 Well built C4 roadster you've got there. You captured the look perfectly. I have two kits of that model Vette, a roadster and a coupe, and know the fit issues all too well. You seem to have solved them very well. Great job!!!!
Sixties Sam Posted July 31, 2011 Posted July 31, 2011 Very nice build! The colors look great. You made the hood fit perfectly. It's too bad there are kits out there with such fit issues. Makes me wonder how many guys gave up the hobby because they chose a bad kit to start with. Sam
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