1/8th 85 vette, tips/advice..

[tbill]

hey all, i picked this up today,

i built this kit when i was a teenager when it was a fresh release, it's going to be awhile before i get to it, but was wondering if you had any tips/advice on what pitfalls i may encounter. i'm sure last time i did this kit my standards were way lower and i rushed to build it, this time around i'd like to do it justice and end up with a nice model.

any thoughts?

[Harry P.]

Monogram kits are generally well engineered and go together with very little trouble. I built this kit many years ago and don't remember any problems.

[Mike Kucaba]

I agree with Harry. Check for warping and did the windshield & rear window survive? Many of Mono's big scale kits have a broken part(s) problem.

[pharoah]

That's a nice kit. I've got one too. It should go together pretty easy. The only problem I can think of would be the hood opening/closing. Seems like there was an adjustment to it.

[sjordan2]

I agree with Harry. Check for warping and did the windshield & rear window survive? Many of Mono's big scale kits have a broken part(s) problem.

That happened to me. When I received it from the eBay seller, all the roof pillars were deformed and the rear glass was cracked. I returned it to the seller. These larger kit boxes are not very strong, and stacking other things on top can lead to being cracked or deformed over time.

Edited October 21, 2013 by sjordan2

[tbill]

the glass is mint, one A pillar is slightly bowed, but not too bad, I think it'll be ok. doesn't look like the box was stored under a pile of stuff.

boy my build list is getting longer by the week lately, lol.

[Jordan White]

Guess I'm lucky then, got the camaro off eBay and while the box was a tad squished in the corners, the contents were intact.

[tobaccoleafpie]

May I add one of the problems I encountered? I was dry fitting the body to the chassis and for the life of me I'm not able to do it. Its the rear wheel wells that get caught. I tried bending a little. A little more bending would have broken the body. Can someone help? Asking a lot but a youTube maybe?

[pharoah]

When you're putting the body on,could you put a thin piece of styrene or something between the body and chassis?

I looked at the instructions on mine and it shows then putting the back of the chassis into the body first. See if you can get the rear part of the wheelwells on there first and then the foward part. It's got to go on there. I had one that was built a few years ago.

[deja-view]

I have a few of those, and three that are "parts only". I got the complete body/chassis/interior set out and gently pulled it apart, then put it back together. If you angle the rear of the chassis down into the rear body guiding it into the bumper area, push it down until the frame "tabs" hit against the body, then spread the body at the front edge of the rear wheel wells about 1/4" or so on each side. It should slide right down into the body. The one I tried is actually more flexible than I thought it would be, so it didn't seem to be in danger of cracking.

I did see that the right A pillar is slightly bowed outward, so if I wanted to use this body as it is I would have to straighten it with a little heat or use the windshield glass as a form to glue it in proper place.

If you are missing something, let me know.

Good luck.

Edited November 15, 2013 by deja-view

[deja-view]

I agree with Harry. Check for warping and did the windshield & rear window survive? Many of Mono's big scale kits have a broken part(s) problem.

Sadly, correct....but not really their fault. When these kits shipped to the retailers they were in multipack cartons of 3-6. The centers of the boxes were never meant to hold weight. Some of them did have a center divider, and some also had a large "top" with or without tabs to give a little extra strength. I took all of my boxes -- 1/8 and 1/12 -- and put a strong center piece down the middle of the box, and reinforced the sides with additional cardboard all the way around. If there's not a way to use a center support piece, you can put small "posts" of folded or rolled cardboard to strengthen the middle. I have never had a body (the usual victim) get damaged since reinforcing my boxes...even with shipping, moving, or long storage.

Any good cardboard box can be used for all the support pieces. Try to cut the pieces so the "grain" of the paper is always vertical, as that's where the strength is. Just cut the piece to the right length for end or side, then slide it down into the box alongside the side you want to reinforce. Mark the height with a Sharpie, then cut along the "inside" of the line so it won't be too high. You can also bend the pieces to fit two directions with the 90 degree corner as a folding point to keep them upright all the time. This works well for the center support piece because it will tend to slide down if not help tightly by the model. You can make "L" or "S" shapes, and they make the boxes very strong. In fact, you can stack 4-5-6 of these same size kits on top of each other, or place smaller kits on top if the weight is distributed correctly.