Spottedlaurel

Well done for persevering with it! An unsual little thing for sure, I bet there aren't many others that have been put together so nicely.....

It's wonderful Steve, well done! So pleased to see it finished. All those mod's have come together really well to closely capture the spirit of the original.

It took longer than it should have done, but I finally finished this quick-ish refresh of an old build this morning. I first built this Monogram '57 when I was about 14-15, back in the mid '80s. It can just be glimpsed here, alongside the Camaro High Roller that would eventually donate its running gear to another '57. Looking at the shiny rims this must be when it was wearing the wire wheels from the Monogram Corvette America kit. I brush-painted it with black Humbrol enamel and built it with most of the street machine accessories and the raised rear end, and the wheels changed several times as they became available from other kits. Not many years after this I moved away from home and it got demoted to a box, slowly fell to bits, parts got robbed and it ended up in pieces across various parts boxes. Feeling sorry for it, and needing an easy completion as I haven't fully got back into building since a house move last year, I thought it deserved a second chance especially after @disconovaman mentioned he was replicating his old '57 that was first done about the same time. Short WIP thread here: And here it is in 2022: Only the hood got repainted, the rest is the original enamel polished and with the odd touch-up as necessary. Brightwork treated to BMF this time around, I think it was previously done with silver enamel or a Tamiya paint pen. Headlight lenses had disappeared, I replaced them with spotlight lenses from an Esci Mercedes rally car. The front bumper and grille had to be robbed from my other '57, they'd been swapped for complicated/forgotten reasons. I had to build it with the raised rear end to give it that early-mid '80s street machine look, and I think the newly-fitted Centerlines suit that really well. It's certainly how people were building them here at the time. The wheels came from the Monogram '70 Chevelle, given a squirt of Tamiya semi-gloss clear to tone down the shine. A friend on a 1:1 car forum kindly sent me a replacement rear axle and leaf springs. Paintwork or detailing at the back end doesn't bear close inspection! I think this is most of the original engine and transmission, it didn't even need a repaint. However the carb's have been used on something else and I couldn't easily find any replacements so I just used these intakes which I think came from the Monogram Plymouth GTX. Is it perfect? Could I have I have significantly improved upon my original build? No, and yes! That wasn't really the point, it's just good to have another one of my older builds back on display again. I like its period look, reminding me of the cars that were in custom/street machine magazines in my formative years. As a compare-and-contrast exercise, here it is with my other Monogram '57: Thanks for looking and putting up with my waffling - far too many words for such a simple exercise!

Great to see it progressing so well, and you using all the period decals which I left off my recent Leopard build. Nice detailing work on the interior.

Very nicely done. The interior detailing finishes it off perfectly. My stepdad had a 1:1 and I built the same kit as a replica for him. For some reason I forgot to lower it, which I still regret.

This week's arrivals: Corvette is primarily an engine donor, it came with bonus paint and glue. The Luv was fairly cheap and I thought it would be a useful source of parts to go with a part-built stepside version I already have. However, it's been put together quite nicely so I think I'll give it some @Snake45 style detailing and let it live on pretty much as it is. For the sake of an hour or two of effort I'll have a nice display piece in the cabinet.

Nice work on the detailing, your patience paid off. I've not yet replicated a chrome strip within a rubber surround.

Great work on the bumpers, looks much better. Grille looks good in there too, haven't seen the C130 set-up in one of these. In theory at 1:1 I think the entire front end from a C230 Laurel could be swapped onto a C210/211 Skyline, the inner wings are similar. What it would look like I'm not sure, and I don't know if I want to cut up a couple of kits to find out.....

Nice progress Roger. I must get on and build another truck/pickup! I've added another couple to the stash this year.....

Looks good! Do you think it's going to need any clear? I try and avoid it on solid colours whenever I can, it depends if there's any polishing to do. Just avoid any temptation to fit a vinyl roof....

What a great restoration, nice work. Looks like a cold day to have the top down, hope it's got a good heater......

Wonderful to see the engine and suspension components now they've been painted - fantastic detailing that looks 'right'.

Good to see your progress on this one. Both the Camel Yellow and Brilliant Orange remind me of colours used on the later, rubber-bumper versions like this 1981 example: The 1960s colours were softer, but with the Rostyle wheels yours would be early-mid '70s when there was another range of colours again. They were a bit more 'earth-tone', as was typical of the time. Blue might not be your choice, but here's a nice example of a 1972 GT that I saw a few years ago:

That's worked out well, looks fun. Reminds me of the beach cars I've seen when on holiday in France. I've got a couple to do someday, one Hasegawa and the other by Fujimi. I'm thinking one will have to go low.

For the sake of completeness I'll give my last WIP report here. For a simple refurb it's taken far too long, but 1:1 life, motivation etc seem to get in the way....... BMF applied to the main brightwork. Jury's still out on the smaller badges, as this is just supposed to be quick, simple exercise I'll probably just touch them up with black gloss and forget about them, like they have been for the last 37 or so years. Chevelle's Centerline wheels made-up, with the larger rears. The plating was far too bright however, so I gave them a squirt of Tamiya semi-gloss clear. Engine bay is a bit of a lash-up, I suspect the fan comes from something else and I couldn't find a pair of carbs so I just stuck these tallish intakes on. The Chevelle's blower set-up was too tall without surgery on the completed hood and scoop. The front bumper was robbed from my High Roller '57, as for some reason I trimmed the back corners off the original one (probably for the High Roller, but for whatever reason I didn't use it). This is pretty much its ride height, the peg underneath was just packing-up the engine/gearbox. The semi-gloss wheels look much better.

Nice start Steve, I look forward to seeing it progress.

Chevy looks good in blue. I like the Bilbo wheels on the Skyline. It reminds me I must get and build one of my C110s.

Nice effect. Good luck with the window masking. I put an LT5 engine into one of these last year, it fitted very nicely.

Who'd have thought a few years ago we'd have the ability to do this kind of thing at home?!

The differences look fairly modest. Despite the low parts count it still has separate seatbacks!

The interior is certainly period correct, just like the sea of brown and beige in my 1:1 1980 Datsun. You've gone for a more subtle scheme then the Leopard I saw in the UK some years ago, that was very red.

Very nicely done, they look great together. I feel I have unfinished business with the TR7, all I have left of mine are the wheels and tyres,and maybe some of the decals. I know I'll have to spend a bit to get one. The slotmags from the Datsun 280Z kit would probably suit it well. Other than being LHD the Mazda doesn't leap out as being the Monogram, could easily be the Tamiya kit.

Nice one Roger, looks very simple but effective. The wheel and tyre combo works really well.

Great to see your progress on this. What a useful thing it would be at 1:1, ideal for carrying lots of people and 'stuff'. Your work here is much more thorough then my Ecto to hearse conversion.

Indeed, although not the most refined car - I remember the 4-speed in mine had a very distinctive whine. Had a go in a 5-speed coupe more recently and that was much better.