Mark W

Good eye Maxx, but what makes this one a very limited production Corvette?

This absolutely the way to go. If anything goes awry, it can be removed with H2O. Also what Greg said about mounting pins, good idea, it works.

Aaaaagggghhhh!!!!! Yes, keep going! No, stop here! Don’t think I don’t lose sleep over this decision. But in the interest of moving on to other projects, I’m going to concentrate on what you would see on the 1:1 car if standing 5 feet away. And that does not include lying down!

Thought I’d throw out this little teaser for a coming winter project.

Looking very, very good so far Jim. The head and taillight mod is going to flow with the body lines perfectly. I agree about doing something with the roof, just don’t think you should do an “extreme” chop. More like 2” maybe? This type of custom is one of the best, glad you decided to resurrect it.

Progress today, and a bit of backstepping. But I learned a few things. Paint is on the body and I don’t see a clear coat going on. When I started spraying, seemed like the paint was going on a bit thick. But did I stop? No, just sprayed it on and hoped it would flow out. Which it did, but not totally. So when I sprayed the spoiler, I thinned it a bit and it flowed perfectly. Then I picked up the body and it really looked bad by comparison. Figuring I had little to lose since stripping it was in my mind, I put straight thinner in the gun and wet the body down. Sure enough (and to my surprise) it leveled a good bit. There will still be some sanding and polishing, but not near as much as I feared. Lesson learned, if it starts going bad ,stop! Fix the problem. Now the interior, after gloss black, on went Alclad aluminum. It turned out a bit grey. But a transmission that was sprayed at the same time was very bright. Later, figuring the metallics could have settled, I resprayed it and it was a bit better. Now the transmission was orange (overspray from the engine) and I just sprayed over it. I’m going to experiment with base colors and if it turns out well, I’ll share the results.

Nice lathe work. Do you use your compound for the taper or offset the tailstock? Also, did you make the header flanges?

First build? Nice!

Looks really good! Nice sharp details.

The headers look great. I like that you made the tubes equal length.

I believe this is the one you are referring to, as their other primer says “fills deep scratches”. As always, I will do a test piece.

Dave and Todd, I also build model aircraft and was looking to keep my paint stock down to a minimum. But also I believe in keeping apples and oranges apart. (I.e. using totally compatible products) Since duplicolor makes a fine white as you said, I believe I’ll just go that route. Do you know the specific description or a label photo? I don’t want the thick one that fills scratches. thanks

Now that paint for the Chaparral is in the foreseeable future, I have a question. The color will be white, (what? white for a chaparral?) Specifically Ermine White. Now, I’d like to use white primer and I have a bottle of Alclad on the shelf. So the Alclad is lacquer, right? And the top coat will be MCW lacquer. Should be compatible. But has anyone here used these two in combination?

Now that paint is in the foreseeable future, I have a question. The color will be white, (what? white for a chaparral?) Specifically Ermine White. Now, I’d like to use white primer and I have a bottle of Alclad on the shelf. So the Alclad is lacquer, right? And the top coat will be MCW lacquer. Should be compatible. But has anyone here used these two in combination?

Been down this road, it looks like you’ve done a lot of good work. Keeping the panels flat and the scribe lines straight is quite a task. Beautiful work so far.

Thanks Mike, more to come. Glad to hear that, I’ll do my best to please.

Thanks Mike, more to come.

Thanks Dan, I needed that comment. I was going to add rear suspension, but the floor pan is all wrong, so that just wouldn’t work. The front panels were needed because you could see straight through. Adding the engine gave you something to see looking down, plus a spot to mount the carbs. I think I’ll make sure all the body mods are done and give it a coat of primer. I’ll be adding a driver, so need to do some seat belt research.

Putting the steering wheel, shifter, seats, etc in the right position just makes the interior look more realistic. Worth the effort? For sure!

It was necessary to enlarge the rectangular opening in the body so the carbs and fuel lines will fit.

I have set of HRM Webers intended for a Ford smallblock. The manifold was too wide, a section about 1/32” or so had to be taken out of the center. It took a little time but the process went well. The manifold is now attached to the engine block. The carbs are delicate so they will be installed later in the build. The front panels are in their permanent position. Spindles are fitted but a tie rod will need to be scratch built in order to fit through the proper holes in the panels. Now I need to work out something to add a bit of interest on the rear suspension.

Looks great. The attention to detail was well worth it. It’s so crisp and clean!

Yes Helmut, I cut the mesh so I’m now committed! (or should be committed) But I already have a doner to steal from. The interior is already glued to the chassis plate so this is the way I need to go. Really though, it looks like I’m over the hump. Keep watching, it should get interesting!

As I said, wish I would have done this full detailed. What started out as curbside is now growing. We’ve all been down that road. I realized there is a lot of see-through in the wheel well area and through the mesh. Drilled out the holes in the brake intakes for some aluminum rivets to be added after paint. Here’s a pic of some inner panels and what will be a basic engine/transaxle. Any suggestions on what to add will be welcome.

Absolutely beautiful scratchbuilding and detail work. Would love to see a video of your soldering technique.