W-409

Well, after nearly eight years, this thing is finally back from the dead (time flies, right? ). My main focus will still be on the '71 Pinto Funny Car that I'm working on, but whenever that's drying, I'll continue the Impala. I tried to restore the photos on this thread as they got messed up when Photobucket ruined itself. But, it looks like I'm unable to edit my old posts, so unfortunately can't do anything about that. The reason why this build got boxed years ago can be seen in these pictures. The engine assembly has started, but the carburetors are incorrect, the real car had Carters. Well, now I found a pair of 3D-printed Carters from my parts box, they should be at least closer to correct carbs on a car like this. I don't know who made them, but they look pretty good test fitted to the engine. I was also able to do some actual work on this one. Chassis is now on four wheels, so I glued wheels and wheel backs to the tires and installed them on place. Looks good and the stance is just what I wanted.

And it's finished! The bumpers were sprayed with Revell Spray Chrome and the black rubber parts were painted with a brush. Other than that there was nothing special in the final assembly. It's not flawless, but it's the best I could do with this kit. I will try to take some proper pictures tomorrow and post them in Under Glass.

Next the crome trim was done with BMF. It was definitely not easy as everything is so tiny. I've done better, but considering how small this thing is, I think I can live with it. The chrome trims on front of the hood and on back of the trunk lid were especially tricky, because there was no trim molded to the body, so I just cut a thin strip of BMF and tried to install it the best I could. Then I installed windows. And here the body and chassis are already glued together and I'm actually pretty close to finish. To be honest I'm not completely happy about a few things on it, but it's mostly because of simplicity of the model kit rather than my building (although I've made several mistakes too, as always). Well, I'll just push it to the finish line and see how it looks on the shelf.

Thanks Bob! Despite being a bit simple and smaller scale, this is a fun kit to build. So I'd say go for it. Now that the body had dried for a week, I polished it. Never been a fan of polishing paint jobs, but in the end the result is usually worth it. This was especially tricky one, because all of the body panels are so tiny. Luckily I was able to do a decent job with the polishing, and also not polish through the clearcoat. Next up will be BMF.

Thanks David! Black is a tricky color to get right, but I think that one came out pretty good.

This will be fun! I'm in with a '62 Chevrolet Bel Air. My starting point will be a Glue Bomb that I bought at a swap meet several years ago, then later I robbed the engine from it for another project. Now that this thing will be rebuilt, it will have another 409 for power. After the year changes, I'll start tearing it up and stripping the old paint off.

Very nice build of a kit that we don't see done that often. These old Dragsters with their unique engine combinations are always interesting, unlike the ones today which are all identical. Excellent work on this replica.

I had not seen this thread earlier either, but I'm really glad I came across this now. What a fantastic model of a '57 Chevy Gasser! Everything is very nicely done, and to me, the two most important things are that the overall look is just "right" and that the car would be actually legal to compete in the class it was intended to run in. I agree 100% what was written about the Gasser term. It's not a building style, it's a racing class that has its' own rules and limitations. And there for sure is no such thing as a "modern Gasser".

I've built only one. '57 Ford Custom, built from the Revell / Model King kit. Pretty much out of the box build, but with some extra detailing.

That would sound great for me! I hope others are into it as well so that we'd have a good turnout. If that would be the theme, I'd already have a plan on what I would build. It's something I've wanted to do for several years for Cannonball.

Some great ideas already posted in here! I've been away from Cannonball for a couple of years, but now I have plans to finish something again. My personal favorites so far are these two: Both of these are pretty cool, and the cool thing about the idea with mid-engine cars is that no-one said they had to be factory production models with mid engines...

Thanks Matt! Despite being a little different than what I normally like to build, and being small 1/43 scale, this is a fun kit to build. So far I haven't had any major fit issues, either. The body is now painted and clear coated. Color is Tamiya TS-102 Cobalt Green out of spray can, and on top is a coat of Tamiya clear. Now I'll let it dry for a week so that I can be sure it's properly dry before I'll start polishing it. Also I got the chassis and interior done. It's really hard to take any decent photos out of the dash, but it's mostly semi-gloss black with gloss black details.

This was a big bummer when the news came out. I've been a huge fan of Roadkill since the first episode aired in YouTube 13 years ago. I have to say I've seen every episode multiple times, and we've sometimes sat down with a couple of friends for the evening, just to watch Roadkill episodes together. I'm still a subscriber and will continue to be unless someone comes up like a DVD pack or something of all of the episodes. Roadkill and Roadkill Garage were basically only car shows I watch, because I hate the scripted TV shows with drama. Now I guess I'll have to follow Freiburger and Finnegan on YouTube, hopefully they'll also get together sometimes to work on something together. Time will tell.

Got the door panels done. They were fairly simple, but the small scale of this thing made painting a bit trickier. Chrome trim was done with Molotow, otherwise paints are just regular Revell / Humbrol Enamels painted by brush. Body required some work before primer. Panel lines were really shallow in many places so I re-scribed them, but unfortunately the scriber slipped a couple of times so I had to smooth those out with putty. I think the plastic feels softer than what I'm used to, maybe that's why. Front end of the hood had also a big sink mark that had to be filled with putty. After that, the body was ready for primer. I only wanted to spray a light coat of primer so that I would not hide all the details under paint. Well, BMF will be tricky in any case but that's not a problem for now.

Very nicely done! '65 Impala is a very beautiful car and you definitely did it a justice. Excellent work overall and a perfect color choice too.

It's definitely something you don't see built too often, so I'd say go for it. But, Rogue was not available as Convertible in 1966. In '67 they made Rogue Convertibles, but in 1966 if you wanted a Convertible, it had to be a "standard" American. Anyway, at least the side trim on '66 American 440 Convertible is similar to the Rogue so the conversion should be fairly easy.

Several nicely done builds in this year's Cannonball! This is a great Community Build. Good luck to everyone that's still trying to finish their builds before the deadline. Interesting to see what the theme will be for next year. I'll also try to put something together for next year, this year I was not Cannonballin' because I have personally zero interest in building anything related to a restomod.

Nice work so far! Great to see one of these being built. I have also several of the SC/Rambler model kits, just haven't had the time to build them. Are you going to graft the model kit roof to the promo body as well?

WOW! I never saw the WIP thread for some reason, but I'm really glad I came across this right now, see, I have a great interest for these cars, together with my dad we have a Race Team where we run a '74 Malibu Classic in Stock Eliminator. I also used to have a '74 Malibu Classic Wagon as a daily driver. So with that said, a conversion like this has been in the planning several times and now that I have a Missing Link Resin '73 Chevelle and one 3D-printed '73 Chevelle, both of which are factory stock, I think the 3D-printed one will end up going through the modification of being a '74 like yours. Anyway, incredible work with this build. The body modifications are really well done and I admire the scratchbuilt parts on it. Especially the grill is a tricky one, and yours is actually pretty close to the 1:1. Fantastic work overall! Where did you source those hubcaps? I need a similar set or two...

Really nice to see these cars being built in scale! You did an excellent job with this one, the promotional models never looked nowhere near this good. I really like the added vinyl roof. Beautiful work.

This will be an interesting build, I really like the look of one of these Cords and have plans to build one myself...Some day... So I will be watching closely how this goes together, the start looks already very promising.

Yep, the drive itself is probably the only thing that is different than what we're used to see on these mechanical tachometers. I've also never seen one of those things anywhere, but like you said, it probably worked fine with the right gearing. Next I thought it's time to install the engine between the frame rails. There's still bunch of engine work to do, but I think all the rest can be done while the engine is mounted. Rear engine plate had some ejector pin marks that needed to be filled with putty. After sanding and primer, the plate was painted with "Chrome Silver" from a spray can. Bellhousing was airbrushed with Alclad Pale Burnt Metal. The color is exactly what I was looking for. Then I added a slight black wash around the mounting bolts. Before the engine installation, I glued blower belt and pulleys and a fuel pump to the engine. Then on first test fit, I noticed that the engine doesn't sit straight on the frame, passenger's side valve cover was a lot lower than driver's side one. After a while figuring out what's wrong, I thought the best way to fix it would probably be adding a little material to passenger's side engine mount. A couple of pieces of sheet styrene cut to shape, carefully sanded smooth and painted with silver, did the job. Now engine sits properly on the frame. Bellhousing and driveshaft cover were also installed.

Thanks Bob, it's interesting to see how this turns out as that was kind of the challenge I wanted to take when I bought this: "Can I make a simplified 1/43 kit look presentable?". Wheels and tires were glued on place next. Their fitment was really good. Then I painted interior floor with flat black and started building the interior. Right now I'm painting door panels and dashboard, but seats are already installed...

I usually use the actual tires that I'm using as a template. That way I can get just the correct size opening for that tire. For cutting, I usually use this type of saw. I have no idea what would be the name of it in English though. Finishing can be done with a half-round file or sandpaper.

Like mentioned above, Bel Air was not available as a Hardtop, which is the body style that all of the Impala kits represent. The small trim changes etc and tail light removal is quite simple and easy to do on an Impala body, but converting the roofline from a Hardtop to Sedan is a lot of work, so that's where the resin body becomes a good idea. I'm sure there are probably several resin manufacturers that offer a Bel Air bodies in either two or four door version. I'm pretty sure at least Model Car World should have those things available and from what I've understood their quality is usually pretty good. One thing to consider with the resin body, is to find out what kit they used as a master for the casting, meaning, which model kit the resin body fits together with. In the case of a '64 Chevy, I'm thinking the resin body will probably fit either the Revell kit or an AMT kit, but probably not both. In addition to the body, some interior parts will also need to be modified for a lower trim level if you're looking for a factory stock approach, and possible some other small modifications need to be done as well. I've built the Revell Impala years ago, it's a really nice kit! I don't remember having any major fit issues or other problems with that kit.