Len Carsner

The second installment, chassis and drive train, is now posted on the forum.

Here we go with the second installment of the building of the 1969 Nova SS by Revell. First off we have a shot of the painted chassis that is the base for this article: From here I'll let Bill tell the story: 1 The dual exhaust system was painted with Testors Metalizer colors: tailpipes Stainless Steel, mufflers Aluminum. Assembly is by joining the two halves of each muffler with a pin and socket method. Once the glue dries, installing the exhaust is a simple matter of mounting it up with locator pins to pre-drill holes in the chassis. Note here that strips of BareMetal were used over the gas tank mounting straps. At this point the staggered rear shocks were mounted in place as shown here. 2 Front and rear suspension and driveline parts can take on a more realistic look by either spray or brush painting with mixtures of dark, medium and light metallic finishes. I use a piece of folded wax paper as a pallet. Mixing various ratios of matte black with aluminum or steel will give you a wide choices of metallic shades as shown here. 3 Giving some thought to applying a variety of finishes to chassis components will only improve the excellent detail on this new Revell Nova kit. To many times the underside of a model goes unnoticed and gets little attention to detail. Never overlook any opportunity to increase the realism of whatever model subject you’re pursuing. 4 Once the paint has thoroughly dried, additional rear suspension parts like the rear axle and suspension were attached to the chassis as shown. Note that the use of Gunmetal Metalizer to the leaf springs contrast well with the Daytona Yellow over spray and other Metalizer finishes. 5 Up front, I’ve added the front anti-sway bar, which will be partial hidden once the lower front suspension is attached in place. Again use of metallic finishes will aid in making this delicate part more visible on the finished model. 6 At this point all the suspension and driveline parts have been painted and glued into place on the chassis. Note that the rear brake fluid lines have been called out with steel bottle paint and a 3-0 brush. This Revell 69 Nova is beginning to resemble a 1/1 production vehicle as it would have arrived at your local Chevrolet dealer. I had the choice to spray the chassis matte black to resemble undercoating (per instruction sheet) or body color overspray(as seen here) as it came off the assembly line. 7 Especially on a brand-new kit like this Revell 69 Nova, it’s always a good idea to test-fit parts and assemblies before you get too far along to deal with any problems. Here the engine is in place attached to the chassis using a pair of vertical pegs that fit into slots in the lower block making the mounting stable and secure. The transmission mounts to the cross member using another pin and locator hole. Be sure to insert the drive shaft into the nose of the rear axle before inserting it into the tail shaft of the transmission and installing the power plant. 8 I went ahead and attached both top and bottom radiator hoses to the proper location on the front of the engine as shown here. I used white glue so there was some flexibility to move things around without the concern that these small pieces would get lost in the process. 9 Here we’ve set the stage for building up the Revell 69 Nova interior. Since the interior floor is a separate piece that lays directly on top of the chassis plate, the interior build up will be make much simpler. Of course, the fact that these parts are all separate it makes painting them a much easier task. That will do it for now, next installment will be sometime mid-week. Len Carsner

That, my friend, is the idea of it!

Sorry, no offense meant. I re-posted with the corrected image links and thought it might be best to eliminate the first post to avoid confusion. Also, I'm still not quite familiar with the way this board works as opposed to others where I usually post, so I'm still a little confused myself. Bear with me, I'm still learming! I do appreciate the help you gave me by correcting my post. Thank you! Len Carsner

Check out the "On the Workbench" forum for the buildup of the Nova kit. I posted the first of Bill's pictures last night showing the engine going together. Next set will be later in the week, probably of the chassis and drive train. And I figured out how to post pictures the proper way, so no more downloading to see them.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm sure Revell has a winner with this kit, seems to be getting a lot of interest and comments. So far they're reaction to the posters comments have been positive. They are watching us and listening!

As promised, Bill Coulter and I are going to give you a step-by-step buildup and evaluation of the New Revell Nova Kit. Tonight we have the engine. Watch for the next installment later in the week. Len C. 1-I'm following the Revell 1969 Nova instruction sheet to the letter. I carefully removed engine parts for the 300hp/350 V-8 from their trees, cleaned them up with an emory board (aka finger nail file) and taped the individual parts with curls of masking tape to a piece of card board. Once the engine block halves were assembled with super glue it was also attached to the cardboard for priming and paint. 2-It's your choice as to what primer you use. Spray the parts as shown here and when dry, turn them over for priming on the other side. 3-I've found a couple of light coats of primer helps a lot when applying color to these small engine accessory parts as well as larger assemblies like the engine block/transmission. 4-Once the primer is thoroughly dry, mask off the engine from the transmission in preparation for applying a generous coating of Testors Aluminum Plate Metalizer. This is a great time to include some other parts that might benefit from getting the same treatment like these engine valve covers. 5-Here the masking tape has been removed to reveal a very satisfying aluminum finish on these parts. Also note the upper and lower radiator hoses in the background that have been painted with black primer. They were part of another grouping of parts that all needed to be painted black. Attaching them in like manor to a piece of card stock makes this task a snap. 6-Once the engine has been assembled and properly painted, the crowning touch is the hp/displacement label shown here applied to the front of the air cleaner top surface. 7-This shot of the competed Nova engine you can clearly see the extensive detail in the new kit. Testors paints were used throughout like Chevrolet Engine Red, Aluminum, Semi-gloss Black, Steel, Gold, and Aluminum Metalizer on the valve covers and transmission. It's a pretty slick idea to use the mounting post on the air cleaner to run though the carb and into the top of the block to securely hold that assembly together. I've pre-drilled things like plug holes, distributor and coil so I can come back at a later date and apply more details. Stay Tuned - More to Come!

Thank you for posting them so they can be seen without downloading. Can you explain to me how to do that? Bill is starting the buildup of the Nova so there are a LOT more pictures coming!

The info Bill and I have is that they are still finalizing the decals and instruction sheet, but they are still expected to hit our shores by end of May. Remember, if that's not correct don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger!

Hmm, guess I don't have the "attachment" thing figured out for this board. Guess I'll just continue to attach them like this for now. Next pics: engine parts, hoods, chassis and suspension, and chrome tree.

The long awaited new tool Revell 1969 Chevrolet Nova will soon be on a retail shelf near you. We are fortunate to have an early example of the final production parts and pieces to build over the next few days for you. Our first impression is eye-catching box art and kit contents that feel pretty weighty by our estimation. Like many of the recent Revell releases, this one is packed with all kinds of extra stuff that'll make the choice of just one building version pretty difficult. Follow along with us as Bill Coulter builds this new kit in periodic installments presented right here on this site. These first images take a cursory look at the individual component spree sets so you can get a pretty quick idea what there is here to work with. We hope you enjoy the trip. As they say...sit down, hold on and pay attention. This is my first time posting to the board, so be gentle with your comments.