Scale-Master

Two years and seven months non-stop is the longest I've spent on one. I have another that took about 14 years from start to finish, but it was parked dead in the water for a good dozen years.

I made a copy of the graphic equalizer. To give some depth to the shifter plate area I put the gear selector lettering and the blue plastic dust cover in the recess of the console. I made the shifter plate to sit flush above with some space between like the real car.

It's just sheet styrene. And thanks Carl.

The engine is getting close to being finished. Just a little paint detailing to be done after it is installed. I made a bracket for the alternator and ran a fuel line from the pump to the carb.

Thanks guys. This is the kit supplied ’70 console. ’73 Camaros used a different style. I filled in, built up and reshaped the kit part. Then I cut out the opening for the shifter plate in the correct location, added the console door and textured it.

I made the headers from a pair out of a Revell SuperTruck kit. I cut some of the tubes apart and made the flanges from brass. I cut off the long collectors and made new ones to match mine from brass and then added P.E. flanges.

The whole thing is proportionally short (not just behind the doors) and I decided from the start to not rework it in that regard. And the wheel wells, whoa. I'm looking at it as something to fill slot for the cars I've owned. I will fix the rear bumper and valence though, but I figure it still might look off a bit like the hood and cowl proportions in relation to the overall body. Now if I could just get a good '68 Vista Cruiser and an '06 Saturn Vue Redline I'd have all of them...

I believe it is just two stage and you'll want a uniform base primer coat. If you can shoot single stage then base coat / clear coat is a breeze.

Weren't those FWD "Novas" just rebadged Toyota Corollas?

My Dad had a '63 SS Nova, never cared much for it or that era of them. I had a '67 SS Nova and while it was very quick, it handled poorly and stopped even worse. But I do like the styling of the 2nd and 3rd gen Novas. Gearing up to start a model of that '67 too since I've got my Vega and Camaro in the works...

I think that is the best build up I have ever seen of that kit, not just by a little bit. Great color choice too.

There's some great one liners in this thread. For me each model has its own "enough point" that may not be the same as the before or after it. Some projects I will set the relatively bar high as to what I will accept as enough. For others enough is when the project fulfills its need.

Good luck on finding one, I have only seen this one, and I think I bought it back in the '80s. These are the wheels and tires assembled.

Who is Fred...? These are the finished tires. Instead of using the small raised lettering (which looked out of proportion to the Goodyear lettering), I made decals in dark gray to cheat them. I also made the decals for the blue lines and Goodyears.

Who's Fred?

Some of the Revell '69 Camaro kits came with houndstooth decals. The Pace Car has them, but in the limited use orange and black. There is another kit that has the hockey stripes and rally stripes that also includes black & white houndstooth seat decals. The pattern is identical to these, (I did the art for those kits and pulled the same pattern from my files). But I don't know how well the '69 decals work on '68 (or '67) seats. Some trimming would be required, if they are wide enough to cover the earlier years. The '69 upper seat areas also have six little buttons printed in the art to match the seats. While the buttons are tiny it would be up to the builder if that was too much to deal with on the other years.

I made houndstooth patterned decals for the seats.

Thanks Ray. I made decals for the sidewalls to match the tires I had on my car.

Thanks Dave. The real car had glass pack mufflers welded into to the pipes and additional pipe was welded on for the slash cut tips. All the welds were ground and finished (by Gale Banks himself no less) for a seamless looking Trans Am racing style exhaust. To replicate the custom exhaust system I modified a Revell Taurus Nascar set of pipes by first narrowing them at the crossover pipe. I cut the elliptical shaped portions off the Nascar pipes and replaced them with brass tubing. Primed and ready for the flat white heat paint…

Does the 15,000 - 60,000 grit refer to traditional U.S Standard (CAMI) sanding grits (like 400, 600, 1200...) or is it a measurement of Microns like the polishing cloths (3200 - 12,000)? This is a guess, but it could be the new films you have are CAMI specs and therefore coarser than the Micron ones. Your results are in line with that thinking. Either way, I would use them all with water. To return the luster to that body you could use the polishing cloths you used before. If that does the trick it might also answer my first question.

These are the raw rear tires. I cast hard resin copies of a semi-soft (MPC?) tire I had in my stash. The side wall lettering was pretty bold and heavy so I sanded it all off and will replace it with decals. I did the same thing for the front tires. Here are the four tires with the base paint applied ready for the sidewall details to be added.

That's very kind of you to say Cato, thank you. As far as another big project, I'm sure something will come along and yes, after a breather of sorts. There was more than five years between the start of this and the finishing of the last "big" project. Next in line are replicas of cars I've owned and one of a friend's car. Four are started, three are on this forum, and I'm looking for a kit for one more that I'll probably start before those are completed. Now, back to my addiction. Better to have some maps to keep from getting lost on my way to the GSL.

Yeah, I can't seem to stop... And there's more stuff I'm playing with for it. Small point, it is not a model box of this model. Wrong scale, different car, and it is a kit. This model isn't from any kit.

Yeah, they look even more worn now from handling it. I used an acrylic paint that isn't too tough, I'll have to redo them before I do the final install.

Since the Revell kit has a big block, I used the small block from an AMT ’70 Z/28. It is painted a metallic blue color instead of orange because the owner painted it that way. The valve covers are resin copies I made from an MPC ’78 Nova. The car also had exhaust manifolds that were painted VHT header white. I gave the manifolds a little 'heat wear".