Hi-Po

Hi karbuildr, In my research I did find mention that Zora had done some aeronautical testing using tufting but I was unable to find any photos showing it applied to the test mule. In fact, the three photos in the book were the only ones I could find of the car in that configuration. Thank you for your comments on the build. Terry

Hi James2, The title of the book is Corvette America's Star-Spangled Sports Car the Complete History by Karl Ludvigsen. Published by Automobile Quarterly Publications. Hopefully, you can find a copy and thank you for your comments on the build. Terry

Nice trio of builds and the John Surtees Honda really stands out.

Good looking build, neat and clean.

Thank you to everyone for your comments. They are much appreciated.

Just finished this today and thought I would share with the forum members. My inspiration for this build came from doing some research on the 1962 Corvettes. One of the Corvette books that I was using had some photos of Zora Duntov and his '54 Corvette test mule. So, I checked in my stash and sure enough, I had an old AMT '53 Corvette on hand. Modifications to the kit are as follows - scratch building of the headrest/fin and the fiberglass tonneau cover using sheet styrene and epoxy putty. Cut down windscreen was made using clear plastic sheet. Taillights were made using spare red sprue. The headlight buckets were filled in using kit supplied parts and then I scribed in the chrome surrounds which were later Bare Metal foiled. I use black decal sheet to represent the black tape that was used on the car to seal off certain areas. Bare Metal foil was used on the side trim while other kit chrome parts were dechromed and then recoated using Alclad chrome. Tamiya True White was used for the body and different MM paints were used for the red interior and other areas. I am not sure what the black tape in front of the hood opening was for or the small string-like piece off to the right of the hood but they are in the photo of the real car, so I put them on. This was planned from the beginning to be a curbside, so no detail was done to the parts box V-8 that I replaced the kit inline six with. This is not an exact replica as I did take a few liberties with some details, due to the fact that I found very few photos of the real car. But hey, it looks good on the shelf and it kept me busy for awhile. Thanks for looking.

Outstanding build! Amazing attention to detail and finish.

Very impressive build. Great paint job and detailing.

Good information. I will have to give it a try on a couple of stalled projects.

If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I'll probably come back as something extinct.

Very nice build! Neat and clean.

Nice job, I like it!

Very nice! Great job on the rigging.

Nicely done! Neat and clean and great color choice.

I have used the clear part of "googly eyes" on several builds and they work just fine. I first drill out the molded in headlights and then insert the googly eye bucket into the hole. I then paint the bucket a silver or chrome color and then attach the headlight lens. You can usually find the googly eyes at your local dollar store.

You know you are getting old when friends with benefits means knowing someone who can drive at night.

Outstanding build! Neat and clean.

Nice job done on the rebuild. Neat and clean.

It bothers me greatly to not finish a modeling project and I build mainly aircraft and cars. So... when a project goes sideways, it doesn't end up on the "Shelf of Doom". Instead, if it is automotive, it is "In the Shop" or if aircraft, it is "Offline for Maintenance".

Outstanding build and the paint job is beautiful.

Outstanding build!

Great idea and nicely done!

Stupid never takes a day off.

We might be old (76 this month)... but we had great hair, listened to cool music and drove the best cars.

Outstanding! Could pass for the real thing.