1957 Chevrolet Bel Air from Return to Macon County

[Sledsel]

When I saw this movie as a kid I thought those were the ugliest flames ever. That has not changed. LOL

[Atmobil]

I think you are doing a great job replicating the car from the movie.

I find it interesting the movie claims this is Summer 1958. I can't imagine a 1 to 11/2 year old Chevy looking like this. I remember seeing cars like this but it was mostly in the mid '60s when they were relegated down to teenager use. Things like 3 in the tree shifting moved to the floor. Even up until the '70s the interiors of cars started ripping and falling apart after 5 years of hard use. I am guessing that using Tuck and Roll was to replace a beat interior?

I like seeing people model all the details of a movie car. The seats and door detail is very nice.

Thank you

Yeah, I do also think it as very strange that two teenager would have a car like that in 58 but I guess that in 1975/76 when this movie came out they where hoping that the teenagers that watched it would not care about the details like that and also seeing that this movie is a low budget movie then that is probably the reason for it clearly being filmed in winter/spring and claiming it to be summer with a very smokey engine that they claim can do 8,7second quarter mile.

I don't know what a 57 Bel Air cost was compared to the avarage wage was back then in the US but I'm guessing that a two door hardtop with a v8 as in the movie would be quite a lot more than what poor teenagers should be able to afford.

When I saw this movie as a kid I thought those were the ugliest flames ever. That has not changed. LOL

Yes they are quite ugly, I agree. Looks very much like a rush job

[Bob Ellis]

Gaute, The model you are making is pretty typical for a 1960s kid's car. I guess all movies use some artistic license though.

My father bought a 1955 Oldsmobile 4dr hardtop for his brother in 1963. It cost $50. Actually, it ran and was half decent. He got it from a Chevy dealer he bought cars from over the years. I would guess that yellow '57 Chevy would cost no more than $100 that they used in the movie. Of course you can't get that deal anymore.

[Atmobil]

Gaute, The model you are making is pretty typical for a 1960s kid's car. I guess all movies use some artistic license though.

My father bought a 1955 Oldsmobile 4dr hardtop for his brother in 1963. It cost $50. Actually, it ran and was half decent. He got it from a Chevy dealer he bought cars from over the years. I would guess that yellow '57 Chevy would cost no more than $100 that they used in the movie. Of course you can't get that deal anymore.

Yeah, one should be so lucky

But I guess that is what you get when you have yearly modelchanges and quikly changing fashions. Everything loses its value quickly. I remeber seeing something about WWII planes, that back in the 50s they could buy decent fighters and bombers for the same price as a decent used car.

[DrKerry]

Kool build!!!!!

[Atmobil]

Does anyone have an idea what flocking could match the brown color in the boot/trunk of this car:

I'm looking at MCGs flocking but the brown they got looks to dark in the picture on the website:

https://www.modelcargarage.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=80&idcategory=16

And the rusty brown is too redish:

https://www.modelcargarage.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=68&idcategory=16

Any other manufacturers out there that got a matching flocking?

[Atmobil]

I'm back on this one, september is coming up really quickly.

So, what color to paint the engine?

Chevy engine red?

Difficult to tell from the screen grabs what color the engine is in, some of it looks black and there is quite a bit of chrome on the top of it. What sort of color was normal to use on a custom in the mid-70s?

[blunc]

if you can get embossing powder, that may be a better option for the trunk and you may be able to get it in the color you need.

if you can't get it in the color you need, I have seen other builders in this forum paint their flocking/embossing powder to get the desired color.

[Rotorbolt73]

I was wondering if you was going to get back on this one. I actually saw a model of this movie car for sale on ebay a week ago..Built from the old AMT 57 chevy..wasn't bad looking either.

Look forward to seeing your progress.

[Atmobil]

if you can get embossing powder, that may be a better option for the trunk and you may be able to get it in the color you need.

if you can't get it in the color you need, I have seen other builders in this forum paint their flocking/embossing powder to get the desired color.

Do you have any manufacturer names that make embossing powder? All I got is Model car garage.

I was wondering if you was going to get back on this one. I actually saw a model of this movie car for sale on ebay a week ago..Built from the old AMT 57 chevy..wasn't bad looking either.

Look forward to seeing your progress.

Interesting, do you have a link to that model on Ebay?

Today I have been scraping the plastic on the edge of the trunklid with my knife so that it would sit flush with the body. Before I did this it was sticking up quite a lot.

As you can see, it now is sitting flush

I am taking the chanse that the underside of the car is all white.

I have painted the floor, chassis, front and rearsuspension and fueltank in white (the colorbalance on my camera is not set correctly so it appears more yellow in the pics)

I have painted the floor inside the cabin in black and added black flockingpowder.

[Rotorbolt73]

No link. Looks like the listing ended or it was sold.

[blunc]

Amazon has Judikins EP2-50 Embossing Powder in several colors, I have no idea what may actually be available in your neck of the woods.

[russosborne]

here is the link to the ebay model.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-Chevy-Macon-County-lots-of-detail-1-25-Scale-PLASTIC-MODEL-CAR-/291498117039?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43dea447af

Then click on the view original listing to see all the pictures and stuff.

You can search completed and sold auctions in the advanced search.

Edit, the seller's shipping charge seems totally insane to me. Yeah, I know, Ebay idiots. Wonder why no one bid on it?

hth,

Russ

Edited July 3, 2015 by russosborne

[Atmobil]

Amazon has Judikins EP2-50 Embossing Powder in several colors, I have no idea what may actually be available in your neck of the woods.

Thanks for the tip, I did a search for embossing powder on Ebay and found this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ranger-Embossing-Powder-1oz-Jar-Brown-/331329888732?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d24cce1dc

May be worth a shot.

here is the link to the ebay model.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-Chevy-Macon-County-lots-of-detail-1-25-Scale-PLASTIC-MODEL-CAR-/291498117039?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43dea447af

Then click on the view original listing to see all the pictures and stuff.

You can search completed and sold auctions in the advanced search.

Edit, the seller's shipping charge seems totally insane to me. Yeah, I know, Ebay idiots. Wonder why no one bid on it?

hth,

Russ

Thanks for the link, to bad about the insane shippingcharges. I could have been interested in buying it but with that shippingcost it is out of the question.

[blunc]

Thanks for the tip, I did a search for embossing powder on Ebay and found this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ranger-Embossing-Powder-1oz-Jar-Brown-/331329888732?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d24cce1dc

May be worth a shot.

Thanks for the link, to bad about the insane shippingcharges. I could have been interested in buying it but with that shippingcost it is out of the question.

just remember to try it on some scrap plastic first.

[Foxer]

Michaels, where I get mine, and many other craft stores sell embossing powder.

Been following your build all along .. very interesting.

edit: sorry .. just realized you're in Norway. But, still .. if any kind of craft store is near you you might find some.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Foxer

[om617]

Stilig Bel Air

[horsepower]

Yes, the cable is flat, wide and grey and the where used to plug in hard drives and such aswell (I belive there where different widths of them). Maybe acrylic color would work on, will have to try that sometime.

Not 100% on how to do the flames yeat, looks like they have been handpainted on the car so it is possible that I wil try an make a template from a screenshot and see if I can handpaint it myself but not sure yet.

Take a look at these two interior shots:

Notice how the sunvisors are there and there is also a small tinted field of the top of the windscreen that is not there on the other shot. I think they are either using two different cars or have changed or replaced the windscreen at some point in the film.

Did you notice that the filming must have been done with a projection screen shot, or the dash add on gauges are just dummies, since in both shots either the engine isn't running or the gauges and tach aren't hooked up. Everything is at zero readout.

[Atmobil]

Yes, I can see that now. I'm guessing that the car may have been on a truck or some loader or that the gauges are fake/not hooked up because it does not have the look of beign a projection shot.

[Atmobil]

I have been on holiday for the past week and on friday I thursday I found myself in a store that among other things sold Motip spraycan paints and I found a color that I think will match: Ral 1021 Rape Yellow. Difficult to tell if it actually matches the movie car or not as the color will look different depending on camerasettings and my own computerscreen settings.

[Atmobil]

At the moment I am working on the trunk.

I wonder if anyone has seen any kits with trophies like the ones in the trunk?

Also looks like there is no spare wheel. Looks like there is some kind of tank where the spare should be. Could this be for the NOS or something similar maybe?

They do use something in the movie that makes the engine perform better at the flick of a switch.

[Matt T.]

Many early AMT "Trophy Series" kits (and their reissues) contain trophies and show car asccessories. '49 Ford, '49 Merc, '57 Ford, '57 Chevy etc. come to mind. The Revell Roth cars might have trophies too.

As for the spare tire, the well is there - seen from the low rear photo. They probably just upholstered over it and mounted that tank. I don't know what the tank is though.

"Rape Yellow?" Does rape mean something else in Norwegian? The color looks close though.

[freakshow12]

Lol rape= canola. The common term for it now. It's a seed crop. Canola oil

[Atmobil]

Many early AMT "Trophy Series" kits (and their reissues) contain trophies and show car asccessories. '49 Ford, '49 Merc, '57 Ford, '57 Chevy etc. come to mind. The Revell Roth cars might have trophies too.

As for the spare tire, the well is there - seen from the low rear photo. They probably just upholstered over it and mounted that tank. I don't know what the tank is though.

"Rape Yellow?" Does rape mean something else in Norwegian? The color looks close though.

Yes, I have to look in to my collection and see if I can find any trophies. If not I have to search elsewhere.

I do belive that they have just covered the sparewheelwell with upholstery aswell so I have made a coverplate from sheetstyrene and glued it in place.

Lol rape= canola. The common term for it now. It's a seed crop. Canola oil

I did find the name kind of funny when I bought the can, it says Rape Yellow on the boxlid. The norwegian word for the rape (or rapeseed/canola) is Raps and I did understand right away that this was the actual meaning of it and not that other violent kind of rape.

The rape/canola sure is yellow enough:

Strange that it did not say Canola Yellow on the box.

[Atmobil]

So, a small update to this one. I have applied the embossing powder I bought on Ebay and I think it looks quite convincing:

I have also started to modify the exhaust. In the film you can see that it has twin pipes at the back and they are coming out just about where the framrails are instead of the corners of the rearbumper like a stock 57 Bel Air.

Here you can see the added twin pipe on the one side and the other on that has yet not gotten its twin pipes.