SfanGoch Posted June 6, 2016 Posted June 6, 2016 Nice work, Steve. This is one of my all time favorites. I scarfed up a bunch of these kits a while back. The Friedman book is a great book; but, it falls short in one very important (to us modelers, at least) area: no detailed photos of the car's components. Racing Icons has a great article on their restoration of Grand sport #004.
Ace-Garageguy Posted June 6, 2016 Posted June 6, 2016 (edited) Nice work, Steve. This is one of my all time favorites. Ditto. Thanks for the link too, Joe. Some good photos there. I worked with a composite shop years back, doing some subcontract work for a company that was supposedly building an exact replica of one of these for the owner to vintage-race, not wanting to risk the real one on the track. The company we were doing the work for had pulled plaster-based molds from the fiberglass components, and was particularly concerned whether the wood-grain visible on some of the inner panels (apparently the inner fenders etc. for these were mastered from something like luan plywood, and the grain transferred to the molds and subsequent parts) would be picked up by our production process....which it would. Apparently this is a particular identifier of original cars. (There are kit-cars of this available too). The work was all supposed to be secret-secret and we weren't supposed to let on to anyone what we were doing or who we were doing it for...which seemed kinda funny at the time. Came to find out somewhat later that the apparent intent had been to pass off at least one replica as a "discovered" original for very big bucks. I'm pretty sure there were charges filed and some general unpleasantness. Don't know all the details of that...but I thought youse guys might find the story interesting. STEVE: I'll happily delete this story if you feel it's not relevant to your build. Edited June 6, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy
bubbaman Posted June 6, 2016 Posted June 6, 2016 this almost looks tooo real some times i think i`m looking at a real vette - how the heck do you get those REAL SMALL places done what size brush a mag. glass???
geemoney Posted June 6, 2016 Posted June 6, 2016 the greatest corvette EVER!!!your model is looking great!!!
RancheroSteve Posted June 6, 2016 Author Posted June 6, 2016 Thanks for the link too, Joe. Some good photos there. STEVE: I'll happily delete this story if you feel it's not relevant to your build. Thanks for the link, Joe. I'd looked at some of that before, but not all of it. Great material for someone who really wants to go crazy making an accurate replica - there's always more that can be done! I'm mainly trying to do a decent, clean build here, with a few added details. Glad to have your story on this thread, Bill - it's part of what makes message boards like this so worthwhile, as far as I'm concerned. Stan: yes, I use some pretty small brushes (down to 00000) where needed, and also use an Optivisor most of the time when building - my 60 year old eyes are not what they once were, plus standards, expectations, and cameras have all improved. Thanks to all who are following along - and for the enthusiasm and kind words. More to come . . .
RancheroSteve Posted June 9, 2016 Author Posted June 9, 2016 A little bit more progress - I got the radiator and associated plumbing in. I made a new top inlet and radiator cap for it along with new hoses. The oil cooler lines and oil filter are just temporarily floating in space - they'll get attached to the inner fender apron after the body is on. There are a couple of small things I would have done differently at this point (if I'd known), but I'm moving on - almost time to get some wheels on this thing.
Ron Hamilton Posted June 9, 2016 Posted June 9, 2016 Absolutely gorgeous!!! I am working on one of those myself, but mine is nowhere as nice as yours.
Dogfish_7 Posted June 11, 2016 Posted June 11, 2016 You've made some fantastic progress since I last checked in!
Dann Tier Posted June 16, 2016 Posted June 16, 2016 This just keeps getting better and better.Agreed 100%!!
RancheroSteve Posted June 17, 2016 Author Posted June 17, 2016 (edited) A little more progress - I got the wheels and tires detailed, assembled, and attached. And here with the interior loosely in place: I'm getting ready to start on the body and figured what the heck, this one's coming out pretty decent, so I decided to splurge a little (I had a small PayPal balance) so I ordered the VRM decal set for the Grand Sport: http://www.v-r-m.com/vrm-007---grand-sport-1.html I've used their decals before (on my Cobra Daytona and Cheetah builds); not only are the decals excellent, they come with a little booklet full of historical info and reference. I suspect when they arrive I'll be telling myself I should have done it sooner. Edited June 19, 2016 by RancheroSteve
SfanGoch Posted June 17, 2016 Posted June 17, 2016 You're gonna tell yourself to get a couple more GS kits so you can use the entire sheet, Steve.
afx Posted June 17, 2016 Posted June 17, 2016 Looks like you did quit a bit of sanding on the tires to get them flat. They look good now.
Lizard Racing Posted June 20, 2016 Posted June 20, 2016 Great start to a great car!VRM does make good decals.I always was intrigued with the sideways mounting of the brake master cylinder. A novel way to make room for the glorious engine.
Bill J Posted June 21, 2016 Posted June 21, 2016 Nice work on the GS. I am following this one as I am getting ready to start work again on the GS I started when the kit first came out, so far all I've done is fill the frame slots and bought the HRM parts and VRM decals.Something sort of forgotten in history, the 63 stock split windows did have a visibility problem to the point that if you had a 63 you could take it to the dealer and for free they'd convert it to the 64 configuration. Which is why there are so few 63 split windows around today. Many people felt it was like a free upgrade to a 64 and took advantage of the Chevrolet offer. Myself, I always preferred the split window and it is the only 'vette I ever really liked, besides the GS racing cars.It is worth a look if you can find the old races on You Tube, seeing the GS in action was interesting and the period was the best there has ever been, to me at least.
RancheroSteve Posted June 21, 2016 Author Posted June 21, 2016 No big update, but the VRM decals arrived today (that was fast!). The decals cover several versions, but I'm still leaning towards the #2 Sebring 1964 car, especially after seeing the nice stripes that include the thin red outlines that AM missed.
Lizard Racing Posted June 21, 2016 Posted June 21, 2016 I recently read an interview with George Barris before he died. He said a lot of '63 owners came to him to remove the rear window divider. He said he kept all the removed pieces! I bet those owners could kick themselves in later years.
RancheroSteve Posted June 28, 2016 Author Posted June 28, 2016 I started prepping the body. It's a nice, sharp casting that doesn't need much clean-up. I removed the molded in differential cooler lines (I'll replace them with wire later) and the Corvette emblem from the rear deck.
J Witt Posted June 28, 2016 Posted June 28, 2016 Wow, those models bring back some memories. Got to see the Gran Sports at Sebring prior to '64 Nassau race. Superformance is building full scale replica cars now, if you have the bucks. http://www.superformance.com/corvette.aspxBy the way Delmo passed away earlier this year. A legendary figure in the Texas racing scene.
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