1961 Corvette restoration

[DPNM]

I recently won an old built up '61 Vette off eBay. It was a model I've been looking for for a long time. It's my favorite year Vette and they are hard to find. It is mostly complete. I picked up a "Sock It To Me" Vette in a trade with  a member here as the '62 kit is very similar. I plan to use some parts from it for this restoration.

The '61 had 3 different colors on it. I stripped it in Purple Power. Fortunately the original painter didn't do prep work. The body was not sanded. I have begun the resto by sanding the mold lines that were not touched and I'm prepping the body for paint. There are a couple trouble spots. It had massive amounts of glue in different areas, applied after it was painted, and I'm trying to get those areas ready. The windshield frame is broken, but it should be repairable.

Pics of where it is so far:

As Purchased

Stripped

I do have an ad up looking for a headlight bezel and two clear lenses as those are the only things that are missing that I can't get from the SITM kit.

As an aside, I am also working on a 1 to 1 scale project so this build may take some time for updates. Besides the 1 to 1 I also started a 1/18 Warlock project but that is in die-cast. I'm used to working with plastic so that project is a learning curve.

 This Vette has given me the desire to build which I haven't had for quite a while.

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by DPNM

[Johnt671]

Wow, it looks like the builder melted the plastic instead of using glue.

[Can-Con]

Jim, I know you'd rather the parts original to the kit but have you considered the headlights from the old Revell multi-part body '60 Vette? They're quite common and the bezels are separate with clear lenses.

[DPNM]

It's not as bad as it looks John. The glue did mar parts of the underside but the outside of the body is relatively unscathed. It's paint in the irregular places on the inside.

I have a '60 Revell kit Steve. The bezels in that kit are a lot larger than the '61 mounting point. I believe that is one of the gripes about the '61 (and the '62). The headlights are too small to scale.