1965 Chevrolet Corvette Converible

[Ron Hamilton]

A couple of months ago, a gentleman came to our club meeting wanting to have a model built of his one to one car, a beautiful triple white 1965 Chevrolet

Corvette Convertible. He had a few pictures of the car as it sits today while it is being finished, and he explained how it was to be finished with some factory options added to it to enhance the car. I had just finished my 2016 Camaro Build, and the project intrigued me, so I offered to take it on. I finished the build last week, and presented it to him last Sunday. He was quite happy with it, and he plans to display it with his car when he shows the finished one-to-one. I was not going to show the built model on the forum, but he gave me permission to show It here.

His car is equipped as follows:

Ermine White

White Convertible Top

White Leather Bucket Seats with Black Interior Accents

327/350 V8 Engine

4-Speed Manual Transmission

Air Conditioning

Power Steering

Power 4-Wheel Disc Brakes

Tinted Glass

Back Up Lamps

Side Exhaust

Aluminum Wheels

White Wall tires

 

I worked from photographs and information supplied by the car's owner, who is now in possession of the build. I used the Revell 1967 Corvette Roadster kit, and made the modifications to the kit using my parts box, skill and determination to build a model as close to the real car as I could.

[mangodart]

Good job Ron, I'm not a fan of the All white combo but you sure did a nice build !!

[afx]

Clean build Ron.

[Snake45]

Very, very nice indeed, Ron! But then we expect no less from you!

[Tom99]

Nice work!

[PARTSMARTY]

Real cool build Ron !!!

[Snake45]

How did you get the '65 front fender vents on the Revell '67? Donor AMT glue bomb, or did you scratchbuild those?

Did you have to make a lot of mods in the interior to backdate?

(I'm at work now where photobucket is blocked so I can't see your pics. I had a chance to take a quick look earlier at home, hence my earlier post, so sorry if my questions would be answered by the pics. As you know I've been on a bit of a C2 jag lately, and am working on a few old original AMT glue bombs myself at the moment.)

[Deathgoblin]

Very nice job! 

[crazyjim]

Pretty cool.

[Zoom]

Nice Corvette!

[espo]

Beautiful build, The owner has to be happy about this model.

[charger74]

You really did a great job on that vette ????

[bbowser]

My dad owned a '66 coupe years ago so this is close to my heart.  Very well done !

[Ron Hamilton]

How did you get the '65 front fender vents on the Revell '67? Donor AMT glue bomb, or did you scratchbuild those?

I scratch built  the fender vents using an AMT '65 annual as a guide. I opened up the leading edge of each vent. I also filled in the backup lamp.

Did you have to make a lot of mods in the interior to backdate?

I rebuilt the front seats to match the 1965 upholstery patterns. Everything else is from the Revell kit for the interior..

(I'm at work now where photobucket is blocked so I can't see your pics. I had a chance to take a quick look earlier at home, hence my earlier post, so sorry if my questions would be answered by the pics. As you know I've been on a bit of a C2 jag lately, and am working on a few old original AMT glue bombs myself at the moment.)

[Ron Hamilton]

My dad owned a '66 coupe years ago so this is close to my heart.  Very well done !

I learned a lot from doing this build. I have another Revell '67 Corvette coupe in my collection, which I may use to do a '1966 Coupe in the future. I had started to restore a chopped up AMT 1966 several years ago, but the project went still born when I was not able to correct the rear fenders to my satisfaction and disappeared into the "black hole" in my basement. I want to replicate the 1966 Corvette my dad considered buying when I was in college. It was Silver Blue, with a White interior. I talked him out of it because it was not a 4-speed, and had the base 300 h.p. engine. Silly me!

[Snake45]

Thanks for the details, Ron. What color was your body? I built one from a first-issue red body and it fought me all the way. I believe I had to use putty on the upper front driver's door because it didn't mate up with the fender very well, and I think I've seen other modelers complain about this area on this kit. But I think I've also heard that they corrected this area on some subsequent issue. I just realized that although the coupe has been reissued several times, I haven't seen any issue of the roadster on the shelf in many years.

BTW, the coupe body doesn't have this problem. At least not the ones I have. And the bulges on the front fenders seem to be shaped a little more accurately on the coupe, too. Interestingly, the bodies on both the coupe and roadster of the Revell '63 snappers seem fine. Have built two of each right out of the box with no problems at all.

[Ron Hamilton]

Thanks for the details, Ron. What color was your body?

White Styrene.

I built one from a first-issue red body and it fought me all the way. I believe I had to use putty on the upper front driver's door because it didn't mate up with the fender very well, and I think I've seen other modelers complain about this area on this kit. But I think I've also heard that they corrected this area on some subsequent issue. I just realized that although the coupe has been reissued several times, I haven't seen any issue of the roadster on the shelf in many years.

The convertible bodies have a few foibles in them, but I was able to work them out. I have several of the Revell/Monogram, MPC, and AMT mid '60's Corvettes, built, to be restored,  and un-built. The AMT goes together very easy, but if you are trying for detail, the Revell kit is better,

BTW, the coupe body doesn't have this problem. At least not the ones I have. And the bulges on the front fenders seem to be shaped a little more accurately on the coupe, too. Interestingly, the bodies on both the coupe and roadster of the Revell '63 snappers seem fine. Have built two of each right out of the box with no problems at all.

[ChrisR]

Very nice!