'78 Chevrolet Malibu 4D Sedan.

[W-409]

Thanks David! I appreciate the kind words!

I've been trying to detail the molded in grille and lights by paint. I started on the front, the grill was really tricky to black wash cleanly because of the small scale of this model kit, but after carefully applying Tamiya's black Panel Line Accent Color a few times I think it's as good as it's going to get. Headlights were glued on place, front parking lights were painted with Tamiya acrylic white which I didn't mix up properly, to create a transparent coat of white paint to simulate parking light lenses. Not perfect, but better than if I just painted them white. Turn signal lenses were painted with Humbrol's clear orange.

On the back, tail light lenses were painted with Tamiya's clear red and back up light lenses with Tamiya's white acryl. The area between the lenses and tail light bezels was supposed to be black so I painted that with Molotow's Blackliner.

 

[DJMar]

I'm digging this, it's a nifty build! Also, I love the color.

I had an '81 4-door with the 3.8L V6 when I was in college. I still miss that car.

[W-409]

Thanks! I think this is by far the best color for a G-Body Malibu. This is one of those cars that I'd like to own in 1:1 scale, a friend has a G-Body Camino and it rides so good that I'd definitely be happy to have one of these myself, too.

 

Got bunch of work done over the weekend. First I took the kit supplied radio that had molded in microphones or whatever they are called in English. Instead of the kit's police car, I'm trying to replicate a normal daily driver, so those had to go.

Looks like I forgot to take a picture of the finished part, but here is the completed dashboard. For the steering column, I added a shifter and turn signal lever, because the kit didn't have any. They are made out of metal wire and the knobs are just a small amount of white glue, painted gloss black.

I thought the car needed seat belts for the front seat. Because all aftermarket seat belt materials that I had, were for 1/24 or 1/25 and therefore were too wide for this 1/32 scale kit, I had to make the seat belts from paper that I just painted flat black. Belt buckles are also paper, painted silver.

At the same time, I glued wheels and tires on place. The top side of the chassis was painted gloss black so that there is no possibility of white plastic showing up through the wheelwells or anything like that.

Next I glued windows to the body. They were a little warped so either windshield or rear window fit nicely while the other one didn't. I solved the problem by cutting both windows separate from each other, and now the windows fit "as good as possible".

The kit didn't come with a rear view mirror, so I searched my parts box and found one. Of course it was too big for this 1/32 scale kit, so I reduced the size of the mirror by sanding it smaller and re-chroming it with Molotow.

Then I glued the dashboard on place and interior was finished.

The painting on dashboard and steering wheel looks kinda rough on this picture, but remember, it's a small scale so the dash is bigger on the screen than what it is in real life...

Then the interior was glued to the body. Fitment was great.

And last I glued the chassis also to the body.

 

Now this thing is really close of being done, but I still have some small things to do. I was going to chrome the bumpers and side mirror today, until the mirror flew away from my tweezers and I didn't find it. Tomorrow I'll need to search the whole room to find it and then I can continue...

[W-409]

I sanded mold lines and other flaws smooth from the bumpers and then I "chromed" them with Revell's Chrome Spray. Lots of positive comments were heard about that product and now I understand why. Incredible chrome effect straight from the spray can, and it's much more durable than Alclad. Not cheap, but worth it in my opinion.

After that I did a bunch of small things, for example dry-brushing the Chevrolet and Malibu emblems with silver, adding period correct Finnish register plates and GM mud flaps to the back (because mud flaps were mandatory in Finland back in 1979) etc.

Now the Malibu is finally finished! I will try to shoot some pictures of it tomorrow and post it in Under Glass.

 

 

[Maindrian Pace]

Fantastic job, I love the look of this little car.

[W-409]

Thanks Mike, I appreciate the kind words!

 

Here is a link to the finished pictures in Under Glass section. Thanks for everyone who has followed this thing come together. Now let's see what's next...

https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/192816-79-chevrolet-malibu-4d-sedan/