1973 Chevy Bel Air 4dr Build

[DEL]

Attached are a few pics of a project I've worked on for a couple of years and am now nearing completion.  I like 4drs.  Mostly so I can build my police car models but also because they are just so very rare in offerings from the styrene tyrants.  This was a bit of a rough one. I used a promo for the base and unbeknownst to me, these promos are evidently injected in some kind of ABS or something NOT styrene. SO, you can't just work with grafting on styrene to build what you want. It all has to have styrene superglued to it as a base to work off of. Still, it is finally about done.  I modified the tub, modded the rear bumper to create the four tailight base version over the six one on the Caprice.

Another scrap grill donated the "Chevrolet" script for the header panel and I added the Bal Air's Chevy Bow Tie to the center of the grill.  Make some door mirrors and find some button caps and it's done.   Thanks for looking..

[Jack Swenson]

Hey D!  Wondered where you went.   Great work as always!

[DEL]

Thank you Jack.  I'll get back there.  Just may take a bit, since where I live they have to pump oxygen in much less internet!

Hope you are well..

[BillEMTP]

Man, that thing looks real.

[Eric Macleod]

I really like this. It reminds me of the car my high school cross country coach drove. His was not in the fine condition of your model though! Great job and thanks for the memory. 

[Ron Hamilton]

Dwayne!

You hit that one on the head. All you need are some steelies and dog dish caps, and we will be watching a TV show of the 70's, I need to get back to work on my '74 Spirit of America Impala. I have to figure out the grille and headlamps, and I am there. I love this one.

[Chuck Most]

The car's current mix of gold paint and grey primer reminds me of how I remember most of these early '70's B-Bodies looked by the time I was old enough to retain memory. In fact, replace the gold with dark metallic green and this one would almost be a dead-ringer for the one I used to see around my school in '87-'88.

[espo]

You have done an excellent job with your conversion. You might want to consider using this as a master and make resin copies.

[Tom Geiger]

Dwayne my friend!  You are killing me!  

I love 4 door conversions and would kill for a 71 Belair 4 door sedan like my father once drove!

 

[Greg Wann]

I can tell you all that Dwayne might be slow at master making but his talent is very, very good and accurate.  Mike Schnur was very happy with the Crown Vic project that we will get into silicone molds so that resin cast copies can be produced for your model building pleasure.  Mike will be making the vacuum form window sets for these kits.

[ChrisBcritter]

Great work, Dwayne - must have been a real bear to get that roof and rear window correct, but you've nailed it - reminds me of the green base model Impala they rolled on the beach in the movie McQ.

[Cosmo_Song]

Fantastic work! Please check out my 4DR build too: 

 

[PARTSMARTY]

Absolutely awesome-wow !!!

[Paul Hettick]

Wow that's great! Please cast 'em up! Love to do Kramer's car from Seinfeld.  I got your PM. Will respond later today.

[Anglia105E]

Excellent build Dwayne, and not an easy model to put together. I do agree with you that there are simply not enough 4 door cars to choose from, in kit form. Really I would like to build a scale model replica of a Canadian car that I once owned here in England, which was a Pontiac Parisienne 4-door 1968 - 5.3 litre V8 RHD. This car was pale yellow with a brown vinyl roof and registration number FCK 33

David

[DEL]

Ron H: You hit that one on the head. All you need are some steelies and dog dish caps, and we will be watching a TV show of the 70's.  Thank you, Sir. I do intend to either find or make the proper DD's for it. I thought I had a source for them from a fellow modeler but that.. fell through. Always fun to free-hand lathe something on the 'ol Dremel.

Tom Geiger: Dwayne my friend!  You are killing me!  I love 4 door conversions and would kill for a 71 Belair 4 door sedan like my father once drove!  Thanks, Tom. Like you I have always wanted the four doors. Funny, the styrene folks seem to mostly only offer the middle digit where those are concerned. Or, they finally have a 96 Ford Crown Vic come out by Lindbergh and many years later Revell decides to do one and .. does the same BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH exact one. Come ON! An unfunny twisted joke. But as I may have mentioned my goal is to do each year's full-size Chevy offering from 70-78.  I already have a 70, 72, 74, 75 and 76 in possession to do those years. The 77 & 78 will be a ground up scratcher. Huh, the 71 is the only one I don't have!  Have to keep my eyes peeled for one on the Bay, tho. 

ChrisBcritter: Great work, Dwayne - must have been a real bear to get that roof and rear window correct, but you've nailed it.   Chris, you said it. Getting that whole angle/treatment of the area from the C pillar to the transition to the rear window valance and trunk lid was a MAJOR PITA. For me anyway.  That's where 70 images from every conceivable angle comes in handy!

Paul Hettick: Wow that's great! Please cast 'em up!   Thank you, Paul, and yes I hope we can.  After the 91 CV is done, and the 77 LeMans, this would be next.  Still, I don't want to kill off Greg W, but all these years working on 1-5 different masters at different times is finally about to bear fruit with at least three coming out hopefully this year.  Got to lean in on the 1972 Polara too.  It's in the pipe as well.

Many thanks to all.  I even got an attaboy from the UK, from Anglia 105E!  Thank you, Sir.

[DEL]

Virtually DONE on this one as well. finally found some correct dog dishes so here's a few pics from my cruddy camera.  This one is done really..

Well, a slight adjustment of the ride height is in the offing then away to see if it can be cast.

Edited March 5, 2018 by DEL

[jefropas]

As a cop, sedan lover, and police car builder as well...awesome!

Jeff

[MyBradKeselowski]

On 2/2/2018 at 10:30 AM, Paul Hettick said:

Wow that's great! Please cast 'em up! Love to do Kramer's car from Seinfeld.  I got your PM. Will respond later today.

Kramer's car is a 73 Impala not a Bel Air.

[tomsheehy]

That's a Caprice grille, the Impala/Bel Air grille was considerably different.

[DEL]

Yep. They are different. 

Can you build me one?  Or modify an existing Caprice grille?

Anything like that?

Edited April 12, 2018 by DEL

[Oldcarfan27]

I see Chevrolet script on the nose that looks like it was added. How did you do that? It doesn't look like photoetch.

[DEL]

1 hour ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

I see Chevrolet script on the nose that looks like it was added. How did you do that? It doesn't look like photoetch.

Hello, Pat!   You are right, not photoetch.

I had a spare 76 Caprice grille that had the same size and style of script embedded in it.  So I carefully dissected it out of the 76 Grille, and even more carefully sanded it down till it was almost nothing but the script "Chevrolet".  Then I placed it on the header using superglue.

On some kits with great magnification, I can carve out of strip styrene the scripts I need (I did it for my Diplomat) But when a simple solution is nearby I go that route.  You have a sharp eye, and thanks for the question!

Edited April 13, 2018 by DEL

[Oldcarfan27]

23 minutes ago, DEL said:

Hello, Pat!   You are right, not photoetch.

I had a spare 76 Caprice grille that had the same size and style of script embedded in it.  So I carefully dissected it out of the 76 Grille, and even more carefully sanded it down till it was almost nothing but the script "Chevrolet".  Then I placed it on the header using superglue.

On some kits with great magnification, I can carve out of strip styrene the scripts I need (I did it for my Diplomat) But when a simple solution is nearby I go that route.  You have a sharp eye, and thanks for the question!

Wow, amazing! I'm looking for a way to copy scripts to use on other projects. I don't think I can do it that way, though. That sounds hard!

[DEL]

No Pat, you just have to go slowly and it's a bit tedious. Make sure where you work is clear and open and you have a 'catch apron' or something that will corral the script if it gets away from you.  Go slowly, use your index finger and just pin it to the sanding stick & apply pressure slightly & rub the script back and forth till you get it down to scale.  When I did this one I actually broke it in half close to the end of the sanding because the connection between the letters "r & o" became so tenuous. But if you don't lose the two parts that makes it far more accurate.  I was just tickled that I noticed that script and thus had a way to depict it. Otherwise, it would just have had to be skipped I suppose.

But, model building is all about trying something new anyway, right?   Believe me, I didn't get here overnight!

Edited April 13, 2018 by DEL