Old School Retro Cool Custom '67 Camaro--Update, New Pics 10/9/18

[Ace-Garageguy]

These photos further illustrate the significant set-in of the top of the rear panel relative to the quarter-panel corners. The upper corners of the quarters themselves are obviously rolled forward to accommodate this.

Best way to measure the angle would be to get a car sitting dead-level at the rockers, and put an angle-finder on the tail panel. Put one on the fender corners as well to verify the kit body, if the object is to get the initial "look" of the car correct. Kit manufacturers are very often somewhat off with many of these relationships...like the kit Snake is starting with...and many bodyshops that "restore" and "repair" vehicles miss them as well.

    

Edited October 2, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[oldnslow]

I agree , but the set in is only about an inch , .020 in 1/25 . All our pics are assuming the cars are correctly assembled to factory specs . 

Snake is building his as a custom , so it's right no matter what , but a stock build would be different .

Edited October 2, 2018 by oldnslow

[Ace-Garageguy]

24 minutes ago, oldnslow said:

...Here's a pic with out the clutter of the bumper or deck lid , the tail panel isn't parallel with the quarter , but it's not vertical either , looks like the panel is flush at the bumper line and recessed about an inch at the top under the trunk .

Yup, that's about the way I read it. But the first question to address is whether the kit maker got the slope of the rear edge of the quarter panels right.

Mr. Snakes first correction shot has the tail panel set too far forward of the edges, but to get the angle just right, the edges need to be spot-on first.

[oldnslow]

Yep

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 minutes ago, oldnslow said:

I agree , but the set in is only about an inch , .020 in 1/25 . All our pics are assuming the cars are correctly assembled to factory specs . 

The build quality on the real ones isn't particularly accurate, and fit varies from car to car, but ALL the photos show the same general relationships.

And I don't know about you, but 1 scale inch. or 1mm in 1/25 scale, is as obvious to my eye as having a stick poked in it. 

Model on, Mr. Snake. Just trying to help.  

Edited October 2, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[James2]

Sometimes I'm amazed at the lengths modelers will go to enjoy this hobby...

[Snake45]

26 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Mr. Snakes first correction shot has the tail panel set too far forward of the edges, but to get the angle just right, the edges need to be spot-on first.

That's because I haven't moved the edges yet. I decided it would be easier to do it this way. I'll be moving the edges forward to reduce the angle of the backslant in profile, but I won't take them to vertical. 

One of these days I'm gonna take a picture of the annual AMT '67 body, the annual MPC '68 body, the "new" AMT '67-'68 body, the Revell '68 Firebird body, and this one (unmodified) stacked up. I believe it will be REAL easy to play "One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others" with that pic. 

Edited October 2, 2018 by Snake45

[Snake45]

10 minutes ago, James2 said:

Sometimes I'm amazed at the lengths modelers will go to enjoy this hobby...

Some of us like to try to make things look right, or at least not obviously ridiculous or wrong. Others don't seem to be so concerned. It's a big hobby, and there's room for everyone. 

[Rider]

Man this is a good read so far. Once agin I am impressed with the lengths taken to correct these IMHO very minor details. Non the less admirable from where I am sitting. Thinking about the process I imagine it is very satisfying to complete a task such as this. 

I look forward to seeing the end result. Good luck Mr Snake, build away. 

[Snake45]

Making some progress.

Got the hood stripped and fitted. Easy-Off had no effect on the hood paint, but rubbing alcohol took it RIGHT off, so I'm pretty sure it was AMT Blue Fog lacquer. Under that was gold. Then I carefully filed the sides and front and VERY slightly reshaped the rear until it fit the Revell hood hole. Then I had to thin the undersides along both side so it would fit down flush. It's still not perfect--the AMT hood has slightly less curve in it than Revell's--but it's at least 98% good and I may let it go as good enough. Still have a lot of work to do on the vents. They were somewhat crudely cut out and it's a lot of careful and tedious work to correct and repair this. 

I removed the '67-only rocker trim from the body sides by shaving and filing with a riffler file. This looks easy but trust me, it is a LOT of delicate and tedious work. Had to do it for the clean look I'm going for. Also scribed in the front fender separation and the rocker panel joint at the end. Mod body on top, stock body underneath. Note that the arch around the wheel openings does NOT go all the way down to the bottom of the rocker panels, as Revell has molded it, but terminates at that lower body character line. I'd never even noticed this kit booboo until I started looking at reference photos to do this job. 

I didn't like the shape of the lower edge of the side windows, so filed off the chrome trim molded there and then lowered that line just a little at the rear of the door and reshaped it. This also required reshaping the front part of the kick-up bulge on the rear fender. I guess you'd have to be a real 1G Camaro nut to see or care about this, but it looks better to me. Can you see the change in this pic? Again, modified body on top, stocker underneath. 

Getting close to being finished with the rear end. I filed the rear edge of the trunk lid back about halfway, then cleaned the sides of the fender ends. Still need to  increase the angle of the lower pan, but I think it already looks a lot more like a real Camaro than what comes out of the Revell box. 

 

More to come, I hope....As always, comments welcome. 

[Snake45]

No further interest in this, then? Okay, good to know. I won't waste time taking pics, editing them, and posting and writing up when I fix the front end. Will save me a lot of time. 

[1930fordpickup]

11 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

No further interest in this, then? Okay, good to know. I won't waste time taking pics, editing them, and posting and writing up when I fix the front end. Will save me a lot of time. 

Wait until you post pictures of it done we will ask for in progress pictures.  I like what you are doing with this kit. 

[oldnslow]

Sorry , was out of town for a few days being chased by a hurricane .  Wife and I went to Cedar Key for a little R&R.

Looking at the new pics of the rear end ,did you push the tail panel back out a little , they don't look the same . Definitely need to add more angle to the lower quarter below the bumper .

The lowering of the bottoms of the rear window area is subtle and looks good .

When you say ,the arch around the wheel openings , are you talking about the trim around the wheel opening or the actual body shape ?

This is looking good .

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, oldnslow said:

Looking at the new pics of the rear end ,did you push the tail panel back out a little , they don't look the same . Definitely need to add more angle to the lower quarter below the bumper .

When you say ,the arch around the wheel openings , are you talking about the trim around the wheel opening or the actual body shape ?

I didn't push the rear panel back out, or do anything else to it other than sand it for flatness/smoothness. I DID move the edge around it forward a bit, as I'd planned all along. 

Will be adding more angle to the lower pan. Fortunately this piece is flat (at least along the top edge) so this won't be a big deal. This piece doesn't fit especially well, even in stock location, so I'll have to work out the fit of it first. I might be gluing it on solid first, and then matching the lower quarter panels to it. 

RE the wheel arches, I mean the body shape itself. The rocker panels themselves are "flat", front to rear. They don't flare up at the ends to continue the wheel arches, as the kit body does. 

[oldnslow]

I see what you mean about the rocker , here's a shot showing , the areas of interest ,

You can see the angle on the upper quarter panel , the angle of the lower quarter and the rocker shape .

[James2]

Good either way with the whole rear panel thing,  I'm just enjoying the work here....

[Superbird McMonte]

 I had read about the in accuracy of the rear panel, but I couldn’t really see it. Your pictures help though. I have to get my kit back in my hands to see it in person now. Keep posting pictures of the progress! It’s very interesting! 

[bisc63]

By all means, keep us updated! Great work so far! Thoughts on color combo?

[Snake45]

14 hours ago, bisc63 said:

 Thoughts on color combo?

At the moment, the plan is for Testor Purple Pearl with pearl white trim. Mainly because I have a bottle of the purple I had to buy to touch up a resto project and can't imagine ever using on anything else, and partly because that's the only way I'll ever have a purple First Gen Camaro for my "rainbow" collection. 

If I like the way it turns out, I'll do another one more like a Baldwin-Motion Camaro in dark metallic teal (1967 Tahoe Turquoise), something I've wanted to model for years. They might make a nice "His & Hers" Sonny & Cher-like set.