Chaparral

[TonyK]

This took me years to finish as I worked on it from time to time because it was so difficult. I believe it was a Mini Exotics kit made of resin that required a lot of cleanup, sanding, and test fitting to get it somewhat right. Some white metal pieces were included and the clear plastic had to be cut to size for the windshield, spoiler, and bottom skirts.

The real car had 2 snowmobile engines to power the "sucker" ground effects. I'm a big Chaparral fan so that helped me continue to finish this model.

[afx]

The 2J was a very innovative design. Your results were well worth the effort - very nice.

[cobraman]

I agree, looks good.

[James2]

I remember seeing the Chaparrals race as a kid, very cool subject. And your model looks great, nicely detailed and clean.

(I have never built the Chaparral, mostly due to the 1/20 scale or cost of most kits.)

[bbowser]

Very well done, glad you kept after it.  Jim Hall was a genius in the racing world.

[aurfalien]

Hi,

Your project looks amazing, well done!

Any way to post more pics?

I'd love to see a well lit side, front and rear profile shots as well as a good interior shot.

[TooOld]

Excellent !  Glad that you finished it , a very fine example of one of Jim Hall's innovative designs . 

[Phildaupho]

Great to see this very well built model of such an interesting race car. I only saw and heard the car run once - at the Monterey Historics the year that featured Chaparral cars. You could hear the two-stroke snowmobile engines the entire lap wherever you were.

[89AKurt]

This is a great example, of buying a kit when you see it!  The company no longer exists, so good luck finding one.  I lucked out, and have it in my stash.  Yes, one reason I never started it, was the massive amount of cleanup required.  Did you sand the body down, because it has a leather-like texture.  Some of the white metal parts are bent from normal shipping and moving around.

Awesome to see one built!  Nice job.

[vintagercr]

Beautiful!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Fine job on a tough kit. Exceptionally clean and well-fitted.  

Fascinating car to see run, if you never did. On level pavement, it would do about 40 MPH with just the fans running, and other drivers hated the thing because it spit out everything it vacuumed off the track at the car following it.

[TonyK]

Thank you for the nice comments. Kurt, so cool that you showed a picture of the original kit. I don't remember the texture of the body being that bad but the extra resin on the chassis, body and tires was a huge chore to sand down. Used a very coarse sandpaper and probably a coarse file too while sanding it out on the driveway because of the dust and nasty smell of that old resin mixture they used back then. I recall the instructions are a bit vague too.

I've built quite a few resin kits from different companies and have some more to do and it's always a challenging  experience dealing with these.

[89AKurt]

Glad to contribute the "before" picture.  Yea, some people won't touch resin because of the smell.  Miss out on subjects not offered otherwise.

[Dave B]

That looks great Tony, I had to scratchbuild mine using the plans from Vintage Racing Replica News!!  Tks for posting.

Regards

Dave B

[Tommy124]

Well done Tony! I remember that "thing" from some older video games, think it was Gran Turismo 4 or 5...?

[ChrisR]

Looks great!!

[Hooked on Chaparral]

Great job Tony! I am also a huge fan of all things Chaparral, I never realized there was so much clean up on these you did a fantastic job with this, well done.

[GlueTube]

Great job, resin, especially the older stuff can be such a bear to build.

Regards

Brian Kroon

[Jim N]

Very cool!  You did a great job.