New Ray '62 Impala

[Snake45]

Had never heard of or seen this when I spotted it at Hobby Lobby a couple months ago. Didn't buy it the first time, because although the overall shape wasn't horrible, something about the windshield A-pillars put me off. (And I'm not a huge '62 Chevy fan to start with.) It was still there the next week, and I couldn't find anything else to spend my coupon on, so, WTH. The chrome reverse wheels and decently sized tires were sale points, as was the black paint. I've stumbled into accumulating quite a collection of black diecast Chevies, and besides, black is always easy to touch up if necessary.

Here's what comes out of the box. Size looks good; the wheelbase is spot-on for 1/25 scale. The roof seems a little off somehow, but I can't quite pinpoint it. The A-pillars seem to be too thick, and the front bumper is pretty much a featureless hunk of plastic, but otherwise the shape is fairly good. Nowhere near perfect, but good enough for some Snake-Fu.

So I sanded the tire treads, cleaned off some of the silver tampo overages with acetone free nail polish remover, and Silver Sharpied all the trim, including the compete A-pillars. I black-washed the grille, then masked off the rear bumper and the chrome surround strip of the rear panel and shot the rear panel with several coats of Krylon Clear Matt to dull it a bit. Looks a little better now. The headlights didn't have the typical stems; I had to paint the radiator wall behind them white to brighten them up. Decided there was just nothing I could do to improve the front bumper, so I left it alone.

At some point I might revisit this with some second degree Snake-Fu. This would involve removing the windows and filing the A-pillars to a slimmer, more accurate shape. As with their '64 Nova, the vent windows are molded as part of the windshield and don't open with the doors. These would need to be removed and either repositioned or replaced entirely.

 

And here it is with the Revell AG '55 Chevy. Coupla badasses in black. As always, comments welcome.

 

[MrObsessive]

Aaahh! That looks so much better Snake! The original look of that roofline to me reminded me of Monogram's '59 Impala windshield header (too flat). By adding some chrome detail to those A pillars, it blunts the appearance of that by taking attention away from it.

There are some other troubles I see with the body shape, but all in all it looks good! One thing I would add in the interim if it were mine.....I'd add some chrome trim at the base of the C pillars to meet with the lower rear window trim.

[Snake45]

10 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

Aaahh! That looks so much better Snake! The original look of that roofline to me reminded me of Monogram's '59 Impala windshield header (too flat). By adding some chrome detail to those A pillars, it blunts the appearance of that by taking attention away from it.

The problem is the A-pillars are not only too thick, but the lower rear edge isn't the proper curve, but more of a straight angle. You're right that the "chrome" helps camouflage that shape a little by visually blending it to the vent windows. I THINK there's enough meat in the A-pillars that I can file that whole rear edge back to a better looking shape. But that will have to wait for sometime I'm in the mood to actually DO it. 

As I said, I'm not a HUGE '62 Chev fan, or I'd have already built one of the AMT or Revell kits in the stash. Just thought I could get the shape on my shelf for a relatively small outlay of time and money with this thing.

[<profile removed>]

That looks good! Definitely an improvement. Just a thought on a temporary solution to the A-Pillar issue (and maybe not a great solution, but...) take a black sharpie and sort of "color in" a rubber moulding (or window tint) on the silver all around the windshield.  It will give an illusion of being slimmer like the 1:1 car below...maybe. again, just a thought.

[randyc]

I agree about the issues with it.  And I think the whole front end is just off somehow.  Like a cross between a Studebaker and a 65 Chevy.   Just my thoughts.  I do like the wheels and tires and you definitely helped it some.