Trumpeter '63 Chevy II Coupe Building Questions

[Straightliner59]

Having done a search, and getting dragged into a worm hole--interesting, but, not too productive...I would appreciate advice from anyone who has completed one of Trumpeter's Novas. Are there any things in regard to building it that would be helpful to know beforehand? I think my next project might just be one of those, with the factory six, set up as a lower-class (obviously) stock drag racer. I'm interested in issues of fit, etc. Overall impressions? Thanks!

[alan barton]

Daniel, I built one when they first came out, must one about 10 years ago,, maybe more.  I don't have the car as it was done to help out a friend so I cant go and check it but two things I remember are as follows.

Firstly, i painted one smooth coat of Testors spray can blue and that was enough to make it impossible to fit the chrome trim for the side mouldings.  The job was done quickly and I seem to remember that I used no primer.  The chrome on these kits is so tough that you just abut need an angle grinder to remove it .  Proceed with caution. As it happened, I broke one of the strips at a door join but believe it or not, the chrome plating did not break and I managed to get it onto the car still in one piece.

The second thing was that I recall that there was either no rear parcel shelf or an undersized shelf and you can see through into the trunk. Otherwise I remember it being pretty straight forward - I only had a week to get it done after work so It can't have given me too much grief!

Cheers

Alan

[MrObsessive]

Daniel, I have this kit (both coupe and convertible) but one thing that has kept me from building it was the way too tall ride height that I've seen of the ones built. Of course, that can be fixed, but it's something to keep in mind if you want yours to sit a particular way.

Other than that, from what I read it's not a bad kit and probably the best that Trumpeter put out in the way of car kits. The others? Well, I think they could have done a better job on the '60 Bonneville and the Monte Carlo I was never a big fan of anyway, at least that particular vintage.

One reason that Chevy II can go for crazy money is that for whatever reason, Trumpeter never reissued that one, or any of the others for that matter. It's why if someone asks if I'd like to sell mine I politely decline as they can be pricey, but deals can be had if you're willing to look hard (and long) enough.

[Straightliner59]

1 hour ago, alan barton said:

The chrome on these kits is so tough that you just abut need an angle grinder to remove it .  Proceed with caution. As it happened, I broke one of the strips at a door join but believe it or not, the chrome plating did not break and I managed to get it onto the car still in one piece.

Just...WOW!

 

32 minutes ago, MrObsessive said:

Daniel, I have this kit (both coupe and convertible) but one thing that has kept me from building it was the way too tall ride height that I've seen of the ones built. Of course, that can be fixed, but it's something to keep in mind if you want yours to sit a particular way.

Other than that, from what I read it's not a bad kit and probably the best that Trumpeter put out in the way of car kits. The others? Well, I think they could have done a better job on the '60 Bonneville and the Monte Carlo I was never a big fan of anyway, at least that particular vintage.

One reason that Chevy II can go for crazy money is that for whatever reason, Trumpeter never reissued that one, or any of the others for that matter. It's why if someone asks if I'd like to sell mine I politely decline as they can be pricey, but deals can be had if you're willing to look hard (and long) enough.

Thankfully, I have one. Out of curiosity, I looked on Ebay, and didn't even find one. That suggests some rarity. I'm with you, I never cared for that era Monte Carlo, either. I've heard the Pontiac left more than a little, to be desired.

Thanks for your input, Bill, and Alan. I can fix the ride height, and the package tray shouldn't be a problem, so, I think I might go ahead with this thing.

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Straightliner59 said:

I can fix the ride height

If you're building a drag Jr. Stocker, the high ride height might work for you. Many of these things seemed to sit as high as legally permissible back in the day. 

[Straightliner59]

2 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

If you're building a drag Jr. Stocker, the high ride height might work for you. Many of these things seemed to sit as high as legally permissible back in the day. 

According to the 1975 rules (for which season this car would not be legal, since, at that time it was for cars '65 and newer--I'll have to look at earlier rules.), the car must sit level at a standstill, so, yep, that is probably correct. I read it as you could raise the car, for rear tire clearance only, and it must sit level, after that.

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Straightliner59 said:

According to the 1975 rules (for which season this car would not be legal, since, at that time it was for cars '65 and newer--I'll have to look at earlier rules.), the car must sit level at a standstill, so, yep, that is probably correct. I read it as you could raise the car, for rear tire clearance only, and it must sit level, after that.

That's about right. Most of the Jr. Stockers seemed to run very tall, thin front tires, too, which also raised them a bit legally. 

BTW, I chased this kit too unsuccessfully for a couple years, and was finally able to score a convertible at a fairly reasonable price. Last year I bought a MCW 2DS body for it and am looking forward to building it as a '60s "high school hot rod." One problem is that the MCW transkit doesn't include any glass--they assume you're starting with a HT kit and I guess the glass from that would fit. I'll have to come up with some kind of back window for the thing. 

[Straightliner59]

 

26 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

That's about right. Most of the Jr. Stockers seemed to run very tall, thin front tires, too, which also raised them a bit legally. 

BTW, I chased this kit too unsuccessfully for a couple years, and was finally able to score a convertible at a fairly reasonable price. Last year I bought a MCW 2DS body for it and am looking forward to building it as a '60s "high school hot rod." One problem is that the MCW transkit doesn't include any glass--they assume you're starting with a HT kit and I guess the glass from that would fit. I'll have to come up with some kind of back window for the thing. 

I guess I'm glad I picked one up, when they were around, in the shops! I would probably do a seventies version of said"high school hot rod", but either way, it's a cool idea. You could probably carve up a quick buck, in balsa wood, and heat form a rear window. I think that's what I'd try.

[Mike999]

N/A for a dragster, but I remember one complaint with the Trumpeter Nova kits:  the convertible windshield is too tall.  The experts said for a better convertible, use a hardtop kit and cut off the roof, then adapt the convertible-specific parts. 

I almost got a convertible done years ago, but lost it in a move.  I remember it going together pretty well, and some parts were really impressive.  Like the tiny, separate chrome ashtrays for the rear armrests.  I picked up several hardtops and converts over the years, before they became Unobtainium.  They will be available at my Estate Sale.

[Straightliner59]

3 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

They will be available at my Estate Sale.

They won't have done you any good, then! I'm thinking you need to build them! The convertible isn't an issue, since I have the coupe.

 

[MrObsessive]

1 minute ago, Mike999 said:

N/A for a dragster, but I remember one complaint with the Trumpeter Nova kits:  the convertible windshield is too tall.  The experts said for a better convertible, use a hardtop kit and cut off the roof, then adapt the convertible-specific parts.

One of the things I did IMMEDIATELY right after I bought the convertible was to lower the windshield! Drove me nuts how tall that was!

Instead of hacking up what was already an expensive kit back then just to get the windshield frame off the coupe, I cut the windshield header at the A pillars and then lowered the pillars by a scale inch or so using the hardtop as a guide. I then reattached the header and made makeshift vent pillars for the time being. MUCH better appearance than what Trumpeter did!

A while back I bought a resin uptop for the convertible off the 'Bay. The description in the auction said that it would fit the Trumpeter body as it was originally meant for the AMT one. Well no.............once I got it you can clearly see that it's much too wide, so if/when the time comes, I'll have do some surgery on that to make it fit the way it should.

[Mike999]

30 minutes ago, MrObsessive said:

 

A while back I bought a resin uptop for the convertible off the 'Bay. The description in the auction said that it would fit the Trumpeter body as it was originally meant for the AMT one. Well no.............once I got it you can clearly see that it's much too wide, so if/when the time comes, I'll have do some surgery on that to make it fit the way it should.

That seems strange, if I'm reading it right.  The Trumpeter Nova was 1/24 scale, the old AMT 1/25. So it seems like a resin top made for the AMT kit would be narrower than the Trumpeter body. But scale weirdness abides in this hobby, so nothing much surprises me.

At a kit swap meet once, I found a resin re-pop of the '63 Nova hardtop cheap. It was a nice kit, with chrome bumpers and separate hood, and cheap because the top was warped. I thought it might end up as a convertible, but straightened it out with heat.

[MrObsessive]

2 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

That seems strange, if I'm reading it right.  The Trumpeter Nova was 1/24 scale, the old AMT 1/25. So it seems like a resin top made for the AMT kit would be narrower than the Trumpeter body. But scale weirdness abides in this hobby, so nothing much surprises me.

Oh it's definitely wider. My idea was to separate the top in three sections (where the seams are), narrow it down a bit, then reattach the whole works with superglue and re-texturing the top to simulate the vinyl pattern. That is weird that between the two scales it fits the way it does as I thought it curious too.

Here is a link to a completed auction of this particular top.

[Snake45]

46 minutes ago, Mike999 said:

The Trumpeter Nova was 1/24 scale, the old AMT 1/25.

The Trumpeter is billed as 1/25. Haven't measured it, so can't really say. 

Here's a fairly nice 1/24 '64 you can have on your shelf for about $20 and a couple hours of Snake-Fu. 

[Mark]

I got rid of both Novas: already have the AMT versions, and didn't want to deal with all of the issues in the Trumpeter kits.  Too tall convertible windshield, exhaust running down the wrong side of the chassis (due to the working steering feature), goofy plating, wacky tire/wheel design, paper thin deck lid, and so on.  Had they just done a conventional car kit and not tried to reinvent everything, they might still be doing car kits now.

Those contemplating a Stock class drag car build are going to be limited to the bottom classes...no V8 engine in '63!  Fours and sixes only until '64.  The AMT '63 hardtop and convertible are off in that respect, but that's easy to fix.

[Snake45]

11 minutes ago, Mark said:

Those contemplating a Stock class drag car build are going to be limited to the bottom classes...no V8 engine in '63!  Fours and sixes only until '64.  The AMT '63 hardtop and convertible are off in that respect, but that's easy to fix.

V8 swaps were popular--so popular the factory made the V8 available in '64. If you were set on a V8 '63 drag racer, you could always do it as a Modified Production. 

[SfanGoch]

3 hours ago, Snake45 said:

BTW, I chased this kit too unsuccessfully for a couple years, and was finally able to score a convertible at a fairly reasonable price. Last year I bought a MCW 2DS body for it and am looking forward to building it as a '60s "high school hot rod." One problem is that the MCW transkit doesn't include any glass--they assume you're starting with a HT kit and I guess the glass from that would fit. I'll have to come up with some kind of back window for the thing. 

This is a genuine catch-22 situation. In order to make use of the MCW transkit, it requires the builder to have a Trumpeter kit as a donor. If you don't already have one, tough noogies.

[Mark]

35 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

V8 swaps were popular--so popular the factory made the V8 available in '64. If you were set on a V8 '63 drag racer, you could always do it as a Modified Production. 

Chevrolet even sold the conversion parts over the counter, as soon as the cars were available.  Don Nicholson ran a two-door sedan and a station wagon as Factory Experimental cars, both with Corvette fuel-injected small-blocks.  But the factory-installed V8 wasn't available until '64, the result being that Chevrolet never built a Nova convertible with a V8.

[Straightliner59]

6 hours ago, Mark said:

Those contemplating a Stock class drag car build are going to be limited to the bottom classes...no V8 engine in '63!  Fours and sixes only until '64.  The AMT '63 hardtop and convertible are off in that respect, but that's easy to fix.

I am planning (if I decide to pursue this) to use the kit's six banger. That's all that would be legal for a '63 Chevy II.

 

6 hours ago, Snake45 said:

V8 swaps were popular--so popular the factory made the V8 available in '64. If you were set on a V8 '63 drag racer, you could always do it as a Modified Production. 

MP was a cool class! My Chevelle will be MP, so, I think I'll stick with Stock, for this one.

[Mike999]

8 hours ago, Snake45 said:

The Trumpeter is billed as 1/25. Haven't measured it, so can't really say.

Thanks, that was a boneheaded error on my part. The kit boxes say "1/25."  I always thought the Trumpeter Novas looked a little bigger than 1/25, and so did their Falcon/Ranchero. But I haven't measured them either.

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Straightliner59 said:

MP was a cool class! My Chevelle will be MP, so, I think I'll stick with Stock, for this one.

My old wagon will be ready to race whenever you're finished. 

 

[MrObsessive]

NICE wagon Snake!

I just picked up a very cleanly built (but very dusty) one of those off the 'Bay the other day. I might restore it with some kitbashed parts using an extra junk Revell '65 Chevelle such as the chassis bits and suspension.

[randyc]

I built it.   Took years of starts and stops and I lost the rear bumper along the way.  The chrome is a real 3 stpe process, bras,nickel, chrome?   Almost impossbile to sand off the sprue nubs.   Builds ok I guess.