1968 and ‘69 Corvette collection

[Superbird McMonte]

I have always felt that Revell’s 1968 and 1969 Corvette kits captured the look and feel of that C3 body style the best.  My only beef with this kit is that the rear window is incorrect. But I don’t feel the need to correct all of them. Maybe just the replicas of my father’s car.   Over the years, they have been offered in many different variations. The 68 has been offered as a convertible only. A couple times with the “rare” small block hood.   Oddly, I never cared much for the big block 427 hood. I did like the L88 hood much better. I may be biased because my father has an aftermarket L88 hood on his 69 Corvette.  Here is an assortment of just some of the issues of these cars. It is not by any means all of them.

Since the 68 was only offered as a convertible on 69 only offered as a hardtop, I will be swapping parts from one to the other to make the missing links.  The 68 hardtop is currently in prime at work. And may be in paint by tomorrow night. 69 convertible is also there and will probably be in prime tomorrow. Two of the cars are earmarked to replicate my father‘s car. The first one will be a medium blue metallic with a small block hood in place, and the rally wheels that came with it. The second one will have the L88 hood and American Racing Vector wheels that are currently on his car.  All in all, there should be at least six builds in this thread along. Probably more! Lord knows I have enough kits. Can anybody really say that? Anyway, here is four of the first six.

 Correcting the small block hood was a bit of a challenge to make correct, or at least to my standards. I bought one off of eBay that somebody had resin cast a few years ago. To say the least it was horrible. For some unknown reason they sanded down the front and rear of it. It fits like garbage. And that’s being kind.

The hood out of the box has a depression in the middle of the  insulation on the  underside. This was so you could cut out a giant rectangle for a blower to stick through the hood. On a convertible?  Really? Is that a thing? I know, I’ve seen it. But it looks real dangerous!

Anyway, the seller made a halfhearted attempt to fill that area but it was still smooth.

So I did my best to fill that area with a section from an extra hood so that it would have the insulation texture.  I don’t think it came out too bad. So I made a mold and cast more of them in resin. I resisted the urge to sand down the front and back of them like the other guy did! LOL! I think it came out pretty well!  

 That’s it so far. I’ll take some more pictures of the other two at work tomorrow. 

 Questions and comments always welcome good or bad! 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Superbird McMonte

[Ron Hamilton]

The shark Corvette was a hot lick when I was a teenager. Like you, I have a lot of kits to do different variants of the car. I built the MPC kits with the metal springs in the front suspension back from 68 through the 70's, and I still have a 69 to restore. The AMT 70 and 71 corvettes from the 90s are also very nice.

[afx]

My favorite Corvettes. I'll be following.

[Superbird McMonte]

7 hours ago, Ron Hamilton said:

The shark Corvette was a hot lick when I was a teenager. Like you, I have a lot of kits to do different variants of the car. I built the MPC kits with the metal springs in the front suspension back from 68 through the 70's, and I still have a 69 to restore. The AMT 70 and 71 corvettes from the 90s are also very nice.

I have a few of the AMT 70 and 71s. They are tesl nice too!

[Superbird McMonte]

This is the 68 in metalizer.

[Gramps46]

Super project and I will be watching.  

[Snake45]

You know I'll be following along! I've built two of these and have at least a dozen more in the Snakepit.

A few years back, Tim Boyd did a great article in the Other Magazine on how to kitbash ANY '68 or '69 Vette variant using these two kits. If you don't have that, you might want to track down a copy. 

[Tommy124]

Beautiful Vettes, great project - count me in!

[JJ Deuce]

excellent.  as you mentioned, aside from that goofed up rear window, this is one of my favorite kits too.  I have everything to build a replica of my former car ('69 coupe), and several other variants.  Looking forward to watching your progress!

I like the AMT '70-72 also.  they got the back window right, but I feel like the buttresses of the "sugar scoop" around the rear window are off a bit.  The interior tub and chassis are much better on the Revell offering.  I kitbashed the two to build a replica of my uncle's old '72 that got me interested in the sharks when I was a kid.

Edited August 28, 2019 by JJ Deuce

[Snake45]

58 minutes ago, JJ Deuce said:

I like the AMT '70-72 also.  they got the back window right, but I feel like the buttresses of the "sugar scoop" around the rear window are off a bit.  

The problem is that the rear of the roof is too tall/high. Fortunately there's enough "meat" in it to file and sand it lower, into a much more visually pleasing and correct shape. I've done it on two of them so far. 

[Superbird McMonte]

I took the push buttons from the doors of this 68 convertible to add to the 69 doors.

I also took the rear panel below the bumpers off the 68 and added it to the 69. I was able to take the 69 panel and swap it back into the 68 convertible.

I filled the holes in the doors of the 69 and did not end up wasting a kit.

The small block hood is my own casting.

[kelson]

Some real nice projects,just finding small block engines can be the challenge.

[Superbird McMonte]

1 hour ago, kelson said:

Some real nice projects,just finding small block engines can be the challenge.

I put together the best small block parts from multiple kits to create the ultimate Chevy small block! I cast them in resin so I’ll have an endless supply!??

[Superbird McMonte]

It’s been a while since I started this thread. So here’s a little update.

 So far this collection consists of nine cars. The silver one has been converted to a 68 and the finished white convertible was converted to a 69. All of the other convertibles are 68 so far. And the rest of the hard tops are 69’s.

 This blue one and the white one below it represent the same car. It’s the car my father bought in 1973. It had mismatched tires, and had been braced extensively for the first five years. In 1976 Dad had it painted white and added the L88 hood scoop.

 

There’s something about a Corvette in white with red interior. Very much my favorite color combination for a Corvette convertible that is!

 These three are Tuxedo black, Daytona yellow and Cortez silver 

 These are basically just raw plastic. The red one will get painted red. The other two are to be determined. 

 

 Thanks for looking and as always questions and comments are welcome. ??

Edited September 27, 2019 by Superbird McMonte

[kelson]

A beautiful collection of Vettes!!I don't know how you can manage to work on so many cars at one time!.

[beeRS]

Thats a great collection of Vettes. I got to say the L88 scoop is my favourite. 

[Gramps46]

Really nice collection of C3 Corvettes, thanks for sharing with us.

[Superbird McMonte]

On 9/27/2019 at 10:38 PM, kelson said:

A beautiful collection of Vettes!!I don't know how you can manage to work on so many cars at one time!.

It’s like an assembly line most of the time!?

[Vietnam Vet67]

That Dart Super Stock car in the background is the best car of the whole bunch !

[Snake45]

Good stuff! I think you've got even more C3 Vettes than I do, even if I cheat and throw in four diecasts. Lemme see, I have (completed) an original AMT '69 survivor, a Revell '69 coupe, a Revell '68 roadster, an AMT '70 full kit and an AMT '70 promo-style snapper. Plus which there's an MPC '74 promo on the workbench right now, that I REALLY need to get back to. (Might do that one for BOYD Round 5, maybe.) Drive on! 

[JJ Deuce]

On 9/27/2019 at 6:14 PM, Superbird McMonte said:

It’s been a while since I started this thread. So here’s a little update.

 So far this collection consists of nine cars. The silver one has been converted to a 68 and the finished white convertible was converted to a 69. All of the other convertibles are 68 so far. And the rest of the hard tops are 69’s.

 This blue one and the white one below it represent the same car. It’s the car my father bought in 1973. It had mismatched tires, and had been braced extensively for the first five years. In 1976 Dad had it painted white and added the L88 hood scoop.

 

 

There’s something about a Corvette in white with red interior. Very much my favorite color combination for a Corvette convertible that is!

 These three are Tuxedo black, Daytona yellow and Cortez silver 

 

Really digging the silver coupe with red interior.  one of my favorite combos on most cars.  

[Superbird McMonte]

On 9/29/2019 at 3:43 AM, Vietnam Vet67 said:

That Dart Super Stock car in the background is the best car of the whole bunch !

 The Dart is a die cast.  They are usually pretty expensive but I got this one in affordable price with eBay because it was missing the front trim on the hood and something was broken on the chassis. I think one of the mounting holes. I fabricated the trim myself. I think there’s a thread on here somewhere.

On 10/2/2019 at 12:18 PM, JJ Deuce said:

Really digging the silver coupe with red interior.  one of my favorite combos on most cars.  

 Yes, the silver with red interior is a very striking color combination!