Another 85 Corvette Build...

[E.J.]

I thought it was funny someone else on this forum was building the same old Monogram kit so this post isn't meant to hijack that forum member's thread.  I'm not making the car to be exactly like the kit's instructions.  I'm making a 1/24 replica of my 85 C4.  That being said, you will notice different paint schemes, etc. that deviate from the stock look.

So, here are the beginning stages.  I like to paint whatever I can off the trees so I don't have to do touch ups. The small stuff that's easily lost or needs detailing, I leave on.  For those that are also building this kit, you may notice the two toned interior (the back half is black).  That's not stock, it was how I modified my actual car, I have black carpet in the cargo bay instead of the saddle carpet I have up front.  I've also painted the motor red instead of the standard GM black. I just swapped the motor in my car and painted the new motor red to match the exterior.  There is way too many chrome plated parts in this kit in my opinion.  There is no chrome or polished parts on an actual C4, but I know some people like bling. I did leave the valve covers and intake chrome tho even tho they are not currently polished on my car nor did they ever come that way from the factory, however, my plan when I finish dressing up the motor is to polish these 2 pieces.  I figured if I don't polish the real thing, there's no harm done and these pieces are easily painted afterwards.

Edited May 11, 2020 by E.J.

[E.J.]

I like the separate inner hood frame.  It mimics the actual car.  I would have been nice to have rotating headlights, but I can play with that with the spare hood and inner frame from the other kit I have. It's out of focus, but you can see the assembled intake plenum and runners on the motor.

I have 2 of these Monogram kits, one I purchased opened and another sealed.  The open box contained a body that was already painted and a damaged rear glass so I bought a sealed one.  There must of been a change to the kit because the open kit contained a different exhaust system than the sealed kit did.  The top system is the one I'm using, it had the correct front y-pipe but 84 mufflers with turned down tips.  The exhaust pictured below it have the correct mufflers but have pre-cats on the front y-pipe which the 85 did not have.  Anyway, I have LT1 mufflers on my 85 so either exhaust system needed to be modified.  I cut the tips off the 84 mufflers and grafted in tips from the Monogram Callaway Sledgehammer Corvette as I have a parts box for the kit (I initially had clone Callaway wheels on my C4 and I bought the kit for those wheels).  It's not a perfect match, but I think it came out good.

Edited May 11, 2020 by E.J.

[E.J.]

Exhaust finally finished and installed.  You can see the Bilstein shocks at the rear, they're hard to see in front.  The real car has a lot of cast aluminum parts so I'm thankful Testors makes a nice aluminum paint.  I weathered the chassis and floorboards to match what it looks like on my car.  Eventually, I'll add the rust that's on the front y-pipe and cat.

Wheels and hood installed.  Final detailing of the lights and trim will happen eventually.  I'm using a black Sharpie marker to outline the Corvette emblem at the rear and the two C4 emblems at the fuel filler door and the hood.

 

[E.J.]

Wheels are shown here still chrome plated.  They are from the Revell 2002 Camaro SS kit and these are the same wheels I currently have on my 85.  However, they are not chrome on my car and my OCD started to bug me so I painted them to match the real thing as you can see below.  I need to install the mirrors, finish painting the lights and emblems and I also need to duplicate the hood graphic currently on my car.

[kelson]

A very nice kit by Monogram in the 80's,i would like to build one like the one in the 80's tv series The A team.

[Funkychiken]

You have a cool car! And this is a great build

[Jonathan]

Nice work so far!

We need to see a picture of the car it's modeled after, too

[Scalper]

Looking good. you're way ahead of me. The wheels look good  

[E.J.]

On 5/12/2020 at 8:16 AM, Jonathan said:

Nice work so far!

We need to see a picture of the car it's modeled after, too

This is the subject of my build.  I have to cut some sheet vinyl for my hood graphic and further detail the C4 emblems.

[E.J.]

On 5/12/2020 at 8:22 AM, Scalper said:

Looking good. you're way ahead of me. The wheels look good  

It took me almost a month from start to finish.  I started it when my Corvette was in the shop getting its motor swapped but stopped until I could finalize how I was going to detail the real thing so I could mirror the model.  The wheels came from the Revell 2002 Camaro SS kit.  Those are t he wheels on my car (everyone uses the A mold Corvette wheels so I wanted to be different).  The Camaro kit was bought on eBay as an open box so I got it cheap, $5, and bought it for just the wheels.  To my surprise, the whole kit was present, no missing parts, and Revell includes the standard Z28 wheels, two sets of wheels! This is probably my next build after Squad 51.

[E.J.]

On 5/12/2020 at 2:15 AM, Funkychiken said:

You have a cool car! And this is a great build

Thank you!

[E.J.]

On 5/11/2020 at 10:46 PM, kelson said:

A very nice kit by Monogram in the 80's,i would like to build one like the one in the 80's tv series The A team.

The A-Team C4 should be easy to replicate.  Monogram & MPC make an 84 Corvette.  I still them on eBay.  Just paint to match Face's car and you're done.  It wasn't a highly modified car except for the stripe.

[Jonathan]

Nice C4!  Really like the flamed hood.

[E.J.]

Thank you.  Out of all the cars I’ve owned, I’ve had this the longest.  

[E.J.]

Almost there, just some final detailing, adding the hood graphic and a polish. 

[bisc63]

Pretty 'vette! Nicely modeled.

[iamsuperdan]

On 5/11/2020 at 8:46 PM, kelson said:

A very nice kit by Monogram in the 80's,i would like to build one like the one in the 80's tv series The A team.

 

I have the MPC 1985 Corvette on the bench right now. And that is exactly the car I'm building! Well, maybe not exactly. Technically the engine is wrong, but that's fine by me.

 

These are the only generation of Corvette that I really got into, so I love seeing these builds. 

 

[E.J.]

1 hour ago, iamsuperdan said:

 

I have the MPC 1985 Corvette on the bench right now. And that is exactly the car I'm building! Well, maybe not exactly. Technically the engine is wrong, but that's fine by me.

 

These are the only generation of Corvette that I really got into, so I love seeing these builds. 

 

I built the MPC 84 Vettes when I was a kid, both the 1/25 and 1/16th scale.  The 85 version should be the same kit with the exception of the TPI intake and the exhaust tips, otherwise, the cars are identical. BTW, I believe it was MPC, or maybe AMT, that made the promo C4 Corvettes for the dealers.