1963 Chevy Nova Wagon Street Rod FINISHED 3/20/22

[slusher]

9 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

The original release of the ‘29 Roadster did have the Buick engine. Recent reissue of the Roadster has the small block Chevy that was in the original issue of the ‘30 Coupe. Upcoming reissue of the Coupe will get the Buick engine. 

Thank, you sir..

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

16 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

The original release of the ‘29 Roadster did have the Buick engine. Recent reissue of the Roadster has the small block Chevy that was in the original issue of the ‘30 Coupe. Upcoming reissue of the Coupe will get the Buick engine. 

Ya shoulda put a Ford powerplant in it....? -RRR

[bobthehobbyguy]

Great project. Love the stance.

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE!

Working on some final details so that I can move on to primer and paint.

Even though this is a curbside chassis I knew from the beginning that I wanted the car to have angled side exit exhaust and because the pipes will be visible from lower angles it was necessary to build a full system. The green sections are the very 80’s and early 90’s Supertrapp mufflers and pipes from Revell’s original issue 1967 Chevy Malibu Pro Street. I then spanned the gap with the blue sections. Turned out to be a simple job. I then had to angle scallop the rocker area for the mufflers to poke out.

 I finally found the steering wheel I really wanted to run and knew I had somewhere which is this Grant style from Revell’s 1955 Chevy Pro Sportsman kit. A kit I had back in the mid 90’s and the wheel has stayed with me all these years! LOL

I finished up the modified ‘90 Mustang radiator by adding an electric fan from any of Revell’s 1932 Ford kits and a scratch built overflow tank.

Added some more under hood details such as a windshield wiper motor next to the master cylinder, a clip next to the drivers upper shock mount to guide the wiper fluid hose, some detail to the heater blower motor and a fuel pressure regulator on the passenger fender apron where the hoses will connect up to the carbs. I circled these in red for clarity.

 I also removed all of the chrome side trim, door handles, tailgate handle, tailgate emblem and hinges and smoothed out the hood. This was always the plan, just saved it for the end. 

 

That’s all for now. Looking to get some primer shot this coming week.  

 

[slusher]

Coming along your doing a great job.   Are you going to remove the single exhaust.

Edited August 9, 2021 by slusher

[Mattilacken]

Nice build! Will be following! 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Nice work as always, ADL... Adding to an otherwise really simple kit really makes it sparkle. I'm sure you're going to come up with a sweet color combo! -RRR

[Dennis Lacy]

8 hours ago, slusher said:

Coming along your doing a great job.   Are you going to remove the single exhaust.

No way. The whole chassis pan will be flat black and never be displayed. I just wanted full pipes under there for low viewing angles. 

[Kit Karson]

Building tip of the day: "The whole chassis pan will be flat black and never be displayed."  This is where I get caught up in a build!  KISS or Detail? -KK

[TransAmMike]

Pretty darn cool Dennis?

[OldNYJim]

This is coming along great!  Always enjoy your scratchbuilding and kitbashing

That Grant wheel is really cool!  Never saw one of those before!

[alan barton]

Very crisp!  Do you use pins to temporarily locate your exhaust?

Many years ago I acquired a cleanly painted Nova wagon body and grille  and many years later picked up a Modelhaus hood. I also had a full Buick GNX kit that was to be grafted into it. If Pro Touring had been a thing when I thought of the idea, I guess it would have been a Pro Touring!  

Problem is, I'm sure if I dragged out that box, I think it would leave the KISS world way too quickly!  I might just enjoy your build vicariously at the moment as I have bigger fish to fry, especially the Tim Boyd tribute pickup.

Cheers

Alan

[Pierre_tec]

Amazing build Denny, looking forward to see it in color s it will look amazing. Just wondering how you out the hood so nice and precise??

[Dennis Lacy]

1 hour ago, Pierre_tec said:

Amazing build Denny, looking forward to see it in color s it will look amazing. Just wondering how you out the hood so nice and precise??

Thanks!

The hood is a separate piece from AMT. 

[cobraman]

Looking great !

[Davewilly]

looking pretty good!  

[Scott8950]

Very cool project 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I bet this is the first time you've had two GM projects going at once! -RRR

[Dennis Lacy]

3 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

I bet this is the first time you've had two GM projects going at once! -RRR

You know what, this is the first time I’ve had GM projects at all!

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

21 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

You know what, this is the first time I’ve had GM projects at all!

LOL!!! It'll be our little secret....sshhhh...... -RRR

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE!

Spent this afternoon finishing up some odds & ends on the Wagon in preparation for primer and paint. Got all of the chrome parts stripped to bare plastic. As any of you who follow my hot rod model projects know I’m not a big fan of kit chrome, I’m more into paint detailing. As I was looking at the stripped American 5-spokes I realized that I wasn’t feeling them anymore since the Wagon has turned down the path of a smooth 90’s street machine with all of the trim and emblems shaved, Grant steering wheel and Supertrapp exhaust. I decided it needed some more era and genre appropriate wheels. 
 

ZZ Top ‘33 Ford street rod kit to the rescue with its vintage Centerline wheels. As luck would have it they fit right into the existing tires. Since you can’t see through them I realized brake detail was no longer necessary so instead I found some wheel backs that would work. The fronts are from Revell’s ‘37 Ford Convertible and the rears are from Revell’s ‘64 Ford Thunderbolt. Both front and rear wheel backs have had bushings put into their center holes made from Evergreen 1/8” tube. The backsides of the wheels had 6 alignment pegs which I removed and smoothed off. 
 

 

Here it is mocked up. When you all see the paint scheme I’ve come up with the new wheels will make total sense and date the car perfectly. 
 

 

On to primer and paint!

[OldNYJim]

Love how this thing sits!  You surprised me with the wheel choice - I figured it’d be something more old-school but I like ‘em!

Excited to see the colorscheme you have in mind!

[Dennis Lacy]

50 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

Love how this thing sits!  You surprised me with the wheel choice - I figured it’d be something more old-school but I like ‘em!

Excited to see the colorscheme you have in mind!

I’m sure you won’t be the only person surprised. Everyone loves the American 5-Spokes but not everyone is gonna like these unless the appreciate the era. 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

8 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

I’m sure you won’t be the only person surprised. Everyone loves the American 5-Spokes but not everyone is gonna like these unless the appreciate the era. 

Honestly, I've never been a big fan of those wheels, but now that I've studied the pix, they do look pretty good. Are you going to keep them chrome? A shot of Tamiya semi-gloss clear might look good on them. I believe the original wheels on the Eliminator (RIP Dusty Hill) were polished billet, no? In any case, this is looking tuff! I cleared the bench for my wagon (sedan delivery) project to go full steam ahead.  -RRR

[Dennis Lacy]

UPDATE: 

It’s been a few weeks since my last update but there has been some progress happening behind the curtain. In addition to getting all of the engine, exhaust and wheel parts finish painted I was also focusing on finishing my ‘57 Chevy Custom. Now that the ‘57 is in my display case it’s back to the Nova. 
 

This afternoon I parked myself at the workbench and fully assembled the engine, radiator and the wheels & tires. 
 

The engine is finished in a combination of Tamiya Gloss Black and their Mica Silver with clear coat on both. The headers are their Silver Leaf which convincingly imitates silver ceramic coating. The trans is finished in flat black as that was customary when getting a built automatic from places like Art Carr. The wired distributor is from Parts By Parks with Detail Master wire dividers. 
 

The radiator as shown previously is a cut down Revell ‘90 Mustang piece with reconfigured hose locations. I made a simple overflow tank from Evergreen rod and hose connection from a discarded piece of black ignition wire. The cap and fan come from any of Revell’s ‘32 Ford kits.

The wheels and wing nuts from Revell’s ZZ Top ‘33 Ford were stripped and painted with Tamiya Silver Leaf and their Semi Gloss Clear on the wheels to look more like brushed aluminum. The wing nuts were left shiny and paint detailed black in their recesses. All of the rivets on the wheels were touched with bright silver on a toothpick to bring them out more.

That’s all for now. The body and related parts are just about ready for primer and I’ve decided to do some modern updating to the interior because the stock looking seats and panels look out of place now for a smooth 90’s street car. More to come soon!