Monogram 1957 Chevy Rebuild

[Spottedlaurel]

I'm not sure if this is a rebuild, a refurbishment or a restoration?! Anyway, I'm putting it back together after many years of it being dismantled and scattered amongst various parts boxes and drawers.

It's all the fault of @disconovamanAnthony is starting to document the build a similar Monogram '57 in the Replica Buildoff Community Build, mentioning that he got his in the mid '80s as his first-ever kit. It reminded me of the '57 I built about the same time, maybe one of my first dozen or so kits.

It can just be seen here around 1986/87, in my teenage bedroom alongside the Camaro High Roller:

It was brush-painted with black Humbrol enamel and I used most of the custom parts including the hood scoop, bucket seats, rollcage and raised rear end. At various times it had the ex-Corvette America wire wheels and slicks on the rear from an ill-fated NASCAR build (which as an aside is what I'm going to re-do for the Replica Buildoff).

At some point 30 or so years ago it went into the parts box and didn't resurface. The wire wheels eventually ended up on a Maserati 3500 GT, and the hood scoop on a Dodge Monaco. Sorry if this is getting complicated......

In the meantime I built another Monogram '57, taking a rather different direction! The Camaro glimpsed above donated its running gear to that one, leaving me quite a few parts which I'm hoping will be enough to rebuild the original version.

The paintwork isn't actually too bad. A bit thick in places, and there are a few specks of dust, but I'm hoping some sympathetic wet sanding and polishing should get it looking decent again. If I strip it and start again it won't have the same personal attachment.

Mercifully I was reasonably restrained when it came to attaching the glass, with no glue smears or fogging to worry about. It just needs a good clean and polish.

I'll use foil on most of the brightwork this time, although what I did originally seems to have held up pretty well. I'm not sure if it was Humrol silver #11, or a Tamiya silver paint pen. I know I used the #11 on some of the engine/gearbox, and I wish the modern stuff had the same effect.

I'm aware of one or two missing pieces like the headlight lenses and grille badge, but I'm sure they'll turn up or I can adapt something else.

I don't know yet what wheels I'll use - I do have the 5-spokes around still, but as they got replaced at least once then I might continue the process of experimentation and fit something else.

I need to finish off one other build first before I can allow myself to get into this one too heavily, but I'm hoping it will be a quick, rewarding project to do over the Christmas break. It won't be perfect, but it'll be great to see it in one piece again!

Edited December 16, 2021 by Spottedlaurel

[disconovaman]

2 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

At some point 30 or so years ago it went into the parts box and didn't resurface.

Wow! You're not messin around! This is  fantastic! I am totally amazed at how you kept up with the car for so many years...  I wished I had some of my old builds, and the fact that it's in that good of condition is a testament to how well you take care of your things.

I agree that you shouldn't repaint it... good call. I wouldn't want to risk the Personal attachment... something to be said about an original paint job. and one you did as a youngster.  I think a good wet sand and polish will be perfect. I can't wait to see it finished! My uncle brush painted his builds and I was always amazed how smooth they were. That should give a great result. 

I like the purple 57 with the High Roller chassis too! I had seen that posted on here before and thought it was cool.

I'm definitely inspired to work on mine now! I hope to get some work done on it this weekend. I'll be watching it come together with excitement! ?

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

 I was concentrating on finishing another build over Christmas/New Year and I've only just started to get anywhere with this one:

 

Polished out my 35+ years old brushed paintjob this morning. I'd never heard of Micromesh back then and I was wary of spraying after a bad experience or two! I just relied on getting a glossy finish with Humbrol enamel straight off the brush, and hoping not too much dust would get onto it during drying.

I managed to get the glass out without damage, then gave it a gentle wet sanding with 1200 grit paper followed by 3600 down to 12000 Micromesh, then Zero Paints fine polishing compound and finally some Autoglym resin polish. I gave a brush coat of #21 gloss black Humbrol to the hood scoop (the original had ended up on another kit) and glued it to the hood. The latter hasn't been fully polished yet.

A comprehensive BMF exercise on the brightwork will deal with most of the places where I went through the paint, and elsewhere I can just touch it up with a brush. I'm pleased with how it's turned out, far from perfect but a good improvement on what was there. It's not meant to be a squeaky clean new build, it'll just be good to have something from my younger days back on the shelf.

Also spent some time playing with wheels and tyres. Although I do have the 5-spokes it came with it didn't always wear these as I played around with different styles. This time I'm thinking of going for the Centerlines from Monogram's 1970 Chevelle - not sure yet if the matching set, or big-n-littles. I'll see how it looks when I've got more of it together. I need to find (or build) the leaf-sprung rear axle, but I've managed to locate pretty much everything else. Headlight lenses will come from an Esci Mercedes rally car kit and I found the grille badge since my original post.

Might also use the blower from the Chevelle kit. I can imagine it as a clean early-mid '80s street machine, obviously modified in the period but not drastically so, and before the colour-coded pastel paint and billet days......

[Spottedlaurel]

For the sake of completeness I'll give my last WIP report here. For a simple refurb it's taken far too long, but 1:1 life, motivation etc seem to get in the way.......

BMF applied to the main brightwork. Jury's still out on the smaller badges, as this is just supposed to be quick, simple exercise I'll probably just touch them up with black gloss and forget about them, like they have been for the last 37 or so years.

Chevelle's Centerline wheels made-up, with the larger rears. The plating was far too bright however, so I gave them a squirt of Tamiya semi-gloss clear.

Engine bay is a bit of a lash-up, I suspect the fan comes from something else and I couldn't find a pair of carbs so I just stuck these tallish intakes on. The Chevelle's blower set-up was too tall without surgery on the completed hood and scoop. The front bumper was robbed from my High Roller '57, as for some reason I trimmed the back corners off the original one (probably for the High Roller, but for whatever reason I didn't use it).

This is pretty much its ride height, the peg underneath was just packing-up the engine/gearbox. The semi-gloss wheels look much better.

[TransAmMike]

Ha, who doesn't love a cool '57 Chevy. ?

[bisc63]

Cool save, and didn't that paint polish up nicely!? Mike's right, who doesn't appreciate a good 57?