Corvette Grand Sport 005 - Hall/Penske - Sebring 1964

[Phildaupho]

Initially I was not going to do a work in progress post on this project for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I guess it is because it is summer and people are busy doing other things but there definitely seems to be a lack of activity on the forum. Secondly, there have been other posts regarding the construction of Grand Sport kits like the excellent tutorial by Pierre Rivard last year.

Be that as it may I personally enjoy doing these work in progress threads - so here goes. I bought the Accurate Miniatures Hall/Penske 1964 Sebring Grand Sport kit as soon as it came out and shortly afterwards got the Model Car Garage Detail set. Eventually I also acquired the Harold Bradford Historic Racing front A-arms. When the kit was released by Revell I picked up one of those which is identical to the Accurate Miniatures kit except for a revised set of instructions in the Revell format which means a full part name list and superior illustrations but does not include the helpful Accurate Miniatures written instructions.

It was not until late 2022 that I got the incentive to build the model due to the thread under this same heading encouraging people to build as many of the cars as possible that were entered in the 1964 Sebring 12 Hours Endurance Race.

Starting with the chassis I carried out the modifications done by Pierre Rivard to get the frame to properly mate with the under floor. This required enlarging the cut outs for the roll bar supports. Pierre also found that the fuel tank needed to be sectioned in height to provide clearance for the differential. If it had not been for Pierre’s WIP thread I might not have discovered these two required modifications until after painting. As you can see I also filled the slots in the bottom of the frame with Tamiya epoxy putty.

Up front I used the Harold Bradford resin A-arms which are considerably smaller than those in the kit. Installing these requires drilling the lower A-arms for brass tubes and drilling the uprights for brass rods which then mount in the tubes. In order to lower the front end Harold came up with the great solution of cutting about 2mm off the bottom of the brake mounting boss on the up rights to allow the brakes and wheel mounts to be installed higher and thus lowering the front end.

There were two distinctive features of the Hall/Penske Grand Sport at Sebring that I wanted to replicate. Firstly, I have never been able to find the full story on why Hall & Penske decided it was better to tape over the hood louvers when they were installed to exhaust under hood heat and air pressure which caused the front to lift but I have always preferred the look. Rather than install the complex photo-etched louvers I decided to close the openings from below and then fair them in. Once painted I will cover the areas with white tape. The Hall/Penske did such a good job taping over the louvers that in most photos the taping is impossible to detect.

Secondly, Grand Sports initially had a problem with over heating differentials so were fitted with an oil cooler centre mounted behind the rear window. For the 1964 Sebring race two coolers were fitted on the Hall/Penske Grand Sport. The original Model Car Garage Detail kit came with a single resin oil cooler which was cast by Replicas & Miniatures. This part has not been in the R&M catalogue for several years.  These oil coolers were standard GM parts. I did a fair amount of searching through my stash and on-line but could not come up with anything I could use or acquire. I made two coolers up with 2mm wide Evergreen Styrene flat stock and the most supple wire I had. They still need some finessing but once painted and mounted on brackets I think they will look OK. I did remove the cast on center oil cooler and drilled holes where the mounts would have attached and for the oil lines. I also removed the Grand Sport script which will be replaced with photo-etch.

I decided to open up the vents in front of the windshield. I started on the right side grinding material away from the underside and lightly scribing from the top. The right side went very well so I moved on to do the same on the left which did not go quite as well. The windshield wipers should cover up the deficiencies. 

So that is where I am at as of today. Next I will work on installing the Model Car Garage photo-etched chassis pieces.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Phildaupho

[Len Woodruff]

Great build. I hope this will get me motovated to do mine. I will be following for more motiation.

[Pierre Rivard]

Thank you Phil for the kind words. Building mine was quite the head scratching experience but in the end it is possibly my favorite build. 

Looking forward to seeing your work on this. A challenging but beautiful kit.

[Gramps46]

1 hour ago, Len Woodruff said:

Great build. I hope this will get me motovated to do mine. I will be following for more motiation.

Me too.

 

[absmiami]

The Rev’s Collection has the #3 Grand Sport w a good collection of pix on line - if you search their on line photo collections you mite find some more helpful pix for the Penske car …

[250 Testa Rossa]

33 minutes ago, absmiami said:

The Rev’s Collection has the #3 Grand Sport w a good collection of pix on line - if you search their on line photo collections you mite find some more helpful pix for the Penske car …

It's actually the #4. Car was sent to the Petersen Museum for a year because of the new Corvette exhibit that opened. 

[Phildaupho]

3 hours ago, Len Woodruff said:

Great build. I hope this will get me motovated to do mine. I will be following for more motiation.

 

2 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Thank you Phil for the kind words. Building mine was quite the head scratching experience but in the end it is possibly my favorite build. 

Looking forward to seeing your work on this. A challenging but beautiful kit.

 

2 hours ago, Gramps46 said:

Me too.

 

 

55 minutes ago, absmiami said:

The Rev’s Collection has the #3 Grand Sport w a good collection of pix on line - if you search their on line photo collections you mite find some more helpful pix for the Penske car …

Thanks everyone. After posting I started work on the photo-etch and discovered another interesting and welcome difference with the Revell issue. The photo-etch in the Revell kit is not the original Accurate Miniatures PE. It is made by Eduard in the Czech Republic. The shiny bits look a little nicer and include some parts that are on the Model Car Garage set including the oil cooler cover, hood ornament and shifter gate. For some reason mine is missing all the seat belt hardware unless I forget robbing it for another build !!??

Edited August 5, 2023 by Phildaupho

[Phildaupho]

22 minutes ago, 250 Testa Rossa said:

It's actually the #4. Car was sent to the Petersen Museum for a year because of the new Corvette exhibit that opened. 

Thanks Maxx - I have the Grand Sport book and a few other books on Corvette history. With those and internet images I should be good to go. I get updates from the Petersen so was aware of the Corvette exhibit however I do not think I will get a chance to visit the museum during its run. I have many Corvette racing cars on my want to build someday list.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Phildaupho

[250 Testa Rossa]

1 hour ago, Phildaupho said:

Thanks Maxx - I have the Grand Sport book and a few other books on Corvette history. With those and internet images I should be good to go. I get updates from the Petersen so was aware of the Corvette exhibit however I do not think I will get a chance to visit the museum during its run. I have many Corvette racing cars on my want to build someday list.

I really want to do 004 the right way

[Phildaupho]

I cannot say that I have read that other Grand Sport builders have had issues with the front wheel well liners but I decided to install them and found I had to trim about 3mm from the top of the opening to provide adequate clearance for the upper A-arms. Even at that, the A-arms are still a close fit. I have also removed the kit grill for later installation of the Model Car Garage photo-etched grill

[Pierre Rivard]

Looks good Phil. I kept doing test fits chassis to body every time I would add components and frequently found little interferences here and there. Patience and care are the order with this kit but It looks really good if all is done to fix these little bugs.

[afx]

Good looking project Phil.

[Phildaupho]

On 8/8/2023 at 2:23 PM, Pierre Rivard said:

Looks good Phil. I kept doing test fits chassis to body every time I would add components and frequently found little interferences here and there. Patience and care are the order with this kit but It looks really good if all is done to fix these little bugs.

Thanks Pierre for the great advice.

21 hours ago, afx said:

Good looking project Phil.

Thanks JC. I am following your 356 build

[Phildaupho]

An aspect of building the Accurate Miniatures Grand Sport that modelers have had to resolve is getting the hood to close flush over the Weber carb induction system. Because I am installing the Model Car garage photo-etched parts on the frame I removed all the kit brackets including the front motor mounts. The transmission mount does not have a MCG equivalent so I relocated it to give a more positive mount for the transmission. At the forward end of the engine, the front pulley basically will rest on the front cross member which I ground down to give even more clearance. The radiator also interfered with the hood so I vertically sectioned the radiator about 3mm.

I have never been able to find the full story on why Hall & Penske decided it was better to tape over the hood louvers when they were installed to exhaust under hood heat and air pressure which caused the front to lift but I have always preferred the look. Rather than install the complex photo-etched louvers I decided to close the openings from below and then fair them in. Once painted I will cover the areas with the white tape supplied in the kit. The Hall/Penske team did such a good job taping over the louvers that in most photos the taping is impossible to detect.

Here you can see the Model Car Garage photo-etched chassis brackets, the repositioned transmission mount and the ground out forward cross member. Also notice that I removed the battery mount as the battery will be relocated to under the spare tire in the trunk.

Edited August 9, 2023 by Phildaupho

[Shark]

What did you use to attach the MCG frame brackets. That has been a problem area for me.

[Phildaupho]

44 minutes ago, Shark said:

What did you use to attach the MCG frame brackets. That has been a problem area for me.

I used CA "crazy glue". I first applied just enough to tack the brackets in place with the frame sitting on the floor and then once off the floor I applied more CA to weld the brackets securely 

[Phildaupho]

The rolling chassis is now complete. I moved the battery to the trunk from the kit engine compartment location. The molded-on plastic spare tire was removed and replaced with a vinyl tire and Academy Cobra Halibrand wheel. I was a little disappointed that the knock offs did not have a more positive fit in the wheels and brakes to allow mounting and removal. I tried unsuccessfully to come up with a solution but ended up gluing the wheels to the brakes. Also, there was some interference with the roll bar supports which required some trimming. This could possibly be avoided by installing the roll bar supports after the rear end with wheels and tires are fully assembled.  With the rear wheels/tires attached I was able to glue on the front brakes to the uprights to get everything level and establish the final stance.

[Pierre Rivard]

Yeah, looks very very good!

[Phildaupho]

I used Model Car Garage photo-etch parts where appropriate but basically the interior is pretty much box stock except for the dash which were initially very stark. Most of the engraved extra surface detail was removed. The “glove compartment” was opened and given some inside detail. I used Tamiya Brilliant Blue and French Blue with Flat Clear over top.

 

[Justin Porter]

Lovely results so far at trying to massage a lovely but fussy kit. 

[Phildaupho]

On 8/17/2023 at 1:57 PM, Justin Porter said:

Lovely results so far at trying to massage a lovely but fussy kit. 

Thanks Justin - Great description of the Accurate Miniatures Grand Sports as a - "lovely but fussy kit".  There is definitely a lot to love about this kit but assembly can be challenging. 

[Pierre Rivard]

Looks beautiful Phil. I think using HRM A arms will give you room for the headers. I should have done that. Moving the engine down, also a good move.

Thinking about why the taped the hood louvers...If I recall correctly they did that to protect carb inlets from the rain.

[Phildaupho]

4 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Looks beautiful Phil. I think using HRM A arms will give you room for the headers. I should have done that. Moving the engine down, also a good move.

Thinking about why the taped the hood louvers...If I recall correctly they did that to protect carb inlets from the rain.

Thanks Pierre - I have started work on the engine and will pay particular attention to fitting the headers. Your observation regarding the taped over hood louvers may initially be correct for Sebring but they also ran it that way at Road America in September 1964 where they raced without windshield wipers indicating rain was not in the forecast. I am not going to get much more done on the Grand Sport until mid-October as I have three trips between now and then, but I will certainly be able to complete it by  the March 1, 2024 deadline !!

[Phildaupho]

I did find some time to work on the engine. It is now painted and assembled except for wiring, plumbing and exhaust. I could not resist seeing if the hood would fit flush. This is the first time I have test fit the completed interior to the chassis and body with the fuel tank installed. I previously mentioned that I had reduced the height of the fuel tank to give clearance for the differential. I am not sure if it was a direct consequence of this modification but I ended up having to trim tabs on the top of the rear frame cross member and the mounting points for the spare tire frame. After these mods were done everything appears to fit and the hood closes flush. You can also see the small triangular extension to the forward edge of the read flares. I notice I still have some work to do on the driver's side cowl vent.

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Phildaupho

[Phildaupho]

All of the under body assembly is now completed. I did have to reduce the height of the distributor to gave adequate hood clearance. There are very few color photos of 005 in 1964 but in the ones I have seen the exhaust appears to be silver rather than white. I can now move onto completing the body in preparation for painting.