Revell '65 Chevy Impala

[Justin Porter]

After the more intense build that was the Fujimi Dino, I figured I would be better off building something a little more restrained as a follow up. Down into the basement I went and up I came with this tired box. Somewhere around twenty years ago I attempted to paint the body a sort of metallic tomato red. As a color, it works nicely, but this old enamel paint clearly didn't lay down too well AND was apparently sprayed right over the bare plastic. I leveled it out with a 2400 grit sanding pad and down has gone some AK Interactive gray filler/primer. Taking stock of the kit contents, we were short the factory stock seats with some undersized - possibly AMT - C4 Corvette seats in the box instead. Parts of the EFI setup from the AMT/Ertl release of the '70 Chevelle SS454 were in the box, but no engine block/transmission was present. We've got no factory stock tires, we're missing one upper trailing arm, and at some point it looks like some sanding was being done to clearance the inside of the body for wider rear tires. 

I don't know what younger me was thinking on this one, but I think I can make something out of it now.

[Slotto]

It's always fun opening up an old kit. Cant wait to see what happens 

[customline]

You got my interest....

[Justin Porter]

Wanting a "healthy cruiser" for the theme of this build after having gone over the various parts and rifled through my spares, I set about building the engine. I dug up a spare 427 and four speed from a Revell '67 Corvette roadster kit and proceeded to hang the Impala's accessories on it, wanting to preserve such amenities as A/C and power steering. I found the P/E pulley faces and a Model Car Garage resin and P/E Edelbrock air cleaner in my detail bin and decided those would be appropriate dress up parts for this build. Naturally this means I will be tracking down an electric fan to go onto the radiator in place of the stock fan. I will still add ignition wires to go with the fuel line as well as track down a fuel pump to which I can route the other end of the carb feed line. 

[Slotto]

Sharp looking motor

[Zippi]

You gotta good run at this one and the engine is looking pretty sharp.  

[bobss396]

I have a few of those kits, nice detail to them. I have a resin '65 Biscayne I have plans for and have been putting parts aside for a while. The Revell kit will be essential. I'm dying to pick up the new '66 Impala as well.

[Dirty Gringo]

Great looking start.  I do enjoy doing the same seeing some kits I started years ago and thinking wth was I thinking or going dang why didn't I finish this one yet. 

[slusher]

Just found your build thread. Real nice looking engine and a parts box is a great thing to have.. I  am looking forward to watching your build and seeing you build this classic.

[espo]

Great looking engine details. 

[bobss396]

17 hours ago, espo said:

Great looking engine details. 

They have nice big blocks in the Revell kits. One of my slot car buddies saves kit parts and sells them, I'm always looking for a nice 427 to use.

[customline]

Just curious here....what engine was originally in the Impala kit? 

[Justin Porter]

12 minutes ago, customline said:

Just curious here....what engine was originally in the Impala kit? 

The kit engine for the coupe was a very nicely done 396ci big block while the convertible kit actually - and accurately - had the last SS Impala 409. Both engines were really well detailed and I wouldn't have seen a need to swap the kit 396 if it hadn't been lost to the ages.

[customline]

Thanks, Justin, I know it was a mid-year change on the big block. I have the convertible kit going on. I gave it a small block- somebody stole the 409 out of it. ?. 

[bobss396]

Some 1965 Impalas had the 409. There was an AMT kit with one, IIRC a convertible. 

[deuces wild]

Revell also has a '65 drop top with the 409...?

[deuces wild]

[Justin Porter]

The work continues. I decided to tackle a bit of the interior given the high quality of the Revell tooling. First went down a bit of Mr Surfacer 1500 Black followed by some Mr Color C68 Red Madder. A little bit of Bare Metal Foil and a few licks of C8 Silver plus some Red Ken's Fuzzy Fur and it's well on its way.

[slusher]

Really nice work detailing your door panels!

[beeRS]

Nice work so far. Interior panels are particularly good.
I love resurrecting old builds that a ‘younger me’ started. It’s always fun trying to figure out what you were thinking with the build back then. 
I’m not familiar with AK filler primer, but it’s obviously fine to spray over enamel paint. I’ve had awful trouble spraying primers over enamel in the past and I just avoid it now. What type of paint is the AK primer? Can you spray lacquers over it?

[Justin Porter]

4 hours ago, beeRS said:

Nice work so far. Interior panels are particularly good.
I love resurrecting old builds that a ‘younger me’ started. It’s always fun trying to figure out what you were thinking with the build back then. 
I’m not familiar with AK filler primer, but it’s obviously fine to spray over enamel paint. I’ve had awful trouble spraying primers over enamel in the past and I just avoid it now. What type of paint is the AK primer? Can you spray lacquers over it?

The AK Filler Primers are an enamel primer that they developed for their Xtreme Metal range of enamel metalizers, but it's an excellent companion to Mr Surfacer so I tend to use it as often as Mr Surfacer. So far, I've had no problem with Gunze Mr Color lacquer or MCW lacquer over it, but I haven't tried it as the base with anything hotter than those.  

[Justin Porter]

Small but important update. Color has started going down on the Impala and I'm happy to say I'm getting just about EXACTLY the color that I wanted. There's still some color sanding to do on the Mr Color C10 Copper base coat on the body and hood, but the chassis plate has already received its coat of Mr Color C47 Clear Red over the Copper and I am very pleased with how it's looking. I can't wait to see how it looks on the more fully finished body especially under a coat or two of clear. 

[Slotto]

I love how the chrome plays off of the red in your interior. Beautiful job

[Justin Porter]

A much more significantly substantial update on the progress of the '65 Impala! A massive thanks to a care package from EA0863 on the forum whom had the stock seats and upper trailing arms in his own parts bin. Accordingly, this means that the interior is now fully wrapped up. I will say this about the Revell kit. The aluminum panel on the lower portion of the dash was in nearly all of my SS396 Impala reference pictures, but the Revell dash had no engraving to indicate its presence. As such, I free painted it with some Tamiya XF16 Flat Aluminum so that it was definitely there. Also in a big step, the Mr Color C47 Clear Red went down over the C10 Copper and I am positively in love with the results. After a few days to cure, I am seriously looking forward to polishing this out to a nice consistent shine. 

[Slotto]

Great interior! Love the color and finish on the body too