Revell 71 Olds 442 W30 questions

[Steve H]

Hello fellow builders, as the title suggests, I have some questions about the new Revell kit. I am going to build a replica of my brother in-law’s car for him as a Christmas gift. He just had a full restoration done, and as you will see it’s pretty spectacular. So I need some input from you smart car guys!!  Factory stock, and “out of box” are not my usual type of build…
My first question is, does Tamiya have a silver that would be close to the factory silver colour? Maybe Mica silver? I want to get as close as possible, but want to avoid needing an air brush.  I am aware of the company’s that make factory colours that require an air brush.                            Next, is the kit accurate, (I have the North American version, not Revell Germany) and is there anything specific wrong that needs to addressed. Are the decals decent or should I order aftermarket decals.

I believe I can get the engine colour at Lordco, but again is there a hobby paint that would be suitable?

Is the ride height correct, or is the usual front end too high?

I not going to get too carried away with super detail, but plan on doing the basic wiring, and I thought I might add some of the “tags” and “labels” to the chassis. If anyone has any thoughts on replicating those that would be helpful.

Lastly, I need some custom decals made both for this build and a future build, any good suggestions? The decal I need for this car is the one in the rear window.

I will probably have more questions as I get closer to starting the project.

 

Any input and information will be welcomed. Thanks in advance.

cheers, Steve

[customline]

There was an "Olds engine blue" in the now defunct Model Master line  Maybe try ebay for that (I may paint a whole car that color)  That is a super sweet W30 and that's a real nice Christmas gift for your B-I-L.

I built a '67 for a friend some years ago and it was not a real 442 but an F85 post 2 door he "phantomed" into a 442. Long story short, it took 3 kits to replicate it. You can probably find a close silver in a rattle can but it's hard to match photos. I would look at Duplicolor for that, there are a lot of silver shades in that line. In your photos it looks more like a light gray (cloudy day). MCW can put your color in a rattle can. I would check their site. You may find you do your very best work when building it for somebody as a gift. Good luck with it, Steve, and please post your progress. I will definitely follow it because I have this kit waiting for me to clear my bench of too many other projects.

[Mark]

Silver is tough to get a good match on.  You might have to experiment with a couple of different silvers, with different clears over them.

[Mike 1017]

16 minutes ago, Mark said:

Silver is tough to get a good match on.  You might have to experiment with a couple of different silvers, with different clears over them.

This may help Good luck Mike

Engine Colors (scalefinishes.com)

[Monty]

The Model Master P/N for Olds Engine Blue is 2729. HTH.

[espo]

Hi Steve, your brother-in-law's Olds looks exceptionally well done. You mention a couple of points about colors to use and the ride height of the car itself. I personally think the ride height seems like it would have looked off the showroom floor. While many of us prefer a little lower stance and would often due that with even a brand-new car in the day, this looks to me much as I recall them sitting. You wanted suggestions on possible Tamiya spray paints that you could use. For the body I think Tamiya offers two colors to look at.  For the body TS-30 Silver Leaf would be the most likely and TS-17 Gloss Aluminum would be just a shade darker. For the engine look at TS-19 Metallic Blue, this may be a shade darker, but over a white or silver base coat and very light color coats of the Mt. Blue I think you should be able to duplicate his engine color. I notice he has the optional red plastic front fender inner liners. Tamiya has a Bright Red number TS-49, it is a gloss and would require a dusting of flat clear to get the correct finish. The shocks could be done with just the basic Tamiya Gray Primer and would also give you a correct finish. The chassis finishes were rarely as pretty as this, but the Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black should be very close to his car. As always you should due a spray out on some plastic spoons and then hold them up against his car and see just how close they look. You may still have to do a few color adjustments depending, but you should be very close. Since these are all colors that you would usually use in model building anyway even if they aren't right, it wouldn't be a lot of money wasted. Would like to follow your build on this so please post it when you get into it. 

[Steve H]

On 10/9/2023 at 8:55 PM, customline said:

There was an "Olds engine blue" in the now defunct Model Master line  Maybe try ebay for that (I may paint a whole car that color)  That is a super sweet W30 and that's a real nice Christmas gift for your B-I-L.

I built a '67 for a friend some years ago and it was not a real 442 but an F85 post 2 door he "phantomed" into a 442. Long story short, it took 3 kits to replicate it. You can probably find a close silver in a rattle can but it's hard to match photos. I would look at Duplicolor for that, there are a lot of silver shades in that line. In your photos it looks more like a light gray (cloudy day). MCW can put your color in a rattle can. I would check their site. You may find you do your very best work when building it for somebody as a gift. Good luck with it, Steve, and please post your progress. I will definitely follow it because I have this kit waiting for me to clear my bench of too many other projects.

Thanks Jim, I appreciate your input. I will definitely start a WIP for this one. Just need to finish the Caddy first.

 

On 10/10/2023 at 5:49 AM, Mark said:

Silver is tough to get a good match on.  You might have to experiment with a couple of different silvers, with different clears over them.

Yes, silver is a tough one. I was hoping maybe someone had built one of these in a close colour match using Tamiya paint… Optimistic

On 10/10/2023 at 6:06 AM, Mike 1017 said:

This may help Good luck Mike

Engine Colors (scalefinishes.com)

Thank you Michael

On 10/10/2023 at 8:01 AM, Monty said:

The Model Master P/N for Olds Engine Blue is 2729. HTH.

Thanks Monty

On 10/10/2023 at 12:40 PM, espo said:

Hi Steve, your brother-in-law's Olds looks exceptionally well done. You mention a couple of points about colors to use and the ride height of the car itself. I personally think the ride height seems like it would have looked off the showroom floor. While many of us prefer a little lower stance and would often due that with even a brand-new car in the day, this looks to me much as I recall them sitting. You wanted suggestions on possible Tamiya spray paints that you could use. For the body I think Tamiya offers two colors to look at.  For the body TS-30 Silver Leaf would be the most likely and TS-17 Gloss Aluminum would be just a shade darker. For the engine look at TS-19 Metallic Blue, this may be a shade darker, but over a white or silver base coat and very light color coats of the Mt. Blue I think you should be able to duplicate his engine color. I notice he has the optional red plastic front fender inner liners. Tamiya has a Bright Red number TS-49, it is a gloss and would require a dusting of flat clear to get the correct finish. The shocks could be done with just the basic Tamiya Gray Primer and would also give you a correct finish. The chassis finishes were rarely as pretty as this, but the Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black should be very close to his car. As always you should due a spray out on some plastic spoons and then hold them up against his car and see just how close they look. You may still have to do a few color adjustments depending, but you should be very close. Since these are all colors that you would usually use in model building anyway even if they aren't right, it wouldn't be a lot of money wasted. Would like to follow your build on this so please post it when you get into it. 

Thank you for the detailed reply David. As for the ride height, yes his car is definitely factory ride height. What I’m not sure about is, is the model kit accurate. I will ultimately have my build match the photos of his car, just wondering how close the kit is. I have the red, and plan to do exactly what you suggested for the inner fenders. The issue is, I’m doing this as a surprise, and I unfortunately don’t have access to the car. I wish I had been more organized and had some test spoons done to hold against his car at this show. ??‍♂️           I have silver leaf, and it’s definitely too bright, I will do a bit more research to see if Dupli Colour has a match that is currently available. I very much appreciate your input, always good to hear from you sir.

[espo]

On 10/19/2023 at 9:51 PM, Steve H said:

Thanks Jim, I appreciate your input. I will definitely start a WIP for this one. Just need to finish the Caddy first.

 

Yes, silver is a tough one. I was hoping maybe someone had built one of these in a close colour match using Tamiya paint… Optimistic

Thank you Michael

Thanks Monty

Thank you for the detailed reply David. As for the ride height, yes his car is definitely factory ride height. What I’m not sure about is, is the model kit accurate. I will ultimately have my build match the photos of his car, just wondering how close the kit is. I have the red, and plan to do exactly what you suggested for the inner fenders. The issue is, I’m doing this as a surprise, and I unfortunately don’t have access to the car. I wish I had been more organized and had some test spoons done to hold against his car at this show. ??‍♂️           I have silver leaf, and it’s definitely too bright, I will do a bit more research to see if Dupli Colour has a match that is currently available. I very much appreciate your input, always good to hear from you sir.

While I haven't built this kit myself, what I have seen of the kit it seems about as accurate as you can get in this scale. The reason I mentioned looking at the shade of silver is that these cars didn't have the high metallic finishes we are accustomed to seeing today. The AS-12 Bare-Metal Silver is a flat military paint from Tamiya and doesn't show any real metallic much like the factory paint of the time. Covering it with the Tamiya Clear should give you the factory looking shine. Now if your subject has a different shade or higher metallic finish than factory your using spoons with a few colors to compare would be the best bet. 

[Steve H]

On 10/21/2023 at 8:23 AM, espo said:

While I haven't built this kit myself, what I have seen of the kit it seems about as accurate as you can get in this scale. The reason I mentioned looking at the shade of silver is that these cars didn't have the high metallic finishes we are accustomed to seeing today. The AS-12 Bare-Metal Silver is a flat military paint from Tamiya and doesn't show any real metallic much like the factory paint of the time. Covering it with the Tamiya Clear should give you the factory looking shine. Now if your subject has a different shade or higher metallic finish than factory your using spoons with a few colors to compare would be the best bet. 

Thank you David. I have only tried a few of the AS paints, and definitely need to get more familiar with them,  as the colours I have tried I really liked. Tamiya has been my go to paint when possible. Sure wish I had access to the car… I appreciate your input.

[tbill]

As to engine color, if you can find a can of it, I use model master Nassau blue, if I remember when I get home tonight I’ll provide a pic of the 72 olds convertible I built a few years ago

[tbill]

Here is the pic

 

[Steve H]

Hi Tom, that looks to be REALLY close to the factory engine colour. I just might have some of that in the paint stash… Thank you for sharing this, much appreciated. Beautiful engine!

[tbill]

10 hours ago, Steve H said:

Hi Tom, that looks to be REALLY close to the factory engine colour. I just might have some of that in the paint stash… Thank you for sharing this, much appreciated. Beautiful engine!

You’re welcome, and thank you. I have a couple of the 71’s to build, I expect them to build up just as good as the 72 convertible did.