'58 Chevrolet Impala B/G

[W-409]

Found this AMT reissue while visiting Pegasus Hobbies in California a few weeks ago and had to start building it right away. The box art is so cool that I knew I had to build this one as a Gasser, even though '58 Chevrolet wasn't the most common starting point for a Gasser back in the day, but hey, someone could have built a car like this for the Gasser class anyway.

As I was going through the old NHRA Rulebooks for the Gas Coupes & Sedans class rules, I decided to go with 1961 rulebook. That's mainly because in 1960 you were not allowed to cut the rear fenders in order to fit slicks on the back, but for 1961 season that rule changed and one was able to make more room for the slicks by cutting the rear wheel openings bigger. And that is one of the things I really liked on the box art, so I wanted to go the same thing on my model. It's not going to be box art replica however, because for example, the rules require that cars need to have a grill on front while the box art hasn't and overall mine will have some slight differences in appearance when it's done.

I'll be using the 348 engine that came with the kit, the plan is to install an Offenhauser 3x2 intake manifold on it together with some other speed equipment. That engine will put this in B/G class.

The first thing to do was to mock up the stance as I wanted to see if I need to do some modifications to get the stance that I'm looking for. The rear axle was glued together from two separate halves, and the top half of the axle was warped pretty bad. I glued the metal axle to the bottom half of the rear axle to make that stronger and then clamped the top half of the axle on place with some small C-clamps and glued it on place. I also needed to drill a bit bigger hole for the rear inner wheels to make the metal axle fit properly.

Then I enlarged the wheel openings, but that was easy because on the inside of the body, there was already a template where to cut if one wanted to build the racing version. Then I did a mock up to see how it looks. Rear tires are not the ones that came with the kit as I wanted old Pie Crust slicks on this one. Those were found in AMT's reissued '49 Ford kit.

 

Not too bad, but a few adjustments had to be made. The track width on rear was a bit too narrow, plus that the rear could sit just a little higher to prevent tires rubbing the fenders. And front end was a bit lower than on the box stop, so I thought I wanted to raise it just a little.

Well, the track width was widened pretty easily as I found a pair of Racemaster Drag Slicks out of AMT Parts Pack. I liked the look of those Firestones I had earlier, but they're narrow and have two grooves on them so they are basically more suitable for a Junior Stock car. With the Racemasters that are a bit wider, the rear tires fit just about right.

For the front, I added pieces of sheet styrene between the upper A-arms and front spindles and also where the lower A-arms mount on the frame. Of course the springs got a set of spacers as well. With the new mock up, I think it's better.
 

[TarheelRick]

Looking forward to this build, I really love Gassers. Your attention to some of the details is going to be worth the price of admission.  Keep those updates coming.

Including a picture of a C/G '58 Chevy from the SEGA race at North Wilkesboro Dragway this past summer

[Scott8950]

This will be a cool build to watch. 

[bobss396]

13 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

Looking forward to this build, I really love Gassers. Your attention to some of the details is going to be worth the price of admission.  Keep those updates coming.

Including a picture of a C/G '58 Chevy from the SEGA race at North Wilkesboro Dragway this past summer

I saw that car run at Shady Side, a great gasser!

[Horrorshow]

Love the 58 Impala. Looking forward to seeing this one complete 

[bobss396]

It is still a nice kit. I have an OG one built from 1969 in a box in my closet. It was molded in light blue. I never saw the need to paint it, but I was 14 at the time.

[W-409]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone!

On 11/7/2023 at 4:02 PM, bobss396 said:

It is still a nice kit. I have an OG one built from 1969 in a box in my closet. It was molded in light blue. I never saw the need to paint it, but I was 14 at the time.

Yes it is. I have several glue bombs of the original issue, but this is the first unbuilt version of this kit that I have. It looks like a fun kit to build for sure.

Not much progress as haven't had a whole lot of bench time, only a few minutes here and there... Anyway, I prepped the chassis for primer. There was quite a lot of mold flash that had to be cleaned and I also had to get rid of the copyright textes that were next to the frame rail behind the driver's side rear tire. Then the chassis was shot with a coat of primer.

The chassis was painted flat black and when that was dry I brush painted the frame and gas tank with gloss black to give it a bit of contrast.

The rear axle required quite a bit of work to smooth out the seam between the axle halves. After a few times of sanding and applying Tamiya's Liquid Glue to the seam, it was pretty much disappeared and there was only small need for putty.

Then the axle was painted gloss black and the center section with Humbrol's Metallic 53. I wish the center section would be a bit more detailed, but that's what the kit offers so I'm sticking with it.

After a bit of sanding the engine parts were also ready for primer and paint. I decided to go with an original paint color on the block, heads, timing chain cover and oil pan. The 3x2 intake manifold was painted silver. Once the clear coat dries, I can start assembling the engine.

For the engines I bought these cool Cal Custom style scoops from Maple Leaf Modelworks. I haven't been working much with these 3D printed items, but these look really good. I might be ordering some more 3D printed parts for future projects as well.

[bobss396]

On the opening doors... I had one fall off on a contest table when I was putting the car down. Just the inner portion... no contest for you. This was 20 + years ago. Now I would be pinning it in place and using CA glue instead of tube glue.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Always enjoy seeing racing models built with respect to the rules in effect during the period the model represents, and reality in general. Nice work so far.  

[bobss396]

I have a partly built '58 in a box somewhere. I chopped the top and am struggling with the glass. Fun times. I recall that the engine and chassis built up quite well.

This is one of the cars that has held up well since it came out. I guess the molds were well-done back in the day. Everything on the trees still looks crisp and clean on the newer ones.

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Nice job Niko, I love seeing someone take the time to sand or put putty filler over the small casting defects. ?

I remember building the street version of the kit when I first started modeling, probably the late 60s or early 70s and having a hard time with it.  It was a very complex kit for the time and good practice for sharpening your dexterity. ?

[W-409]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the kind words!

Bob, I think I will probably end up gluing the doors shut on this one. The hinges and the door jamb detail is not on the level that I would like it to be if this thing had opening doors on it. Sure, all of that can be fixed, but I still want to finish this some day during the next year or so.

You're correct, this kit is still pretty good after all of those decades and several reissues. Even though, there is plenty of cleanup required on the parts, all of the details are still pretty sharp.

 

Bill, I've thought it this way: It takes a whole lot of time and effort to try to build a nice looking scale model. And while almost everything did fit in one racing class or another some time in the past, I think it would be just crazy not to do the quick research on the class rules and see what class the build fits in.

 

Francis, yes, those are one of the small things that make the model stand out in my opinion. And you're right about the kit being a bit fiddly especially considering when it came out the first time. But it sure looks good finished.

 

After the clear coat on the engine parts had dried, I glued the crankshaft, oil pan, timing chain cover/water pump and heads to the engine block. I had a bit of struggle to make the crank and oil pan fit correctly, but after a bit of sanding I was able to make everything fit.

The biggest issue was the fitment of the intake manifold as there was a huge gap between the engine block and intake bottom. Of course I should have mocked it up before painting, but they are all kit parts so I assumed they would fit...

Well, some sheet styrene to the rescue, I cut a piece of styrene to the size and shape of the intake manifold and glued it on...

...A bit of putty to smooth out the glue seams and then some touch up with silver.

After that the intake fit nicely on place. Valve covers are also from the kit, but I removed the chrome plating and painted them with "Chrome Silver" out of some automotive spray can.

I had a small issue with the kit carburetors. I stripped the chrome plating from them as well, because I was going to paint them, and the paint doesn't stick very well on top of the kit chrome. When I took them out from the paint stripper, the carbs flew off from my tweezers and despite spending quite a bit of time searching everywhere, I never saw them again. Luckily I had a "glue bomb engine" from the same kit, so I took the carburetors from that one. The only problem was that the small stub where the air cleaner is mounted, was missing from the center carburetor.

So I took the same size plastic rod and made a new one.

[W-409]

One thing I love about these old kits is that they often come with some cool Vintage speed parts. This kit has two choices for distributor, a stock one or a vintage Spalding Flame Thrower Ignition. I did some research on the Spalding unit, and it's pretty cool. If interested, see more here .

Anyway, I removed all mold lines and flash from the Flame Thrower and drilled holes for plug wires, vacuum hose and for coil wires, because these things had dual ignition coils in them. I think I will install them on firewall when I get that far.

The unit was painted gloss red like the original. The areas where the spark plug wires connect to the Flame Thrower are black and vacuum advance can is of course painted with silver. Then I added spark plug wires and while I was at it, I installed them in the correct firing order too. The wires are made out of Pro Tech spark plug wire. A couple of other misc parts are also installed on the engine, plus the vacuum hose from vacuum advance can to the bottom of the middle carburetor.

[AmericanMuscleFan]

Interesting device, I didn't know about this product, thank you for sharing Niko, it fits your engine perfectly! ?

[bobss396]

On the poor fitting intakes, here is what I started doing. I assemble the engine block halves. Once dry I file the manifold mating surface flat. Also the timing case cover surface. I sand/file the bottom of the intake and heads flat. I remove locating features unless they are good. Using double side tape, I start dry fitting the intake. Then the heads. Sometimes I need to add some stock between the intake and block, sometimes between the intake and heads. After painting all the parts, I will install the intake first, then the heads.

[Bainford]

Nice looking mill. Cool to wire up the Flame Thrower.

[Straightliner59]

Looking very nice, Niko. Beautiful work, sir!

[W-409]

Thanks guys for the kind words, I appreciate it!

Bob, I also remove most of the locating pins and sand the mating surfaces flat each time I'm working on the engine (and often in different areas as well). Usually when kitbashing parts from different kits to create something that didn't exist in kit form as far as the engine/intake combination goes, I end up doing several test fits to make sure everything goes together as should. This time I didn't do that because everything was from this kit and meant to fit each other, but as I found out it wasn't the case. Well, luckily it was an easy fix.

 

My plan was to add fuel lines to the engine next. But in order to do that, I had to make the carburetor linkage for the co-driver's side, which is basically just a couple of metal rods that keep the carburetors synchronized with each other. That was quite simple and actually it can't be seen very much from under the fuel lines, either.

The fuel lines are metal wire with fittings made out of hex-shaped plastic rod. I drilled a hole to the center and cut the fitting to desired length, then paint it with Revell 91 silver, covered with Humbrol's Clear Orange. It was a bit fiddly to build the fuel lines, especially the three that go from the junction block to the carburetors, but I think it came out decent. Fuel filter is somekind of electric part (not sure what, I don't know much about electric components).

I also installed some Cal Custom scoops on top of the carburetors. They are made by Maple Leaf Modelworks and they are very nice. They just required some sanding to get rid of the 3D printed texture, but once that was done I painted them with "Chrome Silver" from spray can.

[Zippi]

This build is coming along nicely.  That 348 looks killer.

[Straightliner59]

Love it! The engine is a thing of beauty, from the Spaulding ignition to your fine work on the fuel system--there's nothing not to like, here! Very nice work, Niko.

[W-409]

Thanks Bob and Daniel! The kind words are appreciated!

 

I built throttle linkage on the driver's side as well. All that is left is to connect this linkage to the actuating rod that comes from the gas pedal, through the firewall. I will add this when the engine is mounted in place, but otherwise the throttle linkage is done.

And while I was at it, I added a generator bracket as well.

The engine is not that far from finished, once paint dries on the headers, I'm able to install them and add the rest of the detailing. Then I can move on to the chassis.

Edited December 30, 2023 by W-409

[W-409]

Well here's a small update. Engine oil dipstick was one of the details I needed to add because the kit didn't come with one. For the dipstick tube I didn't have a proper size round plastic rod, but luckily I had hex-shaped plastic rod that was about the right size. So I sanded it round and bent to shape. The end of the dipstick itself is made of photo etch material that I just bent to match the shape of a dipstick end.

Testing, fits like it should:

Then I painted the whole thing with gloss black. It's kind of hard to photograph it now that it's painted, but I think it was a good addition.

Then I did some work with the chassis. I mocked up the engine and found out that co-driver's side header was hitting to the crossmember making the engine not fit properly on place. I sanded some material off from the crossmember and now everything fits on place. But obviously, some repainting needs to be done.

Then I moved on to the rear suspension and started by adding a brake line to the rear axle.

Control arms and rear springs were painted gloss black and now the axle is glued on place. I need to fabricate brake lines and handbrake cables next.
It's strange how dusty the chassis looks in the picture. Need to clean it up before the next photos.

Then I did some finishing touches on the engine and I think now it's ready to be installed to the chassis. Headers were painted flat white and installed on place, then I just painted some nut and bolt ends with silver, added a bit of black washing here and there to give some depth to certain areas and did a few touch-ups. More details will be added during the final assembly, but for now I think it's pretty much done.

 

[dust collectors]

Looking awesome!

 

[Bainford]

The engine looks killer. Great period vibe. 

[W-409]

Thanks Jeff and Trevor!

I finished the wheels and tires. I wanted to paint the wheels with metallic silver, I think it should work well with the body color that I have in mind. After primer, paint and clear coat, I painted the center caps gloss black, gave a light black wash in the middle and painted lug nuts with bright silver. Tire treads were lightly sanded to make them look a bit used.

Front axle parts were painted and installed on place. The fitment on them was really good. Then I glued the wheels and tires on place.

Of course I had to throw the body on place for a couple of mock ups, as well.