Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) Here's my latest project. I bought this MPC Corvette kit on a whim. Frankly, it's pretty humble, about the only good part about it is the kidney bean style "Halibrand" wheels recently added to the kit. Once I started looking at it, I figured it would make an interesting gasser project using parts from the AMT altered wheelbase kits series since I had a few bits and pieces laying around. here's the kit I'm starting with.... ------------------------ Here's the "yard sale" of parts.... ---------------------------------- The plan is to cut of both ends of the Corvette frame and graft on the front and rear ends of the AWB frame. The AWB frame is a part I've had for decades. I stripped off the brushed on black paint. The fit is almost perfect. The back part of the Vette interior tub will be cut off in favor of a smooth package tray. More on that later..... ---------------------------------- I cut off the front of the Vette frame.... ---------------------------------- I then trimmed off both ends of the AWB frame... -------------------------- The next step will be to cut off both ends of the AWB frame and graft it onto the Corvette floor pan. More to follow.... -RRR Edited December 9, 2023 by Rocking Rodney Rat 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 (edited) Wow, the things ya learn just from scrolling . Edited December 9, 2023 by James2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwc43 Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 ooh, I need one of those 'vets. I can do the car from King of the Mountain with those rims it's perfect. A car ole Dennis Hopper would enjoy driving. lol 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarheelRick Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 Will definitely be watching this one, I love those gassers. What are your plans for a noise maker? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 10, 2023 Author Share Posted December 10, 2023 5 hours ago, TarheelRick said: What are your plans for a noise maker? the blown big block Chevy from one of the AMT AWB kits....I'm going to extend the headers to clear the frame, but that's getting ahead of ourselves..... 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 10, 2023 Author Share Posted December 10, 2023 9 hours ago, dwc43 said: I can do the car from King of the Mountain with those rims it's perfect That would be a fun build! -RRR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Force Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 (edited) On 12/9/2023 at 2:39 PM, Rocking Rodney Rat said: Here's my latest project. I bought this MPC Corvette kit on a whim. Frankly, it's pretty humble, about the only good part about it is the kidney bean style "Halibrand" wheels recently added to the kit. You mean added back to the kit, they were in this kit when it was issued back in 1978, I built one back then. The wheels was changed for other versions in the 80's and that's why they had to add them back to be able to do this kit again. I don't think the kit is that bad, it's more detailed than the AMT C2 kits. Well it's going to be interesting to see the progress so keep up the good work. Edited December 14, 2023 by Force 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwc43 Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 10 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said: That would be a fun build! -RRR Yes it would. I love doing movie and tv cars and such. As well as the race cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 12, 2023 Author Share Posted December 12, 2023 Ok, moving on to grafting on the front and rear ends of the AWB chassis to the Corvette floor pan... fit and futz, file, sand, test fit some more, futz some more....gloo the ends together and add a little triangle support. It's not exactly square, but I'm not going to correct it now...in hindsight, I should have braced the back part of the AWB frame/spring mount piece to keep it square...too late now... ------------------------------------- cut off the back part of the Corvette floor pan.... ----------------------- mark where the cuts to be made on the front mounts of the rear springs..... -------------------------- like so...notice that the rear of the AWB floor pan has been shaped to fit the Corvette body...... ---------------------- drop the chassis into the body with a blob of Blu-tack to hold the front end to the body....perfect!!! ------------------ A test fit of the front and rear axles shows it all lines up pretty well!!! More to follow, thanks for looking.... -RRR 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarheelRick Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Watching this build, I am a gasser fan. Looking at that last picture, it appears both the front and rear axles are not centered in the wheelwells. Of course it could just be the perspective of the photo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott8950 Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 I love these type of builds! Nice job on the frame. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Has if it had grown there! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TransAmMike Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Looking forward to your build here. Really like what you did for the front springs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 12, 2023 Author Share Posted December 12, 2023 6 hours ago, TarheelRick said: it appears both the front and rear axles are not centered in the wheelwells I think it is a bit of perspective, the frame will be back a tad further than shown and then a bit of careful wheel well massaging on both the front and rear, will make it all fit.... Here's a straight on shot, taken with the body upside down on the bench and the the pic flipped 180 degrees.... there is a little wiggle room front to back between the frame and the body. The Corvette floor pan literally just rests on the interior tub. This Corvette kit is really mediocre at best.... -RRR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragcarz Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 I love a good kit bash build, great ideas going on here! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvadrag Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 I have one of these, 1981 vintage Night Stalker. Black plastic... yuck! I like what you are doing with this, should come out cool lookin'. I'll watch this progress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 13, 2023 Author Share Posted December 13, 2023 1 hour ago, mvadrag said: Night Stalker. Black plastic... yuck! LOL...yeah, I knew this kit had been issued under another name (maybe several times?), so you know what I'm starting with.... -RRR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 The next step is cutting down the traction bars... ------------------------ like so..... Next I turn to the body, it needs quite a bit of work... More later.... -RRR 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Cool project. I just bought an original issue of this kit last week. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Karson Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 On 12/12/2023 at 5:10 PM, Rocking Rodney Rat said: I think it is a bit of perspective, the frame will be back a tad further than shown and then a bit of careful wheel well massaging on both the front and rear, will make it all fit.... Here's a straight on shot, taken with the body upside down on the bench and the pic flipped 180 degrees.... there is a little wiggle room front to back between the frame and the body. The Corvette floor pan literally just rests on the interior tub. This Corvette kit is really mediocre at best.... -RRR Get Down! What R U up 2? This is all Topsy-Turvy!! -KK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geemoney Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 love love love it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 16, 2023 Author Share Posted December 16, 2023 I made some quick work on the interior. Since I added the rear tubs, the back half of the tub needed to be hacked off and replaced with a smooth package tray... There are mounting tabs on the body and I made careful measurements and drilled out the new tray to make sure I have an accurate location for the tub... -------------------------- A spartan race interior with a single seat and the rollbar from the AWB kit.... More later.... -RRR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocking Rodney Rat Posted December 20, 2023 Author Share Posted December 20, 2023 Time to turn to on the body. The first task is to remove the wing windows. Done. I glued on the front fascia and eliminated the side lights. I'm no expert on Corvettes, but that front wheel opening looks way too long to my eyes... ----------------------- Let's close it up a bit, even if it's not really accurate, it looks better to me... ----------------------------- a schmear of putty and some elbow grease will make that look smooth..... ----------------------------- I filled in the bumper slots and the big license plate area....I'm going to leave the tail light holes in place....a drag chute added in will snug it all together. ------------------------------ I filled in the quarter panel louvers, radiusized the rear wheel openings and added in a trim piece along the bottom made of Evergreen strip and half-round and gave it a shot of primer. Some more work needed, but not too bad. I spent quite a bit of time scribing out the very faint door gaps.....(a sneak peek of the headers shown here, more on them later).... As always, thanks for following along... -RRR 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott8950 Posted December 20, 2023 Share Posted December 20, 2023 Looking good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoffman Posted December 20, 2023 Share Posted December 20, 2023 On 12/9/2023 at 10:38 AM, dwc43 said: ooh, I need one of those 'vets. I can do the car from King of the Mountain with those rims it's perfect. A car ole Dennis Hopper would enjoy driving. lol Man, I started watching that movie a few weeks back and just could not hang in there! It was SO shitty, I had bail out, watch something else instead. Will have to try again later. 😅 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.