Double Trouble: '57 Chevy

[T-Ray]

Alright! This is one that I'm excited about. The idea behind this project is to build to '57 Chevys, one as it had left the dealership and the other representing the same car after being built into a gasser in the mid-to-late 1960's. The stock car, I want to build as a 210, or as close to it that I can make from a Bel Air, however, for the sake of a story, I'll just say that the car was bought by a man for his wife and he was close to the manager of a Chevy Dealer so he could get some of the Bel Air trim on his wife's 210. 
ANYWAY 
 

Here's the suspension, removed from the trees and ready to have it's chrome stripped 

I have filled the weird slot that AMT put in the firewall for some reason and cut the radiator out of the body so that I could flip it around, as would be correct for a 6 cylinder car. 

Here's the slot 

And this is the radiator support with the radiator flipped around 

[slusher]

I like a 57  Chevy look forward too your build..

[mustang1989]

Looking forward to this Tom. Following......

[Vintage AMT]

Don't ya just love that blue styrene I'm building the same blue one and the headlights fit like......well they don't fit!!

[T-Ray]

Thanks! Anyways, here's yesterday's progress

I've shaved the V emblems off the front and back of the car. Yes, I'm aware that a Six cylinder car would not have a Chevrolet script on the back, I'll just say that the man who bought the car had it installed to make the car look more expensive and to have the front and back match each other 

I've shaved down the crossmember to allow the six cylinder to fit better
I've also hacked up the chassis to remove the exhaust on the left side 
Lastly, I have cobbled together an engine. The six is from the '50 Chevy truck and the transmission is what came with this kit, I'm not sure this is accurate to what a 6 cylinder '57 Chevy would have had but I'm at least satisfied with it 

[T-Ray]

 I sanded off all the details on the front seat to turn it into a 210 one. 
And here it is with the piping installed. There is still work to be done on the seat. 

[ModelcarJR]

Looks like a fun conversion, Tom! Keep up the good work! ??

[espo]

I like the theme of your builds here. Having owned a '57 210 Hardtop long long ago the exterior trim differences are fairly easy to change on the model you are using. The trunk emblem for a six-cylinder car can be found in the Revell '55 Chevy hardtop, the most recent issue and not the earlier gasser style kit. Painting the side panels where Bel Airs had the trim to match the color used on the roof. The chrome trim that extends from the rear taillights along the top of the rear fenders can be shortened. Your changes to the hood trim looks just like the originals. Like your interior changes.  

[T-Ray]

4 hours ago, espo said:

I like the theme of your builds here. Having owned a '57 210 Hardtop long long ago the exterior trim differences are fairly easy to change on the model you are using. The trunk emblem for a six-cylinder car can be found in the Revell '55 Chevy hardtop, the most recent issue and not the earlier gasser style kit. Painting the side panels where Bel Airs had the trim to match the color used on the roof. The chrome trim that extends from the rear taillights along the top of the rear fenders can be shortened. Your changes to the hood trim looks just like the originals. Like your interior changes.  

Thanks, I will keep that in mind but I think I'll also add some of the Bel Air trim in to make it a little more than a regular 210. 

More progress: 

Here's the engine with paint


Here's the front end assembled. I glued a piece of styrene rod in place and reinforced it with JB Weld to act as the axle. 

And I added something that I had forgotten to install initially, by the way, what on Earth is this piece that goes onto the back of the chassis? 


Rear seats converted to the 210 pattern and primed 

Also, I primed and sanded the front seats 


One thing, can I post about the other car in this thread, or do I have to make a thread just for that one in the Drag Racing section? 

[mustang1989]

And he's got an inline six going in. PERFECT. This one's looking good so far Tom.

[T-Ray]

I have been working on this project, I've just forgotten to take pictures. 

What I did take a picture of was the frame after being painted, although I forgot to take a picture of the exhaust painted up. 

For the record, I have started a thread for the second car as well 

 

On 1/13/2024 at 11:55 AM, mustang1989 said:

And he's got an inline six going in. PERFECT. This one's looking good so far Tom.

Thanks, I wanted the car to represent the average grocery-getter second car and I thought the V8 would have been too much for that. 

[T-Ray]

I had forgotten to post these yesterday, 

The body has been primed! Although this coat has been sanded down, reprimed and the body is actually in it's first coat of paint. I didn't take a picture of that though. 

 

Don't worry, the molding lines and what's left of the V have been sanded off. 

[T-Ray]

Well, it wouldn't be a good project without a setback. I had masked off the roof and quarters to leave them white and when I peeled the tape off, it peeled everything off down to bare plastic. I have no idea why that was but next time I'll try a different primer, probably Tamiya white.  

Here's a shot without the quarters in frame so you can better see the color scheme without the blue impacting anything 

For those curious, the color scheme is supposed to be like this Nomad, Colonial Cream base with India Ivory accents 

Nothing else to do besides strip it and start over 

[T-Ray]

I was busy for the past couple weekends but I managed to get some work done. 
I've painted the front seat and the interior tub. 
I will be honest, the interior is not accurate to a 210. It's still got the Bel Air side panels but I went through so much effort to sand down the gator skin on the seats that I could not bring myself to do the interior tub as well. So I painted the Bel Air ones in the same scheme as the 210 would have been. It's not accurate but I figure that you won't really see it or be looking for it anyway.  Unrelated, a weird problem I had with the primer I was using (decanted Rustoleum 2X white primer) and it peeling off, I think that may have been what happened with the body. I had it happen on the interior tub but since it wasn't on anything you could really see and that only the white paint came off in a few small spots, leaving the white primer, I left it. 


Lastly, I put down a coat of silver for the dash and steering wheel. If you notice, I added a column shifter as well. 

[Ulf]

On 1/22/2024 at 4:21 PM, T-Ray said:
For those curious, the color scheme is supposed to be like this Nomad, Colonial Cream base with India Ivory accents 

Nothing else to do besides strip it and start over 

Like this ?

Your build look good.

Edited February 5, 2024 by Ulf

[crazypainter]

there use to be a resin exhaust delete chassis made for AMT's 55-but the guy who made it will not redo it-someone in PA.--you think someone would make a 3  D printed chassis for the 55 & 57 AMT kits-with no exhaust molded in

[T-Ray]

4 hours ago, Ulf said:

Like this ?

Your build look good.

That's basically it! 

[T-Ray]

A little more work... 


The seats are officially done! I put a coat of Tamiya's Semi-Gloss Clear on the flat paint to make it look more like vinyl upholstery. I also did the same to the interior tub but I foolishly masked the tub to paint the package shelf before I remembered to take any pictures. 


The dash is also pretty much done, just need to paint the gauges. I'm not entirely happy with how the silver was masked but I needed to use silly putty because I couldn't figure out any other way to do it. All things being said, it won't look too bad when installed. (Is it just me or does it seem odd that it appears that Chevy painted the dashboards in these cars with gloss paint?)  I also painted the steering wheel to the best of my abilities. I really dislike the wheel that AMT includes in this thing, I think it looks more like a pool floatie than a Chevrolet steering wheel. 

[T-Ray]

This project is not dead! 

The body was stripped, repainted, cleared and here it is getting ready to touch up some troubled spots in the clear. 

 

The engine has been partially assembled 

Rear has been installed in the chassis 
Wheels and backs painted 

Lastly, here are the wheels mounted in the tires from the AMT '50 Chevy truck 

[dino246gt]

I did a 6 cylinder one years ago, you're off to a great start..

 

[T-Ray]

Another update: 
Gauges painted 
 

Interior tub assembled (I really hate the stock wheel in this kit) 

And the air and oil filter assembled. Yes, I know the air filter is not accurate for a car, I couldn't figure out a good way to replicate it.  I also replaced the master cylinder for a part that I have no idea where it came from but it looked better than the comically undersized one that comes with the kit. 

[espo]

Round 2 has reissued the old AMT '60 Chevrolet pickup and it has a nice six-cylinder engine and an air cleaner that would be the correct shape if that helps.