Monogram's 1966 Chaparral 2D Coupe: WIP

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

With my other two builds wrapping up, I felt it was time to start another.

 

 

After a good washing, dry off and primer, I started cleaning up the parting lines and flash. There wasn't a whole lot of work to do. The molds seem to be in rather good shape for a sixty year old model kit.

 

 

Masking the interior. Flat black has been sprayed on seat, and here we see the masking for gloss brown called out for the rest of the interior.

 

 

The brown is down! I used Tamiya TS-1, Red Brown, it seemed like the right color. Plus, it's the only suitable brown I had at the time.

 

It seems that this will be a pretty quick build.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G.

Edited May 16 by David G.
typo

[Pierre Rivard]

That's a nice little kit and yes the body lines are quite crisp for such an old kit. Only 2 issues to fix, first is adding depth to the rear wheels and second fabricating the oil cooler added to the top or right side rear fender that is missing form this kit.

[David G.]

23 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

That's a nice little kit and yes the body lines are quite crisp for such an old kit. Only 2 issues to fix, first is adding depth to the rear wheels and second fabricating the oil cooler added to the top or right side rear fender that is missing form this kit.

Thank you for your comment Pierre.

I have a set of aftermarket wheels so that part is taken care of but I'm afraid that the oil will just have to run hot. I've already committed this one to paint and I'm not sure I have the skills to effectively scratch build the actual cooler. The body mods wouldn't be much of a problem but I lack a source for the cooler itself.

I am working on a control mechanism for the wing though.

Thanks again for your comment.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

Here is the next update on the Chaparral.

These are the wheels provided in the kit. I've cleaned and detailed them and they look pretty good.

 

 

When I bought this kit at the most recent Desert Scale Classic swap meet, There was a price marking discrepancy on the box. A $20 sticker had been placed on one end of the box and on the other end "$1.00 Missing Parts" was written in Sharpie.

The vendor chuckled and said, "Oh yeah, I haven't really gone through any of those yet. I'll tell you what, give me fifteen dollars and it's yours."

I responded, "That sounds good, let me see just what's in here."

Unbeknownst to the vendor, these aftermarket wheels were included in the box! I discovered them as I was inspecting the contents of the box after having made the deal to buy the kit. When I held them up for him to see he said, "Wow, I didn't even know those were in there. It looks like you got a good deal today."

Paying $15 for a complete kit and getting a $15 set of aftermarket wheels to boot? Yeah, I'd say I got a good deal!

 

 

I wasn't sure if I was going to use the aftermarket wheels so I did a side-by-side which really tipped the decision scale for me. There is a huge difference in depth between the kit wheels and aftermarket wheels! 

I'm sure I can find some other use for the kit wheels.

 

 

While I'm considering other wheel sets how about some wide whites to go with those tail fins?

 

No?

Fine! I'll stick with the aftermarket bonus wheels!
 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments you may have.

David G. 

Edited May 11 by David G.
typo

[TarheelRick]

I just picked up this kit at the Salisbury Swap Meet, unfortunately I didn't get a set of extra wheels. Will be watching your build. BTW, do you know if that company is still in business?  And for posting that last picture, you should be hung by your thumbs; that is such a sacrilege. 😕

[Pierre Rivard]

8 hours ago, David G. said:

Hello Everybody!

Here is the next update on the Chaparral.

These are the wheels provided in the kit. I've cleaned and detailed them and they look pretty good.

 

 

When I bought this kit at the most recent Desert Scale Classic swap meet, There was a price marking discrepancy on the box. A $20 sticker had been placed on one end of the box and on the other end "$1.00 Missing Parts" was written in Sharpie.

The vendor chuckled and said, "Oh yeah, I haven't really gone through any of those yet. I'll tell you what, give me fifteen dollars and it's yours."

I responded, "That sounds good, let me see just what's in here."

Unbeknownst to the vendor, these aftermarket wheels were included in the box! I discovered them as I was inspecting the contents of the box after having made the deal to buy the kit. When I held them up for him to see he said, "Wow, I didn't even know those were in there. It looks like you got a good deal today."

Paying $15 for a complete kit and getting a $15 set of aftermarket wheels to boot? Yeah, I'd say I got a good deal!

 

 

I wasn't sure if I was going to use the aftermarket wheels so I did a side-by-side which really tipped the decision scale for me. There is a huge difference in depth between the kit wheels and aftermarket wheels! 

I'm sure I can find some other use for the kit wheels.

 

 

While I'm considering other wheel sets how about some wide whites to go with those tail fins?

 

No?

Fine! I'll stick with the aftermarket bonus wheels!
 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments you may have.

David G. 

NO! 😄

But seriously the kit wheels are actually pretty nice but all the same depth (like the fronts are on the real car). Mr Bradford's (HRM) wheel and tire set are correct with shallow fronts and deeper rears and perfect for this build. So hard obtain Harrold's  product these days so it's great that you have this set. Go for it!

[David G.]

20 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

I just picked up this kit at the Salisbury Swap Meet, unfortunately I didn't get a set of extra wheels. Will be watching your build. BTW, do you know if that company is still in business?  And for posting that last picture, you should be hung by your thumbs; that is such a sacrilege. 😕

Thanks for your comment Ricky. No worries, the wheels are just a joke. I'm told that I have a dark and twisted sense of humor.

I have been working on a Lincoln Futura and I just happened to have its whitewalls on my desk while I was working on the Chaparral. I was immediately reminded of the DeLorean from BTTF.

 

 

As to your question whether or not Mr. Bradford is still in business, I don't know. But based on Pierre's comment below, probably not. All the contact information for the company is on the tag in the photo in my previous post, so there's a good starting point if you want to do some research.

 

14 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

NO! 😄

But seriously the kit wheels are actually pretty nice but all the same depth (like the fronts are on the real car). Mr Bradford's (HRM) wheel and tire set are correct with shallow fronts and deeper rears and perfect for this build. So hard obtain Harrold's  product these days so it's great that you have this set. Go for it!

Thank you Pierre, I shall. It would seem that I really lucked out finding these wheels packed in.

David G.

[Straightliner59]

On 5/8/2024 at 7:46 AM, David G. said:

Only 2 issues to fix, first is adding depth to the rear wheels and second fabricating the oil cooler added to the top or right side rear fender that is missing form this kit.

Pierre, I thought the side-mounted oil cooler was only at Daytona? I'll have to dig out my MRRN issue, and see, because I can't remember!🙂

[Pierre Rivard]

16 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

Pierre, I thought the side-mounted oil cooler was only at Daytona? I'll have to dig out my MRRN issue, and see, because I can't remember!🙂

This Monogram body configuration represents the Daytona entry, and the oil cooler was only added after practice . By Sebring the cooler was not there but the whole back portion of the body was reconfigured. By Nurburgring the body was again heavily reconfigured, which the Fujimi kit represents.

Sorry David, Highjacking your thread a bit...🤐

[Gramps46]

I learn something new every day.  I did not know that Fujimi reissued the Modellers 2D kit till Pierre mentioned it above.  Thanks for the enlightenment Pierre.

[Straightliner59]

21 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

This Monogram body configuration represents the Daytona entry, and the oil cooler was only added after practice . By Sebring the cooler was not there but the whole back portion of the body was reconfigured. By Nurburgring the body was again heavily reconfigured, which the Fujimi kit represents.

Sorry David, Highjacking your thread a bit...🤐

Gosh, that's a lot! No wonder I couldn't remember! Thank you. Sorry, David!

[David G.]

23 hours ago, Pierre Rivard said:

This Monogram body configuration represents the Daytona entry, and the oil cooler was only added after practice . By Sebring the cooler was not there but the whole back portion of the body was reconfigured. By Nurburgring the body was again heavily reconfigured, which the Fujimi kit represents.

Sorry David, Highjacking your thread a bit...🤐

Hey, no worries Pierre. I find all this history quite interesting. When it comes to actual race cars and their history, my knowledge is quite lacking. It's good having some of the missing bits filled in.

I'm just glad to know that building the car as I am, I'm not making some silly historic blunder. I did feel pretty safe in my decisions considering that of all the photos I found of this car on line, there were no two that were alike. I began to get the impression that there were most likely a number of Chaparrals each one reconfigured to meet the demands of the race it was participating at the time.

So rather than a representing the car as it was configured for a certain race at a certain point in history, I decided to focus on capturing the car as a concept. The overall intent and feel of the Chaparral. 

Its poetry.

So Pierre, Gary and Daniel, thanks for the information and reassurance.

On with the build!

David G.

[Sonorandog]

Great project and history lesson. 

[David G.]

14 hours ago, Sonorandog said:

Great project and history lesson. 

Thank you Steve. 

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

Just a quick minor update.

Masking for the main body color on the interior plate. With some pre-shading for the engine vents.

 

 

After the paint is shot and masking is removed, it's time for a test fit. I wanted to see how the glass fit. That way, if any adjustments needed to be made, I could make them before I painted the body! Luckily, the glass fits quite nicely.

 

That's it for this post.

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment if you have one.

David G.

[kensar]

Nice progress on this.  Looking forward to seeing some wheels under it.

[sflam123]

You are doing very nice work on this.  Well done!

 

[David G.]

15 hours ago, kensar said:

Nice progress on this.  Looking forward to seeing some wheels under it.

Thank you Ken. You mean other than those big whitewalls?  

6 hours ago, sflam123 said:

You are doing very nice work on this.  Well done!

 

Thank you Stephen, I appreciate that.

David G.

[shoeman]

Looking great.  I have the same, or at least different issue kit.  Boy did you get lucky on those wheels!   I'll have to think about how to modify the kit rears I guess. Watching your progress!

[David G.]

44 minutes ago, shoeman said:

Looking great.  I have the same, or at least different issue kit.  Boy did you get lucky on those wheels!   I'll have to think about how to modify the kit rears I guess. Watching your progress!

Thank you Geoff. Yes, I did luck out getting those wheels. It's hard for me to imagine why Monogram did what they did with the kit wheels. It was a choice of some kind because they certainly would have not been limited by manufacturing constraints, given the depth of some of the mag wheels offered in other kits at the time.

There may still be some aftermarket replacement wheels available out there. The aftermarket has grown quite a bit over the last twenty years.

Thanks for your comment Geoff, and thanks for following along.

David G. 

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

I'm really enjoying the build on this kit. I'm finding it easy to want to work on this one.

Though it's a little difficult to see in this photo, there are locator dimples in the bottom of the rear wing. According to some few of the photos I've seen on line, there is supposed to be a mechanism that changes the pitch of the rear wing. It looks like the kit is engineered to have one also but there is not one included. 

It looks like if I want one, I'll have to make it myself.

 

 

There are very few photos of the car showing this mechanism so I had to wing it... (sorry, I just couldn't resist). This is what I came up with. I added the plastic sleeve as an attachment point for the actuator but it looks a little too clunky for my tastes.

 

 

With the wing in place I can see that the sleeve on the bracket just won't look right to me. It's time to come up with a replacement.

 

 

Aren't paperclips wonderful little things?

 

 

A slip of styrene and a little work makes a slotted insert for the wing actuator to pass through. It does look like something was intended to be placed there. Which makes me wonder why there isn't something included in the kit.

 

 

That looks much better. And it actually works pretty well.

 

I may do some fine tuning on that before final installation. But so far I'm pretty happy with it.

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to offer a comment if you wish.

David G.

[Straightliner59]

Nice work, David! You got that body nice and smooth, too. This really is a neat kit. Of course, I have a thing for these old Mnogram kits!

[David G.]

5 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

Nice work, David! You got that body nice and smooth, too. This really is a neat kit. Of course, I have a thing for these old Mnogram kits!

Thank you Daniel.

I agree, it it a good kit. It just seems like they left some bits out in this version.

David G.

[TarheelRick]

Keep those updates coming. I like what you did with the wing actuator. Just for fun, I dug out my kit and it also is missing any semblance of an actuator. Are you going to run the injector stacks as furnished in the kit?  I am thinking of maybe replacing them with some stacks from one of the AMT funny car kits. The ones in the kit look rather flimsy for my taste.  Anyway, build on.

[absmiami]

yup