Revell Corvette C8

[galaxyg]

Whilst the C8 isn't my favourite Corvette - and I do have unbuilt kits of the beautiful C5 and the almost as beautiful C4, this one jumps to the top of my build list as I picked it up from a shop just today, after having waited quite some time for it to become available. I think it was only released recently.  The design of this car is something that grew on me, and even now there are certainly angles from which it looks odd. The rear half is just a bit too fat for one thing. But it's a Corvette, and so worthy of my attention.

This WIP will end up being a semi-review of the kit at the same time, although only where I find things that are noteworthy about it.

 

 

There are a lot of parts and helpfully, all moulded in white. It's that same slightly waxy looking "off feeling" plastic that Revell always use so gives a bit of a "soft" feeling to the mouldings, though they're all very detailed.

 

 

In fact there are so many sprues I've had to write over the moulded-in letter with a marker to make it easier to find which is which, and the reason I've had to do so is that the parts are not arranged in anything like the way the instructions flow. One sprue contains a dashboard, steering wheel and parts of the engine for example.  Another contains engine parts and the front splitter, and the scuttle panel.

 

 

My first thoughts are "can I use the supplied wheels?" - given Revell's past devotion to "wheels too small, tyres too tall" but noting the pain of changing the wheels to Tamiya or Aoshima fit, I was hoping so. And on this first look - they appear pretty good. The tyres are pretty good too. And the body is really really nice. I'm probably going to have to undercoat it before I can even see the seam lines.

 

 

Here's the colour I've chosen. It's called "Sulphur" and I picked up the two cans needed from my local Toyota dealership.  Normally it's featured on the Toyota pictured, which is more representative than my photo. It does look very gold right up until you put it next to something that is actually gold. Then it looks yellow-orange-gold.

 

And why two cans?  This paint comes with it's own special undercoat. More on that later.

 

 

The beginnings of the engine, which like so many Revell kits, fit's together "more or less" perfectly. There's a few tiny gaps and things that sit only 99% flat.

 

[TransAmMike]

As a lifelong (well almost) Corvette lover, The mid engine C-8, tho not your traditional Vette, has it's place in the pecking order. They are super cool.

Gonna look great in the gold!!

 

 

Edited August 10, 2024 by TransAmMike

[Len Woodruff]

Mine will be here Monday. Looking forward to your build.

[Tim W. SoCal]

I love the 1:1 C8 Corvettes except the crappy colors they're available in. Your gold version is going to be bitchen!

[mrm]

As someone who has owned six different Corvettes, raced one, almost died in one, used to sell them and have customized far more than I owned, I really think the C8 is not what a Corvette stands for or should look like. Having said that, I can not wait to build a model of it as soon as I can get my hands on one. So I am going to follow this thread up close and can't wait to see how it turns out. 

[mrm]

3 hours ago, Len Woodruff said:

Mine will be here Monday. Looking forward to your build.

If you don't mind sharing where you got it from it would be helpful, as I would like to get one too. 

[Len Woodruff]

8 hours ago, mrm said:

If you don't mind sharing where you got it from it would be helpful, as I would like to get one too. 

I got 2 from Mega Hobby in New Jersey. They were the 1st one to say they had them to ship.

[mrm]

2 hours ago, Len Woodruff said:

I got 2 from Mega Hobby in New Jersey. They were the 1st one to say they had them to ship.

Thank you. I just ordered one too. 

[Rob Hall]

Model Roundup has them in stock also..ordered one along w/ the '68 Mercury M100 kit. 

[DJMar]

Looking forward to this one. I agree with the others, that color is awesome!

I'm not sure where I would rank this latest generation in my pantheon of Corvettes, but the C5 is still my favorite.

[galaxyg]

Test fitting all the body parts. I had to sand a very tiny amount off the front of the separate roof part to get it to sit perfectly flat.

 

 

Having first tested out the spraying sequence on the previously seen spoon, I'm ready to go for the bodywork. First: Halford's bodyshop primer in black, which worked better than grey primer on the spoon tests.

 

 

Then spraying the engine bay area semi-gloss black.

 

 

Here's the first of the two Toyota cans - some kind of matt yellow undercoat, I presume to provide a good solid opaque base for the yellow-gold on top.   And what paint it is. Yellow is normally such a weak colour to cover anything, let alone black, and yet two coats have more or less done the job.

 

 

And then Toyota Can 2 - the actual colour. It dries a very nice matt finish and it'd make a good interesting finish as it is, but I will be clearcoating and polishing this nonetheless.  I've had to colour correct this image to make it appear more like reality, the camera made it more orange than it really is.

 

The great thing about all this current hot summer weather is how fast all of these coats dry.

 

[mrm]

Well, I don’t know how familiar you are with these kind of paints. What you have here is a so called tri-coat paint. It is called that because you need three coats to achieve the effect. Base coat, mid coat and clear top coat. These are basically formulated candy effect paints. The base coat (your first can) is the actual color, which then gets “activated” by the mid coat (your second can) and then a top clear coat will make it “pop”.

    Paints like these have been used for years, but in the past they were extremely expensive, while as technology gets better they get more and more affordable. Which is why we start seeing them more and more on production vehicles. Nissan’s famous Bayside Blue is one such tri-coat, which was used back on the R34. These type of colors became super popular on Ferraris and Lambos in the 2000s with colors like Giallo Tristrati, Rosso Fuoco, Bianco Fuji, Verde Ithaca, etc., etc.. 

   Essentially these are just exact spec candy colors over exact spec base color in order to achieve a special effect color over and over with consistency. And the clear top coat is very important as it will exagerate the effect of the previous two layers. Even if you want it matt, you should spray flat clear over your mid coat. 
    And automotive colors like these will cover perfect every time, no matter what color primer you spray them over. As long as the primer underneath can hold up to the paint’s solvent. The reason why some colors get distorted over different primers is because the paint “melts” the primer and pigmentation from the primer gets mixed with the paint. Or because the paint does not offer quality coverage. 
    This is why I keep repeating that if you use quality 2k primer it will allow you to use any quality automotive paint, which will save you a lot of effort money and frustration on the long run. You are experiencing exactly that with these nice quality materials you are using. It is always a pleasure watching a good job like yours go smoothly. In my personal opinion, once you experience how these paints work you’ll never go back to using hobby paint. And by the way, the lacquers you are using always dry this way, not just in the heat. That’s the beauty of it. You can paint an entire body, from primer to clear, in a day and buff it the next, of you use 2k clear. Just like real cars. 

[galaxyg]

4 hours ago, mrm said:

Well, I don’t know how familiar you are with these kind of paints.....

 

....And by the way, the lacquers you are using always dry this way, not just in the heat. That’s the beauty of it. You can paint an entire body, from primer to clear, in a day and buff it the next, of you use 2k clear. Just like real cars. 

Thanks. Didn't know any of that but it's interesting for sure.  The lacquer I've just applied is Mr Hobby super gloss, which has never reactivated any paint or destroyed any decals. It's great stuff and it'll looking good on this Corvette now too - photos to follow later when I've polished it.

[slusher]

Very nice color choice. Very sharp color. The paint you is it a hot lacquer? Just curious?

[galaxyg]

2 hours ago, slusher said:

Very nice color choice. Very sharp color. The paint you is it a hot lacquer? Just curious?

Nothing that unusual, it's just rattle-can spray paint from my local Toyota dealership's parts department.

[ismaelg]

Just got mine!

Following this thread with interest. 

[TransAmMike]

OK Michael my old brain is a bit confused.  You said Toyota paint then later Mr. Hobby super gloss lacquer.  ??

[galaxyg]

7 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

OK Michael my old brain is a bit confused.  You said Toyota paint then later Mr. Hobby super gloss lacquer.  ??

 

That's right.  The yellow-gold colour paint is Toyota. The clear shiny coat over the top (which I have not yet posted photos of) is Mr Hobby.

[galaxyg]

Loose assembly. Now clearcoated and I remembered to add the decals before doing so - Corvette emblem on the front, word on the back and a stingray shape on the engine cover.

Despite using a DSLR this time, I still had to Photoshop the images to get the colour to match reality.

[TransAmMike]

Whooo, I likes' it!!

[clipper57]

great start I will be following your build got mine today.

[mrm]

Beautiful! The clear definitely made the color come alive. I believe that once you add all the contrasting black detail it will pop even more. Excellent job!

[slusher]

Man, that’s a gorgeous color!

[peteski]

On 8/14/2024 at 3:42 PM, galaxyg said:

Despite using a DSLR this time, I still had to Photoshop the images to get the colour to match reality.

This model is coming along very nicely.  I also like the color (as it is rendered on my computer monitor).

And you are correct that cameras (film and digital) have issues rendering colors accurately, but the lighting too plays a big part in rendering colors accurately.  Also, camera's automatic white balance doesn't always work as one would expect. I usually manually set color balance to the lightning I use.  Using high CRI value lights also makes a difference.  Most accurate lighting is natural sunlight, but even with that the camera's image sensor will not be as accurate as human eye for correctly rendering certain colors.

[galaxyg]

After polishing.

 

 

Front and rear vents fitted - all fit perfectly and securely.    Inset: Exhaust tips fitted.

 

 

Side parts, also fit perfectly and securely.

 

 

How the engine is so far. Aside from the manifolds, all fits well and has enough notches and peg size differences to make sure everything can only be assembled in the correct orientation. Nice.

The manifolds - they're not going to fit easily and securely. There are no locating pegs, slot, holes or anything help either the join or the location.