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Posted

It has been a while since I have last built a level 5 kit. This is the Revell "Foose Design" Impala. I really like the cars that Chip Foose builds and presents, but this one seems to be the stock Impala with special "Foose" parts added to the box. With so much detail already included, I had to think hard how to get my own flavor to the model. I am giving myself an extra challenge and wanted to do something I haven´t tried like this before. Call me crazy, but I am building real gull wing doors.

Of course the nasty part is getting enough stability to the doors that they don´t break easy. Since this is a coupé, I added B-pillars and first tried it with styrene square bars. But the damn things would always break off at the roof or the door part. I was close to replacing the door´s A- and B-pillars with brass bars but on a last try I pinned every pillar in place with .5mm brass rods. And eureka, they held fast! I am not forcing my luck though, and will refrain from putting windows to the doors. With open "windows" I can grab the roof parts and carefully swivel the doors open.

On a flat white base coat I sprayed an ice blue metallic. Then I masked the shadow stripes and worked my way from the middle to the sides, adding a very thin layer of light metallic blue step by step and peeling the next masking strip off. This way the first middle stripes build up color and get darker. Same thing with the sides, only here I worked my way from bottom to top. Clear coat is Molotov with the BMF and the decals protected under the final third layer.

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I created a big tailgate by cutting out the rear trunk with the complete window. The trunk will be filled with a fat sound system.

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Here you can see the extra B-pillar for the rear side window, a clear film used for the window. The door frames and the tailgate have received lips where possible and I tried to cover the tubes for the hinge wires as best as possible with sheet styrene.

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Here a view of the group of interior hinges and the sun visors.

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This will be a slow build. I have started with the interior tub, well, what´s left of it, and hope that another show idea will work as imagined.

Thanks for watching!

  • Like 10
Posted

Amazing body fabrication and I like the paint treatment. I think Chip would appreciate this as well. 

Posted

I´m finished with the interior. Just like the body, I wanted to try something new and had to figure out how to fabricate my ideas. 

The easy bit was getting a "BOSE" sound system into the trunk. The speakers are 3D printed by Scale Production, the amplifier is made out of styrene sheet and tubes. The floor is flocked in a sand color.

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To match the body I sticked to off white and light blue for the dash, doors and seats. The dash got a bit of extra details with wire rings around the gauges, a key chain and the extra pedal for the parking brake. The steering wheel is tipped to the left because I plan to attach the wheels accordingly.

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The door panels have a classic design, with some enhancing with BMF.

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The kit seats were replaced with racing buckets. These resin printed seat are also from Scale Production. My wish to make the seats slide out and swivel took a few days of mind pounding. I needed a solution that would build flat and easily move back and forth. Through the main tunnel I set a flat brass rod, glued under the tunnel with resin. The styrene sleds under the seats slide over this rectangular rod. To adapt the "hinge" I added a second rectangular tube. The seat itself is only connected to the sled with a 1mm brass peg. In the meantime I have painted the main brass rod white. The floor is flocked in sand just like the trunk.

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Here is how the sleds are made... The longer tube slides over the brass rod, the shorter tube is connected to the seat via the peg. The outside ends of the tubes are sealed with styrene.

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I hope I could explain this good enough. I case some questions arise, feel free the ask and of course feel free to copy!

Best wishes and thanks for watching!

  • Like 9
  • Thanks 1
Posted

Awesome Impala. Those gull wings must have been a lot of work, but the end result is worth the effort. 
I love the paint too. Subtle and effective. 

Posted

Wow! Some interesting and innovative ideas here…and amazing skills to make them happen! Fantastic work so far Andreas!😎

Posted

Hi Chris, Sonny, Carl and Greg,

thanks for your friendly response! 🙏

Ah well, it is a lot of work. But I rather take my time and let it take as long as necessary. I TRY(!) not to rush my builds, as I did a few years ago when I started. Afterwards I discovered all my flaws😖 You might know that feeling; working on a kit for several weeks..... AND STILL NOT FINISHED😆🤣 But patience rules!

Posted

This is really beautiful, Andy!  It looks like it could be a 'Concept Car' from the 1960's.   Please, take your time finishing it.

Posted

This is unbelievable! Incredible work on all the hinged items. Having them work and keep with all the body lines can be so hard to do ! Paint is spectacular. I love the interior and especially the swivel seats!

Posted

So now I have the chassis finished and so far, I have not made any major mistakes. (Well, actually ONE, which I will disclose later...)  The undercarriage is sprayed in a silver metallic and I wanted to keep the bottom in a similar color code like the body. First job was to lay the fuel and brake lines. The parking brake is a very fine, vinyl coated cable usually used for fashion jewelry. Those tiny metal tubes are crimp beads, also from a crafts store specialized in fashion jewelry. Otherwise the line cables are connected to the chassis with .3mm florist wire. I loop the wire around the line and pull them through .8mm holes drilled into the bottom. After pulling them tight I just bend them flat on the top and secure them with super glue. 

I cut the "springs" off the suspension arms and replaced them with springs bent from 1mm aluminum wire.

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The silver primed axle and drive received a layer of transparent blue, before I attached the brake lines, the disc brakes and calipers. These are from Scale Production, same as the wheels. The kit contains a nice set of "Foose" custom wheels, but I will keep them for a future project. Connecting second market wheels usually ends up in some custom crafting. Sometimes I use wire pins, sometimes I have to incorporate short styrene tubes as spacers to bridge a gap. In this case the wheels just happened to fit right on to the axle, glued with epoxy. Where it makes sense I attached a few printed hex nuts to the suspension system for added detailing.

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The front suspension and steering did not need so much customizing. I did replace the plastic kit springs with wire springs and I was able to glue the brake calipers with super glue. My plan to give the wheels a slight steer meant cutting off the knuckles and gluing them into the correct angle (remember I have the steering wheel already set). So I checked out the correct setting at least ten times, and now guess what Andy did wrong? 🤔😲🫣😖 Jup, I messed it and glued it in the wrong direction and didn´t notice it until it was kind of too late, with the wheels attached 😅😂🤣 OK. you all know, but don´t tell my friends.

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With the wheels attached (the low profile tires really help a lot), this build will get a low stance. I might show a mock up with my next post. Now it´s time to start with the engine.

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Thanks for taking a look!

 

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  • Like 6
Posted

Spectacular! I love the crazy gullwing doors and swivel seat mechanism, and the fade paint job. I can't wait to see the rest of this one come together!

  • 2 weeks later...

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