68 Camaro Pro Mod

[sah5150]

On 5/17/2025 at 10:25 PM, Tortuga Kustomz said:

That's a great start my friend, welcome to the forum, looking forward for more of this

Thanks Marcos! Was waiting for a few things, but hope to get back to it this weekend.

[sah5150]

On 5/17/2025 at 10:25 PM, Tortuga Kustomz said:

That's a great start my friend, welcome to the forum, looking forward for more of this

Duplicate... sorry...

Edited May 20 by sah5150
duplicate

[sah5150]

On 5/18/2025 at 2:36 PM, Nitro330 said:

Hi Steve, welcome to the board and more importantly, back into the hobby!  Looks like you already have a great start on a very ambitious project and have assembled some awesome aftermarket parts.  I was just at the NHRA event yesterday at Route 66 Dragway in Joliet, IL and most of the field in Pro Mod was Camaro's so there is a lot of reference material out there.  Really look forward to watching your progress on this, enjoy!

Thanks Terry - I've been assembling tons of reference material - the real question for me is how far to go with the detail.

[sah5150]

10 hours ago, rv1963 said:

Nice start on your pro mod chassis, soldered brass tubing always looks good and is very strong, I will be watching this build.

I appreciate you checking it out, Robert!

[sah5150]

Small Update - I am combining parts from two different engines and some separate parts, so i've been test fitting stuff. I actually glued part of the engine that I'll be painting the same color as soon as my paint arrives. Anyway, here are some pictures of where this is headed:

Steve

Edited June 9 by sah5150

[sah5150]

Since I hadn't done much airbrushing (took a class that was more about t-shirt design and primed some parts for a project I never finished years ago), I decided to clean my airbrush and practice on some spoons with Vallejo acrylics. I'd prefer not to use anything but water-based acrylics, so I wanted to see what what the metal colors looked like. I read that for the aluminum color, I should prime first with Vallejo gloss black primer and then do the metal color coats. I practiced on a few spoons just to get the hang of how much paint to use and controlling the airbrush and by the time I did a few, i felt confident enough to try my engine block.

Here is what my setup looks like:

Here is the block after one light and one medium coat of the gloss black primer:

And here are a few pictures of the block after a couple of coats of the Vallejo Metal Color Aluminum:

The lighting wasn't great for these pictures, but in person I think it actually looks metal-like for water-based acrylic. Anyway... not much progress, but I feel comfortable with my airbrush again!

[BK9300]

The metal look on your engine turned out really well.  Should look exceptional with all the other parts added on - nice work!

[sah5150]

6 minutes ago, BK9300 said:

The metal look on your engine turned out really well.  Should look exceptional with all the other parts added on - nice work!

Thanks, Brian - I’ll post an update when I get more of the engine together.

[Dragline]

For someone getting back you seem to have all the toys and skills. So I will be watching with great enthusiasm.

And Welcome...

[sah5150]

6 minutes ago, Dragline said:

For someone getting back you seem to have all the toys and skills. So I will be watching with great enthusiasm.

And Welcome...

Thanks, Bob! I'd say I have more of the toys than the actual skills - I have learned a lot from threads here and from YouTube videos, but I'm just starting to put it into practice. I had intended to get back into modeling 6-7 years ago when I bought all this stuff, but got too busy with work and my guitar amp business so it kind of just sat around until now.

[Tony Coomer]

Great fab work…

[Dragline]

Guitar amp biz you say?

I am an ampoholic myself.

[Dragline]

One of my favorites. I have an SLO and a 50 watt JCM800 and an ENGL Ironball for practice. And a few pedals.

[sah5150]

24 minutes ago, Dragline said:

One of my favorites. I have an SLO and a 50 watt JCM800 and an ENGL Ironball for practice. And a few pedals.

 

Alright - a fellow metalhead! You've got some great amps! Here's my current rig. - this room also includes my recording studio on the back wall I built all of these amps except for the Swart combo. The two white amps on the left rack were the production amps from my company (Henning Amplification). The other's I just built for myself. The JCM800 on the cabs I built from scratch - it's a Jose Arredondo mod clone:

Here are some of my guitars. i built all of them except for the LP:

Here's a clone of Van Halen's VHII guitar i built and painted (including the 2K clear):

 

Steve

[sah5150]

36 minutes ago, Dragline said:

Guitar amp biz you say?

I am an ampoholic myself.

https://www.facebook.com/henningamps/

Don't have my website anymore since I quit the biz...

Steve

[sah5150]

3 hours ago, Tony Coomer said:

Great fab work…

Thanks James - still a long way to go!

Steve

[sah5150]

Got some more work done on the chassis this weekend. I was also experimenting with next steps because there are a couple of way i can go with the chassis design. Some pictures:

[GoatGuy]

Hey Steve, welcome to the forum and your project is coming along great. I'm sure you have seen the importance of test fitting and mock up to make sure things fit. Using a white glue really helps as parts can be easily taken apart after the fitment check. Looking forward to more of this Camaro.

Dave

[sah5150]

2 hours ago, GoatGuy said:

Hey Steve, welcome to the forum and your project is coming along great. I'm sure you have seen the importance of test fitting and mock up to make sure things fit. Using a white glue really helps as parts can be easily taken apart after the fitment check. Looking forward to more of this Camaro.

Dave

Thanks for the welcome, Dave! I'll definitely make use of your tip on the white glue.

[sah5150]

Made a bit more progress on the chassis this weekend. Really takes some time to get this right, but definitely fun. Still need to clean up some of the solder joints with sanding stick. Pics:

[sah5150]

Cleaned up some of the solder joints with some sanding sticks: 

[Dragline]

On 6/20/2025 at 10:12 PM, sah5150 said:

Alright - a fellow metalhead! You've got some great amps! Here's my current rig. - this room also includes my recording studio on the back wall I built all of these amps except for the Swart combo. The two white amps on the left rack were the production amps from my company (Henning Amplification). The other's I just built for myself. The JCM800 on the cabs I built from scratch - it's a Jose Arredondo mod clone:

Here are some of my guitars. i built all of them except for the LP:

Here's a clone of Van Halen's VHII guitar i built and painted (including the 2K clear):

 

Steve

CRAZY gear dude! Love all of it.

Building those guitars is such a great way to express your love of our instrument, and you have done that to a very high degree and standard. And the amps? That's just next level stuff. Sorry to hear you no longer make them. They look impressive and I'm sure we could talk for hours about them.

After my now 43 years of playing, gigging and all around musical life I've discovered nothing makes people happier than music. It's simply the one way we communicate in which so much is said that cannot be spoken with mere words. It cuts right to the heart of us all.

It also endears me to other people if they play any instrument of any type. It indicates a deepness within a person. An intelligence that is like a kindred spirit. 

Awesome stuff brother.

Edited August 11 by Dragline

[sah5150]

9 hours ago, Dragline said:

CRAZY gear dude! Love all of it.

Building those guitars is such a great way to express your love of our instrument, and you have done that to a very high degree and standard. And the amps? That's just next level stuff. Sorry to hear you no longer make them. They look impressive and I'm sure we could talk for hours about them.

After my now 43 years of playing, gigging and all around musical life I've discovered nothing makes people happier than music. It's simply the one way we communicate in which so much is said that cannot be spoken with mere words. It cuts right to the heart of us all.

It also endears me to other people if they play any instrument of any type. It indicates a deepness within a person. An intelligence that is like a kindred spirit. 

Awesome stuff brother.

Thanks much, brother! And very well said on the way music affects people. I played pro in the '80s in the Hollywood hard rock/metal scene - all original music, trying to get signed. It was a crazy time - incredible experience. I have continued to play and record original music since for my own enjoyment - I started the amp company to continue to stay close to music. It was fun while it lasted, but I just couldn't scale the company while working another full time job. While i was running it, it was a one man show. I designed, built and marketed the amps myself. No way to scale that... 😉

[Dragline]

I did much the same as you in the 80s. We were a 5 piece playing the Prov RI/ Boston circuit. Opened up for some biggies. Made a lot of friends along the way. I'd say we were better than average by quite a bit, but the fickle hand of fate chooses some and not others. When Extreme got signed none of us were surprised. They had be kicking ass for a while and were so tight. Timing is everything in life bro.

My Warrior and my EII Horizon III. My wife bought that for me for my 50th birthday. It replaces an ESP I had years ago that I always talk about wishing I hadn't sold. She's a keeper.

[Straightliner59]

On 5/19/2025 at 8:41 PM, sah5150 said:

Thanks Terry - I've been assembling tons of reference material - the real question for me is how far to go with the detail.

Well, if you're anything like I am, once the chassis is scratchbuilt, it's all-in! That's where all the fun stuff is, anyway! You're off to a good start!

Edited August 11 by Straightliner59