1/8 Camaro IROC-Z

[avidinha]

I bought this kit used. It was partially built and partially painted. It was in pretty rough shape.

The roof was broken down the middle and had a chunk missing out of it.

And the quarter panel/bumper was cracked.

The rear axle was also broken.

The tires were missing so I got these wheels/tires from an r/c car and some 3d printed brakes.

I'm going to stick the sub assemblies in the freezer and try my luck at getting them apart. I'm sure there will be some more missing parts as I go, I'll just have to deal with them as I discover them. More next time.

[rbarlow1]

This is awesome. Who buys that model and then does that to it - I assume it was expensive to buy in its time as well (?).

[SpikeSchumacher]

You could do some cool LED lighting with something in that scale... 😉

[1972coronet]

7 hours ago, rbarlow1 said:

This is awesome. Who buys that model and then does that to it - I assume it was expensive to buy in its time as well (?).

Considering that it's 40 years old ( I remember when it was new - bought one as well ) , that's not too bad. It's a bulky box to keep around ; looks as though FedEx had their way with it. 

IIRC, these were around 50$ U.S. back then - huge money ! 

Mine perished in the 1987 earthquake.

[Jordan White]

On 6/17/2025 at 1:23 PM, rbarlow1 said:

This is awesome. Who buys that model and then does that to it - I assume it was expensive to buy in its time as well (?).

Honestly that plastic was brittle, I had one that I sold (and the Corvette) that also had fractured pieces and some cracks in the body (Corvette was worse).

[Sam I Am]

I have a few 1/8 in the stash, so I'll be following. 

[avidinha]

After some time in the freezer I was able to get some of the parts apart. There was a little damage, but nothing I can't handle.

I glued the rear axle back together and used some evergreen tubing to add some support.

I glued the roof and was able to find the missing chuck. The kit comes with an overhead console, so that will add some support.

More next time.

[meechum68]

Following!

[avidinha]

I got the chassis painted. 

And the body work done on the roof.

While I was waiting for paint/putty to dry I detailed the tail lights.

While getting the body ready for paint I ran across the first surprise missing parts, the door handles. Luckily since I'm customizing it, shaved door handles wouldn't be out of place, so easy fix.

More next time.

Edited July 18 by avidinha

[dino246gt]

Coming along excellently!

I'm sure it'll be a stunner!

 

[avidinha]

I made fillers for the door handles with some plastic sheet.

Then body worked them smooth.

I got the chuck of hood that came off on the hood vent back in place. It fit so well that it only took a couple of coats of filler primer and some wet sanding.

Now the body is just about ready for paint.

As I'm working on this it seems like it's not much more detailed than a 1/25 kit and I remembered that I have a 1/25 Z28 in my stash and thought it would be fun to build them side by side to compare. The Z28 will be built mostly box stock with some custom wheels and lowerd suspension.

More next time.

 

Edited Friday at 11:14 PM by avidinha

[pulln4dejr]

I’ve got a parts kit at home that a friend of mine gave me, answer to your questions “who does that?”, well my friends dog destroyed the body, that’s how I ended up with parts kit! 🤣🤣

[rv1963]

Nice work on those repairs, when some one said who does that I was thinking a dog used it as a chew toy, than I read further lol.

[avidinha]

When I got the kit the passenger side trailing arm was broken.

I was able to find a piece of it and glue it back on, but a chunk of it was still missing.

I trimmed it so everything is strait to make the repair easier.

Then I used some styrene strips to make the repair.

I want to lower the suspension because the tires are so much smaller. The rear will be easy, I just have to cut the "springs" down. The front however, is a different story. The front upper a arms are molded to the crossmember and the springs are directly in between the a arms instead of having a spring pocket. I can move the king pin up on the spindle and if I sand a couple of key points on the upper suspension I can move it up towards the frame a bit, but that only gets me about an inch and a half drop and I'd like at least double that. Hopefully I can think of another way to get it in the weeds.

I also got the 1/25 tail lights ready, here they are compared to the 1/8 ones.

More next time.

 

Edited Sunday at 07:44 PM by avidinha

[Jordan White]

Is there a reason you went the Euro taillight route for the 1/25 scale? 😆

[avidinha]

25 minutes ago, Jordan White said:

Is there a reason you went the Euro taillight route for the 1/25 scale? 😆

It just made more sense to have the turn signal on the corner. If I was building a 1:1 Camaro I would do the same thing.

[dino246gt]

Just thinking here, I'd probably remove the upper A arms from the frame and THEN figure out how to lower it.

Much more work, or............... much more modelling fun!!

[Can-Con]

Just an FYI, that kit front suspension is wildly inaccurate. 

3rd gen F-bodys use a "modified" MacPherson strut front suspension. No upper A-arms. 

I wonder if anyone else ever noticed this or just us who actually own an 3rd gen?

Edited 12 hours ago by Can-Con

[avidinha]

3 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Just an FYI, that kit front suspension is wildly inaccurate. 

3rd gen F-bodys use a "modified" MacPherson strut front suspension. No upper A-arms. 

I wonder if anyone else ever noticed this or just us who actually own an 3rd gen?

Ahhh! That makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the picture. Now I'm thinking I could trim off the top spindle mount and turn the spindle into a strut. I think that would make lowering it easier while making it more accurate. I'll just have to make sure I design something that will hold the weight of a 1/8 model.