1968 AMC Javelin street machine

[Quiet Eric]

I teased this one in the Mock Up thread a while ago. '68-'70 Javelins are one of my favorite cars. And the one in this ad from the Corporation itself is the bee's knees! So thats what I'm going to build. It'll be suspension, wheels/tires, giant blower sticking through the hood, and of course the zoomie headers. I'll probably do something similar with the interior too, but just by painting the floor grey, adding the one racing seat and a roll bar. I'm not sure about the center instrument panel.

 

This is my first venture into a 3d printed kit and parts. Modeled by Andrey Bezrodney and printed by Brian Dutz. My observations so far...the detail, while amazing, is going to be really hard to bring out through layers of paint. Mostly the door handles and side marker lights. And similar to a resin cast part, anything flat or near flat has warpage. The chassis has an upward bow through the middle which I was able to correct mostly, and once it's assembled some glue will easily keep it in place. The hood however was pretty bad and in my attempts to fix that I snapped it in two. Brian has been helpful in sending me another one. In my attempt to get the front suspension parts off of the support structure, one of the strut rods immediately snapped, and then later I broke a rear leaf spring trying to tweak it just a little. So now I've learned exactly how fragile these things are compared to a plastic kit! So, moving forward.

I've sanded the body down, it wasn't too bad except for a lot of waves in the roof, but its smooth now. These wheels and tires are from Mean Machine Models. The centers slip into the wheels and the wheels slip into the tires...but not tightly, so it's difficult to mock anything up. I'm going to go ahead and paint/detail these and glue everything together, then I'll be able to make the suspension modifications I want. I might end up gluing the hood shut if I can't get the warp out and cutting a hole for the supercharger...more "curbside". I think the color is 1969 "Big Bad Orange" but I don't need anything else from Scale Finishes so I'll just grab something close from the LHS.

Edited September 27 by Quiet Eric

[Zen]

Cool project! Too bad on the warpage, how did you try to fix the chassis?

[espo]

Paint it "Big Bad Orange" bumpers and all. 

[Quiet Eric]

5 hours ago, Zen said:

Cool project! Too bad on the warpage, how did you try to fix the chassis?

I ran it under hot water while flexing it the opposite direction, then ran it under cold water to help it hold the "new" shape. It kinda worked.

[Quiet Eric]

4 hours ago, espo said:

Paint it "Big Bad Orange" bumpers and all. 

Looks like it's getting a coat of Testor's Flaming Orange, because that's what I came home with! And the bumpers will get a coat of Revell Chrome or Fusion Firm.

[Quiet Eric]

I've realized that the chassis on this is garbage. The front suspension is pretty good, but it's nearly impossible to modify being made all one piece per side with the control arms, strut, spindle, and shock all printed as one piece. The rest of the chassis feels very generic and more like a toy. Therefore, I decided to get the stance right by whatever means necessary, regardless of accuracy. So after a little bit of hackery, this is the result. I need to space the front wheels out some but I dig it. I also need to paint the spokes a darker shade. This is the blower setup from the Revell '55 Bad Man kit I thought would work but it's just too oversized and cartoony, so I'm still hunting for just the right setup.

Edited 16 hours ago by Quiet Eric

[DoctorLarry]

I have built two Buick Skylarks from 3D kits.  A couple of observations.  First, you are correct on the chassis.  Mine were also very generic and so I did not use them.  The front suspensions were cast in such a manner that the control arms were not even straight! The interiors had decent detail but were the wrong pattern so I cast my own in resin.  The hoods on the Buicks were also warped and even with several straightening sessions (hot water bath followed by cooling) they never fit well. That was the most work on both projects.  The bodies also had some contours in them that required a lot of sanding and filler primer to smooth out.  I cover the detail stuff with pieces of masking tape to prevent them from being lost in the priming process. I also broke off a hood corner trying to get it to lay down.  A 1970 Camaro had a 108 inch wheelbase and the Javelin 109 so if you want detail in your chassis maybe rob a 70 Camaro kit. Both were unibody cars so that might work out.  I used a 68 Chevelle donor for my Buicks because it has the same wheelbase and architecture as the Skylarks.

[stitchdup]

On 9/27/2025 at 8:55 PM, Quiet Eric said:

I ran it under hot water while flexing it the opposite direction, then ran it under cold water to help it hold the "new" shape. It kinda worked.

if you do the same before removing parts from the supports, they come away much easier with less marking

[Chris V]

Amazing project - I’ll be following this one with great interest!
 

I’ve been working on and off on an MPC 1:20 1970 AMX inspired by that very same commercial…