´69 Chevelle Showcar

[Andy Oldenburg]

Hi everyone,

after finishing my rust bucket pickup I am going into the complete different direction with this build. The ´69 Chevelle was a very popular muscle car, much power for a good price. The design was quite nice for those days. I was looking for a different approach and not go the stock build road. Willing to invest some time to get my very personal version of the Chevelle SS 396.

I opened the roof and the doors and was very keen to keep the gaps as thin as possible. The roof made me sweat, because there was only about 2mm window frame left. So I had to reinforce that to keep it from breaking during the building process. The rockers on the other hand were much easier because the body is quite thick on the lower side. To keep the roof in place I added as slim rest on the remaining roof. The windshield has rests on the corners with holes for the pegs on the underside of the "targa-roof". Somewhat like those older Porsche sports cars.

The doors go suicide way. They are held in place with super magnets to the panels under the dashboard. It was some effort building these to make them match the door panels. And of course getting the magnets in the right place (and direction...). Now the door stop has a nice curve with the A-pillar. The panels for the back bench had to accommodate the base for the door hinges and ended up fatter than usual. So, the rear bench needed some cutting to fit. Same as the dashboard, which is already prepared. 

The doors, the headliner and the bench are covered with 2mm foam rubber. For the doors I added thin frames to make the edges cleaner. To make the fabric structure look like soft padding I pressed the lines with the back side of a cutter blade. 

Now I can finally start with the paint work. Building a model this way means working on different levels and parts at the same time. Always thinking 3 steps ahead. PLUS: I´m thinking about adding lighting to this baby. It´s going to be SHOWTIME! But (humbly...) still a long way to go😉😄

Thanks for watching!

[Kanada Kustoms]

Awesome project... Love what you did with the roof!  Interior panels look cool as well... And the suicide doors are perfect!  Looking forward to more progress!

[Badge73]

No complaints here. Execution is well done with all the fabrication, this one will be fun to follow.

[dphipps]

Great work. I've always liked seeing muscle or just the non-traditionally "kool" cars getting the custom treatment.

I like how you achieved the quilted interior effect, I'm going to remember that one.

[NOBLNG]

My favourite generation of Chevelle! Outstanding work so far Sir!👍😎

[Speedpro]

Nce work so far!

[Horrorshow]

Looking forward to watching this one.

[espo]

Like the extensive body modifications.  

[Mark W]

Lots of good stuff going on here.

Hope to see it till compltion.

[Quiet Eric]

Whoa! Looks very promising.

[meechum68]

Whoa! This is so wickedly wild, I love it! 

[Glassparman]

Very nice work. I need to do something crazy like this rather than using all parts as issued.

[Andy Oldenburg]

Hello to Jon, Zackary, Devon, Greg, Paul, Jack, david, Mark, Eric, Michael and Michael,

thanks for your friendly response! Motivates me to take good care of this build and not fumble it 👍😉😂

[rustybill1960]

Very interesting! I have a '70 Monte that is looking for something like this. I like the way you did the hood, nice. Thank You for sharing with Us here Sir! I will be following Your progress! Later

[Andy Oldenburg]

I´m moving on with this build! I had to wait a while with the paint job, because I am switching over to Createx Wicked Pearl. My collection of airbrush pistols don´t have a nozzle big enough to handle the metallic and the new pistol I ordered took a few weeks to arrive. None the less I was busy working on the interior, the undercarriage and setting up the lighting. 

The masking went down quite easy. I was very exited so experience how the Createx would atomize and cover. I am an impatient painter and I regularly speed up the drying process between the applications carefully with a heat gun. I haven´t found masking tape thinner then 1 mm yet though. Looks like I will have to cut my own like I saw on YouTube.

Next job on the body will be a first clear coat and fine sanding.

The dashboard is finished. I added few details like rings around the gauges and an ignition key. At a model fair in February I found micro LEDs and immediately had the idea of using them for lighting up the interior of a future build. The tricky part was getting the wiring tucked behind the dash. Those wires are super thin and delicate and my soldering skills are not the best. Bit by bit I laid down the wires and resistor and secured everything with a hot glue pistol.

Like the dash, the front and rear grill and bumper are enhanced with lighting. The tail lights are all micro LEDs in red, behind the red plastic. For the headlights I used 3mm LEDs for the main lights and micros for the high beam. The grill ended up quite crammed because I had to hide 8 wires and 2 resistors. I will paint the heat glue matte anthracite before final assembly and hope that it won´t show much. The tail wires will be inside the trunk so I didn´t have to invest so much effort.

You will notice that the chassis is missing the front fenders. Because of the massive door stops the body has become very rigid and will not flex at all. No way of prying the body over the chassis. So the front third is disconnected and split. The fender, engine and front suspension must be connected to the body in a "single" step. Knock on wood🫣🙏😂 You can see the open area of the gas tank. That round disc is a magnet that holds the tank. Under the tank all the cables will connect to the battery and I have easy access for the final soldering. 

The seats are printed second market from Scale Production, "original Viper".

The wheels too are second market with added disc brakes. I sliced the front wheels to make them look more real and plan on tipping the wheels in a steering position.

The rear bench now has its Bose speakers. The door speakers will be attached after the last clear body coat.

I´m have a blast with this build, even though sometimes I get into a sweat. Now i´m back to my shop!😁

Thanks for watching and best wishes, Andy!

 

 

[dino246gt]

Wow, innovative, cool and lit up! Wow!

 

[NOBLNG]

This is looking great!😎

[meechum68]

Insane! Awesome craftsmanship!

 

[A modeler named mike]

I'm just blown away at the level of craftsmanship and then adding the lights. That's tedious work and with mind blowing results. Way beyond my skills. Thank you for sharing this wild build of yours..

[Kanada Kustoms]

Headlights, taillights and dash lights look fantastic... Slick paint job too!

[Mike F.]

Very nice job. I can't wait to see the finished car.

[Spex84]

Those lights are going to look incredible! Looking forward to seeing it all lit up.

[Andy Oldenburg]

Wow, so many fast replies! Thanks guys! Wish you well!

[Moparman18064]

Wow! I am so in on this one! Excellent fab skills. I love the diamond tuck, wild paint. The lighting is awesome also