55 Chevy in red oxide primer

[oldscool]

Thought I would post something just to show that I am still building and hopefully to motivate myself to get more done.

The weather is finally allowing me to get some outdoor painting done so I painted the age old Revell 55 Chevy street machine with red primer. I'm going to leave it this way as I have always liked the look of projects in red primer and have seen very few models painted with it. Everyone seems to go with gray or flat black.

I wish this kit still had all the original Bad Man parts like the headers.

I know a lot of people don't like this kit and it is kinda crude but I am building it for what it is. It has a great gasser look when it's sitting on the shelf.

oldscool

Edited April 14, 2010 by oldscool

[oldscool]

Thanks for the comment Mark. I also built the old Revell 55 back in the day. I painted it light blue and had the Moon tank in the grille opening just like the box art.(I think). I also built the old Revell 56 Chevy with opening everything and it wasn't as bad as others make it out to be.

oldscool

[oldscool]

The weather is still good so I got the engine painted with Testors Fiery Orange laquer and built to this point. I think the metalflake engine is appropriate for the time period. I'm gonna use the blower but with 2 carbs instead of the Enderle bug catcher that comes with the kit just to add more visual interest to the engine. i will also add either velocity stacks or a scoop to the carbs to get enough height to stick through the hood. The engine sits so low that the OOB setup doesn't even stick through the hood.

The window unit won't allow the interior to go far enough up into the body to fit properly so I cut the windows apart. I wanted the side windows open anyway to see all the detail inside. This was done with a razor saw in about 3 minutes.

I started to leave the vent windows attached but the edges were so thick that I cut them off too. I will make vent windows out of acetate.

oldscool

[stevebarry]

I love the red oxide thing. I used to have a Jaguar XJC in red oxide, cost me £75 in 1985. Looked like a gangster car owned by an unsuccessful gangster. The metalflake block looks very sweet too.

[Mooneyzs]

Oldschool.... this is looking great. Love the Primer on the car. I do have to ask what brand of Red Oxide Primer is this? I have some that I picked up for my '32 rat rod project I am working on but it seemed a little darker than this. I would prefer one a tad lighter than what I have.

[Modlbldr]

I have a couple of these that I used to extend the front end about 6 scale inches behind the front wheel well. I thought that the body lacked enough detail that it would look better as a flopper body. Yet another that I have to get back to some day.

Looking good. I like the red oxide primer look. Keep it up.

Later-

[Dr. Cranky]

This is turning out to be an interesting project. Please, keep going.

[oldscool]

Got the rear suspension painted with Model Master Gloss Black and the headers painted Testors Gloss White.The chassis is painted with Krylon Satin Black that crazed the plastic a little but it'll be alright since it's on the bottom. I found a "shoe print" gas pedal to use from the old AMT Deuce five window kit. Thinking about using these wheels and tires on the back with something skinnier than the OOB tires up front, whadda youse guys think?

Since the backside of the radiator has no detail ,I found an electric fan to hang on it but then realized it woudn't be period correct. It also doesn't have a radiator cap or a hose, but they shouldn't be hard to make.

Hope to have another update tomorrow.

oldscool

[oldscool]

I never thought that red oxide primer would generate this much interest. Guess that shows we are true car guys.

Mooneyzs, the primer is Brite Touch #BT51 general purpose red oxide primer bought at the local Advance Auto Parts.

Steve, I'll bet a Jaguar in red oxide really horrified the British purists .Their word for it would be "ghastly"

oldscool

Edited March 11, 2010 by oldscool

[oldscool]

Got some more done on the engine. Should the carbs face this way or should the float bowls face fore and aft?

The chrome blower belt and pulleys are from the kit but the one from the AMT 60 Vette reissue looks more detailed. It has teeth on the belt and a cool idler pulley with bracket that mounts to blower casing. Also shown are the three intake options - short or tall velocity stacks or the scoop from the Revell 68 Firebird. Sorry about the out of focus pic.

Here are the kit seats. Don't laugh, I remember seats like this from back then. They were molded fiberglass covered with naugahyde. Does anyone remember the "save the nauga" bumper stickers? They need another coat of Humbrol satin white.

oldscool

Edited March 12, 2010 by oldscool

[Duntov]

HI:

I really like your approach to building a kit for "what it is"........some of the best looking builds are some pretty basic stuff from pretty basic and sometimes old (less than desirable) kits....and you sure hit the moark with this one....I like what you are doing.....keep up the good work.

Regards

Bill (Duntov)

[oldscool]

Thanks Bill and I like your screen name.

oldscool

Edited March 12, 2010 by oldscool

[rustybill1960]

Dude, love what your doing with the kit!

Great looking build!

I built the Monogram '56 Chevy Street Machine as an old Gasser in Baby Blue, Gray Primer and rusted up.

It's looking real good

Thanks for sharing

more please

later

Russ

[Mooneyzs]

I never thought that red oxide primer would generate this much interest. Guess that shows we are true car guys.

Mooneyzs, the primer is Brite Touch #BT51 general purpose red oxide primer bought at the local Advance Auto Parts.

Steve, I'll bet a Jaguar in red oxide really horrified the British purists .Their word for it would be "ghastly"

oldscool

Thanks Oldschool I will have to check a few of my local auto parts store... Not sure if we have an Advance Auto parts here.... But we do have autozone, checker, napa. going to look them up.

Also to answer your question about the carb on the blower. you have the bowls facing the right way, left side to right side of the car.

[oldscool]

OK fellow plasticklers, the engine is now done.

The headers aren't glued on yet so I can still add plug wires if I decide to. The magneto looks kinda funny just hanging off the back of the engine, but it will be buried so far back in the firewall recess that it won't be noticable.

I have decided on these tires and wheels with maybe yellow for wheel color.

.

I found a better fan in the Revell 48 Ford street rod kit that will cover all of the non-detail on the radiator.

Meanwhile, still waiting on the gloss black enamel to dry on the suspension and interior parts.

oldscool

Edited March 13, 2010 by oldscool

[oldscool]

Well, now the real problem solving begins.

My biggest beef with this kit so far is the firewall. This is as good as it's gonna fit with everything installed. Anyone have any ideas for an easy fix? Maybe just cover the firewall with sheet styrene?

I found these exhausts in the AMT 66 Galaxie kit. Should I use them or do they look silly? They are the perfect diameter for the headers.

I'm working on the interior now and will have more pics soon.

oldscool

[Joe Handley]

That's going to be neat when it's finished, I like the exhaust tips too, but maybe do them in a matching flat white or some kind of "bare metal" finish ANybody else think that could be slightly modified for a reissue with either more 60's era appropriate or a more "Modern" Rat Rod/vintage "looking" rolling stock instead of the 70's era stuff

Edited March 14, 2010 by Joe Handley

[oldscool]

Hi Joe. I am planning on painting the exhausts white if I do decide to use them and the kit comes with some very nice 5 slot mags and wide street tires but I want to use them on a 70s muscle car build. they are one of the best features of this kit and are too good IMO to put on this crappy kit. I really don't want to use wheels that are too pretty or high dollar because I am trying to depict a low budget car with most of the money spent on the engine.

oldscool

[oldscool]

Got the interior done and started detail painting the dash. Looks like I got to touch up some boo- boos on the dash. The shifter came from the MPC 70 Super Bee kit. Not worried about the ejector pin marks on the floor as they won't show when it's done.

It's gettin there.

oldscool

[oldscool]

Finally got back to this one. Painted the window trim and isn't as sloppy as it looks in the pics. The slicks are a perfect match for the fender cutouts and the wheels give it that "all business" look. Now I'm working up the nerve to paint the side trim. This thing is really going to sit high.

oldscool

[oldscool]

Well everyone, I am close to giving up on this one due to fit issues. Even after cutting the window unit apart the interior still wont fit all the way up into the body because the dash interferes with the bottom of the windshield. I have the windshield as far up as I can mount it without having a gap at the cowl edge. The only thing I know to do is to hack on the edge of the dash. Then there's still the firewall issue to deal with

As a consolation I bought myself the reissue of the Monogram 56 Belair "classic cruiser" for my birthday. this one has it's accuracy issues but after doing a mockup I find it's a much better engineered kit than the 55. I know about the oversized fender openings in front but other than that, it looks really good and can be built stock

oldscool

[scouperacer]

Where would one find those wheels you are using for this build? Thanks. Looks good btw.

[Kenny]

I really like the work you have done on this so far and would like to see it finished. Life is too short though... Maybe building on a better engineered kit for a while is what the doctor ordered.

[oldscool]

Where would one find those wheels you are using for this build? Thanks. Looks good btw.

The wheels came from the old AMT 58 Impala kit. I think the same wheels were in several other old AMT kits as well.

oldscool

[oldscool]

i hope you stick with it and finish this thing

would it be possible to epoxy the windshield in and then use your Dremel and a grinding bit to remove material from the bottom edge until the dash and interior fit well? it's been a really long time since i built one of these kits, don't remember the glass being an issue before but i had a similar problem recently with the Monogram Chevy Luv kit.

Dave

Well Dave, I super glued the windshield in already because it was a tight fit. I am really wanting to finish this one as I never built one of these kits before in any form. As a matter of fact the only 55 Chevy kit I have ever built was the old Revell 55 with the opening doors

oldscool