1960 Impala- My First Build

[MILD]

G'day guys.

As a new member it's quite daunting to post some pics of my first build, especially given the quality of the cars already posted, but I'm going to take the plunge and dive right in.

There is no scratch build genius here, nor any artistry with the paints so I apologise for the mundaness of it all (is that even a word?). Hopefully having this thread wil spur me on to put my best foot forward and I'll get something out of the feedback. Maybe I can learn from your mistakes and not make so many of my own!

The kit is the Revell 1960 hardtop Impala. It was picked as the local hobby shop had a limited supply of models and this one was closest to my interests. Plus it's paving the way to work out some bugs before I jump into that prostock Chevy Nova that I really want to build

All paints used are Tamiya Enamels which is a new experience in itself. The body work is coated in Tamiya Gold pressure pack carefully selected by my 4 year old son... no matter how hard I tried there was no talking him out of it.

On to the pics!

I used some of the chrome dress up parts to liven the engine bay up but did not use them all to overload it. The carbies, air cleaner and rocker covers are the extent of bling in the engine bay (or future engine bay!).

Apologies for the shadow in this one- I'm as new to photographing models as I am to building them! I should have turned the plate rather than move around it. The trans carries a nasty join line on top thankfully not visible once complete- I cleaned up the bottom and sump as they'll be visible.

Because I'm tighter than the duck's proverbial I opted to use the same paint on the undercarriage as I did for the panels. Plus, it lessened the intial spend and didn't upset the missus as much! Next time I won't be so frugal. I picked out the X rails and a few basic details to liven it up. It still needs a little touching up with the brush (tank straps for one!). I still need to drill out the exhaust as well.

I didn't realise just how fiddling sorting out the suspension was in the front. I unfortunately rushed this a little bit and should have taken more time. My lack of patience lead me to reglue a number of components in which was quite frustrating but entirely my own fault- lesson learnt! The custom, lowered components were used.

My current work board- note my first paint spill! Don't worry- I make sure all my finished pieces are a long way out of harm's way while working.

Next stop is actually tossing the donk in before I turn my attention to the interior.

I'm a little undecided whether to go all black, black with white inserts or paint the dash gold with a black interior (I think it might look far too tacky does as such though). At the moment I'm thinking black just to hide my inevitable errors. I'm also undecided whether to try my hand with the embossing powder for carpets. Thoughts on that?

Thanks for checking my thread out and I welcome any criticism or comments.

[trogdor]

The engine and chassis look real clean, can't wait to see it finished

[Foxer]

Welcome in and your Impala is coming along very clean. The best part of all this is you get to do it exactly as YOU want to!

[ROY AVERY]

LOOKING GOOD....MY FIRST BUILD WAS NOT THAT CLEAN

[crazyjim]

And that's your first build? Looks better than my last one and I've been building since 1958. Nice and clean. Be waiting to see more of your build soon.

[sweptline64]

looking good and you'll get more patience as time goes by and i'm still learning new tricks and techniques every day and you picked a great group of people to be part of everybody here is so helpfull and the knowledge the have is awesome. keep your chin up keep going and most of all have fun and remember this is supposed to be fun. i'll be watching this one for sure.

[RS Sport]

Great work!

[MILD]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

The plan for the weekend is to get the motor in and begin work on the interior.

I've laid about four mist coats of the gold over the panels, let it dry and blocked it back a little. I'm aiming to put a few heavier flow coats on this weekend depending on the weather. I'm off to do a bit of research into getting a super smooth finish now!

[MILD]

I've done a bit more on the car recently. Please don't hold back with the constructive criticism- I'd love any help you can offer. Being a first build I know I have a lot to learn so turn to the more experienced heads to help me along.

Onto the pics and a few comments:

The bay with the radiator support in place. I had painted the support black before realising it would be better in gold. I tried my hardest to unwarp it! I have tried to add a bit of detail with the paints on the radiator cap and the battery posts. The second photo is more to show the decal on the battery. There is an imperfection in the paint, however the decal is nice flat and silvering free!

I need to do a bit of clean up with the paints here. The dash needs a second coat of paint and smoothing around the edges. I am happy with the instrument decals which I was fretting about getting wrong. The instructions suggest doing the interior in white which I'd guess blends the white on the upholstery decals. Personally, I like the contrast between the black and the white. I think it ties in well and adds a little interest to an otherwise drab interior- I deliberately chose the semi-gloss black to minimise the effect any obvious mistakes I made I couldn't get embossing powder so very thinly flocked and painted the carpet.

I figured I'd throw the whole thing together as it stands to take a look at the progress. The white ring in the back is my attempt at a white vinyl spare wheel cover. Again I wanted to add a little interest to that area of the car.

This build has taught me a few important things. The first being patience is a virtue! Patience to better clean imperfections from parts before painting, patience to build up the paint on parts slowly and patience to wait until the glue is dried before trying to get too far ahead. Ideally I would have spent the time to break out the putty and fill a few minor gaps where parts did not line up particularly well.

Gentlemen, I turn to you for advice and pointers to fix any faults with this model and better prepare me for my next attempt.

Thanks for looking at the thread!

Edited August 4, 2010 by MILD

[Dr. Cranky]

Looking good. Keep it going, please.

[Clay]

^^ What he said!

[Romell R]

This is not your first build!!! how do you know about decal silvering, and embossing powder? where are you getting these super human skills LOL just kidding . Man I only wish my first build was this clean. Good job on what you have posted so far looking forward to seeing it completed

[Modlbldr]

Looking great so far. This is my favorite year of Impala. Since you asked for any criticism I took a good look at all of your photos and the ONLY thing I could find to suggest is to detail paint the wheel covers. Do some research on what the 1:1 covers look like and paint or wash accordingly.If I'm not mistaken there are decals for the center of them, right? Your build is an excellent one so far. Keep it up. BTW- I like the contrast of the white border around the seat inserts too.

Later-

[Jim0205]

Looks good so far I have a 60 in the wings right now same kit and all I will be interested to see how your's goes.

[slugnasty]

Man, you have some real talent. I myself am also working on my first build, or at least my first build since I was a kid. I have not come as far in the process as you have as I've only been working on it very slowly for 2 or 3 days, but your painting alone already looks way cleaner than anything I've come up with thus far. So comparing my first build to yours, I think it's clear you have some real natural, born-in talent for this kind of thing. Do you have any kind of background in art? Really can't wait to see how this goes. Keep up the good work.

[Dragline]

This is a great first build. Like many here, my first build looked NOTHING like this.

If I still had it I'd probably be so embarrased I'd restore it.

I admire your taking the time to look over the tips and techniques [i assume you did some of that].

Keep taking your time and you will certainly be rewarded. You already have in my estimation.

Good stuff.

Bob

[MILD]

Thanks once more for the kind comments. I must give a lot of credit to the forum- most, if not all, of my knowledge on the topic has come from a lot of reading this forum. I think there is something to be learnt from the out of box builds as well as some of the extremely involved custom pieces (which are simply amazing).

Modlbldr- I will definitely take that on board. The instructions in the kit described painting out certain areas of the rims however I worried I'd make a mess. I think I will follow your advice and give them a lick of paint to break up the chrome a little. I'll just be sure to have a cotton bud with some thinners readily available!

Slugnasty- perhaps the closest thing I came to art was some limited mucking around with wargaming minitures as a kid. That was a number of years ago and lets just say my results were less than stellar. I'd like to think most of my apprenticeship was served growing up watching my father who is an avid RC-Aero modeller of the WW1 vintage. He basically scratch builds everything, is fastidious in all he does and whose ability to make something out of nothing amazes me to this day.

Aftershox- believe me I has no bloody idea what embossing powder or silvering was before I stumbled across this excellent forum.

Dragline- I spend probably too much time reading the tips and tricks on this forum... I probably should spend more time experimenting and practicing myself rather than riding on the coat tails of the posters here

I still have much work to do on the car. I need to paint the forward third of the bottom of the interior tub in gold as it is visible from beneath. The boot / trunk area needs another coat of black to better blend the repaint I was forced to do around the spare. The exhausts need drilling, the rims need painting and the body needs polishing and a clear coat.

I will be sure to keep you all posted on my progress.

Edited August 5, 2010 by MILD

[Pale Rider]

Very good work!!

[mediamonk]

Excellent work, especially for your first build. I second the notion that this forum has a great wealth of knowledge for both the first timers and old timers.

[pharr7226]

Great job on the Impala. Keep it up.

[HotRodAlex]

Very Nice start. Keep us posted

[Brett Barrow]

Do you mean this is your first model, or first model to be posted on this board?!?!??

Either way, you're doing great, no need for any apologies, the pics are clear and focused, and your posts are well written and easy to understand, and the model looks great.

[Eshaver]

Actually Mr. Mild, you could teach some of these so called builders on this forum a few things . Aside from the lack of some lighting on you're subjects , the photographs are clean and concise . The overall build on the model is great . I look forward to seeing the end result . Ed Shaver

[drucifer67]

That interior is schweet.

[Chuck Most]

Coming along very well, I do say!

Don't let what others are doing discourage you- maybe you can't scratchbuild NOW, but it'll be something you can always delve into later. A great model is a great model, no matter how it's built!