Grumpy's Toy '66 Chevy Nova

[W-409]

I have a big bunch of projects on my bench, '62 Impala is waiting for the second clear coat to dry, '50 and '61 Oldsmobile Customs are waiting for paint to dry in the interior parts and then there is a '60 Fury Mild Custom on my bench as well. But this just had to get going.

Santa brought this Yesterday and since it is '60s Stocker I started it immediately by searching reference material about this car. I found more information that usually when building something from this era, so I could start building right away. As I already posted on Car Kit Reviews section, my kit (as well as many others) had one Racemaster and one Good Year slick tire.

I sanded the tire texts away with a 400 grit sandpaper. Then I sanded the tires up to 1,000 grit and they looked pretty good. I might finish them with 2,000 grit paper, but I'll have to think about that... Then I moved on to the engine. After some sanding and removing mold flash, I glued the block halves together. With some Liquid Glue by Tamiya and sanding, I got the seam smoothed out and then I painted the block and other parts with Humbrol's orange. The wheels were also painted with Humbrol Polished Aluminium.

Here are Pictures of the parts trees...

Here the first picture shows one sanded tire and other one as it came from the box. The other one shows both tires sanded smooth.

Engine and Wheels.

And last... One picture of the real car.

[Terminator-Fox]

Nice! I'm gonna have to get this kit at some point.

[Dragfreak]

Got this same kit for Christmas as well, not sure what ill do with her maybe a x275 radial car if I get my hands on a set of some resin drag radials. I'll be following along Niko, nice work so far!

-Edit, I just looked and mine has two race masters unlike yours..

Edited December 26, 2013 by Dragfreak

[Old Buckaroo]

Awesome project ! Those slicks are looking really good.

I am in the process of building "Toy III" My Wife got me the book "Grumpy's Toys" for Christmas - I can hardly put it down. It is loaded with info and lots of pics I had never seen before.

Trivia - Did you know Grumpy Bill is credited for designing the Hooker Header logo that is still in use today ? It was hand painted on "Toy III"

Edited December 26, 2013 by Sean D

[slusher]

Nice start Niko, I like how you did the slicks. I trimmed the letters off a set by using my hobby knife once then sanding. Next time I will just sand...

[W-409]

Thanks for the comments Everyone.

Steve: This kit seems to be worth buying and building. These Novas are really nice cars.

Jason: Looks like many people got this one for Christmas. Drag Radial car would be an interesting one for sure. Of course I'm more Stock Eliminator kind of guy, but whatever you build from it, I know it'll be an incredible build.

Two Racemasters...Dang, you had better luck than I did !

Sean: That book might be a good one. I gotta see if I can find it somewhere with a reasonable price. And interesting information, too, something that I didn't know but I read somewhere that this Nova that I'm building had no decals on it, all texts etc were hand painted.

Carl: That trimming with a Hobby Knife would have been a good idea. It took some time to get the letters sanded smooth so I think you did it just the right way.

Just a minor update. I detailed the wheels today. I started by painting the holes with Revell Flat Black and once that was dry I did two very light black washes for the wheels with black washing liquid from The Detailer. Then I painted the bolts and center caps (What are they called in English?) and test fitted how the wheels fit on the tires.

[Alan]

Niko,

If you want your build to be a bit more true to the real car, you will have to scratch build a deep sump oil pan and a set of fenderwell headers, along with an air cleaner base , no filter or top were used. This trick smoothed out the airflow to the carb. Another change I would make is toss the rear axle in exchange for a more accurate 12 Bolt from other AMT kits. Also scratch build some better looking slapper bars.

Alan

[W-409]

Hey Alan, thanks for a good information!

This might not be a 100% correct replica, but I definitely would like to get it close. Do you have any pictures of those parts? I mean that there might be a bit different looking fenderwell headers and those oil pans... And how does the air cleaner base look something like this?

I haven't looked at the chassis parts that much. The rear axle might stay as it is, depending on what I have in my parts boxes, but those Slapper Bars need to be replaced.

I really appreciate the information. If you (or anyone else) can help with a couple of pictures of those parts, I'd be even happier.

[Alan]

Here is an engine shot. You can see aluminum heat shields over the fenderwell headers .....

[Alan]

Here are pics of the deep oil pans I scratched. (Two oil pans on the left) One far left is a Nova rear sump, the other a nova front sump ....

As far as the air cleaner base, I vacuformed one, looks really good ..... I also built the fenderwell headers

Edited December 26, 2013 by Alan

[Alan]

He also ran an extremely tall front tire ................ you can also see the deep pan and fendwell headers in the pic

[Dragfreak]

Here are pics of the deep oil pans I scratched. (Two oil pans on the left) One far left is a Nova rear sump, the other a nova front sump ....

As far as the air cleaner base, I vacuformed one, looks really good ..... I also built the fenderwell headers

How did you make the collectors on the headers? they look perfect!

[Alan]

Those headers were for the Mon 70 Road Runner, the collectors are made from juice box straw lol

[W-409]

Wow that's a big bunch of great information! Thanks Alan!

I'll try my hand at building the Fenderwell headers. I probably will end up making them from solder since that works pretty good for me. I will try making those heat shields as well, I hope I can scratchbuild them for this one. That engine shot is really helpful, even if it's really small size, but it's clear picture and I can see lots of details there to make my model correct.

And yep, as Jason said your collectors look beautiful! I will have to try that as well.

I will also build that kind of oil pan. That shouldn't be as hard as the headers will be but once done it sure makes a difference. Your oil pans look really good!

You said you vacuformed the air cleaner base... What did you use as a basis/master for that vacuformed part?

The tires won't be a problem since I'm in process of making a master of tall Frontrunners since I have a '73 Chevelle and '75 Cutlass waiting for those tires. When I get that master done, I'll send it to my friend's and he'll cast it in resin. I have to take three pairs of those then. Or then I'll use the Frontrunners from Lindberg '64 Dodge 330 kit.

A Big Thank You for Alan. This is really important information, and I think now I'll just try to get this one as correct as possible.

[Truck parts]

I may have to get this kit

[Speedfreak]

I've never seen one of these built-up nicely, should be cool Niko.

[W-409]

Thanks Guys. Just a little update on this one, I started working with the Oil Pan. It is still in rough stages, but it's getting there. I just put three pieces of sheet styrene on the bottom of that oil pan. Maybe not the best way to do this, but it is definitely the easiest. Next step is to add a little putty and sand it smooth, then I can paint and glue it on place and start working with the headers.

[Dragfreak]

Nice job Niko, the little details like that really make a difference.

[jeba]

I hope I'm not too late with this information but according to the magazine Elaplsed Times, Bill painted his engins flat black to "encourage heat radition". He removed the blades from the alernator fan to reduce parasitic power loss. The stock rules required a battery in the original location so Jenkins used the lightest, smallest import battery he could find. He also used a homebuilt "cool can" made out of a coffee can with coiled tubing filed with ice, (the picture shows it just to the right of the radiator shroud). The interior shows an aftemarket tachometer, a couple of gauges and no roll bar. He used a three speed shifter (it looks like a T-handeled shifter) with an auxiliary lever for reverse.

Good luck and I'm going to keep watching this build too.

[Force]

Yes that's correct...I don't know if the were flat black but they were indeed black, he also painted the fuel tank bright white on many of his race cars to reflect off heat so the fuel would be cooler and more dense, I don't know if he did that on this car though.

[garryrenfro]

He also ran an extremely tall front tire ................

The kit slicks are also way too wide - should be 7 inchers. Speed City Resin makes some really nice M & H Racemaster 7" Cheater Slicks. The Lindberg '61 Impala Super Stock has the proper size Goodyear tire, and many of the mid-60's AMT Trophy Series kits had nice 7" Firestone slicks. There are probably other current kit sources available that I do not know.

Edited January 2, 2014 by garryrenfro

[W-409]

Thanks Fellas, lots of great information here!

Jim: You're not late at all, I have to repaint that engine anyway after modifying that oil pan, so color change shouldn't be a big thing. I think I'll go with flat black from spray can, that works very well at least. Heh, that battery thing can still be seen in today's Stockers and Super Stockers, that's another detail I need to concentrate on when I'm at that point. Thanks for the great info, I'll do my best to replicate these things in 1/25 scale.

Håkan: That white fuel tank would be a neat little detail on this build. I guess if no-one proves that the fuel tank wasn't white, I'll paint it with Tamiya's Gloss White paint....Thanks!

Garry: Yep 7" Cheater Slicks were the only legal tires in these classes, and I remember reading from a Junior Stock Book that the tires grew to 7½ inches after a few runs. That is one problem, you're right, but I test fitted a pair of those tires inside the Nova body and somehow I think it doesn't look as good as it does with these. I think I'll go with the kit rear tires, but I'm not completely sure yet...

[Mister Twister]

Nice start here Niko...This will be a great looking build.

[slusher]

I like the oil pan Niko, I am going to remember that. That's a good fast way to do it..

[W-409]

Thanks Guys!

Well, not sure about the fast way with the Oil Pan... I still need some putty for that oil pan, but it was primered a while ago and I took the picture that day, but looks like I never posted it. So this is the first Primer coat, and still more putty is needed.