New Revell 1/25 2013 Camaro ZL-1 (pre-painted)

[keyser]

Just round file the tops of the axle holes a little, drops it down easy peasy. Try 2/3 height between tire and wheelwell, or a little less.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Well, guess what? I stripped the chrome off the wheels and now the front axle fits fine! I guess it was a buildup of undercoating that was keeping the axle from seating all the way to the bottom of the hole.

Quick mockup to gauge ride height. A bit high, but it'll come down some by just gluing the body to the chassis during final assembly. There's no positive tab or anything to lock the body down, it just sits on the front valence. *edit* -actually, there is, just glue the valence/grille to the chassis and use the pegs in the front bumper to hold the body down.

Nice, and thanks for the preview!

Ran my fingers over 'em and I could swear the "CAMARO" script was raised on each front fender - do I spy that on your nekkid body shell?

Don't seem to recall such on either the Revell '10 SS or AMT's...

[Brett Barrow]

Yup. "Camaro" scripts on the fender and "ZL1" on the hood bulge and trunk, all molded in. The kit has a very old-school promo feel to it. I wonder if Revell might be making a case to take the promo contracts away from AMT and these are the "proof of concept" to show the companies what they could do? They'll have at least one from each of the Big 3 soon...

[ZTony8]

While I can applaud the idea of a pre painted kit for the younger builders who are just going to slap the kit together in 15-30 minutes and roll it around on a floor,they're not really useful for modelers who have some experience.One of the first things to be done to a model is to remove the mold lines-usually easily done on an unpainted kit.But do that to a painted kit and it renders the pre painting aspect useless when the color disappears along with the mold lines. So there's no point in an experienced modeler buying a painted kit unless the subject is unavailable any other way.

[Brett Barrow]

Just round file the tops of the axle holes a little, drops it down easy peasy. Try 2/3 height between tire and wheelwell, or a little less.

Due to the design of the chassis, this one's a little more involved than that. There are 2 spots where the front axle rides on the frame, there's a small indention there, I had to carve a slot so that the axle could ride up higher. then I glued a piece of strip stock (I actually used one of the number tags from the kit's sprues) so that it holds the axle in this new position. The separate front suspension is flexible enough (all it really does is hold the brakes and keep the wheels centered in the opening, it doesn't bear the weight of the model) that it didn't need to be modified. This little drawing probably makes more sense, and it probably took me more time to write this post and make the drawing than it did to do the work.

I think it looks much better. I think I'll leave the back alone, I'm digging the rake - Old School!

Edited September 10, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Oh yeah.

Wheelbase match looks a lot better in the new kit.

[Harry P.]

Oh yeah.

Wheelbase match looks a lot better in the new kit.

Is that yours? Nice.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Thanks, Harry!

Had to do it box-stock, and what you see there is the front axle as far forward as it could be mounted, and the rear shoved as far back as possible on slightly trimmed pins - which is why I was wondering if the ZL had a better stance, and apparently, it does.

[Thatswhatshesaid]

While I can applaud the idea of a pre painted kit for the younger builders who are just going to slap the kit together in 15-30 minutes and roll it around on a floor,they're not really useful for modelers who have some experience.One of the first things to be done to a model is to remove the mold lines-usually easily done on an unpainted kit.But do that to a painted kit and it renders the pre painting aspect useless when the color disappears along with the mold lines. So there's no point in an experienced modeler buying a painted kit unless the subject is unavailable any other way.

That's why they are geared for kids.

[keyser]

There are 2 spots where the front axle rides on the frame, there's a small indention there, I had to carve a slot so that the axle could ride up higher. then I glued a piece of strip stock (I actually used one of the number tags from the kit's sprues) so that it holds the axle in this new position. The separate front suspension is flexible enough (all it really does is hold the brakes and keep the wheels centered in the opening, it doesn't bear the weight of the model) that it didn't need to be modified. This little drawing probably makes more sense, and it probably took me more time to write this post and make the drawing than it did to do the work.

I think it looks much better. I think I'll leave the back alone, I'm digging the rake - Old School!

Nice Brett. I didn't have one, assumed usual. Sounds like minimally more effort. Agree leaving rear alone, 1:1's seem to have a mean rake too, certainly Z28.

Oh yeah

Wheelbase match looks a lot better in the new kit.

Nice, Chuck! Brett's and yours convinced me to buy one for me and son.

[Chuck Kourouklis]

Thanks, keyz! But just in case it isn't clear, the one I posted was the older full-detail Special Ed '10 SS kit, with a funky ride height out of the box and a wheelbase too short for the body. There are ways to fix that, but within my parameters it wasn't appropriate to do so.

Brett wound up demonstrating that the new kit appears to sit a lot better, even before you make any adjustments for height.

[keyser]

Not much daylight over tires, and a bit of rake. Z/28 evil, going to try to add splitter to the ZL1

[blubaja]

Maybe we'll get a 2015 Z/28 kit by 2020 lol. She seems much more bad A than the ZL1 to me.

[horsepower]

Let Revell know you want to see an unpainted version with decals. Ed Sexton is pushing for it, but it's not his decision to make. Let the bosses and bigwigs know you want to see it!

I'm probably wrong (usually am) but I thought I Read that a full detail glue kit of this kit is planned? Or is that what the black pre-painted kit is going to be?

Just my usual assuming something that it was going to be an unpainted kit.

[Exotics_Builder]

I'm probably wrong (usually am) but I thought I Read that a full detail glue kit of this kit is planned? Or is that what the black pre-painted kit is going to be?

Just my usual assuming something that it was going to be an unpainted kit.

There is a push to do an unpainted version with decals. There is no full detail kit planned for this beyond the detail in the pre-paint.

[stuff]

Maybe we'll get a 2015 Z/28 kit by 2020 lol. She seems much more bad A than the ZL1 to me.

Check out the Plamoz Z/28 transkit.

https://www.hiroboy.com/125_Chevrolet_Camaro_Z28_2014_Transkit_Revell--product--11611.html

https://plamoz.com/products/125-2014-z28

[stuff]

Due to the design of the chassis, this one's a little more involved than that. There are 2 spots where the front axle rides on the frame, there's a small indention there, I had to carve a slot so that the axle could ride up higher. then I glued a piece of strip stock (I actually used one of the number tags from the kit's sprues) so that it holds the axle in this new position. The separate front suspension is flexible enough (all it really does is hold the brakes and keep the wheels centered in the opening, it doesn't bear the weight of the model) that it didn't need to be modified. This little drawing probably makes more sense, and it probably took me more time to write this post and make the drawing than it did to do the work.

 

I think it looks much better. I think I'll leave the back alone, I'm digging the rake - Old School!

 

How did you lower the ride height?