Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

John D · 2K+ Club

Keeping Busy, working on a Chevelle

Derek69SS · Founding Member

Nice detail!

I'm looking forward to digging out all my unfinished model kits (must be at least 50 of them) from storage and working on them with the boys.

John D · 2K+ Club

chassis 006.jpg Made a lot of progress (I always forget pics )

I'm going to have to re "zip-tie" the rollbar padding, as the knots are visible through the window(s). The body is in primer.

chassis 004.jpg

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Seems like the body’s are always in primer. When your ready to paint you can use my paint booth.

Looks like a relaxing project; I think somewhere in all car enthusiast past we built models. Knowing you, it will have LED turn signals and brake lights.

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Are you air brush painting everything and what is that stuff your using for rollbar padding?

Tim H · Mega Poster

Are you going to paint it on a rotisserie? Alot of the race cars are using vinyl instead of paint to keep the weight down. Did you dyno the engine?

John D · 2K+ Club

Body & chassis are sprayed using my 30-year old Paasche model "H" single-action airbrush. (I just looked on the 'net, and yes, they were just as expensive in 1980's dollars!) Yup, a rotisserie - a pop bottle with a piece of double stick on the cap! I'll have some sanding to do with 2k grit to eliminate the tape ridge and creep-under, then some metallic red. After all that a color sand, clear, and buff.

The rollcage was a piece of work. All of the sections that had molded in "padding" were cut off, and replaced with a brass wire frame. Using the plastic parts as patterns, I made the wire pieces and soldered them together. Then .035" holes were drilled in the plastic roll cage as sockets, and the wire frame glued in place with ACC.

The rollbar "padding" is actual foam. I found the perfect stuff at AxMan. Really high-density, but not rigid. I made a cutting die from brass tube (I.D. a scale 3"), and by twirling it between my fingers and pushing, I was able to make "noodles". These were slit lengthwise, and pushed over the wire frame, just like prototype. The "Ty-Raps" are black thread (pulled through a tack cloth) and tied. (The tack rag "stuff" gets rid of the fuzzy's, and give the thread some stick.

Pushrod · Active Member

Looks cool John, leave it to you to fully detail the car as if it were the real thing. Good work!

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Does it have A/C?

John D · 2K+ Club

Oh Yeah... the engine will probably dyno out at about .000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 horsepower. (whatever force 1/10oz. will generate when dropped the 20' in one minute... or whatever the formula is.)

John D · 2K+ Club

Maximum airflow AC - NO WINDOWS!

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Scale modeling has always fascinated me. You think real cars are a hobby. There is a dedicated hobby just for building model cars to the point where the technolgy in painting them alone is insane.

Hell, guys are even taking womens fingernail polish and using it to paint thier model cars with because it comes in literally millions of colors just like real automotive paint. Since its also a solvent based enamel they use it to get the high gloss polish that gets that fine waxed finish. The serious model car guys will buy one kit to get the engine and chassis from and use it on another car kit.

I have about 20 kits still in storage as well just waiting to be done right. I never really wanted to try it until I had all the equipment together to do them right so I never opened them. I spent most of my teen years building and detailing HO scale model Railroad equipment and scenery.

On the other end of the spectrum is the military modelers, they do more then just air planes. They have modeling bullet holes, mud built up in tank tracks and truck tires and grime down to a science as well.

John D · 2K+ Club

Finally got back around to it.... and started on another.

I'm making a duplicate of "Blackie". It was easier to build the real car!! I'm using AMT's '65 El Camino for the body & windows (It's the only '65 Elky kit out there), Revell's '65 Z-16 for the chassis & interior, and Revell's '96 Impala SS for the powertrain.

The Revell kits have so much more (and better) detail than the AMT's.

bowtie · Secretary

I made a deal with an old coworker, build him a model of his car in exchange for a new lawnmower he had stitting around. Still have the lawnmower too.

I have 2 kits for my car waiting for the days I get to them. For the other '72 owners, they're not easy to find. If you want one and see it, buy it right then. Looks like I will need to get an IROC model too for the engine, though I might still have one in my parts boxes. I used to do them quite a bit. 67SS's wife built him a 1:18 scale garage one year and I stole her idea and made a 1:24ish scale garage for myself. Can't post pics right now, but it's cool. Still have it too and that was built 15 years ago.