I’ve been working on a pair of 1970-1/2 Camaros for the last several months. I was getting ready to get started on the Baldwin Motion half of the dual build when I found out that a good friend of mine was going to be retiring from the company that I work for in late November. He owns a 2017 Camaro “Fiftieth” Edition and I thought I’d build him a going away present. It’s rare when I do this as I always tend to feel under the gun of a time frame in which to get a build finished in time.
In any case, here’s the kit:
I already know this: I’m going to have to address…if you guessed it…you’re right…the ride height at the front of the car.
Thanks Joe. Yeah this one’s definitely out of my comfort zone. I’m used to anything from the 40’s through around the 90’s at the latest and that’s pushin’ it. I’m old school for sure…kind of a “Brutus vs. Geeky” approach to hot rodding.
Engine is pretty much finished up on this one aside from some minor touch ups. It’s all OOB except for the AC Delco decal on the oil filter. Couldn’t help myself…just had to add it.
The only chrome parts in the kit were the wheels and those aren’t supposed to be chrome. They are more of a silver color with a contrasting darker color for the inlay areas of the wheel. I’m sure it’s the manufacturer accommodating the masses who want to build the model “as is”. No hit on AMT here but I had to make the corrections.
The real wheel:
So I went to work by stripping all of the chrome off of them and cleaning them up.
Here they are finished up. One of the problems with silver is that any flash at all will show up in photos…particularly when macro is used. In real life you’ve really gotta be looking to see it. I used Vallejo Silver for the wheels and shaded the darker areas with brushed on ground up black pastel as I just didn’t feel comfortable painting the inlay areas. I then put a dot of chrome on the lugnuts of each wheel and used a toothpick to apply MM Silver enamel to the bowtie in the center of each wheel.
I did some work on the rear suspension to get the stance mostly where I want it. Gonna play around with the front of the vehicle a little more to get it a tad bit lower.
This is where we’re at now but I’ll be back with another mock up later:
One thing that this kit has going for it is a completely detailed out undercarraige. Very high parts count (over 45 parts) and a great effort by AMT on replicating it.
I used 3 different shades of black to add depth and bring out the details.
Now to move on to the interior. After building the chassis up, I’m a little let down with the interior. I mean…it’s okay…but the main problem is painting up the contrasting panels on the seats, door panels and dash. LOTS of masking in store for me.
Check it out:
Here’s the layout which has now been primed and had the semi gloss black applied lightly for the right effects.
Dash now mostly completed. Still have the steering wheel and column to go and then we’re off to the seats. I did purchase another one of these kits so I could make paint masks for the seats. That’ll be coming up soon I hope.
LOL!! Thanks Steve! aaaaaaaaaaaaand the interior is now finished!! The rough edges between the borders of the two tone seats is ALOT less noticeable in real life and is more the camera picking these up. I desided to go with decals from the Foose FD-100 kit for the light gray portion of the seats which resulted in a cleaner demarkation line than I could’ve done with paint. Masking on these irregular surfaces to achieve the same effect would’ve been dang near impossible for me I think. This interior was almost as difficult as the '67 Mustang interior that I just got through with a few months ago. LOTS of masking and LOTS of different shades of blak with the details being picked out.
Thanks fellas! The instrument panel decal on the entertainment center is indeed something that I’m not used to working with.
I’ve got the engine bay finished up save for getting the radiator true with the core support. Not sure what happened there but I’ll try to whup that into shape.
John: Thanks buddy. I spend alot of time in research before building these things. Try to get it as close as I can.
Eagle: Thank you good sir. They’re not that bad really. That coolant reservoir comes loose on the passengers side with just a couple of bolts and it’s all out of your way. The stuff on top is just engine decor panels that pop off.
