Hello. I have Revell-Monogram’s 1/12 scale 1967 Corvette and 1969 (?) Camaro kits. Both have the Chevy 427 engine, and both instruction manuals say to paint the blocks orange. Would Testor’s (little bottle) plain gloss orange be appropriate? Model Master makes a “Chevy Engine Red”; would this be more appropriate? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
‘Shaker orange’ is very close to what you have.
Automotive supply store will have the exact color in a rattle can, high heat paint. Be sure to prime first with Testor’s enamel flat white. Go with a few thin coats as orange is one of them light colors that is difficult to lay down well. Don’t fuss if a few nooks & crannies don’t get covered, that will sort out later in a wash to make the details ‘pop’.
The 427 was a Ford big block found in Shelby Cobras, select Mustangs and other Ford muscle cars.
The GM big block was a 454 cubic inch motor. A 383 ‘Stroker’ was a Chevy 350 block bored out to 383 cubic inches.
I don’t wanna sound like a smarty pants but Chevy did have a 427 within their big block lineup. Essentially the same as their 396 and 454 engines. Ford’s 427 was from the “FE” series of big blocks which included the 360, 390, 427 and 428 and maybe a 410 IIRC? Now to confuse things further occasionally someone will mention a ‘302’ small block and insist that has to be a Ford but Chevy had one too!
Anyways, IMHO “Chevy Orange”, for engines varies almost as much as “Ford Blue” for engines. But, the lil jar of ‘Gloss Orange’ Testors is close to a “freshly” painted engine while the real life ones seemed to darken a little through aging and baking on I guess? But “red”, no, not really.
Hope that helps some?[*-)]
Go Google Images Corvette 427 and you find dozens of pics. The Chevrolet Orange used on the Corvette big blocks is a red orange. You can make your own if nothing off the shelf suits your fancy.
[:)]
Here’s a Corvette smallblock engine. The color is neither a full red nor a full orange. Big blocks would have been a similar color.
[:)]
Chevy certainly did build a 427, the most famous being the L71 “Tripower” which had 435HP and came in Corvettes. I have a friend that had a 426 equipped Camaro “back in the day”.
The most famous would probably the Can-Am version 427 ZL1 used by McLaren with devastating results. Devastating to their competitors, that is.
The MM Chevy Engine Red, or any of the other suggestions will work fine.
As an aside, Chevy also had a separate 427 truck engine that went into their 2 ton and up trucks that lasted into the '80s. Our township had an '84 5 ton with one of these with a mechanical four bbl on it but due to all the smog equipment and numerous belt run accessories it only had about 160 hp left to put to the pavement. The best you could do plowing snow was 1st high or 2nd low on the tranny @ 30 mph floor boarded.
I believe this engine had a higher deck height than the car engine. There have been a few articles in the auto craft mags on how to trick one of these engines up for use in drag racing. FWIW the engine in our town’s truck was blue!
Pat.
Pat, Chevy actually made two different 427 engines. The first was based on the 409 “W” engine block, and was built between 1963 & 1966. The second gen engine used in Camaros and Vettes was quite a different engine. Car production with the 427 ended in 1969, though engine production continued for trucks and racing. Its replacement was the 454. The truck block you mention is based on the second gen engine, and It actually lasted until the mid-90s.
Yeah, I though I read the manual correctly. It is the 427 you guys are talking about. And, I’ve got orange and red in the small bottles, and I’ve got the MM color, too. I think I’ll go with the orange, and add a small amount of red to it until I get something close to the previous picture. Thanks so much all!! I really appreciate the help and the history, too!!
I’m not up on engines so I have a question. I had a '60 Chevy Convert. with a 348 / 3-2bbls. This isn’t included in the engines posted above. My question is where did my engine fit in the list. I remember being told that it was originally a truck engine. It had a hot cam and solid lifters too. My old memory doesn’t work too good now and then but I remember at the time not really caring as long as it got the job done.
Jim [cptn]
Edit - The engine was a very bright orange.
Jim, the 348 was the original “W” block, it’s bigger brother is the famous “She’s real fine, my 409!”. And you are right in that it was originally a truck engine, but was quickly installed in the full size lineup of cars. They used that size from 1958 until 1961 when it was replaced by the 409 in the passenger cars. Trucks continued with the engine until 1964.
I’m going to guess that you had an Impala or Biscayne, and I won’t tell you how much one in mint condition will fetch these days! Suffice to say that you could buy a LOT of kits with the proceeds, and maybe a new car, too!
Bill, the car was an Impala with the 3’ Continental kit and Turnpike Cruiser skirts. It was red (of course). I saw one exactly like it at a car show about 10 years ago with a “For Sale” sign on it. They were asking $36,000. If I had it, I would have bought it on the spot. It was in A-1 perfect condition. I was drooling all day and talking about it for the next couple of weeks.
Jim [cptn]
You mean like this one? And it’s only $60K, too! Should have grabbed it at $36K.
It absolutely boggles my mind how much people are willing to pay for cars that I drove as a kid. I never spent more than $1500 for a car, and I owned quite a few muscle cars in my day.
That’s the one. O - M - G Bill you just made my day. [snWow] Isn’t that just huge and gorgeous? It used to just float down the road. Have photos of all my cars except the '60 and my '66 GTO. I said the same thing about the price of a car but the one I have now (a Subaru Outback Wagon) cost me more USED than I paid for my first house.
Jim [cptn]
Glad I could brighten your day, Jim! I’ve a hankering for the old cars. I was more into Pony and Muscle cars in those days, but I had a friend with a 64 Impala (sadly not the SS) and another with a 66 Parisienne (Catalina in the US). I used to call them “boats” to tease them, but I have to admit there was something nice about floating down the highway, oblivious to the bumps in the road.
I stand corrected![:$]
Good ol’ Google & some gear heads say the Corvette had a 427 cubic inch big block motor.[au]
Once again proves you should not believe everything you read on the 'net & only 1/2 of what you see![^o)]
[I]A base coat of red followed with orange would be close to the red / orange shown above ^^^
Well… Monogram has been sketchy on their research from what I’ve seen…it can go either way. But, that seems to be the consensus view on here as well. You are right, then. That model corvette did, indeed , have a 427. I’ve already spent yesterday evening mixing my own custom color of orange-red to match the photo. But, appreciate the tip anyway. Thanks!
LOL! No worries, the Ford motor is the more famous displacement. Say “427” to me in a word association game and my first word will be “Cobra” and the second will be “Cammer” both Fords. The third will be “Tri-Power” which was the Chevy 427.
It’s not really surprising that people get confused by the similar displacements. But it’s really just giving people what the marketers think they want, combined with maximum displacement caps by racing associations. As mentioned previously both Chevy and Ford had 302s, completely due to the Trans-Am racing series. They dictated that the maximum size would be 5 liters, or 302. Why would anyone show up with a 289 or a 283? [:D]
I thought the Chevy motor was a 305? Just 3 cubic inches…not enough to even know the difference.
Chevy also had a 305, and a 307. But yes, they had a 302.
But I had a 1970 Ford Boss 302 Mustang.[H]