After getting results from my “I’m looking for small block Chevy exhaust headers…” query here, I’ve finally reached an endpoint on my Z28 project.
I think I’m pretty much calling this one done. I’ve been working on this project off and on for about a decade. The idea was to recreate my bride’s 1995 Z28 convertible. It had a multitude of modifications that I’ve tried to replicate in 1/25 scale.
The starting point was the old AMT 1994 Z28 kit. It’s not an easy kit if building out of the box, let alone modifying much of it. The parts fit is so-so, and they have you many times gluing 3 or 4 things together at once with no locator pins, and only iffy illustrations. Luckily, I had several pictures of our car as reference.
Our 1:1 car came to us with a 381 LT4 engine a friend swapped in from his 96 Impala SS. There were some additional modifications, like a 4-point roll bar and some suspension upgrades to help it be a decent DE car. I found a set of 4th Gen Camaro seats that someone had upholstered cutouts for the shoulder harnesses and swapped those in, replacing the OEM seats and Corbeau racing bucket that the PO had installed. That, and the harnesses, held you in place pretty well. I think we autocrossed it a couple of times, but even with the suspension mods, it felt a little soft and heavy. It DID run, though!
I fabbed up the replacement tubular rear LCAs and panhard bar, and wound wire to replicate the rear springs. The kit even got a tubular torque arm installed. That all fit mostly okay.
It took me a long time to find a set of headers that both looked authentic and fit. I ended up modifying a set of Mopar B-body 440 headers and cutting away a bit of the k-member to fit them. The exhaust is a combination of solder, plastic tubing and aluminum tubing. The pipes between the muffler and exhaust tips are the only kit parts used.
The 1:1 car pictures show OEM Z28 wheels, but the car did come with some SS replicas that I modeled using Corvette Z06 wheels, painted to match what we had for the car. I also added the Z06 kit front brakes. We had a big brake kit for the car that never got installed, but the idea was still there, so they got put on the kit.
The hood didn’t fit well, it had a different curve than the fenders, so if it was fit flush in the back, it sat proud at the front, and visa versa. So, I replicated the hood lifts and posed the hood open. Attempts to add working hinges failed, so the hood is epoxied in place.
Probably the biggest disappointment was the windshield washer bottle, that goes in front of the radiator. It is supposed to go in, sitting on two tabs on the chassis, before the body is installed to the chassis. I forgot that, and many, many hours (I probably have 10+ hours futzing with it) trying to make it fit up in there failed miserably, so It’s been left off.
It still need some minor touch-ups, the join between the door panels and doors need a bit of paint, and the front left strut needs re-gluing to the front LCA, but with all the fiddly bits on it now, it seems that fixing one thing breaks two others, so I may forget this stuff needs doing.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the car and the 1/25 scale kit. I hope you enjoy. Next project!!
Original car, under hood:
Top down:
Driver’s seat with harnesses:
Kit pics:
