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In 1977, as a Christmas gift from my brother, I got a
model kit of a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray in 1/8 scale. The kit was made
by Monogram, but the same kit was later also released by Revell. There were
editions with the body in both red and blue plastic. I noticed quite immediately
that the detail level was low, lower than many models in 1/25 scale. Not even
the doors were operable and the chrome-plating quality was really poor.
Comparing with the French Heller's super detailed 1/8 model kit of the Citroen
B15, which I built earlier, the Corvette was toyish and a real disappointment
for an experienced modeller. But I decided to take it on anyway.
To take the project to a decent level, I realized that it must
be a major operation, with many new details made from scratch. I got in contact
with GM, and they were kind enough to send me The Illustrated Spare Parts
Catalogue with many, but unfortunately not all, details pictured.
I made the engine half-finished and some work on the frame.
Then I gave up and spent my time on career and other things in life. The model
kit remained in the box until 2019. Almost 42; years!!
By some reason I Googled the model kit and saw that others had
built it, adding details and with opening doors but yet not the detail level I
was looking for. It should be as good as the Heller Citroen, or the fantastic
Amalgam models. If could be done...
Nowadays the Internet presents great opportunities which were
impossible in 1977, so I made a careful research and got a lot of information,
photos, drawings, etc. as basis to take the project on again.
Building
The following documentation shows, step by step, how the work
progressed, in which order and how I solved emerged problems. Surely it could
have been done in other or even better ways, but this is how I did it. I decided
to work on several fronts to make it easier checking parts to fit.
I started with the engine. The block, the injection house, the
air- and fuel meters was already put together, with certain misses i mould
detailing, but I let it pass. Due to the research it was possible to see how to
route all hoses, cables and pipes. The ignition cable shields, under the exhaust
manifolds, were completely missing, so i made them of plasticard from scratch.
Also the gear linkage and clutch arm were remade.
The vacuum advance, fuel pump and fuel filter was made new.
Hoses are most easily done using electric cables of adequate dimension. They can
be difficult to bend to the right shape, but it is easier if you replace the
thin copper wires with a coarser brass wire that is pressed in and bent to the
right shape. Hose clamps were made from an aluminum pie tin. Authentic decals
were scaled down from the original to decal paper.
The valve covers and the cover on the injection house is
actually cast aluminium, but I chose to let the original chrome details remain
since these in this case was OK. A little custom bling doesn't hurt.
The throttle mechanism with its return spring behind the air
intake was new made of brass sheet. The accelerator pedal link is not yet
mounted. The crankcase ventilation pipe can be seen underneath just above the
valve cover.
The big shield behind the engine contains the distributor,
ignition cables etc. The chrome-plating of the kit was so poor that it couldn't be used. I painted it in
silver 1977 and glued it in place. Today I would have used foil, Alclad- or
Molotow-chrome, but since the rest of the new made cable shields was silver
painted, I let it be.
The hooks of the air cleaner were made new, as well as
brackets to the air intake adaptor.
Later I had to shorten the rubber bellow and make new hose
clamps to make place for the air cleaner package between the inner fender and
intake adaptor. The front pipe towards the radiator wall should have a little
bend downwards, but I followed the kit and left it straight.
The chassis was molded in one piece with a lot of details
missing or inaccurate. The frame profiles had inaccurate shape and had the top
open.
I started with the front inner fenders. These were molded
together with the chassis, had inaccurate shape and didn't connect to the body
fenders. The photo also shows the gearbox frame bracket and exhaust pipe
bushings, which also were made new of plasticard.
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