Monogram 1969 Camaro SS-PROJECT COMPLETED-07/20

Nick: LOLOLOL!!!

Joe: I really appreciate that good buddy!!

I've got the chassis as done as it's gonna get. I spent a lot of time removing seam lines and injector pin marks from the replacement rear leaf springs and axle. I tossed the original rear diff cover in some brake fluid and sanded it to a more realistic scale thickness and Alcladed it and also cleaned up the traction bars and chromed those. I cleaned the replacement front suspension up and outlined the front spring detail with a Molotow chrome pen. The base chassis assy is all original and has only been touched up with paint. I touched up the raised brake line and fuel line details with some Aluminum paint using a detail brush and applied a wash over the original silver painted fuel tank just to bring out some of the details.

 

 

While I was on the subject of chassis , I thought I'd mock up the suspension one more time. I've changed the original tire layout up since the beginning and have decided to go with this stance with the rear tire juuuuust even with the upper part of the rear wheel opening. So far............I'm happy with this!



Here we are mocked up with the spare body:

That's the engine detailing we know and love from you Bro. Sweet!

Ok after 35 years of xerox  i didn't think I was color blind  lol

crown r n7

hey thats outstanding job ! but what happened to the metalic teal ?

 

hey thats outstanding job ! but what happened to the metalic teal ?

Thanks brutha Joe!

I've managed to get the carburetor on with the fuel lines and fuel filter as well as the ignition system all taken care of. Looking back I wish I would've included the barrel nut for the fuel line to fuel pump connection but it's installed now so there's no going back now. I'll be coming up with a throttle return spring and bracket soon.

Excellent paint job Joe. It looks right nice. The engine is also looking absolutely fantastic. Good to see you back at it on the Camaro.

Thanks Stevie. lol. Yeah................... I noticed. lol

 way to go, GREAT color.  

Uh did ya notice what seems to be a "slight" overspray on the windows? an' that they are wrinkled too     Ha Ha got 'cha

Thanks for the input and the replies folks and after a long absense from this thread we'll crank 'er up again.

After a botched attempt at the first coat of paint and having to restrip and reprime it I've got COLOR!!! I ended up applying another coat of primer and smoothed all the imperfections out (a couple of freekin' dog hairs and some dust particles) and dispensed the paint into a paint jar and shot it through my airbrush. I had ALOT better results this time around fellas, however this paint does not play well with the air brush. Even after thinning the crap out of it I had difficulty in getting a uniform spray pattern to come out. I can't complaint too much as I'll be able to make this work out good in the end. These pics were taken after the results from my Badger 200. After these I decided to break out the much simpler Badger 350 and had a lot better luck with the pattern and a more consistent coat. I'm really going to be very happy with this color on this car is all I've gotta say:

Engine is still coming along. Resin Holley test fitted onto the motor complete with throttle shaft and throttle lever.

Dont worry Joe you have this paint thing in the bag.

I've been takin' notes so I can apply those good ideas as I hack and slog my way toward completin' something some day.

I do really like how the interior and engine came out (even with out the wing nuts )

That is definitely a shame concerning the paint job. Yet, I have no doubt that you will have looking sharp in no time. That "ghosting" effect is a new one on me. Never seen that before. The engine is looking absolutely terrific. Looking forward to your next update.

Looking great Joe. The body issues, that is called ghosting. To avoid it, apply very light mist coats of primer, 3 or 4, then a couple of medium coats, then your wet coats. No guarentees, but it will lessen the chance.

PANZERJAGER

 

Mopar Madness

I love the rocker covers!  Those manifolds look quite convincing too! Nicely detailed.

 

 

 

 

would look better with some bolt heads though...

 

 

PJ: I'm going to be using some wing bolts. See those holes in the rocker covers? They'll be going in there. Stay tuned.................

Mopar Madness

I love the rocker covers!  Those manifolds look quite convincing too! Nicely detailed.

 

would look better with some bolt heads though...

I love the rocker covers!  Those manifolds look quite convincing too! Nicely detailed.

Been a while since the last update folks. I had a bit of trouble out of the paint. I actually had this thing primed and painted as of last Friday but then things went wrong...........REALLY wrong. I had sanded all of the molded emblems from the body and primed with Tamiya Primer. Using automotive paint (Mystic Teal Metallic) I began to shoot the color onto the body. It all looked superb! I mean it was the best coat of color I've laid down yet , and then.....................it went south................in a hurry! My emblems all came back but instead of being raised they were sunken in. I'll Illustrate:

Additionally there were small ripples in the plastic!!!!!!!!!! Dammit!! I've since stripped all of the paint from the body and have been sanding all dang week. I put some plastic sprue shavings in a jar and mixed some Tamiya thin cement with it to form a liquid plastic and applied it to all areas where the emblems were, let it harden and smoothed all of those back out. I still have some touch up to go but should be ready for AIRBRUSHING this paint on in thin layers by the end of the weekend. I just shot the paint on way to thick is all that happened and the bad thing is ...................I know better. I finally got it back in primer this morning:

So far so good there. I'll let it dry for a couple of days and try the base coat again with the airbrush.

While all that's going on I ended up switching out the rocker covers with a set of Baldwin Motion ones. I shot a coat of Tamiya Smoke over 'em and brought out the "Motion" letters. I drilled the holes out for the rocker cover "wing bolts" that I'll be installing at a later point in the engine build.  I also switched out the intake manifold and painted that this morning. Belt and alternator are now mounted and I'm fabricating an alternator mount for it so we don't have that mysterious floating alternator out there.

Still got some detailing to do the rocker covers but that's small stuff.

Thanks Joe and Greg.

No problem there Greg on the the Molotow pens. Hope you get yours soon. As for the engine block finish...............I've got an idea.

I missed a lot, catching up.....

That interior is absolutely awesome, Joe.

A belated thank you for the info on the Molotow Chrome Pens. Wow, they look too good to be true. Out of stock already at Art Primo, but they'll be back and in meantime they are in stock elsewhere.

As usual, your engine block finish looks real. I still don't know how you do that.

That is some dynamite progress Joe. It is indeed sometimes head scratching why some kits are molded with attachment points in very disadvantageous spots. Whether it be on highly visible ones or very difficult to sand ones. Love the oil filter decals. That's a sweet touch. You're on a roll my friend. Keep it going. 

LOL! Thanks Joe.

I had what I call lots of progress yesterday. I'm back in the fight again after re-hashing the engine size ordeal and am back on the road with this puppy. First off this thing had a nasty mount hole in the oil pan for the Chevelle that it was supposed to go in so I had to fill that in with super glue, sand flush and smooth out:



Then I had the sprue attachment points to contend with which always seem to show up in the most unwanted places like at the ends of cylinder heads, smack dab in the middle of the transmissions.........on the bottom nonetheless and places like this timing cover. This stuff bugs me so I got rid of that from the timing cover and the rest of the attachment points on the engine pieces:



I also got this cool decal sheet with a bunch of oil filter decals on it. Nice touch for the bottom end as well as the PE oil pan drain plug. I toned the engine paint down and brought out the molded in detail with an airbrushed coat of Tamiya Smoke.





I carried the fuel pump over from the other engine but replaced the starter with the AMT offering because it had better details than the Revell starter did.



I tried something new with the exhaust manifolds. I primed them in flat black and shot a very light coat of Alclad II Polished Aluminum on them to give them a true iron look. I was happy with the results but the pictures don't seem to capture the dark steel/ iron look that they actually are. Believe me, they aint this flashy:

Good to see you that you got the interior all trimmed out. It looks great. Pretty interesting the difference in size and shape between the two. Someone apparently needs some remedial math. So, let me get this straight, you have components from Revell, Monogram and AMT. Well then it seems that your "Frankenstein" wouldn't be quite right unless you have some more additions from, say, JoHan and Polar Lights. (not sure if either of those make Camaros though). 

Mopar Madness

Man that's a nice Camaro!    Might even overtake that 89 Fox body sedan in the next lane!   

 

Man that's a nice Camaro!  Let's see... a green light, 3,000 rpm on the tach, light off the clutch and heavy on the pedal would be just about right!  Might even overtake that 89 Fox body sedan in the next lane!   

So I picked up this 1/25 scale Revell Camaro for any spare parts I might need along the way, a few of which I have used. I've gotten some commentary on how bad the old Monogram Camaro was in terms of size and overall accuracy in which I can say that those comments are right on in almost every sense of the word. Nevertheless, my original goal was to restore my first auto build and I will be staying true to that course. However there is a temporary set back with the engine.

I test fitted the 396 that I've been building up into the mocked up build and I'm glad I did. Talk about what looks like a mouse motor looking 396 in there between the fenders!!!

The more I looked at it , the more I saw a distinct difference in not only scale but from the last BB Chevy I built that went into my '54 Panel. So I turned right back to the AMT BB Chevy for an engine build. Both are the "same scale" at 1/25 but look how much bigger AMT's BB is as opposed to Revell's.

  I also grabbed a set of 1/24 scale rocker covers from the Pro Stock Camaro kit that I've got for extra "bulk". They fit perfectly.

Yeah..................a no brainer right?

Another thing that I liked about AMT's BB is that it also comes with a bracket for that alternator so I don't have that "mysterious floating alternator" hanging off of the belt out there.

Just as a side note and as a defense to those who are telling me that the Monogram Camaro has some severe dimensional and accuracy issues. Here is the Monogram Camaro body on the left and the Revell one to the right. First off I just don't see how a 1/24th scale model could be this far off in size difference................but that's just me. Secondly there ARE some serious differences in the body lines and curves throughout the body on the Monogram one. Wow! Still................this is all about sentiments so forward with my original intent I go.....

thats a work of art !

Well guys, the floor mats came in the mail yesterday and I went right to work finishing the interior. All I have left at this point are the door lock rods/ knobs at each door but that'll be one of the last things to take care of with this model. I will, however, go ahead and drill the holes in the door panel. Here it is with floor mats at all four seating positions , the front seat belts installed and a Hot Rod magazine to round it all out.

I just hate these engines that are molded in two halves with the oil pan included. 

 After taking care of the seam lines and priming , I carried the black basing over from the aviation side and applied it here.

I went ahead and black based the intake manifold as well. I shot the block with some home mixed Chevrolet Engine Red and shot the coat on and then shot the intake with some "Aluminum". After that I applied a subtle wash to bring out the detail of both pieces. 

Thanks Joe. I managed to get most of the way recovered over the weekend. I'd rather be sick over the weekend than to either miss work or be sick at work.

Outstanding looking interior. I like this pic angle as it shows the really nice effects you were able to get on the trim with your chrome pen. Very impressive. By the way, I hope your feelig better and that you're on the recovery side of your cold.