1969 Corvette 427

Be fun watching your progress. I guess I'm easily satisfied. I think to this day even if I won the mega million lotto a Vette is still my dream second car.

Of course you've seen the episode of From Earth to the Moon where they drive around in those Corvettes, yes?  

Not in years, I'll have to rewatch it!

The wire/hoses and the distributor came. They look really nice!

The engine is started:

And orange plug wires:

I don't really like the orange wires. I think I'll replace them with blue.

I've primed everything, and started brush painting some parts.

Most of the 1st cut painting is done.

The body gold is on.

After letting the lacquer cure for a week I painted the black "wings"

The car will be gloss coated eventually.

mach71

 

Good to see a good old school vehicle instead of a modern "computer on wheels"

'68 to '73 were my favorites but I love the '66 split window Stingray.

Those wires appear to be just a might oversized for 1/25 scale.

Check the wire diameter and multiply that by 25 to see what they would be full size.

The car is moving along nice, but I think that the plug wires are a wee bit long.

Disastermaster, 

I bought the wired distributor from an aftermarket company. It's listed as 1/24 scale.

They do look a bit thick, but I'm not going to rewire it.

JohnnyK,

Yah they are. The wires are just roughed in, they will be trimmed and positioned better. I still have to make the RF shield.

Thanks very much for the input! I need all the help I can get!

Looking good.  Nice even spray out on the gold.

DM- split windolws were 63's.  When the 64 came out a lot of people had the bar removed and the single glass installed.

Thanks goldhammer. Tamiya paint is nice to work with.

Speaking of '63 split windows...

From the Newport RI auto museum

Nice work, Mach!  No matter what size the spark plug wires, or their length, as long as the radio works, everythings "golden". 

Oh, and you'll need "NASA" emblems for the windshield!

Gary

Good call on the NASA badge on the window! I'll check my decals and see what I have.

goldhammer

DM- split windolws were 63's.  When the 64 came out a lot of people had the bar removed and the single glass installed.

My bad there. OOPs.

 A friend of mine had one of these when I was in high school 1966. He let me drive it down the bypass with him to my home.... I was almost 16, lucky I wasn't pulled over. I just assumed it was a '66 model because I was awestruck and it was so "new looking".

A very nice memory of a very nice car!

The motor is almost done.

The wires and boots are done and the air cleaner is mounted.

I'm starting on the detail work. The firewall and suspension.

The wheels are done, they are very nice. 

you’ve really done some great work with that gold paint. Has to Be one of the toughest colors to spray. I’m like you, haven’t done a car in decades myself. I have a USAF Thunderbird Mustang tribute car in the stash. What advice would you give for those of us who are out of touch with cars? 

Thanks!

If you build the Mustang, please post a build thread, I would love see it.

I'm plugging along with the kit.

I've been experimenting with washes. I've used a "landing gear" wash with good results on the front grill, rear leaf spring, and body vents. The chassis and suspension got a light wash of dark grey.

I think it worked ok.

Things are coming together slowly. 

The cockpit is done.

I ended up using the kits speedo/tach decals. I made some seatbelts out of medical tape.

The chassis is coming along. 

Mounting the motor gave me some problems. The chassis motor mounts were blocked by the headers. 

I tried a few things with no luck so I removed most of the motor mounts and got things situated. This is a 1970's kit after all.

The kit had no fuel lines, so I added one from the fuelpump to the carbs.

Great progress with this kit!  your detailing is fantastic from what we can see so far mate!  keep it up! 

Thanks!

It's slowly coming along.

The wheels are on! It's a rolling chassis now.

I had some repair work on the front suspension, The wheels fit very tight up front.

The cockpit and firewall are just dryfit.

Glosscoating and decals are on. All the badges and logos are raised on the kit and decals are supplied. With Micro Sol and Set they snugged down very nice.

Great finish

Thanks!

Oh wow!! Been missing out on this build. I do love me some old Vette's. I did have the opportunity to drive a split window coupe once when I was working at the dealership. I put a starter on it and well..............you HAVE to test drive it after the repair to verify the fix. It was a fun car to drive in certain aspects so the "cool" factor was way up there. What I did NOT like about it was the fact that you can't see a dang thing out of those small back windows and what you do see is distorted by those curves of the glass on the sides. Terrible backwards view. Beautiful cars though.

The body is mostly done.

The bumpers, body clading, fender inserts, hood are on.

Tomorrow I hope to get the windshields and cockpit in.

Windsields in and the cockpit is installed.

Working on the fender badges. So far nothing is really working out.

I need to go back and watch that episode of From Earth to the Moon again - I could swear that the three astronaut Vettes were labeled (Command Module Pilot or CMP, Lunar Module Pilot or LMP, and whatever the third one was.)  I can't find those labels in any pictures of the Apollo 12 astronauts with the original Vettes though.   

The blue on the fender badges had "LMP" "CDR" or "CMP" for Lunar Module Pilot, Commander, Command Module Pilot. They were in script.

The license plates were LMP XII, CDR XII, CMP XII also.

I'll work on the frnder badges after everything is done.

But....

A setback.

The aircleaner is too tall.

This is odd because I checked the kit plastic part against the metal aftermarket on and they were very close. The engine might be mounted a bit high. Either way I have some surgery ahead.

It does look nice, I could just leave the hood open. ;-)

DONE!