1/8 Corvette Stingray

This is the huge Revell kit from long ago.

I finished it a while ago and didn’t post a build diary at that time so here’s a ‘short’ commentary. (Well – short for me!)

As bought, the kit has an opening bonnet (hood) but nothing else. I decided from the outset it needed opening doors too. This involved scribing the door lines using a dental probe until the doors fell out!

The openings and door edges were cleaned up and the build progressed.
I did a lot of research on the real car and found original wiring diagrams and parts manuals so that I could add extra detail to the engine and engine bay. At the time, it was probably one of the most involved ‘upgradings’ I had done on a model.
It looks quite basic to me now.

Lots of wiring, plumbing, injector pipes, fuel lines and brake lines were added and I also printed decals for the various filters, coil, battery, chassis plates, door shut plates, etc etc.

I started on the chassis and associated bits and first off, I filled the open chassis rails with plasticard instead of leaving them as open 'U' sections.

I also rebuilt the battery as the kit part had a very unrealistic 'taper' to the shape and very little actual detail. I modelled the battery on a mid '60s Delco unit, adding cable clamps from plastic tube and sheet. The holder bar is foiled plasticard held with paper clip wire. The 'wingnuts' are tube with thin metal 'wings' glued in place.

The piping was also added to the tank unit based on googled pics. The kit has no pipework here at all.

Roy

Up to your usual very high standards and a lovely finish.

Always makes me smile on some model sites how Revell get a bashing but if they were not doing these sort of kits who would. Depending on what you buy some may need some additional attention but were is the harm in that.

And if you know what you are doing (as you do) what a brilliant model you end up with.

You really do turn out some lovely looking vehicle models.

tony

All looking good Roy and nice work

Looks great Roy and a lot better than the standard kit.

Al

Superb work as usual Roy. Would expect nothing less from you.

Mark

Lovely result on the painting Roy regards Phil

Roy

Very nice looking model.

Nice colour choice as well.

Tony

Thanks for looking in chaps, and the kind words.

Next up was to make some door - shuts around the roof to prevent having a see-through gap when finished. These were made with thin plasticard painted matt black to represent the rubber seals. Inside, they are headlining colour which is cream.

Making the door hinges was fairly straightforward - I learned a lot after making the doors open on a 1/12 Revell Testarossa.
These hinges are much heftier with lots of strengthening due to the door size.

Interior tub was also now glued in place with some strengthening still to add - the whole interior tub was supposed to be attached by three VERY small points!
Next was to sort out filling the gaps between the interior and the body shell, and then fit the door panels.

I filled the door sills and open body ends using plasticard and made the tread plates with some self adhesive chrome foil and black trimline. These were based on Googled pics of the real car.

Fitting the door panels was done by sticking them approximately in place with blobs of Blu-Tak, shutting the door and adjusting the fit with a finger through the open window. Then strengthening strips of plasticard were glued in place between the panel and the door skin.
After that, I was going to remove the Blu-Tak, but decided to leave it inside the doors as it gives the doors a nice 'weight' when you open and shut them.

I'm pleased with the way the door 'action' turned out on this one, as the 1/12 Testarossa was a 'first' for making opening doors and although they work, they feel very fragile so I tend to leave them alone.
The hinges on the Sting Ray were very heavily over-engineered to the point the doors work really well and feel very solid.

The door ends aren't technically correct regarding the contours etc, and are just flat panels but I added a few details such as the lock, some large fixing screws, rubber seals and tyre pressure and GM decals.

Stunning work Roy. A credit to your talents. Andy.