'64 Impala SS Convertible Revell

[tcoat]

A couple of years ago I got the bright idea of building all the cars I used to own or had an impact on me growing up in real life that there are kits for. There are a surprising number of them actually.

This is the very nice Revell latest release. Beautiful kit with very nice details until you come to the tail lights. They are different sizes and just too large so will be replaced at a later date but for now calling it done. This project took me 2 years to complete as it was my first ever real car model build and it kept getting put away while I practiced some skills.



This is a model of my very first legal car. By "legal" I mean it had it's own real plates (not off another car) and insurance. When I bought it in 1975 it was fresh out of the body and paint shop but the rest remained 11 years old so the build reflects that mix of old and new. I will post some stories about the real thing later so anybody just looking at models doesn't have to read through it all!



So here it is.
























And with antenna, interior mirror and rear seat convertible mech panels that I forgot until after I posted all the pictures!

[tcoat]

And now the stories!


I bought this car from a used car dealer shortly after my 16th birthday in 1975. It was safety certified, plated and you could still smell the paint it was so fresh. Up to that point (from age 13) I had been driving unregistered cars that I picked up cheap, drove for a bit and flipped for a profit to buy a "real car".



While digging through old photo albums for a picture of it (I failed) I did find the original sales slip. Anybody know where I can match that price today?



The poor old girl saw a lot of miles through high school and Sea Cadets as I was often the only person with my own car much less one that could hold so many people. For the next couple of years I had no real issues and it was trouble free.



In 1977 I was station to Germany with the Army and left the car in the care of a buddy. When I returned in late '78 I went to pick up my car and he told me he hadn't driven it all summer since it was making a "funny noise". Took me all of five minutes to find the 6 inch crack up the side of the block where it had frozen after he had put pure water in it. Since the engine was toast and he was paying I went off to the wreckers and found a low miles '66 300HP 327 to swap for the original base 265hp one. Since I was in barracks and had no place to work on the car I took it to the garage I worked in as a kid and had them do it.



I don't think I was overcharged.



It ran like a dream and all of a sudden could do burnouts that it would never do before. Unfortunately the rest of it was still a 14 year old car and one day while going down the highway at 60 the diff locked up solid. Both hubcaps shot straight down hit the road and headed for the horizon. I came to a screeching halt without further incident retrieved the one cap that headed into field and gave up on the other which was someplace far, far down the road.



About 5 years ago I was cleaning up some boxes and fund this in the bottom. Somehow I had hung onto it for 40 years! It doesn't look bad in the picture but it did not take the situation well I assure you.



Of course I had to have the diff replaced.



While it was in for repair I stumbled across a highly modified '64 Econoline van (More on this in another thread) and bought it as my daily. Although I still had the SS and it would carry on for a few more years in a secondary role it was the beginning of the end for the poor old Impala. In '82 the starter went on it and I parked it at the end of my apartment complex parking. Some kids slit the top climbed in and slashed ever single soft surface in the car. Dash pad, seats top cover, door panels, EVERYTHING was cut up. Since I still didn't want to give it up as the body was still great and other than the starter it ran perfectly I towed it over to my sisters shed. On the way the passenger side of the rear bumper dropped almost to the road. A quick look showed the worst! As many of these cars were inflicted the frame had rotted off right where the exhaust crossed it by the gas tank. That was the last straw and the car sat in the shed for a few more years before I finally broke down and sold what was left of it for $3,000. Today it would be seen again on a Bran Find Will It Start video but back then I had no clue where it went. Due to the era I wouldn't doubt it became a Lowrider someplace and could still be around today.

[mustang1989]

These are pretty cool cars. My dad had a 64 Impala with a 283 and it was a convertible as well. He used to tell me stories of him and my grandpa racing home after work. Dad had the Impala and my grandpa had either a Fairlane or a Galaxy with a 390 V-8 and they ran 120mph + on Hwy 84 out to Lake Texhoma in Denison Tx. Now ..........to put this into perspective...Hwy 84 is a highway that you can barely go 60mph on without taking the front end out from under your car and these guys were doing a buck twenty on it. The things we do in this life and get by with...............

What you've done here with this model is nothing short of fabulous Tony. Beautiful build all the way around!!! 

Nice relics as well. That hubcap was a BONUS find. 

[tcoat]

Mar 9, 2023 12:33:25 GMT -5 mustang1989 said:

These are pretty cool cars. My dad had a 64 Impala with a 283 and it was a convertible as well. He used to tell me stories of him and my grandpa racing home after work. Dad had the Impala and my grandpa had either a Fairlane or a Galaxy with a 390 V-8 and they ran 120mph + on Hwy 84 out to Lake Texhoma in Denison Tx. Now ..........to put this into perspective...Hwy 84 is a highway that you can barely go 60mph on without taking the front end out from under your car and these guys were doing a buck twenty on it. The things we do in this life and get by with...............

What you've done here with this model is nothing short of fabulous Tony. Beautiful build all the way around!!! 

Nice relics as well. That hubcap was a BONUS find. 

LOLOLOLOLOLOL
OK so next thread coming up is.... My grandfathers car! You are going to laugh and laugh.

[tcoat]

Found something else while digging through boxes. Any idea what the library late fees would be from July 1975 until now?

[70 STING]

Beautiful build. You should display it upside down to show off the awesome chassis work. ;^)

[406 Silverado]

Apr 29, 2023 7:52:16 GMT -5 70 STING said:

Beautiful build. You should display it upside down to show off the awesome chassis work. ;^)

Right??!! Or maybe on one of those elevated display stands that you can by that has the mirror underneath to where all of that beautiful detail can be seen.

[tcoat]

Apr 29, 2023 7:52:16 GMT -5 70 STING said:

Beautiful build. You should display it upside down to show off the awesome chassis work. ;^)

My plan is to build all the important or "cool" cars in my life and line them all up by year owned with mine in the front and family in the rear. Since many of them overlapped I will do a timeline marking what years (or months) I had them. All will be built in the condition they were actually in so most will be rather beat. I suppose I could raise them over mirrors though since most will have  ummmm...  "interesting" undersides.

 However... I will need to be very lucky to ever finish my list! Doesn't even include many of the mundane drive for 2 months and throw away cars such as a Maverick, early 80s Chevy Citation and 74 Delta 88 four door or some buy and flip ones like a 64 Skylark or 64 Comet Caliente Convertible.

Completed
1964 Impala SS - Mine
1966 Corvair - Mine
1964 Econoline - Mine
1974 Datsun Pickup - Mine
1964 Galaxie 500 - Grandfather


In stash I have
1970 Coronet R/T - Mine (almost done)
1977 Ford van - Mine (started)
2014 Scion FRS - Mine (started)
2020 Toyota GT86 Hakone -Mine (not started)
1965 Chevy Stepside - Dad's (started)
1958 Nomad - Mine (conversion of resin sedan delivery not started)

Still looking for kits that I know were/are made
1964 Karmann Ghia - Mine
1966 Fairlane 500GT Convertible - Mine
1962 VW Van - Dad's
1964 1/2 Mustang - Mom's
1966 T-Bird - Mom's
1976 Gremlin - Wife's
1976 Pacer - Wife's

Ones I have little hope of ever getting but may be able to convert something:
1991 Eagle Talon TSi - Mine
2003 Mitsubishi Lancer OZ Rally - Mine
1974 Chevy Cheyenne Dully - Dad's
1973 Datsun B210 - Wife's
1958 Ford Custom 300 two door - Mine
1992 Geo Metro convertible - Mine (very customized)
1956 Chevy 4 door hardtop - Mine

[406 Silverado]

A Citation.....WOW!! I haven't seen one of those things in YEARS!!!

Do you remember the X-11's?

[tcoat]

Apr 29, 2023 8:48:01 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

A Citation.....WOW!! I haven't seen one of those things in YEARS!!!

Do you remember the X-11's?

LOL not only do I not remember it I think this is the first time I ever heard of them!
Mine was a 5 year old 4 door. The whole trunk floor had already rotted out and other panels were hanging on by a thread. I got it for $35 and paid another $20 for a "safety" certificate. It lasted about 6 months before the rear passenger door skin blew off going down the highway. I got $20 for scrap for it.

[70 STING]

That sounds like a great project, however, your list is quite daunting :^o

[406 Silverado]

Apr 30, 2023 8:22:38 GMT -5 70 STING said:

That sounds like a great project, however, your list is quite daunting :^o

I must agree with that. If anyone can pull all that off, it’s definitely Tony though.

[tcoat]

Here I was all impressed about how little I paid for this car back in '76 I got beat out on Sunday.
Was at a car meet and a guy pulls up in a '64 SS hardtop. It was only in fair condition but completely original except for tires. 

Showed the guy this picture and he says "oh that was costly' and pulls out his receipt from 1974 showing he paid $350 certified for the thing! He also said he had recently been offered $30,000 for his.


 

[stikpusher]

Very nice looking build! I always love those open “boat” style cars.

Your car collection project sounds most ambitious. I’m still trying to build my way thru a vehicle collection of types that I served on or around in the Army.let’s just say that I’ve got a long ways to go…

Oh and where can you find a cheap car at those prices? Tow yards do tend to sell some off for dirt cheap and keep the cycle of unlicensed drivers provided with a set of wheels 😉

[tcoat]

Sept 8, 2023 11:50:26 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Very nice looking build! I always love those open “boat” style cars.

Your car collection project sounds most ambitious. I’m still trying to build my way thru a vehicle collection of types that I served on or around in the Army.let’s just say that I’ve got a long ways to go…

Oh and where can you find a cheap car at those prices? Tow yards do tend to sell some off for dirt cheap and keep the cycle of unlicensed drivers provided with a set of wheels 😉

I have sort of started my military on and around as well. Have a couple of the AFV 5 ton kits including the fuel truck similar to what I drove, an early M151, a Jeep that I will need to convert to a Kaiser version and a Dodge pickup that I will turn into an ambulance someday. The number of different aircraft I fueled is huge and the collection range will be eclectic to say the least but so far the only one I have done is a CF-101 Voodoo.  

[kyledehart5]

Well I am very late to this build as I wasn’t on the forum yet. Glad it has resurfaced. Great story and great build. Shame about those neighborhood kids and the rotten frame. I’ve always loved impalas. Definitely not a bad buy for the money there! The dad of one of my best friends growing up has a 1966 Chevelle SS, still to this day. It was his first car and he paid $375 dollars for it. 😑 The jealousy. Lol

[tcoat]

Realized I never posted the build thread for this. Some of the pictures have been lost so there are some gaps but most steps are there.

Step one was to cut that beautiful roof off and shape the windshield frame. The inner fenders were then painted black and masked off.



Next up came that little jewel of a 327. Unfortunately the build up pictures of that were some of the MIA but here it is in place.



With coat of tinted Future (RIP) to bring out detail, add some grime and artificial shadows.



And after a coat of Testers Dullcoat to have a more realistic shine (or lack there of) and tone down the shading





No the plug wires do not look like rope in person!




Next up was doing the underside. Build pics gone but it looked like a bunch of white plastic glued together which I am sure most here have seen before anyway. Completely out of box with no modifications done.



When I got my car it was 12 years old. That may mean nothing with todays cars or people down south but up here anything made much before the mid 90s had about a 4 year life expectancy for the body and floor. I bought the car after an almost complete floor replacement was done and it was well undercoated but still had some rust tones peeking through in places and things that had not been replaced such as the fuel tank and exhaust were quite rusty. I finished the underside to reflect that.







OK time for some base coat. There are a lot of different reds on this thing but all started out as a base of flat Testers red. The black coated parts will come into play later.





And here is why the black was there. The lower door panels and floor were a very low pile red carpet with sort of black threads through them. The black undercoat simulates this effect very well.



It also nicely fills in the "open" spaces of the side vents giving a sense of depth.



Next up is the actual colour coat for the Naugahyde (no Naugas were harmed in making this model).







Then my standard tinted Pledge wash on all except the carpeted areas. (this goes on almost everything and you will get sick of hearing about it)





Missing pics again but the whole interior was given a coat of Dullcoat and BMF was used for most chrome. The items too small or complicated for BMF were done with Testers chrome silver enamel.



And this is the end product. The black shading on the seats and such is of course exaggerated by the photos. It is really much more subtle as the overall finish is more of a low semi gloss than it appears here.










More to come.

[kyledehart5]

Always enjoyable to see the processes that people employ. Really great simulating the age on the chassis and the interior work is also fantastic. Definitely loving the behind the scenes look at this build.

[tcoat]

Sept 8, 2023 17:37:43 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Always enjoyable to see the processes that people employ. Really great simulating the age on the chassis and the interior work is also fantastic. Definitely loving the behind the scenes look at this build.

Thanks.
Since I am primarily modeling cars I owned, in the condition they were actually in when I had them, I get to employ methods that normally are not seen on car models. Most car models seem to be pristine super shiny show cars or rotted out hulks.  I have to walk a fine line between those two extremes. 

Here are a couple of others from my Used To Own series you would not have seen.


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13954/64-econoline-van

modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13987/64-econoline


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13927/1969-corvair-amt


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13908/1975-datsun-pickup-mpc

[sharp]

Beautiful job on all the weathering. The exhaust has a very realistic look to it. Excellent job all around.

[tcoat]

Chrome prep.

Never was a huge fan of model kit chrome. It just looks wrong for most things (to me) since in scale it is far to bright and every single part has the exact same look. Only the most expensive of cars, after market re-plate or massively polished parts would ever have the shine of model chrome. There is a time and place for it (hot rods, showroom fresh cars, etc) but since I am modeling a 12 year old vehicle the chrome had to be knocked down to real world and scale shine.

All identical and much detail is lost in the glare.



Coated with...ah you know by now. This makes them even brighter but also fills the voids with black and highlights details. The black in the grill was from simply brushing the Future on. No wiping or other clean up needed. Then a light overspray of Dullcoat. Much more appropriate for a 12 year old daily driver street car in Canada.



The shine can be varied by applying more future to selected areas. In this case the outer edge and center of the caps should be glossy but the middle a matt finish. Again there is the benefit of putting black in the areas it needs to be because the self leveling properties draw it down.



Only outer ring done on left. Center and ring done on right. You can see how the center pops and the black filled in the "spokes".



Dash should be a very low gloss not bright chrome.



Toned down but knobs and radio highlighted.



Body painted. It is a different shade of red from the interior but you will have to take my word for it. The real thing had been painted a few days before I bought it but it was a 10 foot job at best. To replicate the orange peel in scale I left the original primer as applied and did not sand it down. With the gloss enamel overtop it gave the finish the sort of "almost a good paint job" look I was after. 
The adventure in BMF is successful. So far. The difficult to replicate SS reflective, almost holographic patterned side trim center strip is metallic white craft marker.



Decals on and one coat of plain Future to seal all the BMF. Leveled out the gloss perfectly so the paint still had the look I was after but a bit more gloss. It isn't as bumpy in person as the pictures make it seem. Still not a show car shine by any stretch though.
Now, the most observant of you fine viewers may have noticed the hood is a slightly different tone of red. This is an accurate depiction of the difference in the real thing resulting from a repaint after my father left a bottle of brake fluid sitting on the hood and the cat knocked it over (or at least he blamed the cat!). Like the guy that repainted the hood I just grabbed some close enough red and gave it a go.


 




After 4 attempts of paint, strip, repeat I finally got some tail lights that I am almost, slightly, maybe just, happy with. When Revell cleaned up the molds for the most recent release they apparently forgot to do the tails. They were just sort of vaguely round blobs in a sea of flash and misaligned mold seams. Doesn't show well in the pic but they aren't even the same size. I was one more attempt away from just scratch building them.

[deafpanzer]

Looking real good! Hope you will be able to sort out with the tail light issue.

[tcoat]

Sept 8, 2023 21:06:33 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Looking real good! Hope you will be able to sort out with the tail light issue.

Well it is all "done" and on the shelf for a while now so I have just sort of got used to them. Some day I may run across an old AMT kit/built scrapper and use the lights from that since they are much nicer.

[deafpanzer]

Gotcha! I misread the one more attempt part. LOL I must be tired. Good thing most AMT kits are pretty cheap.

[buddho]

What a classic beauty! The paintjob is fantastic, and I love how you did the underside.

[tcoat]

Sept 8, 2023 21:36:35 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Gotcha! I misread the one more attempt part. LOL I must be tired. Good thing most AMT kits are pretty cheap.

I also have considered using some aluminum tubing for the outer and inner rings but haven't come across any in my travels.

[kyledehart5]

Sept 8, 2023 20:06:58 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Sept 8, 2023 17:37:43 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Always enjoyable to see the processes that people employ. Really great simulating the age on the chassis and the interior work is also fantastic. Definitely loving the behind the scenes look at this build.

Thanks.
Since I am primarily modeling cars I owned, in the condition they were actually in when I had them, I get to employ methods that normally are not seen on car models. Most car models seem to be pristine super shiny show cars or rotted out hulks.  I have to walk a fine line between those two extremes. 

Here are a couple of others from my Used To Own series you would not have seen.


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13954/64-econoline-van

modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13987/64-econoline


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13927/1969-corvair-amt


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13908/1975-datsun-pickup-mpc

Thanks for sharing! I’m going to go scope these out now!

[handiabled]

Great looking car and a wonderful back story to it! Look close to the 65 Chevelle I made road worthy for a friend after she sat for 18 years.

[70 STING]

Sept 8, 2023 20:06:58 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Sept 8, 2023 17:37:43 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Always enjoyable to see the processes that people employ. Really great simulating the age on the chassis and the interior work is also fantastic. Definitely loving the behind the scenes look at this build.

Thanks.
Since I am primarily modeling cars I owned, in the condition they were actually in when I had them, I get to employ methods that normally are not seen on car models. Most car models seem to be pristine super shiny show cars or rotted out hulks.  I have to walk a fine line between those two extremes. 

Here are a couple of others from my Used To Own series you would not have seen.


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13954/64-econoline-van

modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13987/64-econoline


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13927/1969-corvair-amt


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13908/1975-datsun-pickup-mpc

Um yeah, so these are really great! Awesome tributes to vehicles that I’m sure served you well. Did you have photos from which to work from?

[tcoat]

Sept 9, 2023 3:36:57 GMT -5 70 STING said:

Sept 8, 2023 20:06:58 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Thanks.
Since I am primarily modeling cars I owned, in the condition they were actually in when I had them, I get to employ methods that normally are not seen on car models. Most car models seem to be pristine super shiny show cars or rotted out hulks.  I have to walk a fine line between those two extremes. 

Here are a couple of others from my Used To Own series you would not have seen.


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13954/64-econoline-van

modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13987/64-econoline


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13927/1969-corvair-amt


modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13908/1975-datsun-pickup-mpc

Um yeah, so these are really great! Awesome tributes to vehicles that I’m sure served you well. Did you have photos from which to work from?

They were all done from memory.
There may be photo's floating around somewhere but I couldn't find any. Any that do exist would probably be of something else with the car partially in the background anyway. Pictures cost money I just didn't have back then. Today I probably have 200 phone pics of my cat's and many of my car but back then I had to have a very good reason to take a picture. Also as nostalgic as I wax about them now at the time they were just cheap used cars that I would replace at a whim sometimes within months of getting them.