1/25 Corvette Road Racer Junkyard Dog OVERHAUL...err Rebuild

[brandonk]

I don't know why I do the things I do, but here we go again. I have the urge to rebuild a glue bomb. Not that I don't have at least 6 or more glue bombs in the stash that I've acquired over the years; yet to be worked on. I had to go out and find another. This one caught my eye and I got it cheap. It's a Revell Stars and stripes Corvette, I think a 68? Anywho, it is complete except for the windshield and I've already found one. So, went ahead and blew it apart with help from my trusty pocket screwdriver, a razor saw and hopes and prayers. Most of the kit isn't too bad, but the engine and headers had a full tube of glue on them and are not really worth fussing with. I'll rob a BBC out of one of my stash kits. I can't find any headers for this kit out there, so I guess I'll be scratching some up. That'll be fun. The body isn't all that bad and should come around fairly easily. The interior is mostly okay. Again, not too worried here. The front coil springs broke, so I'll fab up some that look better anyway. So, for now I'm off to the cleanup races. More pics to come. I had no paint, ever and the decals pulled off with ease. SO that will speed me along. Hopefully I can turn this turd around and polish it up nice.

[stikpusher]

Overhaul? This looks like a complete rebuild to me!

[406 Silverado]

WOW!!! I'm in!!!

That looks like an AMT kit. Is it?

[tcoat]

Jan 31, 2024 6:07:33 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

WOW!!! I'm in!!!

That looks like an AMT kit. Is it?

Revell 2003 issue

[406 Silverado]

Jan 31, 2024 8:09:34 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Jan 31, 2024 6:07:33 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

WOW!!! I'm in!!!

That looks like an AMT kit. Is it?

Revell 2003 issue

Welp....that answers that. I saw the inner fender/ engine bay sides and they looked somewhat familiar.

[lyle]

Nicely pulled apart! Well done.

[brandonk]

Jan 31, 2024 8:47:45 GMT -5 lyle said:

Nicely pulled apart! Well done.

Nothing a good screwdriver and razor saw can't handle. This one was not as heavy on glue as many I've seen, but enough to cause some issues in a few places.

[brandonk]

I think the biggest challenge with this kit will be to make the headlamps look correct. The kit has thick covers that sit on the body over the closed headlamp doors, while the real cars have no doors, but rather a recess with offroad lamps and thin plexi-covers over them. The kit parts look like a$$ with decal. I'll have to work on that.

[kyledehart5]

Very cool. You’ve got this one busted apart nicely

[Joe Rix]

Well, this is one cool project. I like your approach on doing these rebuilds Brandon. This will certainly be fun to watch.

[brandonk]

I was getting back on this and sat down to sort out what needed to be done next and I have to build headers from scratch. I don't have any wire the right size so I have some brass rod coming and I'll get on that soon. I also have to scratch build headlight buckets and then I can prime and work on more things. I will post up some pics once I have something worth showing.

[406 Silverado]

It’s great to see you back on this one again as well Brandon.

You ever try some of the thicker solder for headers? It bends one heckuva lot easier.

[brandonk]

I have tried the solder for this and it bends too easy and I have to make side pipe headers to they are more complex. I decided the brass would likely be more likely to hold shape. We'll see.

[joelw]

Brandonk,
Just found your glue bomb special, and I'm really looking to following your build. Should be one heck of a ride.

joel

[brandonk]

Just got my brass rod to scratch build the headers. Yay, here we go.

[joelw]

Looking forward to seeing how you actually go about building the headers as I've never done anything like that.

joel

[handiabled]

Sweet!! I'm following this endeavor!

[brandonk]

Spend some time today working on the headers. After about an hour of fiddling with them I gave up and decided to spend my time cleaning up the original ones and move on. I don't want to have 100 hours in this. They cleaned up ok and with the help of my Dremel are perfectly usable.
I then moved on to thinning out and cleaning up the headlight covers as the kit parts are yellow and quite thick. After some time I was able to thin them down and polish them up. They look far better now. I also replaced the rear window with a piece of clear sheet as the kit part was too far gone to use or fix. I have to make my headlamp buckets and headlamps as well now and then on to primer for most pieces.

You can see here the old cover on the left in my hand and on the car compared to the right hand piece which was reworked. The last pic is both reworked and ready to use. I'm pretty happy with those now. More on this later.

[kyledehart5]

Holy cow. Fantastic work. Those headlight covers turned out really nice.

[themongoose]

Love those covers!!
What amazed me the most was the discoloration around the decals! It did not look that brown until after you took them off🤯

[joelw]

Great job on cleaning up and thinning those headlight covers. By some chance any before and after pics of the headers?

joel

[brandonk]

Jul 24, 2024 18:22:00 GMT -5 joelw said:

Great job on cleaning up and thinning those headlight covers. By some chance any before and after pics of the headers?

joel

There is a before pic above with the car. I only cleaned them up, removed seams etc, to make the presentable. You might see they look cleaner but that's about it. I'll take some shots before I paint them. Thanks for the support.

[brandonk]

Jul 24, 2024 17:32:54 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Holy cow. Fantastic work. Those headlight covers turned out really nice.

If you look at the very first pic you can see just how thick they were. They look much more appropriate now. I did look at the car in pics and they sit on top of the body like I have them, so at least I don't have to cut them down to the opening.

[joelw]

They do look a wee bit on the chunky side. Looking forward to seeing how they look once painted.

joel

[handiabled]

Wonderful job with the covers

[TJ]

Ok, ok....I really gotta watch this one. Great start

[brandonk]

When I say "look at the first pic" I mean the very first pic in the thread. The pic on my hand does not tell the full story.

[tcoat]

Jul 24, 2024 19:24:50 GMT -5 brandonk said:

Jul 24, 2024 17:32:54 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Holy cow. Fantastic work. Those headlight covers turned out really nice.

If you look at the very first pic you can see just how thick they were. They look much more appropriate now. I did look at the car in pics and they sit on top of the body like I have them, so at least I don't have to cut them down to the opening.

Much better!

[brandonk]

Making headway on the headlamp buckets. I'll post pics on those when complete. In the meantime I was giving the kit a good once over and noticed the car I am basing my build on has the old Trans Am series race wheels and the kit had Torque Thrust wheels. I did a quick search on Ebay and found a guy with some resin wheels in 15 in, last set. Perfect!

[joelw]

Brandonk,
Great find for sure. just to prove how old I am, back in the days when these wheels were the go to racing wheel, I thought that they were called Minilite wheels. Now most likely I'm wrong as I do get a lot of thing wrong these days.

joel