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I thought it would be interesting to detail the construction of a model from start to finish. I call this page Works In Progress. Basically I will detail the process and highlight any interesting portions of the build.

Exterior

My first project for this page is the AMT '62 Chevy Bel Air. For this build I wanted to open up everything. The first thing I did was open each door by cutting along the panel lines. I did the same with the trunk. I removed all of the Chevy and Bel Air badging as well as the trim on the trunk. After removing the doors I made the doorjams and hinges. I then used plastic strip to make a lip where the trunk would close. I bent metal rod for the hinges and used small cut pieces of plastic sheet to attach the hinges to the body.

After opening the trunk, I used plastic sheet to make a lip where the trunk will rest when closed.

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The door jams were made using plastic sheet cut to fit the contours of the body and doors.

I cut along the outline of the door panels on the interior bucket to separate the door panels from the bucket. These will be attached to the completed doors permanently when painted.

Next I removed the front inner fender wells and fabricated larger, deeper wells using Evergreen plastic sheet to accomodate the 23" wheels pictured. This gives the car a lower stance. I could not acheive this effect with the stock fender wells. To the right are pictured the modified body and a stock body.

I fabricated the trunk floor out of Evergreen sheet styrene. A 1 1/2" notch was cut at the top of the forward trunk wall to allow room for the trunk hinge mechanisim. The forward trunk wall was made from sheet styrene and then tucked snuggly between the rear wheel tubs.

For the trunk hinge mechanism I used plastic sprue cut to fit between the wheel tubs. A small hole was drilled through the center of the sprue. I then flattened the sprue on one side to make a surface to attach to the car body. I used thin metal rod for the hinge by sliding it through the sprue. I bent the metal rod using small needle nose pliers. The trunk mounts can be made using sprue or square plastic rod. I drilled holes through the trunk mounts and then shaped them with a file.

I fashioned a cowl hood using the kit hood and sheet styrene. After glueing the cowl to the hood I used my Dremel tool to cut away the hood material from underneath the cowl.. I used automotive glazing putty to fill the gaps.

Primed and ready for paint.

Chassis and Suspension

As far as the rear end is concerned, I had to make tubs as the proper ride height could not be acheived using the standard chassis. I used the same 23" wheels as the fronts but they will have a taller profile tire.

I modified the kit supplied rear suspension. I narrowed it slightly and cut the rear end mount arms off and moved them inward. I relocated the rear springs and shortened them. I also relocated the kit supplied shocks.

For the front suspension I used the kit supplied parts, though everything had to be relocated slightly inward to accomodate the wide low profile tires. The springs and spindle mount were cut to lower the ride height. The chassis was then painted Electric Blue Candy from Paint with Pearls. For both the front and the rear I used vented disc brakes from Pegasus and brake lines from Lex's Scale Modeling.

Interior

The seats are from the parts box. They were originally from the AMT '57 Ford Fairlane kit. If you look closely you may see where I had to widen the rears on the sides to fit properly in the larger Bel Air. Video screens for the back of the front seats were made from plastic sheet. The seats were primed and then painted with Dupli-Color Linen White. I then applied Paint With Pearls Blue Shimmer pearl pigment on the seats. Blue flocking was used to simulate fabric inserts on the seats. Photo reduced images were used for the video screens. The seats were finished off with Lex's Scale Modeling seatbelt material.

I cut away the transmission hump and fashioned a custom console using the optional console from the AMT '58 Impala. I shaped and lengthened the console using plastic sheet and automotive glazing putty. It was shaped to fit against the kit dash for a one piece look and both were painted to match the seats. The shifter is from the aforementioned '57 Fairlane and the steering wheel came from the '67 Impala 427 SS Street Machine. I used a decal for the dash from the Lindberg '61 Impala convertable. The door panels and package tray were painted Linen White from Dupli-Color underneath the Blue Shimmer Pearl. The accents were painted Electric Blue Candy. BMF and silver paint finishes off the trim and door handles.

I detailed the trunk by adding blue flocking to match the interior. I then added an aluminum nos tank with braided lines.

Engine

I used the kit supplied engine for this build. The block was painted white and then I used Paint with Pearl Blue shimmer pearl in clear over the white. I smoothed the kit valve covers and painted them Paint with Pearl Electric Blue Candy. I used the super charger and belt assemby from the AMT '68 El Camino Street Machine. The super charger was topped off with the shot gun blower from the AMT Yankee Challenge Challenger also painted Electric Blue Candy. I added all necessary linkage to the blower. I made the distributor from aluminum tubing and used spark plug wire from Lex's Scale Modeling. The heater hoses are from Psf Hobby and braided fuel lines came from MCG.

An electric fan came from the parts box and was attached to the radiator. I smoothed the fire wall for a cleaner look and painted it and the brake fluid reservoir body color.

Paint (exterior)

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures detailing the painting of the body but I'll describe the process in detail. After sanding the primered body I used Dupli-Color Linen White on the body, doors, trunk, hood and bumpers. I then sprayed Paint with Pearl Blue Shimmer Pearl over the white using an air brush. After drying I carefully masked off the lower portions of the body, doors and trunk. Again using my air brush I sprayed the unmasked areas Electric Blue Candy for the two toned effect. After allowing the paint to dry I added BMF and then cleared the body with six coats of clear. The body was wet sanded and polished to a mirror sheen. Before attaching the body to the chassis I made the hinges for the reverse opening hood and secured them in place. After the body was in place the bumpers were added. I used the modified kit exhaust and made hangers to secure them in to place. I then added stainless steel exhaust tips.

Click on Blown 409 (rt.)for more on this build.

The second project for this page is the Amt '69 GTX Pro Street. I'm building this one in the pro touring style.

Chassis and Suspension

On this build, I started with modifying the rear tubs. Although this model already had a tubbed rear end, I cut away the old tubs and made deeper ones as I wanted to use very tall rear wheels and low profile tires. besides, I like 'em low and the deeper the tubs the lower the ride. I modified the rear axles by cutting off each end and using aluminum rod cut to the desired length to make a new axle. I made the new spring mounts using Evergreen styrene.

I made the coilover shocks using aluminum rod and black wire and attached them to the mounts using good old fashioned straight pins. After painting the calipers on the brakes I added LSM brake lines and then attached the rotors to the axle. The chassis and rear suspension were painted using Dupli-Color charcoal grey auto paint.

For the front I made new lowered spindles using styrene and aluminum rod and modified the front suspension a great deal. I added brakes from Pegasus and LSM brake lines. I then painted all front components with the Dupli-Color charcoal grey used on the rear suspension and chassis.

Engine and Drivetrain

For The motivation of this beast I used the powertrain from the AMT Dodge Viper SRT10. Black ignition wire from LSM was added to the top of the engine to emulate the injector lines. I also used the ignition wire for the coil packs. The valve covers were smoothed and I added GTX V10 decals made on my computer. Photoetched parts were added for the throttle linkage. The engine and transmission were painted stock Viper colors.

More to come soon.

Last Update 8/12/08