Post by dustymojave on Feb 6, 2018 0:03:12 GMT -8
In response to Chris Hale's post in the thread about the 69 Corvette Owens Corning A/Production race car, I was inspired to pull out a couple of old Corvettes that I had on my workbench in 1971 when an earthquake hit my hometown. They were not hurt, unlike many of my other then built and on display models. They were in a box then and didn't come back out until the mid 1990s. But I still haven't done anything with them. Maybe I will now.
Chris posted pics of his 1963 Corvette Coupe which I had seen sat an IPMS show in Lancaster, CA. In some ways I liked the model, and in other ways I disliked it, as I said in the Owens Corning thread. Probably the one thing that bugged me was that he put decals on the side indicating it as an SCCA "B/Production" Corvette. But it didn't fit the rules for that class. As I had been an SCCA Tech Inspector for many years, that inconsistency bugged me then and apparently still does now. It's Chris' model and I'm not saying that HE was wrong to do that. I'm just saying that it bugs ME. Other than that one issue, I thought the model was pretty cool and I liked it in a number of ways.
I felt in the mid 60s when SCCA changed the name of the Modified Category into the Sports Racing category that it would have been cool for SCCA to have retained the "Modified" category with rules to go along with the name, and put all of the purpose-built cars like McLarens and Lolas into Sports Racing category. This car would have been a "Modified". Like a pair of Vettes I built (but still haven't finished) in the late 60s. Such a rule and race car category might have increased the total number of entries. Maybe not. But would have allowed all sorts of cool race cars then.
So, I pulled them out and took a couple of pics to post them.
Crappy pics with my phone.
Like yours, Chris, they are AMT kits. Both '67s. Both built as "Modifieds".
The roadster is on an MPC Vette chassis. Not sure which year model, maybe a '68. The plan for the Coupe was to get the same chassis. It was vastly better than AMT's and Revell-o-Gram was decades from introducing their C3 Vette models of the 80s and even farther from introducing their '67 Vette kits of the early 2000s.
Both have big block engines. The Roadster has the Weber carbs from the AMT '67 kit. The 427 hood cut out to clear the Webers. I was considering raising the top of the hood scoop to clear and opening the front for intake. The coupe still has no intake and I was planning to see how things went with the roadster intake and hood. I preferred the idea of fuel injection, such as used on the McLaren Can Am cars. So that was in my mind as a possibility.
For the Roadster, I had thoughts of a dragster-type roll bar with door bars and under-cowl structure extending to the front suspension mounts.
For the coupe, It was planned to get a full roll cage in the cabin, also extending to the front suspension.
Both were to get fuel cells and side exhaust pipes.
The coupe has most of its body mods done other than the hood. I had 3-bar Halogen headlights from some AMT 60s Custom parts mounted to panels for the coupe, but I've lost them. A race (not quick flip) fuel filler under the rear window, removing the windwings and closing the side windows were most of what remained to be done to the body before paint. It has MPC tires as provided for the Ford GT Mark 4/J car kits.
The roadster still needed a rear spoiler or wing, a front spoiler like on the coupe, and possibly headlights in the grille like the coupe. A windscreen was on the list too, along with a similar fuel filler in the rear deck.
I had thoughts of metallic blue with white paint scheme. Maybe scallops. Team mates. I don't want to copy Mecom's cars. But I need to cross that bridge after the rest of the fabrication work is done.
Same tires as used on the MPC Eagle Indy car kits. All body work on both was done with 3M Acryl Green Spot Putty (exact same stuff as Squadron Green). No shrinkage.
Chris posted pics of his 1963 Corvette Coupe which I had seen sat an IPMS show in Lancaster, CA. In some ways I liked the model, and in other ways I disliked it, as I said in the Owens Corning thread. Probably the one thing that bugged me was that he put decals on the side indicating it as an SCCA "B/Production" Corvette. But it didn't fit the rules for that class. As I had been an SCCA Tech Inspector for many years, that inconsistency bugged me then and apparently still does now. It's Chris' model and I'm not saying that HE was wrong to do that. I'm just saying that it bugs ME. Other than that one issue, I thought the model was pretty cool and I liked it in a number of ways.
I felt in the mid 60s when SCCA changed the name of the Modified Category into the Sports Racing category that it would have been cool for SCCA to have retained the "Modified" category with rules to go along with the name, and put all of the purpose-built cars like McLarens and Lolas into Sports Racing category. This car would have been a "Modified". Like a pair of Vettes I built (but still haven't finished) in the late 60s. Such a rule and race car category might have increased the total number of entries. Maybe not. But would have allowed all sorts of cool race cars then.
So, I pulled them out and took a couple of pics to post them.
Crappy pics with my phone.
Like yours, Chris, they are AMT kits. Both '67s. Both built as "Modifieds".
The roadster is on an MPC Vette chassis. Not sure which year model, maybe a '68. The plan for the Coupe was to get the same chassis. It was vastly better than AMT's and Revell-o-Gram was decades from introducing their C3 Vette models of the 80s and even farther from introducing their '67 Vette kits of the early 2000s.
Both have big block engines. The Roadster has the Weber carbs from the AMT '67 kit. The 427 hood cut out to clear the Webers. I was considering raising the top of the hood scoop to clear and opening the front for intake. The coupe still has no intake and I was planning to see how things went with the roadster intake and hood. I preferred the idea of fuel injection, such as used on the McLaren Can Am cars. So that was in my mind as a possibility.
For the Roadster, I had thoughts of a dragster-type roll bar with door bars and under-cowl structure extending to the front suspension mounts.
For the coupe, It was planned to get a full roll cage in the cabin, also extending to the front suspension.
Both were to get fuel cells and side exhaust pipes.
The coupe has most of its body mods done other than the hood. I had 3-bar Halogen headlights from some AMT 60s Custom parts mounted to panels for the coupe, but I've lost them. A race (not quick flip) fuel filler under the rear window, removing the windwings and closing the side windows were most of what remained to be done to the body before paint. It has MPC tires as provided for the Ford GT Mark 4/J car kits.
The roadster still needed a rear spoiler or wing, a front spoiler like on the coupe, and possibly headlights in the grille like the coupe. A windscreen was on the list too, along with a similar fuel filler in the rear deck.
I had thoughts of metallic blue with white paint scheme. Maybe scallops. Team mates. I don't want to copy Mecom's cars. But I need to cross that bridge after the rest of the fabrication work is done.
Same tires as used on the MPC Eagle Indy car kits. All body work on both was done with 3M Acryl Green Spot Putty (exact same stuff as Squadron Green). No shrinkage.