AM Corvette Grand Sport Chassis #004 1965 Sebring

I have started the Accurate Miniatures Grand Sport Corvette. My goal is to replicate Chassis No4 in it's 1964 Sebring trim. To begin with, I got the Accurate Miniatures kit:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00841.jpg
Along with this, I have purchased the MCG Detail set, VRM Decals, HRM Halibrand wheels and tires (for the spare), HRM upper control arms and exhaust headers, along with MCG nuts, bolts and screw heads and Detail Master velocity stacks.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00846.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00847.jpg
The velocity stacks are not exactly what I was looking for as they are a bit long and not hollow enough for my taste. I may go ahead and make my own so I can include the small jet tube inside. The VRM decal sheet is amazing! Almost every detail is on this sheet and this sheet does 5 cars! The gauges can be made with black centers or silver centers and you can actually read them! Almost every detail is on there including radiator stickers, inspection stickers, gas filler indicators and even the copper strips my chosen version has down the back of the car for the CB radio.

I have had this kit in my collection for some years now (since it came out, actually) along with the detail set and was only receintly inspired to build it. My good friend Cratecruncher here on AF builds world class models and encouraged me to build such an animal. Three of my kits fit what I like to build along with the potential to build it to the max. This Corvette Grand Sport, the Gunze Cobra Daytona and the AM McLaren. This one won the opportunity and away I went. All other projects were put on hold and this one was dropped on the bench. I ordered the remainder of the needed parts and the Grand Sport book and I am set.

I started this kit several weeks ago in my spare time. Not by opening the box but by doing as much research as I could regarding the actual car. Bookmarking websites, finding out just what tires and paint were on the car and all that stuff us anal modelers do. It wasn't until Friday when I actually cut the first part off the sprue and dug in...

The frame has slots on the bottom of it because of the thickness of the casting to prevent the plastic from caving in as it cools. These needed to be addressed so I started shoving plastic into the notches, let them dry and started hacking them down to size. For the most part, all is pretty smooth but it will take some more filling and sanding to make it all pretty in gloss black.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00842.jpg
All the cast in mounts and brackets were removed so they could be replaced with the photo-etched wonders in the MCG kit. One of the first modifications to the GS Corvettes was moving the battery to the rear of the car. So, I cut off and sanded smooth the battery mount on the front of the frame. The AM frame also does not have any front spring detail. It only has a boss on the bottom of the frame where the lower control arms sits. I started to grind this off with a ball bit and a low speed mini cutter being careful to avoid the radiator mounting support. Once the area was fairly flat and matched the inset area indicating the bottom of the frame, I switched to a smaller bit and started to grind out the pocket for the spring. In the pictures, you can see the unmodified frame (groves and all) along with the modified smoothed frame, one of the spring pockets has been flattened and the other hogged out.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00852.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00855.jpg
Here is the frame with both hogged out and ready.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00857.jpg
Next, I got out my trusty Flex-I-File and after giving the entire frame a once over, started to thin down the radiator supports. The kit supports are about twice as thick as they look on the real car.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00858.jpg
You can see the difference in size on this picture.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00860.jpg
And here is the thined support with just a little cleanup left.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00861.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00862.jpg
I put the frame aside to work a bit on the body. I started by grinding out the inside of the cowl vents until I could see the white edges of the vents starting to show through the back. Mind you this was with a very small burr and working very slowly. Then using a new blade, I trimmed the vents so they were open.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00863.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00864.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00865.jpg
After this one was done, I followed suite with the second side. I then tried to gently cut out the doors and trunk lid. I have a few cuts and marks to clean up but the deed is done.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00867.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00869.jpg
That's all for this weekend. Stay tuned for more...

Really interesting start !
As I have the same kit in my stock, I will follow your WIP with much interest.
Greetings,

Jamme

Well ALL RIGHT! The plastic chips are flying and everything looks great. The way you opened up those fresh air vents in the body is really impressive. That GS frame IS completely different from the mid-year production frame.

Thanks for doing this thread Andrew. It's motivating me to start that stock '63 Split Window Coupe I've been jabbering on about.

this is a great project you have going here. the vent idea is genius and crazy at the same time. gotta give that a shot some time.

Very ambitious project here, I like it! This should be an impressive model when done, since you're taking care of all of the little details.

Great Build so far, I saw an article in Scale Auto a few years ago with that kit & the builder used a PE set that replaced all the chassis mounts, it was pretty awesome..
Cant wait to see more!!

Will be following this for sure :thumbsup:

I have the kit and some of the same upgrade parts so will happily learn from your experiences :)

Great start. You've got a fan here! :)

Looking good!

TIM

On the theory that you can't have too much information here's a website you may find helpful.
http://www.racingicons.com/gs/index.html

On the theory that you can't have too much information here's a website you may find helpful.
http://www.racingicons.com/gs/index.html

This is the site that pretty much started this project! Thanks!

The restoration of #004 (my girl) is my number one source for this build. I am working a little bit every other night on this one but haven't been able to sit at the bench for more that a few minutes a night, you know, Christmas, family and all that but it's still moving forward. Will post an update when I have a few more things done. Meanwhile, check out the #005 being done by Jon MW
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=613653
He's a bit farther along than I am.

I like you start so far, keep it up.

One thing I recently noted about this kit that I never noticed before are the angled flanges(trumpet side) on the Weber sidedrafts that appear to be backwards compared the reference material in the Dave Friedman book. They angle in at the top on the kit carbs, and out on the top in the references. I wonder how that happened!

Did the Grand Sport Vettes have kidney bean Halibrands ?

Did the Grand Sport Vettes have kidney bean Halibrands ?

Only the initial Grand Sports did, when they first raced. Then, the cars were returned to Chevy where they added the big flares and 11" Halibrand 5 spokes like the kit. I bought a set because the GSs still had a kidney bean spare tire and the kit provided one is not very pretty and is molded to the rear body supports. As I have opened the trunk, the hollow backed piece of plastic frame, tire and wheel would not do!

I'll have an update posted fairly soon. Got a new gas cap done and cleaned up the rear vents a bit. Also started sanding the carpet off the interior tub as there was no carpet in the car in the race I have chosen. So much to do...

I got a little bit of an update on the GS. In between family time, friends time, party time and recovery time, I was able to spend a little while at the bench. I didn't like the way the rear vents looked as they made the body look like it was 2" thick. So, I started working on it by hollowing out and trimming the area around the inside of the body. Then I sanded the back so that it was all flush to the openings, then cleaned em up a bit and here I am. I put an un-altered body next to it so you can see the difference.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00875.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00876.jpg
I took the kit provided fuel cap and started trying to clean it up by sticking it on a dremel stone and using chisels, files and a hobby knife to make it look more like the real car's. I ended up with a modified cap that may be usefull on another build, but not this one. So, I grabbed a parts box roll bar, cut a chunk off, chucked it in a drill and went to work. A short time later along with some super glue, a mini pin and a little piece of wire and I ended up with this...
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00877.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00878.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00879.jpg
I thought it came out okay considering how small it is. Should look right once it's painted.
Then, I turned my attention to the rear fender vents. This body is supposed to be one layer of fiberglass thick so the kit body needed some work here too. I ground out and sanded the inside and then trimmed up the outside. Then hit is with a sanding stick to true everything up. Here's the results.
Unaltered:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00888.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00885.jpg
Altered:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00887.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00882.jpg
Along with this, I have been working on the interior and a few other parts. I have been sanding the carpet from the floor and removing molded in details that are not present on my chosen subject. I have also been truing up and correcting the chassis in prep to adding the photo-etched details. I will update again soon.
Enjoy and as always, comments and critique welcome!

Nice! That body is really starting to lighten up nicely. You mentioned "grinding". Are you using a dremel stone? ball mill? How are you controlling it to avoid the dreaded "Oops"?

Nice! That body is really starting to lighten up nicely. You mentioned "grinding". Are you using a dremel stone? ball mill? How are you controlling it to avoid the dreaded "Oops"?

On the cowl vents, I used a small ball bit in a mini-grinder. It has a slower rpm than the dremel so I didn't have to worry about melting the plastic. I also used this on the spring pockets in the frame. For the rear fender vents, I used a 1/2" grinding stone and worked slowly, checking my work often by holding the body up to the light. This is a trick I learned from you, my friend! Once the body was fairly thin, I finished it off with sanding sticks and sanding films. Then I trimmed the lip with an Xacto till it had the appearance I was looking for and cleaned up the ends with a very small file. With the rear vent holes, I just used the xacto, small files and sanding board to dress that area up. I calculated using a grinder would be disasterous to those nice round holes. As I get more and more work done on this body, I am being more and more careful. one wrong move and all the work on this one is toast...

Okay, time for an update.

I have been working on and off on this thing trying out new stuff and fixing things that don't look right. Seems I will have modified each part I pull off the sprues.

I took a look at the rear end half-shafts and driveshaft u-joints. Real ones have an inset that has a clip in to hold on the u-joint caps. I didn't like the little bumps on the models parts so I took out an appropriate sized drill bit and went to work. Once the holes were drilled, it left a conical bottom so I sanded the backside of the drill flat and used it like a punch. I filled the cavity with putty and then used the back of the drill bit to make a flat area just below the surface. The plan was to take some really thin wire and make the little clips but it seems much better as an Idea. Kind of hard to create a 1mm clip, even with the smallest tweezers. My other idea options would be decal or photo-etched but we will see what works out.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00909.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00908.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00903.jpg

Here is my replacement spare, thanks to Harold at Historic Miniatures. Great stuff this is...
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00893.jpg

After seeing the progress on another Grand Sport, I was inspired to make some modifications to my wheels and mounts. I grabbed some resin knock-offs and the kit wheels and went to the local hobby stores. I found some fine threaded 3mm screws that appeared the correct size and got the matching drill and tap. The results are thus...
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00897.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00899.jpg
I'm waiting on some photo-etched brake disks, solid for the rear, vented for the front and will modify the model to have removable wheels. There will be so much detail that I think it would be a crime to hide some of it with the wheels and tires.

I noticed that one of the un-restored cars had no inspection plate over the bellhousing so the flywheel was exposed. I have a flywheel from one of the Blueprinter parts pack motors I was planning to use but then realized I had a more visually stimulating idea. I pulled out some of the watch gears I purchased in a lot and found one that was the right size. Then, cut a plastic backing for it. With a bit more detailing, I'm sure it will be perfect. The five spoke vs six design won't matter much as you won't see all that much of it behind the oil pan. Just enough to make it look good.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00917.jpg

I also started work on the interior tub. The 004 raced with no carpet in the '64 Sebring so some sanding and shaping were in order. It's not done yet but you can see where it's going.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00890.jpg

I got some needle files and attacked the spindles in the hopes of giving them a little more accurate shape. Will also put on ball joints, nuts and washers to make them more presentable.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00944.jpg

In these pictures you can see the modified frame, the photo-etched body supports, engine mounts, clutch bracket as well as the lower control arm strentheners and front frame bracket/skid. This chassis has so far eaten up the most time on this project but I want it to look awesome. A lot of time was spent trying to ensure everything lines up so the clutch pivot arm will sit right, the shifter and linkages will be in the correct place and so forth. I will cut off the kit trans mount now that I have the motor mounts installed and create a more realistic looking one.
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00928.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00941.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00930.jpg

One other thing I was working on was the instrament cluster. The kit supplies us with a clear unit that is about twice as thick as it should be and the guages are little marks on the lense covers. The detail set provided one is photoetched and lacks the 3-D-ness of the real unit. The option I chose was to use the kits clear panel and modify it for the gauge decals on the VRM sheet. That way, if you wanted to, you could read the odometer!
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00934.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00935.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00938.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00939.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00940.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00937.jpg

One last thing I did was remove the molded in air boxes for the rear brake cooling ducts. This way, I can make more realistic and HOLLOW looking ducts so when the rear tires are off, they look amazing...
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s223/torinobradley/Corvette%20Grand%20Sport/DSC00926.jpg

Other projects in progress are the vent box under the cowl vents complete with wiper control arms, cutting the dash 'wings' off (actually part of the door panels), working on the gas filler interior cover, figuring out how to build the grill, modify the front turn signal area and creating the missing lower portion of the firewall so the front outside body mounts actually connect to something...

Hope you enjoyed this little taste of what I have been doing. As always, comments are welcomed and encouraged.

Nice update! Once painted and washed in those u-joints will look awesome and I like your flywheel idea. Whats your opinion of the photoetch quality so far (MCG)?

Nice update! Once painted and washed in those u-joints will look awesome and I like your flywheel idea. Whats your opinion of the photoetch quality so far (MCG)?

The MCG stuff is pretty much falling together. The folds are easy to do, the material cuts fairly easy with a #11. As with any photo-etched items, the products are pretty limited to an almost 2D part. That's why I went with the kit's instrament bezel rather than the PE part. The resin trans and diff cooler look great. I can't wait to put together the throttle linkage assembly! Will be a wonderful challenge, to be sure.

You do know, the San Antonio show is next weekend? You gonna make it?

Good to hear your MCG fret is working out. I was wondering because I measured some parts on my '63 street fret and found some fit errors.

I'll be at Fiesta 29 next week with my MFH Testa Rossa. (I'm also bringing your DeTomaso parts.)

I started this same car 5 years ago and also like the MCG parts. Its nickel so it bends and cuts easy. Only thing I really hate about the Accurate Miniature GS are the wheels, wich don't look right(thats why I never finished the model). The center design is to small. I don't think anyone has made a corrected set.


Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2010 model/photo contest-Chicago April 24th 2010

I started this same car 5 years ago and also like the MCG parts. Its nickel so it bends and cuts easy. Only thing I really hate about the Accurate Miniature GS are the wheels, wich don't look right(thats why I never finished the model). The center design is to small. I don't think anyone has made a corrected set.


Tom Tanner/Scale Designs/Ferrari Expo 2010 model/photo contest-Chicago April 24th 2010

HRM has a set but I don't know how much different they are other than a separate rim and center section. You might give him a call or drop him a note (Harold) to see just what was done to them. They may be the answer to your wheel size issue. Good luck!

Those kidney bean halibrands look cool! Where can I get a set like that?

wow, looking great. will follow this one for sure.

daniel
-germany-

Those kidney bean halibrands look cool! Where can I get a set like that?

I purchased the set from Harold at Historic Racing Miniatures. You can get their products through Strada Motorsports http://www.stradasports.com/coming_soon.htm or Island Collectables http://www.islandcollectibles.net/.

Strada has a lot of the HRM stuff for the Grand Sport There's hoods, wheels, headers, control arms, photoetched, decals and more. Worth a check-out!

Thanks again for the kind words. I haven't done much lately due to loosing my hobby room but now have a dedicated workspace set up and should be back into the flying plastic soon.

Watching....so much attention to detail i love it