’68 Camaro

[Scale-Master]

This will be a replica of a friend’s car circa 1969-1970. He bought it new in ’68 after the ‘69’s hit the showroom floor, but he wanted to put a set of Halibrand 8.5 x 15 wheels and tires on it that would not fit under a ’69 without jacking it up. So he opted for a Le Mans Blue ’68 with a 327 and a 4 speed that was on the lot. As he tells the story, it was driven directly from the dealer to his buddies shop where it immediately got a wheel & tire swap.

I started with the new Revell ’67 Camaro. I made a copy of a ’68 grille from an AMT kit that was loaned to me. I still have some work to fit the outer edges of the grille to the body better.

[Scale-Master]

The rear wheels were 5 slot Halibrands. I cast a copy of a wheel from a Revell Ford streetrod.

I modified it to look like the real wheels and machined some lugnuts and washers for it.

Then cast a pair.

[Scale-Master]

The front wheels were Americans. I found a wheel in my stash that would work and cast a couple copies. I think it was from an AMT or maybe MPC kit, because of the stub for it to fit on a wire axle, but I have no idea which one.

[LenWoodruff]

Originally Posted by Scale-Master

The front wheels were Americans. I found a wheel in my stash that would work and cast a couple copies. I think it was from an AMT or maybe MPC kit, because of the stub for it to fit on a wire axle, but I have no idea which one.

Wish I could keep that many projects going at the same time Mark.

[Scale-Master]

The Seven was like a bunch of projects in one, all these Chevys are easy by comparison.

The car had a Baldwin Motion fiberglass hood with a Corvette style scoop and stinger. Again I cast a copy to work with, this time from a Revell ’67 Corvette hood.

The stinger is shorter and stubbier than on a Corvette and the front center peak still has to line up with the body contour on the header panel.

I was a little disappointed that the hood from the Revell ’69 Camaro did not interchange with the ’67 kit’s hood. I have a bunch of those ’69 cowl hoods and thought it would be nice to have another option even if factory incorrect for a ’69.

Just need to blend the stinger to the peak in the hood.

[Scale-Master]

Done… Well at least ready for paint.

[Scale-Master]

The rocker has more trim molded into the car than the real car had, so I need to remove the top piece.

Unfortunately just removing the trim does not make it correct, rocker contour needs to be added “under” the trim. I scribed in the line where the contour should be.

Then I removed the lower trim spear, (I’ll replace it later), and scribed the door lines deeper.

Then I shaved in the contours. Still some fine tuning needed…

[Scale-Master]

The lower trim was made from sheet styrene cut into thin strips and has been cemented into place with liquid glue. Once fully dry I’ll round face of the trim and shape the ends.

[hirg]

Nice star!

[Scale-Master]

Since the Revell kit has a big block, I used the small block from an AMT ’70 Z/28. It is painted a metallic blue color instead of orange because the owner painted it that way. The valve covers are resin copies I made from an MPC ’78 Nova. The car also had exhaust manifolds that were painted VHT header white. I gave the manifolds a little 'heat wear".

[Scale-Master]

These are the raw rear tires. I cast hard resin copies of a semi-soft (MPC?) tire I had in my stash. The side wall lettering was pretty bold and heavy so I sanded it all off and will replace it with decals.


I did the same thing for the front tires. Here are the four tires with the base paint applied ready for the sidewall details to be added.

[joelwideqvist]

It's incredible how easy you just cast things just as easy as I take some part off the sprue :-)
Hood seems to turn out really nice!

[Scale-Master]

Thanks Joel, it just takes a little practice. Although some parts are a breeze, others can take a little adjusting to get them to fill properly, even after 35 years of casting experience...

The real car had glass pack mufflers welded into to the pipes and additional pipe was welded on for the slash cut tips. All the welds were ground and finished (by Gale Banks himself no less) for a seamless looking Trans Am racing style exhaust.
To replicate the custom exhaust system I modified a Revell Taurus Nascar set of pipes by first narrowing them at the crossover pipe.


I cut the elliptical shaped portions off the Nascar pipes and replaced them with brass tubing.

Primed and ready for the flat white heat paint…

[Scale-Master]

I made houndstooth patterned decals for the seats.

[Scale-Master]

These are the finished tires. Instead of using the small raised lettering (which looked out of proportion to the Goodyear lettering), I made decals in dark gray to cheat them. I also made the decals for the blue lines and Goodyears.