'67 Impala

[klutz_100]

Hopefully this will be a relatively quick, "no frills" build as it is supposed to be a Christmas present for my daughter.

She's a fan of a TV series called Supernatural and has been bugging me for a few years now to build this car for her. She even named her cat Impala!

I bought the AMT kit a couple of years ago but then realized that it is a 2-door whereas the TV car is a 4-door. I didn't feel up to getting bogged down in a long conversion so it never got started.

Luckily while I was at the recent Frankfurt show, I met a guy there who had done the job already and had a resin transkit which included the body, seats, door panels and some other odds and sods. Only the rear windscreen needs to be made.


This is the original.




I re-scribed all of the panel lines in the resin body which is very well cast BTW but need some boiling water to get it straightened out a little




The resin kit and the AMT version.






The hood needed some re-shaping with styrene strips and superglue.




The seats were cleaned up, straightened in hot water and the rear deck removed from the AMT part.




The front wheel wells were cut out from the AMT kit




I think now that I should really have put the suspension on the frame first but it should work out OK




A bit more cleaning to do and then I shall start painting the frame and suspension to get the ride height sorted first.

[Lownslow]

any info on where to get the body

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by Lownslow

any info on where to get the body

You can contact Oliver who made the transkit here: Rockinroller at gmx.de

You can see more here (in German but the photos translate well ):

http://204442.homepagemodules.de/t25...pala-door.html

and also here

http://204442.homepagemodules.de/t37...n.html#msg1792

[Lownslow]

thanks

[Pennywise19]

nice, I tried to do the same job but with the stock AMT coupè body..

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul....php?t=1010116

I'm sure you will do waaaaaaaaaay better than mine so I'll stay tuned

[quadzero]

How did I miss this? Very interesting to see how you are combining the AMT kit into this. Talk about great luck about finding the resin body. I can just imagine what's in store for us with this build.

[CrateCruncher]

This looks like a fun build. I had one of these briefly when I was 16! That big back seat was a nice feature ().

[Macio4ever]

I'm watchin you

[360spider]

Cool project.

[klutz_100]

Thanks Guys.

@ Pennywise19: Nice job!

Been working on this steadily over the last few days to get it done for Christmas.

A lot of parts to clean ip LOL




Who paints their engines orange?!?! ROFL




tried it in place and it seems to fit




I wired the engine roughly in the end as I think I shall probably be gluing the hood down permanently






Interior was painted with base color. I later realised that the the seats should be black doh! they are being repainted




Quick and rough detailing of the molded-in dials




Front grille cut out to make way for an MCG p/e part




Resin parts prepped for chroming






The transkit wheels came out well but they are a completely different size and fixing technology form the kit rims. Should be fun to fix that LOL




I found an antique jar of Zero base coat from the "plastic bottle" days in my stash. It had evaporated quite a lot but reconstituted well with some added thinners.






Right now I am fighting with my Zero 2K clear coat again I have sanded it and recoated it three times already grrr...

[ales]

Unusual subject for you, Steven, but in the end it should look quite cool actually. Good luck with that clear.

[Macio4ever]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

(...) Right now I am fighting with my Zero 2K clear coat again I have sanded it and recoated it three times already grrr...

How come? The last clear coat I saw (Lotus) was perferct!
I have spare 0.5 l of Dupont Duxone if you eager to try. It is not trouble free 2K but it is cost free

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by Macio4ever

It is not trouble free 2K but it is cost free

Now that's a very strong argument

I'm not sure if it is the clear or me TBH. Whatever the reason, I'm pissed

[Macio4ever]

You're more than welcome but you have to bring your own containers as I run out of them.

[klutz_100]

The chassis frame has been glued permanently to the floor pan.





Turns out I painted the seats the wrong color
I watched an episode of the TV series and, althought the trim is tan, the seats are actually black so they have been re-painted.





The door panels were detailed with the resin cranks, a p/e ashtray facing and some (non-prototypically correct) chrome trim. The panel lines were picked out with an oil paint wash.





The dashboard was also trimmed with BMF and a p/e control panel. The steering wheel was painted and cleared. I will probably be add some more detail here as it will be quite visible through the open windows.





The kit centre console. was designed for a two separate front seat configuration and not the bench style seat in the transkit. I missed this during earlier test fitting so I had to chop it up and repaint it.





Clear coat is down.

Finally the score on the clear coat is Hiro2K 4: Gunze 1 - that makes it a win for Gunze
After several rounds of fighting with my 2K (I was getting a lot of little dust-like “lumps”, I called it quits and hit it with my favourite clear straight from the can. I rubbed out some dust from the Gunze coat, polished and waxed it and I am very happy with the result. The hood still needs a little tidying up but it's almost there now.







I added some wires and hoses to the engine bay although I am 95% sure that the hood will be glued permanently in place. This part of the build is now officially done.





I added the extra detailing to the dash - a chopped up Impala script from the MCG set and a push knob to the glove compartment.





But my favourite is the key and chain that's in the set. For the time being, I am keeping it safe out of the way because it is so small, it's bound to get lost





The cabin has been dry fitted together prior to fitting the clear parts and begining to tackle the wheels and stance.





First test fitting showed that the front windscreen is not fitting the resin body perfectly. This is due, I think, to the greater thickness of the resin body and is compounded by the INCREDIBLY thick kit clear part (I guess it scales out to about 2inches thick!)

I think it should be enough to shorten the quarter windows so they tuck in behind the frames.






I’ll try the above fix but it may be necessary in the end to make a new windscreen because the kit part is not only thick but it seems to have been pretty badly battered during transit or the manufacturing process.




Cheers