Le Mans Contest Entry: 2001 Corvette C5-R

[campenr.1]

wonderful built - beautiful work of scratchbuilding so far - love to follow this thread.

[Murray Kish]

Sorry that progress has been slow recently. I broke my leg and had to have surgery on Monday to fix it. However, here's a quick pic of the seat that comes in the kit:



It's hard to tell, but I've already removed the molded-in shoulder harness on the left side of the pic. The others will come off too. I can't seem to find any good pics of the seats in the LeMans C5-R, so I'm hoping the one in the kit is reasonably accurate. I'm gonna spend a bit more time on the 'net tonight to see if I can find some better reference to the seats before I put more work into the kit supplied version.

Asaenz, all of the pics I'm using were found on the net. If you go to this thread: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=260379 you'll be able to see all of the various sites that I found. Some of the sites were supplied by members of other forums as well. There's a couple in particular that have some amazing detail shots of all areas of the car. It's hard to find pics of the car specifically from 2001 LeMans, so I'm just using any pics I can find from various races and years. Sometimes it's pretty obvious that things were changed quite a bit, but lots of the stuff is pretty much the same in all the pics.

Thanks again for everyone's kind comments and encouragement. I've never tried anything this complex before, so I'm in a bit of a no-man's land. I'm certainly having fun trying lots of stuff I've never done before!!

Murray

[Cychalen]

Get well soon.
Looking forward to more progress.

[StephenDeli]

Hope the leg feels better. On a positive note you can spend more time on models while the leg heals!

[JTRACING]

great job so far!!

i found these detail items while searching for something, anyway they might be usefull to you for this build

C5-R LeMans Corvette
16 PC. Detail Set
http://www.arrowheadaluminum.com/C5R01.html

brakes
http://www.arrowheadaluminum.com/LBR01.html

[Murray Kish]

Thanks for those links! Looks appealing, but I think I'm gonna keep this as much 'scratch-built' as I can. A little bit of a personal challenge, I guess you could say. I've got some carbon-fibre decal coming, but other than that I'm hoping to just add scratch-built items.

Murray

[Murray Kish]

Well, it's been a while since I've posted much of an update on this project. Life has been a bit more busy lately, so my progress has been slow.

My biggest challenge on this project so far has been the front ride height. I just couldn't find an easy way to do it. At one point, I started to build new front arms from brass, but then I decided to go a different route. The pic below shows the front suspension assembly before I started cutting. All of the circled areas were either cut/modified or removed. so that I could 'bend' the arms upwards to lower the ride height. I had to completely cut off the steering arm or it would have broken or looked bent after I was done. In the end, I didn't really modify things as much as I thought I would have to, but I don't think I could have 'bent' the arms up if I didn't cut all the other stuff away. From looking at reference pics, I think the arms are actually mounted to the bottom of the frame rails, rather than to the bottom of the car as it looks from the model pieces. I considered trying to change this to be more realistic, but I'm concerned that the end result might not be very strong. For now, I'm going to leave it as is...





I've mostly been doing test fitting and mock-ups to try to make sure the pieces fit together properly. I'm also trying to study the ref pics I have to see what other little 'goodies' to add. Here's a couple pics, including one that shows how the new rear diffuser will look.




Haven't really started on the engine yet, but here's a shot of the components in the kit. There's one item on the front of the engine that I've colored black because it doesn't appear to be on any ref. pics I have. I *think* it's the alternator, and from what I can see in ref pics, I think it's actually mounted in the back of the car and somehow hooked to the rear diff/transmission somehow. If anyone knows more about this, please help! I've also written 'to scoop' on the pieces that are supposed to hook up to the hood scoops on the car. I think the pieces that are included look more like they would draw air from the front air-dam, rather than the scoops. So, I'll have to modify these pieces so they attach to the hood scoops instead. I'll also take a shot at making new headers/pipes as well.



I'm realizing that many of the reference pictures I have are of several different cars. And the configurations of the cars can be quite different. Below is the rear diff/transmission piece that is included in the kit. SOme of the ref. pics I have show a completely different setup, but I can't tell what year they're from (sorry, no link available, but the pics I have look like a single rectangular piece hooked to the drive-shaft, rather than the two disctinctly seperate components shown here...) If anyone knows more about this, please help!!



Here's a quick shot of a test piece I made to see if I could make some better side pipes. I should have taken the pic from a better angle so you could see the bend in the pipe, but I think you get the idea. I used some really soft rod that I got from a surplus store. I have no idea what it is, but it's alot like solder, except quite a bit harder, and thicker. I drilled out the end and put some black paint in it. I'm pretty happy with the test, so I'll make some new ones for the final assembly.



Here's a boring shot of the rear wheels. Only thing to mention here is that the wheels are *really* shiny out of the box. They have some sort of film on them and don't look very good. I sanded the tread with sandpaper to eliminate the molding line, and then used a fine scouring pad on the sidewall to dull it up a bit. Looks a lot better to me, but there's still something about these wheels/tires that just doesn't look right to me....



Here's a pic of a mod I did to the front wheels. I have no idea why, but the front wheels have a seperate 'pin' that you put through the wheel to attach it to the hub. However, the head of the 'pin' is HUGE and totally looks wrong. In the pic, the one on the left is modified, the one on the right is from the box. Basically, I just mounted the pin in a pin-vise and started sanding away from the back of the head with a square file. Eventually, I filed away enough plastic so that the pin sits against the wheel much more realistically.



Well, there ya have it. Sorry I don't have more paint/assembly pics, but those will come in due time!!

Murray

[mikemechanic]

Still looking good Murray, thanks for the update. How's that leg?

[robrex]

This is a Great Thread! Excellent scratch building Murray!
Hope your leg is OK?

[RallyRaider]

Excellent work on refining the details Murray. You're doing a bang up job.
As Rob already asked, what is the latest on your leg?

[GT-Alex]

Great work !
BTW, where did you find that blade, does it work well ?

[ol' dude]

Looks to be a very cool project!! Can not wait to see it complete!! Sorry about your leg, hope you get back on your feet soon!!

[ZEKL_RALLY]

This Progress is to be very good, I also made already a car of these but it was of another version, it is a very Crazy car!!!!
Good rest of progress!!

[Martbee]

Originally Posted by Murray Kish

....

Here's a pic of a mod I did to the front wheels. I have no idea why, but the front wheels have a seperate 'pin' that you put through the wheel to attach it to the hub. However, the head of the 'pin' is HUGE and totally looks wrong. In the pic, the one on the left is modified, the one on the right is from the box. Basically, I just mounted the pin in a pin-vise and started sanding away from the back of the head with a square file. Eventually, I filed away enough plastic so that the pin sits against the wheel much more realistically. ....

Agree... Wheels pin like those have no place in a kit like that... the CR5 is a great kit with very little imperfection but the height ride and the front wheels have to be reworked to have something decent. You'll see, carbon decals are a bit tick too, but look nice and fit like a glove when in good position and have some microsol. I'm the opposit of you... the engine and the drive train (modified height (the rear with the metal axel is quite a mess too)) are done but haven't touch the body yet.

[lotus_man]

Originally Posted by Murray Kish

...

Here's a boring shot of the rear wheels. Only thing to mention here is that the wheels are *really* shiny out of the box. They have some sort of film on them and don't look very good. I sanded the tread with sandpaper to eliminate the molding line, and then used a fine scouring pad on the sidewall to dull it up a bit. Looks a lot better to me, but there's still something about these wheels/tires that just doesn't look right to me....

...

I agree, the sidewall doesn't look quite right to me, especially where it interfaces with the actual rim...