Nova SS 327

[Scale-Master]

This is going to be a model of my third car. It was a 325 HP 327 with a Muncie 4 speed still in original paint. But it was not a pretty or even well maintained car when I got it.

I started by painting and weathering the chassis and engine bay.

[Scale-Master]

The engine was filthy. The Chevy Orange was barely visible under the grunge. I still need to work the weathering and grime as I build more on the engine.
The wiring was special too. (This is how I got it.) There were “insulators” made of foil tape to protect the #2 and #4 wires from the (rusty) exhaust manifolds. It had stock ignition wires, and I think the ones on the model are in a lot better condition…
It had nice aluminum valve covers, I sourced them for the model from the AMT ’70 Z/28.

[GTRfan01]

nice so far,
That engine looks great, whats your weathering technique ?

[Scale-Master]

Basically I build and paint as if it were going to be clean, then I use a variety of washes and spray finishes to build up the grime, rust, dirt, etc. I like the Tamiya acrylics for the washes. Mostly I use Light Earth, Flat Black and Rust. I've also been experimenting with a cold galvanizing coating for texture and a light dusty gray effect.

[Scale-Master]

I used the kit provided steel wheels but I used the tires from the Revell ’67 Camaro since they looked closer to what was on the car.

[Scale-Master]

The rear suspension has been installed.

And the engine bay is ready for the motor.

I added an upper bracket for the alternator, made out of aluminum.

[Scale-Master]

The engine is in. Still more fine-tuning of the sheen is required.

And the exhaust has been installed. The exhaust on the real car was cheesy. Original and rusty pipes ran from the manifolds and were cut off mid-car and metallic blue glass packs were sloppily welded on. No muffler hangers were used. (I think there were some welding rods or coat hangers wrapped around the cross-member; I’ll add them later.) The car smoked a bit so I figured there was probably some soot around the outlets.

I made the glass packs from brass and aluminum. The pipes are from the kit cut short.

[Scale-Master]

The front suspension is installed and I added the “muffler hangers” to the cross-member.

The radiator and core support are installed too.

I test fitted the body and I can see I’ll have some minor adjustments to do to get the front wheels aligned a bit better.

I primed the body along the mold seams and will use that as a guide when I prep the body.

[Scale-Master]

The real car had some nasty worn out and stinky carpet. I used black flocking for the carpet, but tinted it with dirt. I purposely did not go for a nice uniform texture since a lot of the padding was gone, and there were cracks all over the carpet. The interior that “junkyard smell”. (I don’t recall ever vacuuming it.)

[Scale-Master]

Since the back seat had been removed from the real car I made a panel to represent the stamped steel detail of the rear bulkhead.

[Scale-Master]

The top of the driver’s door had the paint worn through (from resting an arm on it I’m sure) and was rusting a bit too.
The bottoms of doors had red and black furry carpet glued to them.
The kit comes with a bench seat and two custom buckets. I used resin copies I cast for the ’68 Camaro and cut the headrests off.

[Scale-Master]

I cut apart the dual air clear that came in the kit to make the little Pep Boys style one the car had. Unless I decide to make it dirtier I think the engine bay is done.
I also added the Hurst T-handle using a resin piece I made for the ’68 and ‘73 Camaros. Ironically it is the exact same T-handle I had in my ’73 Vega.
By cementing the interior to the firewall I was able to tweak the warp in the chassis so all four tires touch the ground now.

[GTRfan01]

this is coming along nice, i like it!

[Scale-Master]

I used a light blue for the undercoat.

Then I did a quickie Testors enamel airbrush job knowing it did not have to look great since it will get a weather beaten finish. Typical; don’t care about the paint job and it comes out nice without even any dirt.

[Hemi Killer]

lookin good.