C6-R in 24 hours?! Le Mans build 0f 6-16-07.

[Enzoenvy1]

Well, I will start off with stating that I simply cannot build OOB for anything - ever!!! I knew I could have the body and chassis prepped for the race, but I spent so much time fixing crap that I simply had no time. In the end, I passed out around 4:30 last Sunday morning after 20 continuous hours of Corvette angst. I can honestly say that I did complete the model aside from decals and adding lights. If it were a just painted C6-R then I would have accomplished my task. But, it was a as is running Vette and I couldn't do it. But I learned so much about techniques that I would never trade the experience. So,..........here is the build of my #64 GT1 Le Mans Corvette C6-R.

Like I said, I was able to have the body primed. So last week I started by seeing what was good and bad with the Revell kit. Since this is my first ever Revell build (I am partial to Tamiya cause they are the best), I can't say if it is a bad kit. Most pieces fit really well, but the chassis pan was warped and the body had a lot of fill where it was not needed.

Like the real car, the front air dam is open and these pieces needed to be removed:

Here is the first cleanup of the damn. I broke the three inside slats on accident, but the purpose was needed. If you look at a real car, the three middle slats sit behind the mesh, and the 4 outer slats sit on the outside of the mesh. Here is the beginning:

The rear also has a cutout where a license plate would go on a street vette. On the race car it is not filled, but rather there is a mesh in its place:

So, that was removed and voila:

Next I looked at the rear diffusers and noticed that this is completely inaccurate for the C6-R. Revell only cast 7 diffusers wheras the real car has 15!!!


Here is the progress on the diffusers:


The lip of the diffusers had a curve to it, and that was also inaccurate:

So I filled the back and cut out the curve:

[Enzoenvy1]

Now, 15 new diffusers had to be made:

Here are the first two, and the beginning of a head ache:

But, I made it work:

Some might think they are not all the right length, but I staggered the 5 main diffusers to be longer and the inners progressively shorter. Here is the finished product:


The dorr gaps were really crappy:


The spoiler mounts were completely inaccurate for the car as of race day in 05'. And Revell decided I only wanted one of them so I had to make new ones (more to come). So, I filled the holes in the body:

The green door light were simply dimples in the plastic. I wanted to put BMF in the holes and use green paint. So, I drilled out the holes to make the walls less round:


Here you can see how thick the doors were. The dremmel loved it!

So, I backed the part with Styrene and got this:

[Enzoenvy1]

Bumper after attempt 3:

Now, the rear NACA ducts were in one piece and not attached to the body which is wrong. So, I measured and cut them off. Then glued them to the body:


Ok, things were going well, but then came Saturday and the race and I was not ready for anything close to primer. Then I noticed that I needed to add Styrene to all the door sides, and the hood. Anyone who has done this knows it is kind of easy, but time consuming:

[Enzoenvy1]

For fun and reasons unknown, I took pics of the clock to piss myself off. Here is where I was at:

Dash came in two parts that did not fir together at all. So, I added some putty and prayed it would dry in time:

Here is what Revell gives you for spoiler supports, it is the chrome one:

Here is what I had made, they were even curved for the angle of the spoilers surface:


Here is where they should be:


And the result:


Had to fill the spoilers sink holes:

Both doors and hood completely fitted:

[Enzoenvy1]

Here was everything that needed to be semi-gloss black:

The dash after sanding smooth and painted. I think it looks great:

Now, the front damn, again. I marked where the three slats needed to go:

Like I mentioned earlier, I had to recess the three middle ones so that the mesh could go in front of them. It took a really long time to do this, and I was mad:

Here is what they look like from the front:

And here is the test fit with the mesh. I am so happy I did this as it looks great!!!!:

Time is flying:

Now, finally the body is sanded and ready for primer:

[Enzoenvy1]

Well, the chassis is about finished. Here are the diffusers after paint, and I am loving the look!:

Here are the windows trimmed out:

Oh My Gosh there is paint!!!!!! Well, after 3 primer coats and sanding. I stripped the chrome sprue with Easy Off, and that stuff was amazingly quick! Here are a couple of wheels in Tamiya Gloss Aluminum, and the body in Tamiya Camel Yellow:

The tires were hysterical and so smooth that they could not be real:

So I sanded them down with 400 grit to make them look more realistic:

Time was flying by:

Our apartment smelled like a paint shop!!! I was painting outside to, lol:

This was the 4th coat of paint and I was not touching it anymore.
Starting on the interior:




Brakes were supposed to be flat red, but the real car had Gold colored brakes:



Still flying:

I know, I know, not the way it should be, but I was not about to waste a ton of time on the interior:

[360spider]

Wow! Superb!

[Enzoenvy1]

Brakes added:

Here is the paint after it dried for a couple of hours - smooth as glass already!!!:




SO, this is where I made to at 4:30 am. The race would have ended in 3 more hours at that point. If I could have stayed up, then I might have had it completed. But, the saving grace is that I had time to let the body dry all of the way. The next day was Dad's day so no more building. Monday I did the decals and that lone took about 2 hours. I have never decaled that much on a single car. I have never cleared with TS-13, but I felt I should to level out the decals. Here is what it looked like before I possibly ruined all of my work cause of the eating of TS-13:




Well, guess what happened?! The clear worked flawlessly!!! lol I layed 3 mists and a couple semi-heavy coats to it. I can honestly say that I have never had such a successful paint job ever!!! I don't even need to polish or wax it, it is that shiney!:




Today I added the BMF'd lights, the spoiler, and it only needs a couple of touch ups here and there. Other than that, it is finished. I hope to post it tomorrow, but work will not allow until night, and I want this one in the sun. I hope you all like what I did. I really did try to make it in 24 hours, but this was a big challenge. Please comment and criticize if need be.

Jon

[kingkai]

looking to clean for my liking. No just kidding, Awesome job

[WasteGas]

One hell of a marathon building! Show us more!

[godfather23]

Respect and even mor respect for what you have accomplished in that short period of time. The bodywork looks great!

Keep your enthusiasm up!

Robert

[69*Goat]

Very nice work in a short period of time. You have inspired me to start on mine.

I have a couple of questions....

Ho, w tall are the diffuser pieces that you made?

What mesh did you use for the front grille, and rear opening?


TIA

RW

[kingkai]

What did you used on the dremel, for sanding the doors down?

[gionc]

Hey! The mods you done to fit doors right and on the front hood are at a PRO level: I see you skills increased dramaticaly! Great job so far.

The most funny thing is the WIP of your fingers LOL!!! Dunno know glowes? LOL

ciao, and BRAVO!
gio

[hompe]

Amazing did you have any time too watch the race?