Death Proof Chevy Nova

Hi all

When I saw Death Proof in the cinema it was clear I had to build a model of the Nova. I bought the newly released Revell kit and started to do homework for what has to be done. Soon I realised what I got into...a shitload of work. For reference I had the movie on blu ray and pictures of the actual movie prop car which is now located in southern Germany.

First a cool poster of the car and its freaky owner.



I started with the rollcage for the interior. It was reconstructed by viewing a lot of pictures and should be pretty much accurate to the original. The dash was also built completely from sheet to match the reference.



The cage luckily fits under the body. In the engine bay the inner fender was removed on the drivers side. The prop car was build from a junkyard car and is missing some parts here and there.



A few more pics of the cage...




The front axle was modified to be steerable.



The rear hinge of the leaf springs got some upgrade in detail.



Some new mufflers were built as seen in the movie when the car grinded along the road on its roof after the crash.



More views of the interior with the undercarriage. The inner fender on the passenger side was modified to match the reference.




The engine bay again...



Stance is good and the steerable wheels bring some more life into the model.



I bought a set of modelcargarage PE parts for the AMT kit in hope that the grille would fit to the Revell kit aswell.



It fits perfect.



The rear lights needed to be modified from 69 to 71, so I had to cut again.



The grille insert and the bumper got some new shine with alcad after the mold seams were removed.



Some naked door panels were built from scratch.



I opened the ends of the traction bars to look more realistic.



A little more detail for the exhaust made from stretched sprue and sheet.



Finally I got to a point where I could start to do some painting. This was all done with a brush. After painting the whole thing in satin black I added the rust in various colors from dark brown to yellow which were applied wet in wet. Finally some grey drybrushing to simulate the dirt from the streets.




Before painting I have removed the molded fuel tank as the prop had a safety tank in the trunk.



I built some hinges for the exhaust from thin aluminium and bolted it to the undercarriage with bits if stretched sprue.



The engine was equipped with some Reliable-Resin Moroso valve covers which had to be cut down from big block to small block size. A correct air filter was added and that round thing of aluminium was built as seen in my reference pics.




Back to the interior... The very special passenger seat was built from sheet and the plexiglass parts were cut from a blister package. The part with the holes in it made me almost freak out. I needed about 15 attempts until I got it right. It was a pure torture to drill the holes by hand.




A fellow modeler made a PE steering wheel with a resin ring and a Beard racing seat to match the actual car.




A view of the completed interior. Still no use of airbrush, everything hand painted with a brush.



The rear bumper with the modified lights and the license plate is finished.



Finally I got my airbrush out and painted the body. For the color I chose flat tank gray followed by gloss clear to make the color a little darker and to have less problems with the BMF job. After BMF was applied I added a coat of flat clear. I used Revell enamels for the whole process.



That´s it for now. I need to take some pics for an update. The car is pretty much finished, only the hood is not done yet. I had a serious warping problem due to puttying the holes in the SS hood. Meanwhile I have organised a COPO kit with a plain hood which will be used here. I hope to get the hood done in the near future, I need to push myself to get on it again.

This model was a real challenge as it was my first build after my break. It was as much fun as it was a torture to me. As you can see in the pictures it took me ages to get some progress done.

Well, I hope you like it.

Greetz
Kevin

Wow, its all the little details which make a huge difference.
Awesome work and it looks great.

Great work Kevin!! Your attention to detail is fantastic, I'll be watching this one!!

Given that level of obsessive attention to detail you've come to the right place.
Welcome to the nut house...

Not a fan of the movie, but I did like the Nova. What I love though is this build, the attention to detail really makes it. Excellent work mate

Great painting techniques mate and scratch building, a real credit to your attention to detailing.

Great detail!! Awesome weathering job with no airbrush

yes, i agree with others that the detail is tops. almost a pity it'll be mostly hidden from view when finished.

Wow, that detail and patience is amazing, under-carrage is awsome.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Yes, it is kind of nuts but I like doing this stuff. I'm a member of a german forum which is related to movie models and sometimes we really push ourselves to the next level of counting rivets. I have some other models under construction which are as freaky for details as this Nova. Even though a lot of details can't be seen when the model is finished...it's good to know they are there.

Greetz
Kevin

Great work so far on it,cool weathering too.

I've never seen the movie but the work that you have put into the Nova is mindblowing. Keep us posted. I can't wait to see it finished.

Wow what a build, love the movie and the car. Hope you are putting the flying duck on the bonnet. what REF pictures did you use? Can.t what to see the skull logo on the front awesome

Thanks guys.

When I started this build I found some nice pictures on a page called deathproofcar.com which has been suspended some time ago. Don't know why it is down. Maybe there were licence issues with Dimension Films or stuff like that. Whatever...I've got the pics saved on my hard drive so it doesn't affect me. If anyone is interested in those pics for private use I can send them per email.

The Rubber Duck will be on the bonnet for sure. It's just waiting for me to get the paint done.

killer work Kevin (no pun intended)

Can you buy the DUCK?

@Yugster:
A fellow modeler has made a small detail set for the Death Proof Nova including Beard seat, steering wheel, license plate, Simpson emblems for the seat belts and the duck which is a recast of the AMT Rubber Duck model.

I don't know if it is still available but I can ask him if anyone is interested. The Moroso valve covers which were modified by me are available, too.

Cheers
Kevin

That is a brilliant scratch building job, and being an ex armour modeller I'm really impressed with the underside weathering. The P/E grille works well.....Great job Kev.

Thanks TJ

I took some new pics today to keep you guys updated. It´s almost done. Only the hood is missing to get this build finished. The first hood I used was badly warped from putty and I had to wait for the COPO hood to be available. That´s why it isn´t done yet. However, here are the pics.





















Hope to get the hood done before another year goes by...

Thanks for looking

Best regards
Kevin

Very cool Kevin

That looks a killer build. love your scratch building skills.
interior detail looks spot on!

Shoey wrote:That looks a killer build. love your scratch building skills.
interior detail looks spot on!

interior shot looks incredibly REAL! Top job.

Incredible build of a cool car from a creepy movie
Very nice work mate, your scratchbuilding is very tidy

Wow, hell of a job, it was very good, congratulations.

Hugs

That's excellent, prefered the Charger myself. The "Duck" is available from Auslowe, cast metal.