1963 Chevrolet Chevy II Convertible

Fresh off of the bench.
This is the Trumpeter kit lowered over Revell '32 wheels & parts box tyres. Nosed, decked & partially shaved (side trim kept to separate the colours). Paint is Toyota touch up paint with a drop of red in the top half and a drop of black in the lower - yes, I can do subtle...


There are a few problems with this kit which only appear on final assembly. Here you can see the huge gap between the soft top boot and the top of the back seats. By the time I found this I had got fed up with fixing design flaws).


I kept the stock 6. Here you can see where i've fixed the gap between the top of the firewall and the bottom of the scuttle (the bit that's not pink). There was also a big gap between the front of the dash and the bottom of the windscreen frame which I also filled. And no, these are not builder error - I took it apart and reassembled it many times and there was no apparent way to get it to fit without gaps as it came out of the box. As it was I had to force the chassis and the body together and clamp them while the glue dried.


The boot (designed to open) was warped and a terrible fit so I glued it shut.


And while the engine isn't bad it's almost as if they pinched the accessory drive belt & pulleys from another kit as the bottom pulley sits lower than crank nose - a lot lower.


The chrome is a delight though - separate side trim, headlights separate from the grille and at the back individual bezels, indicator and rear light lenses. And it's done properly with copper plate underneath.
My advice? buy the hardtop (built that a couple of years ago - it has the firewall gap but the dash gap is not there and obviously no soft top boot gap) and build a Gasser with an SBC, straight axle and scratchbuilt firewall with no inner 'guards

Hey Fred, with all those faults mate you still have made a very nice clean shelf model.well done
Cheers Marshie

very nice ... well done

Very "SWEET N TIDY" build there mate, i like the 6 cyl as something different, very subtle colour difference, which works well with the theme.

great job on it

Nice job Fred, bugger about all the faults. The other thing I found looked a bit odd was the windscreen, looks a bit high for a convertable, usually they are lower that one with a roof, thought for a minute you had ripped the roof off a hard top but....
Good to see some mmm...... normal stuff....... come off your bench

Nice job there Fred , nice and subtle with plenty of detail .

Hey Fred,nice job on a pure pita.Lots of proper thinkin' and doin' there.Looks very nice.Best to you bud. Bill

Great build...but for colour-blind people like me that car is just plain white...you are too subtle for me!!!

Thanks follks.

This was the unbuilt kit that's been lurking longest in my stash. I was looking at the box last night and it cost $38 which I remember was more than a new AMT or Revell at the time.

Nice job Fred