'68 HK Monaro

G'day guys,
Pretty excited about this build, 2 reasons, my first Aussie build whoohoo and my first customer build whoohoo!
My friend Justin's pride and joy is his HK. I showed him some of my builds and he was sold. He gave me a good budget to work with so I bought some cool goodies. The '69 Camaro is the donor kit.
Anyways, haven't started yet just thought I'd show my next project.

This is going to be one very cool Monaro

Looking forward to seeing progress pics when you get into it mate, something different is always good, a customer build always adds a bit more of a challenge too.

Cool, cool, cool  
Can't wait to see this one done......gotta love an Aussie muscle car.

Cheers.
You're right about the challenge Dale, because it's for a friend I MUST get it right. No cutting corners on this one.
Should get a start on it later tonight.

 

Excellent..... 

G'day guys,
I've finally got an update to share. Been pretty busy lately and haven't spent as much time on the Monaro as I would've liked to, but bit by bit I'm slowly getting there.
I've cleaned up the body and cut out the bonnet, man are these resin bodies thick, in some places about 6mm! I've got the interior and dash fitting nicely but the window pillars are still too thick. The Camaro chassis wasn't a perfect fit, had to widen it a bit and remove the fuel tank.
Because the 1:1 is all about the engine, I want make sure mine looks pretty good, when he pops the hood, I want it to look like his and not just any old engine bay. I started with the Camaro firewall and inner guards but none of it matched the Monaro. I cut some inner guards off a '67 Chevelle which matched better and I thought I'll just sand the firewall flat and build up the detail myself.



Used scrap pieces to built up the basic shape and then putty.


Made the radiator and headlight support piece and the tooth like thingy and the piece next to it is for the firewall.


Added some ribbing to the firewall and more putty to smooth out all the edges. Really wanted to see how it all looks so I gave it a quick undercoat. Lots of sanding to be done and more detail to add.The overall look isn't a perfect match to the Monaro but I like where it's heading. (Included are 2, 1:1 reference pics)

Looking good Joe, nice bit of scratch work.

Nice work Joe, those engine bay panels are looking spot on

  

Very cool

Looking great . Look forward to seeing more of this build.

it's nice to see someone going all out on one of these. \

clutch wrote:man are these resin bodies thick

you don't know thick. my bluesmobile was twice that and I've got a wraith interceptor that is solid resin in the top half (all the greenhouse area)

Looks killer so far. Man, that's some parts load you got there for it.

Thanks guys!
I was surprised at how thick some of the body was but I guess most resin bodies have that little bit of extra meat to them. It'll be my heaviest model to date, that's for sure.
Yeah I can't wait to get started on some of the parts I bought, never bought this much for one model. The tach looks like a fun thing to build, there's about a dozen pieces to it, even the needle. The pe parts listed in the first post were bought just for the Monaro, I have even more parts to add from my stash. Will be my most expensive build......and I don't even get to keep it!

I wanted to keep the grille and the radiator/headlight wall separate but I couldn't figure out how to add the detail to the top area like the bonnet catch etc. So I glued the grille and rad support together and added a bit more detail.  



The interior tub is thick, very thick! I filed out the trans tunnel and added some putty to close the gap between the firewall.



The right set of wheels makes or breaks a build and I was struggling to find the perfect set. I bought some Pegasus 19" CL's (first wheel in the 3rd pic) but they're too big and would give the Monaro the wrong look. Searched all over the web for the right wheels with no luck. Wasn't sure how I was going to tackle the wheels, even lost sleep over it. Even though I know I don't have a set in my stash, today I thought I better have a look anyways. Should've looked in the first place! I found 4 mag faces with holes already in them and 4 chrome rims which will work, not perfect but damn close. Plus 2 deep rims and skinny front which I could also use. So after all that stress, turns out I've got 2 complete sets all along!

Just looked in my stash of rims found some with holes in them but they are six stud not five ones, Monaro is looking good.

Hi Joe,

I don't get on here much but your comment about the thick windscreen pillars prompted me to post. I have completed two of those incredibly challenging Aussie made fibreglass bodies - an HK ute and van. Instead of trying to fit the windscreen in from behind in normal modelling fashion, I spent a night filing and sanding an existing windscreen, sorry, no idea what from, until it dropped into the opening. Man, it made a massive difference to the believability of the body I recall that I covered it in masking tape first to protect it from all the handling. Pain in the neck but worth the effort.

Hope that might help - I love your progress so far!

Cheers
ALan

Thanks for having a look Allan, much appreciated. I've found another set that may work even better, they don't have the holes but they are a much nicer rim.
Cheers Alan for the heads up, that's a great idea and I'll definitely try it out. I think either a Chevelle or Camaro window might be a close fit.
Cheers!

Have a look at 68-69 Firebird kits to for windscreens.

Here are the wheels I've come up with, I think they're out of the amt double dragster.
Almost a perfect match, no holes and a bit too deep. I removed a section to make them not so deep and I used one of the other rim faces with holes as a template. My mates wheels have ten holes but I've only drilled eight, because to drill ten holes relying on my measurements would have looked uneven so I used one of the other rims as a guide.



He also removed the stock fuel tank and added one up under the hood. I removed the tank and filled it in with a flat sheet but this left a big open area behind the diff. I made a panel to fill the area and then loosely following the 1:1, I added some ribs.

Coming along well Joe, looks great

Looking awesome