PK4102 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray times two. FINISHED.

[TonyW]

Stand by for action. Stingray, Stingray!

 

It's time the Matchbox/AMT American cars got a look in here, and the '63 Fuel Injected Corvette Coupe is as good a place to start as any. 

 

Here's the Matchbox issue alongside the AMT version. Both good looking boxes.

 

 

I'll be building mine with the hood shut as the original isn't the best fit in the world and the detailing under it is less than sharp.

 

I'll also be copying the metallic blue version shown on the box side. Tamiyas metallic blue is pretty close and that will be my color of choice. Not colour, this is a US build. Fenders, hood and trunk will be used freely. 

I'll also stick with the kit wheels. Optional in '63 over a set of rather garish hubcaps that were standard. Narrow band whitewall tires will need sourcing.

 

 

I've also got most of a second kit here that might possibly get a look in if its lucky. 

 

 

That one could get an open hood and some of the custom goodies added. The two would sit well together but it would be prudent to finish the first one before considering a second.

 

Check out Jay Leno's drop dead gorgeous silver car... 

 

 

 

 

 

And my soundtrack of choice for the build can only be Jan and Deans Dead Mans Curve.

 

Altogether now: 'I was cruising in my Stingray late one night, when an XKE pulled up on the right...'

 

 

 

[johnlambert]

I really like the 1963 Corvette, so I'm looking forward to seeing this one built.

[TonyW]

The shape is stunning, I agree. A bit fussy with the details but by '67 it was pretty much perfect to my eyes. A rare occasion when the stylists removed trim as the design aged.

[RainierHooker]

Good choice! This very kit was the first one that me and my kid, then 5 undertook. I also have a great affinity towards the second generation Corvette as one factored very much into my childhood. My uncle road-raced a '65 'vette roadster throughout the '80s and '90s with my dad and me as pit crew, along with any other poor family member that could get wrangled in for the weekend. My main job was getting tires (tyres?); we were a low-buck endeavor, so I would comb the pits for good cast-off tires in the high-buck teams' pits (they'd only run a heat or two on new tires) and then I'd run them to get mounted on our rims and then back to our pits for our next heat. It was a great time for a kid, especially when dad would pull me out of school to go to the races!

 

300382_227697010620643_1177585853_n by Evan Bailly, on Flickr

 

...this is fairly early on when we ran in the SCCA, and that's a tiny me in the green satin jacket on the tailgate in the background. Later, when the car was no longer competitive, the flared fenders (wings?) were returned to stock and we ran the car in vintage classes.

 

I'll be following along here!

Edited February 23, 2022 by RainierHooker

[bigbadbadge]

I loved these old Matchbox car kits and built a few, getting them from Debenhams in the early 80s,  never built one of these, my fave was the 55 Chevy Nomad, wish I still had them .

Good luck with your build

Chris

[Mike Dean]

I don't know about surviving Dead Man's Curve, but Jan Berry didn't have much luck with a parked truck in 1966.

 

Gotta love a '63 split screen Corvette (or two!). I remember you telling me some time ago how awful the AMT tires were on this kit, so it's good that you're going for some upgrades.

 

Bring it on!

 

Mike.

[malpaso]

Nice, I love the lines of the 63.  Apparently that and the 300SL are some of the few cars where the coupe is far more valuable than the roadster!

[Pete in Lincs]

Great choice. I love the split window.

The box art looks great, especially those wide rear tyres.

This one pops up on the bay occasionally, but I've had no luck so far.

[TonyW]

1 hour ago, Mike Dean said:

I remember you telling me some time ago how awful the AMT tires were on this kit, so it's good that you're going for some upgrades.

 

Bring it on!

 

Mike.

 

AMT weren't exactly king of the hill as far as their tires go. This kit came with a set of pretty poor efforts, really chunky with enormous raised lettering on them. On an off road Bronco or something they would be OK I guess, but on a beauty like the 'Vette, no way.

I don't have any here to show how bad they were, the nearest I can get is to show one from the 1.16 scale '57 Chevy kit. The 1.25 tires are similar.

I smoothed off the one on the left and it's usable now.

 

 

The Mustang group build was good practice for this one. I'll be doing things slightly differently in the light of lessons learned there. Tamiya paint is nice stuff to use but I found it doesn't like being handled once on. The shine soon goes. I'll be wearing cotton gloves to try to prevent that. 

I need to replace the kit glass as well, both parts I have here are very thick and rather scratched. The stuff I used on the Mustangs sort of worked but I need to up my game a bit for this build.

 

More as it happens.

[JOCKNEY]

Wonderful choice Tony

I might be tempted to join you with an AMT/Matchbox car later on  but I've got too many other builds to finish first.

Best of luck with one / two 

Cheers Pat 

[TimJ]

Nice to see another AMT/Matchbox kit in the GB. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 

[CliffB]

9 hours ago, TonyW said:

The Mustang group build was good practice for this one.

 

If your beautiful Mustangs were just practice Tony, then this Corvette is going to be mind blowingly good! 

[TonyW]

The Stingray makes it onto the build bench this weekend, along with a couple of other car kits. Overkill is best.

 

I'm still at the 'sort out the parts' stage with it, and today the wheels and body get put in the spotlight.

The kit wheels are OK, but a much better set were available in the sixties Airfix Mako Shark kit. The Matchbox/AMT wheels are on the right here, the Airfix/MPC on the left...

 

 

The Airfix set also include a pair of narrow wheels, for the kit supplied trailer. They could come in handy if I go the big and little tire route. Airfix to the rescue again, as they provide such a set. They also provide spinners for the wheels, which Matchbox don't. I won't be using the wheels in the picture, but will mould my own to keep my Mako Shark complete.

The big mag wheel with the Firestone Gold Line tire appears in just about every picture I take of build setting up stages. It will get used one day.

The most likely set for the build will be the Airfix wheels and narrow white band tires, same size all round as per stock. Although, don't hold me to that, things could fire off in a different direction.

 

I have two bodies to choose from, both need work. The unpainted one has trim damage from removing the glue bomb glass that was on the body when I got it. Repair needed there, but all the other trim, including fender and tail scripts are intact. The second body will need sanding down to remove the last of an old paint job. It's at the point that no solvents or solutions I've tried will shift the last of it. It's a contender though.

 

 

Here's the current sort out pile. A '57 Chevy and a '55 Nomad will be built alongside the Corvette. They all need help. They are about to get it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JOCKNEY]

That's a fantastic looking workbench Tony, lots of people envious of you sitting down to start on that collection,  best of luck !

Cheers Pat

[TonyW]

4 minutes ago, JOCKNEY said:

That's a fantastic looking workbench Tony, lots of people envious of you sitting down to start on that collection,  best of luck !

Cheers Pat

 

It's at the daunting stage Pat. I look at that lot and have a little shudder.

By the close of play today I should have separated the wheat from the chaff and got myself an idea of how to move on a bit with the builds.

[Mike Dean]

Have you decided on the bodywork colour? With the few car kits I've build, at the start, I have the finished kit in mind and work backwards (in thoughts!). I had a part started one of these once (long gone who knows where), and like yours, it was (badly) sprayed metallic gold. Was gold even an option for '63 Corvettes?

 

As I said before, bring it on .

[TonyW]

I'm not sure about Gold being a factory color for '63 but it's a likely one for the range. Mine will be Tamiya metallic blue, close to the colour on the box side.

 

 

[Mike Dean]

4 minutes ago, TonyW said:

I'm not sure about Gold being a factory color for '63 but it's a likely one for the range. Mine will be Tamiya metallic blue, close to the colour on the box side.

 

 

Had I read your opening post more carefully, I would have seen that . Liking that (color).

[Six97s]

Is that a Firestone Indy tyre from a kit, or is it a recent Revell smooth sidewall (was Blue Streak) with a Firestone decal?  Looks good either way - thee mid-late '60s hot rod tyre. 😍

[TonyW]

The tire is a rear one from a Monogram '55. The lettering and goldline decal is an Indydecals one. The origins of the wheel itself are lost in the mists of time.

[TonyW]

On 2/23/2022 at 10:05 PM, JOCKNEY said:

Wonderful choice Tony

I might be tempted to join you with an AMT/Matchbox car later on  but I've got too many other builds to finish first.

Best of luck with one / two 

Cheers Pat 

 

The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step Pat.

 

Best foot forward then...

[bigbadbadge]

Those Airfix  wheels look great, along with your modified tyres.

Chris

[TonyW]

Not much to report on this one yet. The painted body has had a couple of days submerged in rubbing alcohol but it hardly dented the finish.

 

 

I would like to use this body as, other than the paint, it's undamaged. The other body I have needs repair. I've given the painted shell another go in a fresh bath of bleach to see if that might shift the stubborn remnants of paint. If not, I'll be sanding things back to plastic.

 

 

[keefr22]

I've always found DOT4 brake fluid works well in the numerous times I've had to strip a body back to bare plastic. It's never attacked the plastic until I once forgot about a shell and left it immersed for over three months - and then it slightly cracked the A pillars. Never tried it on AMT plastic though....

 

Keith

 

PS read in a thread in the aircraft in progress forum this week that 'brown' Dettol is good at stripping paint too. Don't know if there are other colours of Dettol! 

 

 

[TonyW]

A bit of mission creep has happened with the Stingray build, it's grown by 100%.

I've managed to repair the damaged bodyshell and remove enough of the stubborn finish on the other to the point that I might as well have a go at completing both kits. A modified street car will now join the stock version. The modified car will also be a curbside one as I want to keep the builds simple and achievable in the time available. The bodyshell has had the rear arched hogged out for wider tires and another couple of rear taillights added as was the fashion back in the day. Think of the line in the Jan and Dean song, Dead Mans Curve,...All the Jag could see were my six tail lights...

 

 

The hood for the stock version needed a bit adding to it as it was a rather baggy fit once offered up. The rear edge got a strip of plastic card added and things tightened up nicely.

 

 

Both bodyshells got primed and a bit of colour was added later as well.

 

 

 

 

 

I've made a mould for the stockers wheels and tires. The wheels are from the Airfix/MPC Mako Shark and I didn't want to use the originals on this build. There are three different knock off spinners shown, they are all I can find here. One of the types will get used on the Corvette. They are fiddly buggers to cast and the failure rate is high but I'll get there in the end.

The cast tire shown has a recessed line on it that takes a bit of thinned paint really well, making narrow band tires easy to do. I'll be making another modified mould of this one so I can cast up my own tires as needed. I'll be removing the raised lettering, changing the modern looking tread and adding rear backing plate details to give me a generic mid sixties wheel that I can add to my wheels of choice.

 

 

Colours for the two builds have been decided, after a fair bit of dithering here. In the end I've gone for Tamiya Pearl Light Blue, with clear pearl over that, for the stocker and Tamiya Italian Red for the modified car. First coats are drying in the sun as I type.

 

 

Unless I can come up with a better looking interior colour for the stocker, I'll be going for red. It matches the Pearl Blue rather well in an almost Italian looking way. A quick posed shot to show what I mean.

I've added a bit of Bare Metal Foil and Molotow ink to the body to see what I'll be using for the trim. Both finishes look very similar so I'll just use the easiest one for whatever trim I'm adding.

 

 

I'll be leaving the paint jobs to harden for a day or so before anything else gets done on the bodies but both cars are well on the way to completion now.