Greetings,
An Imgur third-party photo image hosting experiment this (yes - it took me long enough), noticed would be a 1:18th scale '70 Chaparral Camaro based upon the very old ERTL tool taking shape. Replicarz has announced a sealed resin iteration of the same topic, although for $239.95, I'm thinking I need to work up something with opening panels even if the tabulated expenses run quite close to what might be eventually asked for the sealed model. I have a backlog of SCCA Trans-Am projects harboring in the shadows, hence more may yet be seen, while know I miss the interest and feedback registered in the past. Kind thanks...
This would be Vic Elford circulating around Riverside, CA during the '70 Mission Bell 200. Basically it's the topic, and pretty much what I desire even at Watkins Glen is the obvious choice in relation to final specification. In a descriptive sense, what follows is much-compressed. Look closely and one will see my '70 T/G Firebird project beneath some images which features progress and far better rendered rear flares as contrasted to before. And yes - I do own paint and proper finishing supplies - but will I ever use such?
Seen underhood with hideous dog leg hinges on full display, a GMP '68 Chevrolet Trans-Am crossram-equipped small block engine sold on a blisterpack has been revised somewhat to suggest a '70 Chaparral spec. A '67 single 4BBL intake was cast, as were finned LT1-style valvecovers. The air cleaner lid is a Hwy. 61 '69 COPO Camaro part separated from what would otherwise be a combined lid and seal assembly, while a narrowed and tilted GMP Trans-Am Camaro Harrison radiator assembly is sited on scratch built support structure.
Also discerned will be a coolant expansion tank w/mount, a remote oil filter installation, and what is intended to appear as a near-standard accessory drive with the alternator installed high and to the right. The master cylinder and brake booster assembly is standard GMP Trans-Am Camaro fare, while the visible third of the resin upper control arms are similarly sourced. Headers are standard GMP items, although if someway to work up the shape and design of Kustom Headers is found, then that will be the path forward.
Experiments with clear plastic sheet of various thicknesses continues consistent with replacing the fabricated front spoiler with something akin to 'unbreakable Lexan'. Unfortunately my efforts will likely prove delicate indeed by way of contrast. And just in passing, here may be seen one front bumper option without the delicate bumper guards in-place, while further below a stripped part with bumper guards is difficult to make out given it's cast in black plastic. The casting and contour of the bumpers front and rear required work, and will subsequently be vacuum-plated as COVID-19 (the original horror versus the expected sequels) winds down.
Long pushed to the side given I'd hadn't a clue how to reproduce the panel flares, behold the model with -
gasp - panel flares. A spare body was fitted out with plastic walls or borders outlining the extent of each flare as per information gleaned from the relevant FIA homologation forms, whereupon I set the shell on it's side and poured resin directly into a succession of four pockets. Mold release was sprayed into each pocket or recess, while eventually the material set up and the resultant chunks 'o resin were snapped off and reshaped to resemble what is seen here. Not the work of an afternoon, or even several afternoons. I'm hoping to create a mold to do duplicates if only to backstop my efforts, versus attempting to install the single set and risking all for so-doing. Oh, and just in passing, note that the low-rent ERTL plastic 'glass' can be polished up to look better than one might suspect...
Here the model is seen in profile, consuming as it does body work from about three ERTL releases for having a flat hood, unperforated doors sans exterior racing mirrors, a standard nose versus the usual RS-treatment, and the taller D80 rear spoiler. Just turning up an interior without the upgraded trim with faux wood inserts is something of a challenge, although a few ERTL releases afford such. The cage may be done again given the main hoop could have been positioned further back, although it's very tight as-is. To ensure the cage fits as tight at it might relative to the thick body shell metal, the plastic headliner that otherwise joins the front and rear screens has been cut out. Tires are Jouef/Eagle's Race Ford GT40/Gulf Mirage Firestones, the wheels are revised resin Minilites done before to support other efforts. The standard exterior rear view mirror is from a Lane '68 Firebird 400 H.O., while the outlines of the fabricated fuel cell housing can barely be discerned below.
Briefly glimpsed would be the Chaparral gauge pod set into the dash, as well as the ERTL D80 rear spoiler that required and has received a degree of attention. The spoiler as-delivered is missing material beneath the main element as it floods over each respective quarter panel top, while the end profiles and height of the element itself needed subtle correcting. A former concern about the height of the side screen/glass openings around the passenger compartment has been seen too to the extent that each opening has been filed flat to eliminate the rain gutter and window seal detail, while some file work served to enlarge each opening for expanding upwards into the roof. Note how the rear windscreen border profile matches the contour of where the side window openings pick up (best appreciated for examining an unmodified example). It does look better! Thanks for your review and consideration of yet another unfinished scale project, suitably-themed.
Mike K./Swede70
