AMT 1967 Chevrolet Impala SS

[LyleW]

For some reason the idea of decals on vinyl tires makes me think they’ll never hold. Painting them is even worse. But hey, they look pretty awesome. Well done, Lyle!

The process for his is basically this, coat the tires with future, or some water based acrylic clear gloss, apply decals, coat with your favorite clear gloss. He's never had trouble with adherence I have some, one of these days I'll try them..

My problem with decals is that if they are not separated pieces, my cutting skills are weak these days. I can draw the circles and use the Silhouette cutter to make them on white decal paper. Then there is the problem of breakage. As fragile as Speedway seems to be, I would have zero luck using the whitewall pieces.

[LyleW]

Asked Mike at MCW for a tracking number. Looks like the Marina Blue Metallic has made it to Louisville. Good and bad. I hear that the Louisville P. O. is really backed up. Supposed to be processing to go to Taylorsville P. O. Should it make it there this weekend, I should have it on Monday. Maybe. Possibly. Who knows.

[BlackSheep214]

The USPS are being slammed this year since most folks are ordering holiday gifts online this year. I’ve got a few colors I want to order from MCW but will wait until after the New Years to place them.

[mustang1989]

While you're waiting on that paint, let's turn our attention to the body. Don't prime it just yet Lyle. Let's look at it a little closer. I've got my AMT 67 Chevelle SS body in front of me which is loosely based on the car you're building. Should have the same molding flaws that are typical in auto bodies though. Take a look at the rear quarter window area where the window opening for each side of the car draws down to the side of the body at the rear of the body. You're gonna see a body/ mold line extending down to the side of the body as if the window opening line were continuing on for about 3/16" to 1/4" or so. That....is a mold line that shouldn't be there. You don't need primer to see and fix that. Just use the finest sanding stick/ paper that you can get away with (if it's sanding paper that you're using then only use about a 1" x 1" square to keep from creating any sanding marks elsewhere on the body) and continue to work your way through the finest sanding paper you can. I usually start out with my knife blade LIGHTLY scraping it down some then hit it with 1000, 3400, 4000, 6000, 8000 and then finish up with 12,000 grit to make sure that it's all nice n' smooth.
Next up....run your finger front the front to rear of the auto body along the top of the front fenders and then the same way along the top of the rear of the fenders. You feel that sharp as a knife demarcation line along the tops of the fenders? That's gotta be rounded out a little bit as well. I drag the back of my X-acto knife along those some to start the process and then continue on by smoothing those up with the sanding sticks the same way I mentioned in the above paragraph.

Next up and this one is entirely up to you and how far you wanna go. Flip the body over and take a look at the headliner. AMT usually has four ejector pin marks...one in each corner of the headliner. Unfortunately the headliner is textured on most of these cars so that one is gonna be somewhat tricky. There's a fine line between detail removal and getting rid of those but it just depends if you want to do this part or not.

[mustang1989]

Remember.....DONT get in a hurry with the body prep work. Without the most important tool of patience all work is futile in regards to prep, paint, wet sanding and polishing. We get into a nasty habit of saying to ourselves, "That'll do.". It WONT. Believe me when I say that every flaw will show up under a nice gloss......EVERY time. Exercise patience and you'll see work out of yourself that you'll do a double take on when you see the results.

[LyleW]

I think I got those seams knocked down, I know I have 1500, 2000, and 4000 grit. I’ll have to see what I have in “storage”. I vaguely recall buying some much higher grits.

Honestly, not sure what to do about the headliner. It will be black, probably rhe same as the seats. Those pin marks will be a pain.

Oh, hit those edges on the fenders, too. How “rounded” should they be? I really just knocked them down a bit.

[mustang1989]

No worries on the headliner Lyle. We'll walk before we run here so I completely get it.

The fenders don't need to be rounded off a whole lot. Just not razor sharp like the kit has it.

Kind of like this:



and this:



BTW....this car is an excellent reference:



Inside and out reference photos are here: https://www.vanguardmotorsales.com/inve ... -impala-ss

[mustang1989]

Honestly you'd probably be alright just lightly dragging the back of the X-acto knife blade along those areas Lyle.

[LyleW]

Thar is a beautiful vee-hickel!

[BlackSheep214]

Honestly, not sure what to do about the headliner. It will be black, probably rhe same as the seats. Those pin marks will be a pain.

There was a post on how to make your own headliner over at modelcarsmag forums. Here’s the link:

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topi ... headliner/