I will be building this kit "out-of-box". I might not be able to control myself and might end up also including and using:
But, I also might not use any of the above. It depends on how much time I have to spend on this kit.
The body will be done in Tamiya X13 Metallic Blue. It is the closest acrylic color I could find to match the '69 Camaro factory color "LeMans Blue" without having to mix a special color or use a Lacquer paint, which is not going to happen in my shop. I know MCW Finishes has a Chevy LeMans Blue, but as I've said many, many times. I cannot vent my spray booth to the outside world, and the water bucket fume catcher does not work well, therefore, I paint strictly with acrylics.
From the factory, when the body color is LeMans blue, the only interior color that was available was black, and that's Okay, by me.
Step 03 in the instructions have you install the right and Left Upper A. Arms (17 and 18) and the Steering box (41); however, with the engine installed, there is not enough room to mount these parts. At this point in the assembly I don't think it will matter because things are getting very cramped under the hood and I don't think you'll be able to tell they are missing. Time will tell.
Refer to the inset photos.
I was a-bit leary about using BMF on acrylic paint that was sprayed directly on the plastic with no primer. I was concerned that it might mar or peal the paint. After doing some research, one website said to wax the body with a non-silicon wax before applying the BMF. The BMF instructions and other websites said not to use any kind of wax on the painted surface. I asked the question about using BMF on acrylic paints in some Facebook model builder groups and also got mixed opinions and some shared pictures of their success. So...following is how I handled it:
I had some painted test spoons from when I started this build that were sprayed with Tamiya acrylic paint directly to the spoon with no primer. They had been painted for about 4-weeks and therefore I knew they would be fully dry. I tested for durability simply by tapping and scratching at the paint with my finger nail. There were no marks left on the surface. I then applied a strip of BMF to one of the spoons, and cut two curves through the BMF. When I peeled up the the curvy strip, the paint sill looked great. I took the other spoon and applied a coat of Novus #1 polish. I tried the BMF as on the first spoon and it stuck well and there was no difference from the unpolished spoon. That was enough for me and I went to work on the body.
I put a coat of Novus #1 polish on the body as a safe guard and started the job. The BMF worked the same as when using lacquer based paints. The only trouble I had was on very small areal, such as the door handles and the trim around the wheel wells. The chrome area around the wheel wells is really small and thin and I had trouble getting the foil to stick to such a small surface, but I get it. It's no where near perfect, but since this is a shelf car I'm Okay with it. After all the BMF was applied, I put a coat of Tamiya X-22 Clear to help hold everything in place. Click here to view the finished body.
I spent the last 28-years of my life teaching technology and industrial automation at the local community college. The one thing I kept hammering into my students, young and adults is...READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!
I learned this many years ago while still working in industry. One of the pieces of equipment I used to repair and calibrate was a watt meter manufactured by a company called, Bird. I loved their instruction manual. On the cover of the manual, the only words were: "WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS". How very fitting and true, and now, after 50-years, I still don't take that to heart.
I decided I'd wait until the end to install the tail lights on this '69 Camaro. When I got to that point, they didn't fit, why? Well, after breaking down and reading the instructions, they need to be inserted from the back, which meant that I had to tear out the chassis again to fit the tail lights in location.
Murphy's been following me around all my life.
When I installed the glass, I used Testers canopy glue. I applied a very small bead of glue around the window frame, installed the glass and checked that everything was Okay. It was, so I left it to dry overnight. The next day I found that overnight, the canopy glue ran down the glass a several locations. The glass was firmly installed, but the glue was very visible. No problem, a bit of 92% IPA and a Q-Tip and the glue cleaned right off. I was smiling. The chassis to body fit in this kit is very tight and as I started fitting the chassis into the body, a small section of BMF tore off from the rear fender well. No problem. An easy fix. I removed the chassis and fixed the BMF. Then I decided to clear coat the body so that it would seal the BMF in location. I use all acrylic paints and I've used Tamiya X-22 Clear many times before with good results. I've also always clear coated over the glass, it gives the glass extra protection. But this time, the glass became foggy. I don't know why, unless by using the IPA to clean off the glue I also stripped some sort of coating off the glass that caused the clear plastic to react with the clear coat? I really don't know?
Well...I wasn't going to fix the glass so I moved on. When I dry fitted the kit, everything fit really well. Then when I did the final assembly, the chasses mustn't be situated in the body quite right because the hood just touches the top of the air cleaner making it set just a-bit high in the back toward the windshield. It didn't do that when I had everything dry fitted. I'm not fixing that either.
It as assembled and I started shooting the reveal video. While I was shooting the video I realized I forgot to install the rear view mirror. Well...that's not going to happen at this stage.
Then as I panned to the rear I realized I hadn't chromed around the tail lights. Oh well...That wasn't going to happen either.
NEVER WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO START A GROUP BUILD THAT HAS A DEADLINE. AND, NEVER TRY TO RUSH THROUGH THE BUILD.
