'57 Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe / 1:43

[cMags]

Seems like other than Cami's threads herself, this is the first build thread on the '57 Chevy line now available on ECardmodels.com Shop. I'm building the Bel Air Sport Coupe hardtop in Tropical Turquoise: 1/43 Chevrolet 1957 Bel Air Sports Coupe Turquoise Paper Model - ECardmodels.com Shop -

Building at the default 1:43 scale but squeezed the rolling chassis onto the same page as the body by removing the basic chassis. I printed this on the heavy metallic white cardstock I received from Card Stock, Vellum Paper, Envelopes, Metallic Cardstock, Invitation Cards   Specialty Wedding Stationery - Paperandmore.com (discussed in thread http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/f...available.html). The cardstock is heavier than I'd prefer, and my printer had a little trouble with it. There are a couple lines in the print due to the feed skipping a bit every inch or so, but the finish is great and I figured it'd be worth building anyway. I've made a few slight modifications to the tabs mostly due to the thickness of the paper, but it might be useful for others.

So far I have the body subassemblies built, and ready for final assembly.



I started with the sides of the car, as per the instructions. The photos didn't show the front and rear fenders very well, so I took some additional detail photos for others who build this kit.

Front fender:





Rear fender:

[Cami]

Hey! I am glad to see it built by someone else. I will follow it with a great interest. I am glad you share your feelings as well!

Cami

[wag]

I tried to wait until the Nomads came out but I couldn't resist and bought a few of the coupes and convertibles. I'll be following along.
Wayne

[cMags]

Hey Cami, thanks for chiming in. This is a beautiful kit. Its coming together nicely, it was just a little unclear how the tabs worked around the fenders. I was a little confused at the tabs on both parts - ie. there's a tab both on the hood and the fender - were they intended to glue together and just stick into the empty body? I ended up cutting the tabs off the hood and trunk, and used the tabs on the fenders. I'll post a pic of the interior of the body in a little bit. I also found it made more sense to cut the tabs off the roof and add tabs to the tops of the windows so the roof laid over the edges rather than under. Just personal preference.

But otherwise, the fitment has been perfect.

[Don Boose]

This looks great, Chris! Thanks very much for those clear close up photos. I have bought a bouquet of Cami's beautiful Chevies, and look forward to trying my hand at them. They were one of the topics of conversation among Rick, Pedro (Silver Oxide) and myself as we were setting up the display at the Army Heritage Center.

Your comments about the way the model goes together and the things you are learning are much appreciated, and it is terrific to have Cami watching over your shoulder.

Don

[cMags]

Glad they help. That was my purpose in taking and posting them.

[Cami]

Originally Posted by cMags

Hey Cami, thanks for chiming in. This is a beautiful kit. Its coming together nicely, it was just a little unclear how the tabs worked around the fenders. I was a little confused at the tabs on both parts - ie. there's a tab both on the hood and the fender - were they intended to glue together and just stick into the empty body? I ended up cutting the tabs off the hood and trunk, and used the tabs on the fenders. I'll post a pic of the interior of the body in a little bit. I also found it made more sense to cut the tabs off the roof and add tabs to the tops of the windows so the roof laid over the edges rather than under. Just personal preference.

But otherwise, the fitment has been perfect.

The tabs on both the hood and the fenders (as well as on the deck and quarter panels) have a double purpose, they give a little strength to the structure and they allow a perfect alignment of the parts when you glue them on each other. Everybody has its own techniques though so the only thing that really matters is that you enjoy it and are satisfied of the result. It seems you are doing very well so far Chris.

Cami

[cMags]

Sounds like an interesting technique. Just never seen it before. I'll have to try it out on another of your cars sometime.

[cMags]

Got a little more of the body assembled. Here are the pics:







And finally, the top almost ready for attachment to the body. This is gonna look nice.

[Vermin_King]

It already looks nice ...