# Corvette underbody upgrading



## Andy Oldenburg (Feb 16, 2021)

I´m currently building a 63 Chevy Corvette (the split wondow) kit by amt. Very sharp and exact body molding. 4 (!) different engine options via 2 motor blocks. You get more than enough engine parts for 2 complete builds. Might make a showcase engine with the leftovers.

Then you look at the underbody and go like "good grief".... You might know what´s coming: Complete molding of "steering", front and rear suspension, differential and drive shaft. This looks so cheap, like a kiddy toy.

Here is a call to those guys in charge at our suppliers: Take it serious and give us kits with enough details and parts! Don´t think that it is "just the bottom" and not important! Don´t underestimate our skills.

I´m building my Vette as a street-rod with fat side-pipes, so having molded-on exhaust-pipes remaining just looks pathetic. So they have to disappear. I cut them out and off and replaced everything with sheet styrene. Here´s what I started with:








First step was to remove the pipes.








Next I added a real drive tunnel and the missing parts. Cut them out of 0.25 and 2mm sheet styrene.








Body putty.








Sanding and filler priming.








After priming, painting and dry-brushing the underbody eventually looked like this. Now I can set a drive-shaft in the tunnel.








I must admit, it still isn´t what I really expect from a cool chassis, especially compared with rest of the model (will show up soon). The front and rear suspension are not up to my standards. I got some good advice from Armand from France to build up everything from scratch with different profiles (Hey Armand, very good job on that Delta!). Will take much more time and work, but the results will be on a complete different level.


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

I appreciate a detailed undercarriage as well. And I am looking forward to what you acheive and how you adjusted the interior to fit the floor pan modifications you made. Not many model makers have the skill sets you do you especially in 1:24/25 scale.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

But don't you know dealing with inaccuracies is all a part of building models?? Seriously though do you have any extra rear axles lying around that would work??


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## Andy Oldenburg (Feb 16, 2021)

irishtrek said:


> But don't you know dealing with inaccuracies is all a part of building models?? Seriously though do you have any extra rear axles lying around that would work??


Hello irishtrek,
lol, yeah! I´m not afraid of cutting up, building up and messing around. Of course that´s a big part of the fun. In this particular case it was the stark discrepancy between the quality of the whole kit and what the bottom side looks like. As if the top designer had left an apprentice to finish up.

No, I haven´t collected enough leftovers from other kits yet, and axles seem to never end up in the box unused. But I have some finished models to take as examples and will build everything with styrene bars, tubes and flats. There are enough pics and videos on the net, in case I need details. It is a challenge, I know. But this is my passion, I have the patience and it´s all for the fun of it!


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

A couple of MPC kits from The Dukes of Hazzard have molded in running gear and exhaust systems like Daisy's Road Runner and Rosco's police car. Also I think it's the Mobius Ford service truck kit has an extra rear axle.


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

The '63 has half shafts (not shown below) and trailing arms.


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