In-Progress: Corvette C6-R

[Matt Wadlinger]

After picking my C6-R kit up, I just had to start it right away. I've been eagerly waiting for this kit, to continue my series of racing 'Vettes.

The parts count was a bit disappointing, as were the metal axles. But after viewing photos of the real car, I've changed my mind. The real car is more clean and a bit more simple looking than the C5-R, and Revell's replicated it well.

I cleaned up the body, and it's ready for some primer. For some odd reason the doors are separate on this body. The drivers door was a bit too small in legnth. I had to add some plastic to the front edge to get a better fit, so that the door gaps dont end up looking like a diecast car. The body had very little sink marks, and the mold lines were almost non-existant.

http://images18.fotki.com/v328/photos/4/431166/3836641/DSCF7919-vi.jpg

After I was happy with the body, I cleaned up all the parts and started assembling without glue. To my surprise, the whole car assembled without any fun-tack needed. The headers needed tacked down with a little tape, but the rest is just snapped in place and fits nicely.

http://images15.fotki.com/v338/photos/4/431166/3836641/DSCF7912-vi.jpg

http://images15.fotki.com/v268/photos/4/431166/3836641/DSCF7916-vi.jpg

After the fitment problems I ran into in the final assembly of the Z06 kit, I was not going to build this one without making sure everything fit together well before any painting, and it didn't have any fitment issues. The body fits over all the roll cage nicely, and I'm satisfied that this bad boy is ready for some paint

http://images18.fotki.com/v329/photos/4/431166/3836641/DSCF7922-vi.jpg

http://images15.fotki.com/v337/photos/4/431166/3836641/DSCF7925-vi.jpg

[GTmike400]

Looks like a very nice kit. I hope to build one soon. Looks like another nice revell kit, like the C5R. Cant wait to see it complete. Thanks for the review.

[Dennis]

Man you ain't done yet???? Looks to be a cool project! Keep us posted on the progress!

[The Prez]

:D :D Hey Matt,
Are the vents in the fender as clean as the pics show?Did you
have to do any cleaning in the vents?How do the wheels fill the
wheel wells? I know the C5R rears were a little narrow. I look forward
to your next in progress report.:)

[Zoom Zoom]

This kit looks like it's going to build out very nicely. The low parts count doesn't look to hurt it much if any, and perhaps the separate doors are there to satisfy the super-detailers that may want to display theirs w/opening doors?? Looking forward to seeing the kit in person.

[Eric Cole]

We need to see this thing in Yellow, Matt........:cool:

[Matt Wadlinger]

This weekend brought quite a bit of progress to this project.

I painted the car with Cobra Colors Millenium Yellow. The real C6-R may be Velocity Yellow, but I don't recall seeing any metallics or pearl in the paint of the C6-R I saw in person this year. I also got the trim painted semi-gloss black.
There are some errors in this kit, but nothing that can't be scratchbuilt or fixed easily. The uprights for the rear wing are incorrect for this car. Also there should be a marker light on the rear fender that doesn't exist on the body, and they didn't include a decal for it either. I'll have to make a decal or come up with some other inventive way to make the light. There are some other color differences between the cars that the directions don't call out for. The 64 car shown on the box should have black mirrors for instance.
http://images14.fotki.com/v21/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_04-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v329/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_01-vi.jpg

On many photos the rear window looks painted black or darkly tinted. I found a pic that showed the rear glass being removed, and it is in fact tinted glass. I lightly misted some black on the glass and then followed up with Tamiya Smoke clear. It gave me the look I was hoping for. It looks black from most angles but it is still see through.
http://images18.fotki.com/v330/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_02-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v329/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_03-vi.jpg

[Firehawk]

Matt that's gorgeous - when I saw the bare body in white I was, "ehhh... don't think I'll be buying one of those..." but what you've done with it transforms it to "gotta get me one of those...". Are you using Cobra Colors' primer under their paints? I've always used variprime but I have a jar of Cobra Colors stuff but haven't used it yet. Wonder how well it blocks etching and how smooth and sandable it is. In any case, can't wait to see this one finished.

[Matt Wadlinger]

I sprayed 3 coats of Cobra Colors VX primer on this one, and then wetsanded it. I followed that with Tamiya White primer, then color and clear.

The VX primer covers well and sands very smooth. I've had better success using VX to avoid any etching problems than I've had with Cobra Colors Moon Mud Grey primer.

[GTmike400]

Looking great Matt. I like the touch of CF in the ducts.

[Matt Wadlinger]

This kit looks like it's going to build out very nicely. The low parts count doesn't look to hurt it much if any, and perhaps the separate doors are there to satisfy the super-detailers that may want to display theirs w/opening doors?? Looking forward to seeing the kit in person.

Eric and I were looking at it Saturday, and the only reason for the separate doors is that the plastic behind the front fender vent is attached to the door.
They could've molded that part separately, and let the doors be part of the body, like the Vipers and it would've been much easier to deal with.

[Matt Wadlinger]

Looking great Matt. I like the touch of CF in the ducts.

Thanks.

There will definatley be more CF going onto the interior parts, and the front splitter.

[Zoom Zoom]

The color and detailing is really bringing this kit alive :cool:

[Matt Wadlinger]

:D :D Hey Matt,
Are the vents in the fender as clean as the pics show?Did you
have to do any cleaning in the vents?How do the wheels fill the
wheel wells? I know the C5R rears were a little narrow. I look forward
to your next in progress report.:)

The vents are really clean and crisp. They were already open and see through. I did no extra work to them except that I ran the back of an exacto through some of them just to make the gaps uniform, and to make sure they were wide enough to not get filled up with paint. The best part of the vents are that they are level with the top of the fender, and don't get rubbed while polishing. :)

I think the tires are the same size as the C5-R kit tires, but I haven't compared them yet.

I stripped the wheels of the chrome, and they are very nicely molded. I'll get them metallized and sealed, and mock the car up with them tonight.

[Steve_L]

That's gonna be one sweet build!

[Matt Wadlinger]

Here she is with the majority of the decals on.
http://images18.fotki.com/v24/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_05-vi.jpg

http://images14.fotki.com/v20/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_06-vi.jpg

http://images18.fotki.com/v25/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_07-vi.jpg

The wing uprights provided in the kit are incorrect for the Lemans car. The ones in the box are commonly used in ALMS races only.
http://images18.fotki.com/v330/photos/4/431166/3836641/Winguprights-vi.jpg

So I'll make some new ones out of styrene and get them correct. I'm pretty happy with the shape and fit so far, I just need to cut the centers out.
http://images15.fotki.com/v337/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_08-vi.jpg

[Dennis]

Wow Matt, that is awesome!! You ARE the building machine!!

[GTmike400]

Amazing work Matt! Im so jealous.

[The Prez]

:) Nice job Matt. I look forward to the meeting Sunday to see her in the
flesh.:D

[Matt Wadlinger]

The wheels in this kit have been fun. I stripped off the chrome and sprayed them aluminum just to find out the clear Revell put on them before chrome was horrible. I soaked them overnight in 91% alcohol to remove the clear, and then resprayed them with aluminum metalizer, clearcoated and gave them a wash. The tire decal was placed, and then overcoated with flat clear.
http://images18.fotki.com/v24/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_09-vi.jpg

Next I made templates for all the areas I want carbon fiber. I labeled each part and will remove them and put them on plastic while I paint the parts. The airbox comes with CF decals just as the C5-R kit does, so there was no need to template it.
http://images14.fotki.com/v20/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_10-vi.jpg

http://images14.fotki.com/v20/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_11-vi.jpg

And here is a quick mock up with the wheels.
http://images18.fotki.com/v25/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_12-vi.jpg

[Zoom Zoom]

Looks great; surprised the alcohol stripped the clear. I tried stripping some gold chrome off of some Pegasus rims in alcohol and it barely touched the chrome under the clear orange tint that did come off slowly.

Guess the new Chinese paints are more adaptable to alcohol stripping than others. Easy Off used to be the only thing I could rely on to strip the clear barrier if it wasn't acceptable for recoating over.

[GTmike400]

It looks good with out the spoiler. :) I like the detail on the wheels. I hope to see it this weekend.

[Firehawk]

Looks absolutely awesome Matt, very realistic.

I use fantastic to strip chrome plating off parts, works in 5 minutes. Then I use Plasti-Strip to get the clear coat off. Used to use Ez-Off but that stuff is messy and leaves a residue.

[Matt Wadlinger]

Thanks everyone. :)
I had a chance to get many of the parts painted so that CF application could begin. I also heatstained the headers and added CF to the wing. It will get clearcoated and decals applied.
http://images18.fotki.com/v25/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_14-vi.jpg

I'm happy to report the carbon fiber application went well, and quickly too. I thought it would take a couple evenings. I plan on adding some other CF patterns to the boxes on the passenger side floor as well. And then I'll get all of the decals coated in a couple coats of Future.

I added some bare metal foil to the inlets of the fuel cells, and on the radiator. The rollcage was painted in a mix of gunmetal and aluminum plate to get a light gunmetal shade.
http://images18.fotki.com/v339/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_13-vi.jpg

http://images14.fotki.com/v21/photos/4/431166/3836641/C6R_15-vi.jpg

http://images14.fotki.com/v20/photos/4/431166/3836641/DSCF7975-vi.jpg

[GTmike400]

Wow Matt, that is looking great.