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Post by Mr.409 on Feb 27, 2015 8:47:56 GMT -5
I'd like to introduce you this Chevy that I built in 2013. I had the kit in my stash and when a Van community build was posted on Finnish Model Car Forum, I thought now it's time to start hacking with it. I planned to build something that could have seen here in Finland back in the 1980s with a bit raised rear end that was typical to the "Hot Rods" of that era. I started by removing mold seams and other excess material from the body and after a couple of rounds of Primer, Bondo and a bit of sanding I got everthing smoothed out. Then I painted the body with a spray can paint (I can't remember the manufacturer) and clearcoated it. Polishing was done later, as well as BMF. The interior is pretty simple and I decided not to add anything big in there. I added a wall behind the front seats from sheet styrene so that the empty space in back could not be seen. Otherwise interior was built box stock with some paint detailing. Chassis is quite simple, too. I raised rear end a little and swapped the wheels, which are resin cast by a friend of mine. Those wheels were pretty common sight back in the 1980s. Final assembly was fairly easy and Finnish register plates and that yellow sticker with 80 in it is because you could not drive faster than that with old Vans here in Finland (I have one of those on my 1:1 scale '87 Chevy Van as well)... Thanx for Lookin'.
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Post by harron68 on Feb 27, 2015 9:06:26 GMT -5
Nicely done, excellent paint, smooth and sparkles well! It is high enough for me to think for a second that it might have been the one I think Monogram models did in 4 wheel drive. When I saw the bottom I could tell it wasn't, more likely the one from AMT, with maybe box cover in silver? Anyway, nice job. We don't see enough vans. They were work horses and models could be done as anything from race car towing vehicles to rusty wrecks to fantasy customs or low riders, sectioned and with a chopped top. So many choices!
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Post by sharp on Feb 27, 2015 20:57:07 GMT -5
Nice looking build!
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Post by volvo544special65 on Feb 28, 2015 2:13:21 GMT -5
I remember this from the Scaleracers forum some years ago and the quality of the build is still great.
A question that you may or may not have the answer for...
As I live only kilometers from the border, I see finnish cars quite often and I even cross the border once in a while. And there is MANY finnish cars on our car shows and meetings. As you may know all Swedish license plates have three letters and three numbers. Most finnish license plates too...
Some finnish plates seems to be from some lower series though, for example, only two letters with three numbers, or three letters but only two numbers. And, for some reason, I think that american cars are overrepresented there? It doesn't seem to have anything with the age of the car to do either, one could maybe think that older car = lower number series, but I think that there is many fairly "modern" Caprices, G20s, Roadmasters etc. with those low numbers too, but more seldom on older japanese or euro cars, and almost never on modern euro/jap cars.
Do you have any explanation for this?
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Post by wylee on Feb 28, 2015 7:49:23 GMT -5
great job.....
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Post by Mr.409 on Mar 1, 2015 4:41:37 GMT -5
Thanks very much for the kind comments, everyone! Harron: Actually it's not an AMT kit, I built this from a Revell (EX Monogram) version that was reissued a couple of years ago. It's true that it would be nice to see more of these being built. There are definitely many ways to build these things and inspiration is not hard to find. I have one AMT Chevy Van on my shelf waiting to be built as well. Volvo544: That register plate stuff is a bit complicated. Finnish register plates indeed have usually three letters and three numbers, but those plates are a bit wider than US plates. Therefore, they don't fit on these American Cars in the place where they are supposed to be. Years ago those plates that had three letters and two numbers or two letters and three numbers were meant mostly for American Cars where regular plates were too wide to fit properly on place. As these plates were a bit shorter, they fit a little better on original place. Usually the first letter on these plates was N. For example my '60 Impala has NPN-60 register plate and it was registered in 1988. My dad had a '79 Buick Skyhawk that was imported to Finland pretty soon after it was produced in the US and it had NJ-998 plates. Now my '87 Chevy Van that was imported to Finland as new has NBE-20 plates. But the plates could have been even shorter than that. My dad's friend built a 1968 Chevrolet Impala SS back in the 1980s. It had KA-4 plates in it. Even though those plates were even shorter than plates with three letters and two numbers and vice versa, both of those plates were the same width. In the 2000s the situation was a little different. Now when the plates have a blue thing with EU mark on it ( ), they are even longer than old plates with three letters and three numbers, usually when registering an old car, you get those kind of plates. However, you can order the same plates without that blue EU thing. Those plates might have three letters and three numbers or two letters and three numbers or three letters and two numbers. But there are not many of those shorter plates left anymore, so nowadays it's possible to have a smaller register plate with three letters and three numbers in it - without the blue EU thing. Those can be found in many US cars as well. I hope this makes sense.
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Post by volvo544special65 on Mar 1, 2015 5:14:34 GMT -5
It really does. We had the same problem when we got our new license plates in 1973. There was two models available back then, the normal one-row type and a higher but narrower two-row type. None of them did fit in the plate space on american cars. The one-row type was most often too wide to even fit. The two row type was narrow enough, it was too high but could most often be bent out of shape so it did fit, even if it was often impractical on cars with the filler neck hidden behind the plate, and of course hideous looking. But in 1984 things got even more complicated since the plates changed material from aluminium to plastic, and couldn't be bent anymore. The only way to use them often was to cut them at top and bottom, which in turn was not legal. Around the same time a two-row plate that was a bit smaller was introduced, originally intended for motorcycles but you could seek for permission to use it on your car...which was very hard to get. Not until the mid 90s a smaller one-row plate for cars was introduced (and the old larger two-row type was discontinued) it had the same width as US license plates but was in turn TOO LOW, so it still looks out of place, but at least it fits...... Bureaucracy at its best, as usual......
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Post by Mr.409 on Mar 1, 2015 7:27:30 GMT -5
Yes, I forgot to mention that those special register plates with fewer letters or numbers were not always easy to get here in Finland in the 1970s and 1980s. It was depending on the place where the car was being registered, somewhere it was easier than in other place. And as you said, there was the same problem in Finland that even those shorter plates didn't always fit very well. On my '60 Impala, rear register plate has been shortened a little to fit on place. And there are those two row plates in Finland as well that are a bit bigger than the ones on motorcycles. They are quite rare though as it is, just like you said, too high to fit properly on place and many times I see it being bent a little. But they are rare. That's a new information for me that you guys had plastic register plates in Sweden! That doesn't sound like an intelligent idea to me, so it's strange there never were that kind of plates in Finland . And I forgot to mention that all Finnish plates are either white with black text or black with white text. Black plates were changed to whites in the 1970s, but you can see older cars with white plates as well. It usually means they are imported to Finland after those black plates were removed or they are newly registered at some point. For an older car, it is possible to order black plates if you're having white plates on your car... Complicated, huh? At least here in Finland these things usually are not done the easy and the best way in my opinion. But I'm so glad we don't have those miles wide plates that the guys in England do (Sorry to all British folks in here, but I don't like the look of those plates) . Here are a couple of pics of the different plate types because not everyone knows what we're talking about... Regular Finnish register plate Without the EU thing. And With the EU thing.Black plate with three letters & two numbers. Same thing, but with white plates.Black plates with two letters & three numbers. Same thing but with white plates.Two letters & Two numbers.Three letters & One number.Two letters & One numberTwo row plate with EU-thing.Newer, smaller plate with three letters & three numbers.
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Post by volvo544special65 on Mar 1, 2015 8:16:12 GMT -5
The plastic license plates weren't very good, the reflective film came loose after a while so they got impossible to read, so we got aluminium license plates again in 2001.
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Post by nyratrod on Mar 1, 2015 8:19:21 GMT -5
Great looking build. The paint is fantastic, or should I say "VANTASTIC".Chevy vans of this era were built with two different wheelbases, 110inch(2,794mm) and 125inch (3,175mm). Yours looks like the 110 inch which I had in 1:1. I didn't know that Revell released this van other than a custom version with flared wheel wells and a roof that comes off completely. Is the AMT version the longer wheelbase? I'm gonna have to hunt this kit down to build a copy of my 1:1 from back in the day.
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Post by boxcar on Mar 1, 2015 8:36:16 GMT -5
I like the way you put this together.
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Post by mccannj2921 on Mar 1, 2015 12:17:14 GMT -5
Nice Job! Its a very clean build!
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Post by Mr.409 on Mar 1, 2015 14:59:39 GMT -5
Thanks again for the kind words, everyone ! Volvo544: Yep that's what I kind of guessed that they probably weren't the best plates ever. But it's very neat history that not many people know at least here in Finland. Yep, this is the short wheelbase version. Unfortunately this kit has those fenders flares and I'm not quite sure if Revell has ordered a kit without them. But I believe those should be easy to remove. AMT's Van is longer wheelbase, I have one of them too. A friend is casting a resin grille from GMC Van for me so I can convert it into '87 grille to replicate my daily driver in 1/25 scale. It would be neat to see pics of your progress when you get started. Thanks again for the comments!
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Post by dimaxion on Mar 15, 2015 13:20:10 GMT -5
I was on the "Van Board" at Lordstown , Oh. Terminal when the Vans were made there in during the mid '80's .I started in the late '70's as hauling everything . The Van Board was created to Haul these to Elkhart , In for Custom Conversion . Contrary to the belief of our Dispatchers making these loads up problems developed . The Long WB Vans made some Loads Over-length . Fines were paid . Cargo Damage occurred due to length of some of the Units . No consequences from a Management Point of View and nothing changed .. The resistance from the Springs on a 1/2 Ton was 1500 #psi . I had friends snapping their Biceps as the larger Units had heavier suspensions .. This is what these looked like . Just right .. Thanx ..
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Post by Mr.409 on Mar 16, 2015 3:35:32 GMT -5
Thanks John! It's great to see that my build could bring back memories. It's always a good sign.
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