Kit Choices and after-market for 1956 Chevy Wagon in 1/24-1/25th scale

[Mike Dobrzelecki]

My brother, Dan, built a bitchin drag racer out of a 56 Chevy Wagon.  Here are the photos taken in June 1969, prior to its conversion. Photos were taken in Dover DE, when he was stationed at Dover AFB.  That's my brother, Dan, who looked a lot like Steve McQueen back then, standing beside the car (that's me sitting inside it). The next photo is my other brother, Ron, sitting at the wheel.

The car was a straight wagon - not a Nomad, and, as I recall, it was a 2-door, but I need to verify this.

My problem is that no one makes a straight 56 Chevy Wagon.  My choices seem to be: 

Revell 56 Chevy Nomad 1/25th Scale
Revell 56 Chevy 2-door 1/25th Scale
Monogram 56 Chevy 1/24th? Scale  

My questions:

How hard would it be to convert a Nomad into a straight wagon?  Is the roof line different? Is the rear tailgate at a different angle in the Nomad vs the straight? wagon 
Which is the best issue of the Revell kit to start with?
What would I need to do?
Would parts from other non-wagon 56 kits help?
The Monogram kits are sometimes identified as 1/24th and other times as 1/25th - what is the correct scale? Would they be of any help, at all?
Is the 56 in the photos a 2 door or 4 door? I think the former, but look at the windows.
As far as I can tell, AMT never had a 56 Chevy - correct?
Would the Star Model resin deliver van resin body help?

Edited January 15, 2019 by Mike Dobrzelecki

[Casey]

2 hours ago, Mike Dobrzelecki said:

How hard would it be to convert a Nomad into a straight wagon?  Is the roof line different? Is the rear tailgate at a different angle in the Nomad vs the straight wagon?

The Nomad has the same roof height as Hardtops, versus Sedans, which had a slightly higher roof, so the Nomad's roof would not be correct out of the box.

2 hours ago, Mike Dobrzelecki said:

Which is the best issue of the Revell kit to start with? What would I need to do? Would parts from other non-wagon 56 kits help?

The Revell '56 Del Ray Sedan would be a good starting point, as it has the correct height windshield. You could modify the Revell '56 Nomad's roof, tailgate, etc. to convert it into a wagon. Not sure if the Star models resin body has the correct height roof or not.

2 hours ago, Mike Dobrzelecki said:

The Monogram kits are sometimes identified as 1/24th and other times as 1/25th - what is the correct scale? Would they be of any help, at all?

As far as I can tell, AMT never had a 56 Chevy - correct?

The 1/24 Monogram '56 Chevy Bel Air Hardtop is rather poor, proportionately speaking, so I would recommend avoiding it completely.

Correct, AMT did not release any '56 Chevy kits.

2 hours ago, Mike Dobrzelecki said:

Is the 56 in the photos a 2 door or 4 door? I think the former, but look at the windows.

 

The image seems distorted, and at first glance, it looks like the rear doors were removed and the entire body shortened, but looking at the driver's side window openings, I see front, rear, and rear quarter windows, so I think it's a 'normal' 2- or 4-door wagon. It's hard to tell what the front door/window length is, but I would guess it's a 2-door wagon, based upon what I see in the picture. Here's a chart to help you determine what it is/was:

Edited January 15, 2019 by Casey

[Muncie]

Casey, - great answer, my first car was a 1956 Chevrolet two-ten 2-door wagon and I agree with everything.

Mike, great project.  The tailgate on the regular wagons was more vertical than the Nomad.  It is a difficult shape to get correct in scale.  The Star model SD body looks like a duplicate of the body that Modelhaus made.  Need to soften the peak on the top of the front fenders.  It needs the quarter panel trim added (it's the same as the Revell DelRay) and it is a little too flat at the top of the tailgate below the rear window.  I'm also thinking two door - the post in the side window is narrow - it would be wider and further forward on a four door.

[Snake45]

Almost certainly a 210 2-door wagon. 

The resin body you posted would probably be your best starting point. Looks like you'll need either the Revell Nomad or Del Ray kits to finish it. 

About 50 years ago I made a '55 Sedan Delivery out of an AMT '55 Nomad. I know today that this isn't particularly accurate, but it also wasn't particularly difficult. If you don't need to get real anal about your finished project, starting wit the Revell '56 Nomad would be the easiest and cheapest way to get a model on your shelf and not two people in 100 who see the finished model will know the difference. 

PS: Your brother looks more like James Dean or Dennis Hopper than Steve McQueen. 

[stitchdup]

Did the 2 door wagons have quarter lights in the back windows? To me that suggests a 4 door but i know very little about US cars

[Snake45]

44 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

Did the 2 door wagons have quarter lights in the back windows? To me that suggests a 4 door but i know very little about US cars

If by that do you mean was the rear side glass in two pieces? If so, the photo and drawing above both seem to indicate yes. 

[Mike Dobrzelecki]

After a little digging, it looks like R&R Resin have 56 Chevy Wagon 210 2dr resin body, too.  I sent an email - I hope they're still in business. Some sites stated that the resin body is no longer available.

 

Edited January 15, 2019 by Mike Dobrzelecki

[mike 51]

18 minutes ago, Mike Dobrzelecki said:

After a little digging, it looks like R&R Resin have 56 Chevy Wagon 210 2dr resin body, too.  I sent an email - I hope they're still in business. Some sites stated that the resin body is no longer available.

 

R n R has been out of business for years....Sorry.

[stitchdup]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

If by that do you mean was the rear side glass in two pieces? If so, the photo and drawing above both seem to indicate yes. 

thanks snake

[Muncie]

more on the side windows -

the side glass behind the doors was two pieces  - one window for the rear passenger and the stationary quarter window aft of that which curved into the tailgate pillar. The 210 series had roll-down rear passenger windows - they only rolled down part way - kid safety I guess.  On the 150, the rear passenger windows were fixed.  There was a thin divider painted body color between the side windows.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Couple things...

 I think Casey's suggestion "The Revell '56 Del Ray Sedan would be a good starting point, as it has the correct height windshield. You could modify the Revell '56 Nomad's roof, tailgate, etc. to convert it into a wagon" is the best. 

The resin body pictured has a distinct downward slope to the rear of the roof that the real cars do NOT have. Revell's '57 Nomad has a similar problem. I don't have a '56 here to check.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

^^^ I could only post 1/2 of my comments due to the big 404 dump, and subsequent offline for an hour.

The illustration of the '56 Two-Ten 4-door wagon is incorrect, as it does not show rear doors, or the length these should be relative to the front doors (though they ARE shown on the Bel Air, and their relative lengths can be accurately scaled from same).

I believe the period photo is of a two-door wagon, as the door shut-line for a rear door should be just visible on the dogleg immediately forward of the rear wheel otherwise.

[Casey]

3 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I believe the period photo is of a two-door wagon, as the door shut-line for a rear door should be just visible on the dogleg immediately forward of the rear wheel otherwise.

Good eyes. 

[MrObsessive]

That's definitely a two door wagon that's pictured. As Bill said, there's no door lines ahead of the rear wheel wells and I'm seeing a slimmer pillar just behind the main front door pillar on the driver's side.

If it were me building this, I'd combine the Revell '56 Del Ray along using it's roof section up to the trailing edges of the doors, then use the roof section of the AMT '55 Nomad to give me the roof length I'd need. Of course, you'd have to fill in the 'grooves' on the roof and then you'd need to fashion the  C and D pillars a bit more upright and just a bit taller. You would get the correct front doors as Bill mentioned (no 'swoop' down) and the correct roof/windshield height which I'm one of those that would spot that in a heartbeat.

You could use the tailgate off the Nomad, but as was said, make it more upright and get rid of its ribbing.

Either which way, you've got some work cut out for you as that's one version that's never been done accurately. I wouldn't mind cobbling together a '55 two door wagon someday. Everyone wants the '55-'57 Nomads, but there's something about the simplicity of those 150/210 wagon series that in some ways are a bit more appealing.

[Mike Dobrzelecki]

Thanks everybody for your comments.  Great info.  Since I started this thread, I managed to search for previous posts on this site and came up with a lot of other good information. Some of the comments include:

"1955-57 Chevy and Pontiac had two distinctly different station wagon bodies--the standard 2/4dr wagons, and the Nomad/Safari. Regular wagons used the same windshield frame and glass as 2dr and 4dr sedans, while the Nomad and Safari were built around the convertible/hardtop windshield frame and glass, which is approximately 2" lower than the sedans (think .080" or 2mm lower on a model).

The Nomad roof is shorter, and the tailgate is sloped forward quite a bit more than it's regular station wagon brethren as well."

"If I remember 55 and 56 share more body parts. 57 chevys have a lower cowl so things like windshields are different from 55 and 56.I believe regular wagons use sedan doors and windshields so the Revell 56 sedan doors and roof height would give you a proper reference. It might be easier to use the 56 Delray as the basis and add the Nomad roof.Of course , you have to fill in the grooves and make door frames etc. All in all, a lot of work either way.I'm not 100% sure on the wagon thing as I was more interested in a 55 sedan using thee 56 sedan. The first thing I always look for when doing a conversion for is interchange of parts within a line. Its nice with The Reveille trichevies they are tooled similarly. One other thing I recall is 55 and 56 frames interchange but 57 frames are different in the front frame horn area. Anyway, just google a specific question like "does a 56 2dr sedan windshield (or door) interchange with a 56 4r wagon and you usually will be routed to a Trichevy forum where they always have someone discussing. If I can use existing kit parts I'm further ahead. Hope this helps."

"If the Revell '56 Del Ray is considered a Sedan (and I think it is, since it's no Hardtop nor Convertible), is the roof height correct? Has anyone measured and verified this? Being the only Tri Five sedan kit Revell has released, and based on Dennis' comments regarding the differences between '55-'56s and '57s, the '56 Del Ray sounds like it would be the best kit-based donor for the windshield surround and windshield for a '55-'56 wagon (Nomads not considered wagon for the sake of this discussion, just to be clear). Not sure how accurate AMT's '55 Bel Air Sedan is, though...I would guess most people would prefer to use a newer Revell based kit if possible."

"

"Revell's 1956 Del Ray is where you want to start for the body. The Del Ray is simply a regualr 210 series two-door sedan with a "family duty" intereior if I remember the GM brochures correctly and Del Ray is a really cool name. The sedans and the regular wagons share the same windshield and doors - identical! As noted in the earlier posts, the Nomads/hardtops/convertibles have a two inch shorter windshield as well as the hardtop window openings."

 

Model Haus gets it right (again) - the roof height on their 55-57 wagons and sedan deliveries is correct. I've seen another 1956 2-door wagon resin body that was mastered off the Nomad and that roof is little low - but nice if you're looking for a chopped top.

 

In all cases, the two door door is longer than the front door on a four door. On the wagons, the rear curved quarter glass on a four door wagon is longer then the rear curved quarter glass on a two door - note the position of the glass divider/end of the rear door. The roof on the regluar wagon is longer than a Nomad, and the tailgate is a different shape - not just the trim. As mentioned above, a lot of work to do a conversion.

 

A Nomad kit is also required... The wagon and Nomad chassis are the same - The sedan/hardtops have a differernt fuel tank shape and location than the wagons. Wagons and Nomads use the same rear bumpers with the license plate on the bumper.

[TarheelRick]

Star Resins has a 2-dr '55 Chevy wagon.  I would think if you swapped a '56 Del Ray front clip and taillights you could easily have a '56 2-dr wagon.

http://www.resinrealm.net/Star/STAR Models/55_Chevy_Handiman_SW.html  

I got a 4-dr '55 wagon from them.  It is a bit thick but a very nice body.  Steve Kohler is easy to deal with, just email him to make sure the body is available.

[Kayma367]

To add to what Ricky wrote above, Star Models also has a '56 Sedan Delivery. This looks to be about 80% of where you want to be as the roof height and door placement are the same as mentioned earlier. Cut out the panels for the rear windows and finesse the trim to accurately reflect that of the 210. Use the 'Nomad kit for the chassis and running gear. I would shoot Steve an email to see if it is still available: SteveKohler@cox.net. 

[Mike Dobrzelecki]

Thanks again everybody.

I have been in touch with Steve over the past few days. It's still available. I also think that the Sedan Delivery is my best bet, too.