1972ish Chevy LUV

[Jonathan]

Where's the LUV? 

This is the recent reissue of the Monogram Chevy LUV and the kit features all the great - albeit improbable - features of a 1970's small truck - Chevy small block v8, sidepipes, impossibly wide wheels (with 8! lugs), over-exaggerated fender flares, etc.   I built it with the groovy UFO themed decals featured on the box art.  Painted with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with Tamiya panel line washes and cheap pastels.  I was feeling pretty good about it all until I broke the front valance from the body during final assembly.  My sample had a slight warp/twist to the chassis which I should have worked harder to remedy.  I added the rearview mirror, fuzzy dice, and printed some plaid seat decals.  Otherwise, what you see is what's in the box. 

Anywho, on to the next build ....

 

[espo]

Very nice looking Luv. Chevrolet thought of it as a Light Utility Vehicle and thus the name. I worked in a Chevrolet dealership during the era you mentioned and this was a pretty common day 2 type set up at that time. There even a few that put in Chevy small blocks after a short time. The side color panels are much like the Machado trim option from Chevrolet. The Camper Shell was a very popular style also. Your fender flares and the American style Victor wheels were common. Great looking paint work and I'll bet the interior is just as nice. 

[PappyD340]

Nice!

[ChrisR]

Cool!

[Monty]

Very nice build.  Curious - looks like the seat has a fabric plaid pattern.  Did Monogram actually create a decal for this or did you do some extraordinary airbrushing?

[slusher]

Great looking build!

[KWT]

Very cool. Hope to see many more of these. Always rocks to see a good boxtop build also. Thanks for sharing this...

 

21 hours ago, Monty said:

Very nice build.  Curious - looks like the seat has a fabric plaid pattern.  Did Monogram actually create a decal for this or did you do some extraordinary airbrushing?

It says he printed decals for it.

[Jonathan]

Thank you for the kind comments.  The kit, as others have noted, is kind of fiddly.  But, it has potential.  I did attempt to print up some decals on a color laser printer to make the "plaid" seats.  It looks so-so in the pictures, but I wasn't super happy with the results.  There is a bit of a bow in the chassis on my sample, which I should have worked harder to fix.  I'd like to build another; attempting to remove the fender flares as others have mentioned trying.  It's amazing what you see in the photos that you don't notice just looking at the model.  

Oh! I did strip the chrome and use Alclad II (first time) on the bumpers, grill, and side pipes.  So, I broadened my horizons a little bit with this build.