1970 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe Kitbash

[Mike Slapattack]

Hello everyone!

I saw a post by @doorsovdoon from last March where he showed how he used the chassis from the AMT Supernatural 1967 Chevy Impala Sports Sedan under an AMT 1970 Impala. This inspired me to try the same thing with an AMT/Ertl 1967 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport kit as the '67 tooling has a far more detailed chassis than the '70 and has more or less the same floor and frame. This is an expansion on a simple nearly box-stock '70 Impala build that I started last year and picked up again a couple weeks ago.

This is my very first attempt at serious kit bashing and only the 4th model I've ever built so I'm not going to be a rivet counter about adapting the chassis, but I'm going to try to get most of the car as accurate as possible without major modifications. 

Below are some pictures of the progress made up until this point.

Here are the two kits I'm using:

 

Some bodywork from last year, including a quick shot of Tamiya base white to see what needs to be sanded:

 

Engine assembly. I decided to stick with the 454 included in the '70 kit because 454s are cool!

 

Front bench seat assembly:

 

Modifying the '70 interior parts to fit the '67 floor:

 

Adding vinyl roof trim to the body:

 

Extracting the nicely detailed engine bay from the '67 body:

 

And lastly here's a test fit of the chassis and body so far:

 

My plan is to paint this car in an approximation of GM Green Mist. I'm hoping to have it done for the Kingston, Ontario NNL next month and I'm getting excited as I see it coming together! 

What do you guys think?

Edited April 16, 2024 by Mike Slapattack
Forgot to add a couple things.

[kelson]

Nice work so far!!?

[Noah H.]

Looks good so far - looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[doorsovdoon]

Awesome! Glad you found some inspiration from my build. The '67 Impala chassis fits perfectly into the '70. Scratch building the windscreen cowl to the firewall was probably the most labour intensive part if I remember. Look forward to seeing progress.?

[Mike Slapattack]

It's been a while since I've posted an update! I haven't been able to do much modelling over the summer. Anyway, I've nearly completed the adapted interior and I've began making small modifications on the drivetrain to fit the '67 chassis. I also plan to incorporate working steering into this model, and I've been modifying the front suspension to do just that.

 

[Mike Slapattack]

My scratch-building skills are still rough, I'm pretty new to the hobby and learning as I go!

[bisc63]

You are learning well, apparently! This is coming along nicely. If I may offer 2-cents: grind away the ridiculous raised "lines" on the inner fender. ( passenger side) I think AMT maybe intended to make that some sort of heater hose detail, but the plan derailed and what was left just looks goofy. Your model deserves better! Rant over - carry on!

[Mike Slapattack]

3 hours ago, bisc63 said:

You are learning well, apparently! This is coming along nicely. If I may offer 2-cents: grind away the ridiculous raised "lines" on the inner fender. ( passenger side) I think AMT maybe intended to make that some sort of heater hose detail, but the plan derailed and what was left just looks goofy. Your model deserves better! Rant over - carry on!

Haha yea I was debating on weather to do that! I'll go ahead and take the Dremel to it when I get the chance. I can run lines using wire that would have far more depth.

[rv1963]

Nice work on that interior Michael you made a lot of mods to get it to fit, Looks really good.