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- 1:25 Scale '69 Camaro Yenko/SC Coupe
Project Start Date: November 17, 2006
Product Number: 85-2826
Skill Level: 2
Follow along with the Instruction Sheet
Product Information
For my first project, I thought it would be fun to see if I could build our '69 Camaro Yenko/SC Coupe kit with as much detail as our new Creative Master products.
Of course, the Creative Masters are ultra detailed die-cast collectibles and I'll be putting together a plastic build-up, but hey, lets see what happens.
November 17, 2006
First thing to do is open the box and layout what is inside.
Now that everything is laid out, let’s study the instructions to see what supplies we need. The kit calls for glue check, Testors tube cement for plastic models. We will need a hobby knife and a sprue cutter to cut the pieces as clean as we can off the tree.
Next is the fun part. We have to find paint. The kit calls for the following colors: aluminum, gloss black, gloss red, gloss yellow, semi-gloss black, silver, steel, turn signal amber, and last but not least, white. Putting those paints aside so they're easily accessible, I am also checking to make sure that my paint brushes are clean. After we have all the paint, lets take a look as to what will be painted and decide if we’re going to paint the parts on the tree or after some are assembled.
OK… have a feel for the kit, now it’s time to get our hands dirty.
This model should be fun and it will be interesting to see how close we can get this to be like the Creative Masters Yenko Camaro. So lets get started! We need to paint the parts for the first step. This can be tricky because we are going to hand paint the chassis and this is a tedious process. We need to paint it with semi-gloss black paint.
I used my #4 flat brush for this task. With the chassis in hand and paint shaken, I applied the first coat of paint to both sides of the chassis making sure that this coat was very light to eliminate brush strokes.
While the paint is drying, we can paint the other parts for the front suspension assembly. These will be gloss black so be careful while painting the black on front suspension piece 19 because we will need to paint the rotors. About an hour after the paint dried, I painted the chassis once again with another light coat. I repeated this process on the chassis 4 times until I had a uniform brushless finish.
I removed the parts from the trees and smoothed the edges that were created with my hobby knife. From there, I touched up the non-painted surfaces I had just created and grabbed the front suspension. The rotors were pretty tricky because I didn’t want to get the aluminum on the black paint so I took my time painting this piece. I painted 3 coats on the rotors until it all looked one uniform color.
After all the parts are dry its time to put them on the chassis. The pieces go in nicely. The only piece that I had questions with were the upper A-arm. They seem to be mounted freely on the cross member. After some thought and consideration I mounted them on the cross member and the rounded side I had resting on the back of the rotor since this is not a real car we can glue this to the back of the rotor. First step completed now.
Alright now, time for the fun stuff the engine. This shouldn’t be too hard. First things first. Lets glue the 2 engine halves together (this will make it easier to paint). Alright lets paint.
The back of the engine where the transmission is aluminum, lets do 3 light coats of aluminum on the portion that’s grayed on the instructions, allowing time to dry between each coat. In the meantime we can paint the other pieces we will need. The only thing that will take you time is the belt assembly. That calls for 3 different colors. Lets start off painting the semigloss black over the belts (its ok if you paint over what is going to be painted aluminum) lets let it dry.
Ok now that I have the transmission painted lets paint the engine block we will need gloss red I did the same as before 3 light coats but this time painting the white portion of the instructions. Now we can paint the rest of the belt the aluminum will take about 3 coats to cover. Painting this is tedious because I don’t want to get the semigloss black.
Alternating between the engine and the belts, I painted the gloss black on the belts in the Designated area. All parts are now painted. Lets get the engine together. Remove the parts and touch up as needed.
We already have step A completed so on to step B. Let's take extra care when removing the chrome pieces off the tree because they can flake if not removed properly. Shave a little bit of the backing off of the chrome piece so it will adhere to the cylinder head. My valve covers went in kind of snug without glue so I opted not to use glue on this piece. Part B complete lets do part c
Part C went together nicely I was careful with the fuel pump because there is no mounting hole I had to hold it there untill the glue held. It took about 30 seconds.
Step D was ok. I ended up holding the coil in place untill the glue set. I shaved the bottom of the carburetor pieces so the glue can adhere to the plastic instead of the chrome (to get a better bond).
Part E went together smoothly. No problems here. I had to hold the distributor in place untill the glue set.
Step F and Step G went smoothly. I had to shave the back of the alternator so the glue can set to the plastic. And the fan went on nicely.
The header assembly was not fun! After painting and putting the 2 halves together it was time for the hard part. I glued the tips of all 4 header pieces and held it in place. I let it dry for about 5 minutes so the glue would have a strong bond. I then did the same for the other side. I then let the glue set for half an hour before I put the engine in its bay. The engine went in smoothly in place. I glued it in and on to the next step.
- Click on the images to enlarge.
The radiator assembly went smoothly. I painted the pieces the designated colors. When I went to assemble it I got confused on the hood latch. You glue the piece on the frame of the radiator support, not in the little groove. The beveled edge is where you glue it. I used the Testors clear parts cement for the water bottle.
The radiator hose calls to be painted silver and gloss black. I put the gloss black on first and allowed it to dry. After this was dry, I got my silver out and carefully painted the ends for the fittings. Now we can put, on the radiator. The lower radiator hose was a bit tricky. You will have to be patient with that piece. The top piece, however, went on like a champ.
Moving along for to exhaust and rear suspension assembly I started off painting the pieces. The exhaust halves I painted on the tree (so they would be easier to handle). Alright, the deciding factor do I paint the shocks white or leave them white (Hmmmm). Since this is my kit, I will paint them white. You can choose whether you want to paint it or not. I joined the 2 exhaust halves and placed them on the chassis, gluing them in place.
Putting the leaf springs on the rear axel was a breeze. Step C placing the leaf springs and the rear axel in first before I put the drive shaft in made this step easier. Feeding the drive shaft thru the top of the car instead of thru the bottom made this a little easier.
The shocks went on easy. Not much to say about this step.
No car is complete without a nice set of wheels, and the Yenko has some nice ones. After the paint was dry on the inner wheel, I shaved the backing on the chrome outer wheel so it will adhere better.
Placing the tire in between the inner and outer wheel, I applied the glue holding it together to allow it to dry. I placed the front wheels aside from the back wheels. The tires locked on nicely. I placed both front tires on both sides and with even pressure. I pressed them together untill I felt both of them snap I repeated this process for the rear tires also.
This is getting exciting! The chassis is done now. Step 7 wants us to put the windows on but we can’t do that untill we paint the body. Deciding to paint the car green because i like it in green. Now the hard part finding the correct paint color that didn’t go well at all I found nothing close to what I needed.
I got creative! I mixed a couple colors and tested them out. The closest color I could get was what is shown. Let me try and explain what colors I mixed. First, I used a half bottle of beret green, from there a little silver to get it sparkling, a little gloss green to lighten it up, a little gloss white, Steel, and then a little Gloss black. After all that fun mixing was done
I started to paint. The trick I use with painting the body is long smooth fast brush strokes. Like always I did 4 light coats after drying, between coats using the same technique on the rear spoiler and the hood. I noticed that I had too many brush strokes.
But that’s alright. While drying, I decided to paint the interior since there is no coloring scheme I put 3 light coats of semigloss black paint where I thought it would be needed.
The inside of the interior is done. I wanted to paint the windshield wiper blades, the door handle, the rear trunk key hole, the silver side step, and the outlay of the windows because as you can see on the box picture, they are silver. I used my paint brush and painted these very carefully. It took about an 35 minutes for me to paint these the way I wanted them.
Allowing the rest of the body to dry, I moved on to the next step and painted the interior with the door panels and rear seats. The parts went in smoothly.
After piecing the seats together, I sanded and painted them, allowing them time to dry before I placed the decals on them, and glued them in place. Striping the chrome off the shifter before I painted it helped the paint stay on the piece.
After painting the dash semigloss black, I put the steering column on and painted it gloss black with the shifter handle silver. Paying attention not to get it on the column. From there, I glued the steering wheel on and painted it. To finish the interior, we glue the dashboard on.
The interior is all done now, and the body is dry. Let's get the show on the road! The brush strokes that I have on the model produce a problem. They're not pretty and I have never seen a real car with them before..
So to correct this I will be using 3m’s finishing material and a really soft cloth. Ok now on to the hard part, getting the lines out. First I put a drop on the cloth and smooth very lightly over the car moving quickly and making sure to rub the entire car. This went easy. The lines are now smooth. After about 3 minutes of work, I repeated the process for the hood.
Now for some fun stuff the decals. From here I decided to put the spoiler on and the decals. The spoiler went on nice it took me a bit to place it properly but it went on straight. After some drying time I decided to put the decals on the body before I clear coat it
The decals are a time consuming and tedious process. I followed the picture on the instruction sheets for correct placement. The long side decals are the hardest to line up properly and are what I spent most of my time on. The Rest of the decals went on smoothly. Now the hard part, we wait, 2 days for the decals to dry. Now time to make this project shine. Lets start off with a spray lacquer for a base coat.
I used a light even coat following the instructions on the can. After another 2 days, we're ready for the ultra gloss shine of Testors enamel spray. Applying 2 even coats on top of the lacquer, I allow this to dry 2 days also.
Alright, now the body is looking good. Lets get this car finished so we can see how I did. Lets grab the clear plastic glue and glue the rearview mirror in the windshield. After drying I glued the rear window and the windshield in place allowing them to dry. Next I did the taillight lense using clear cement. These parts went together smoothly.
The interior went in smoothly I used the clear cement to glue it in place. Alright moving along the firewall went in smoothly after I painted it and the master cylinder. I like the way the master cylinder turned out the 2 tone color came out nicely.
Painting the grille and the parking lenses next. The grill I did something different on after painting the black I used the side of my brush and brushed silver on the very tips of the grill to give it that chrome feel.
Next gluing the pieces in place all with the clear parts cement . Everything seems to be turning out really nice.
The body went on the chassis relatively easy. I had to spread it open a bit but no glue was needed to hold the body in place.
The front bumper was a little tough after shaving the backing on the chrome. I used a toothpick to apply some glue. I used the gel glue for this. After applying the glue on the bumper, I placed it on the car. I had to hold it there for about 2 minutes for it to adhere properly. Everything else went on fine with this step.
Using the same strategy of scraping the backing on the rear bumper, and using a toothpick to apply the glue I placed the bumper on and held it there in place for about 2 minutes again. Everything else on this step went together smoothly.
The side view mirror was a little tricky, due to the fact that you need to place it in place and not move it, so you don’t ruin the finish on the door. After getting it in place make sure you hold it there for some time. Another trick you can use is get some superglue and put a dab on the mirror and hold it in place for a minute. Almost done now. On to final assembly.
Let's get this finished. This step was easy. Everything went together nicely. Make sure you have the air cleaner base on properly to the carburetor or else the hood won’t close properly.
Hard to believe were almost done. The last step went together smoothly. Placed the induction cowl on the hood and voila were done! Now for the real test. How does it compare to the Creative Masters Yenko.
Here it is the Creative Masters Camaro to the left and the Skill lvl 2 Yenko to the right other than the major differences. I think it turned out really good.
