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Jack Mugan
63 articles

Building the AMT 1970 Chevelle 454 SS American Muscle Car

April 18, 2016 · in Automotive · · 10 · 2.5K

Way back in 1964, GM prohibited the use of engines larger than 400-ci in their A-body intermediates, for some stupid reason, right in the middle of the muscle car wars. It wasn't until 1970 when they lifted the ban, due to stiff competition from Ford and Mopar. They allowed each division to produce one muscle car before strict emission laws took effect. Hence, the 454 SS was born, burning up the quarter mile in 13.10 seconds at 111.10 m.p.h.! Of the 53,599 SS Chevelles produced only 3,773 were equipped with the LS6 and LS5 engines.

/ERTL offers this 25th scale kit in white plastic. The instruction sheet is straight forward, broken down to four basic sections starting with the engine of course, done both as a stock or the one I chose, the custom version. I added the plug wires using .015 solder for some additional detail. Next come the wheels and tires, again in the stock or custom version. In this case I chose the stock version and decided to add thin red lines on the tires as often seen on muscle cars of the era. I hand painted them on with a detailer brush. I used a black wash on the chrome wheels to knock down the kit chrome.

The interior is well done with only eight parts, and I chose to do the interior in aircraft interior black and semi-gloss black with silver accents. Decals are provided for the instruments that I managed to destroy, so I reverted back to the old school method using paint. The chassis assembly came next and I kept that simple as well and painted it all in semi-gloss black with some flat black detailing, and used aluminum for the exhaust and mufflers.

I decided to paint the body with Tamiya Bright Red using their rattle can method, and chose to paint the bumpers in the body color. The decals for the stripes were very old but did not shatter. I picked though my decal stock and found a flame pattern I liked, so I added it to break up all that red. Bare Metal foil was used for the chrome trim and the clear parts for the windows were given the Future bath.

The final stage is putting all the sub-assemblies together and I was relived to find everything went together quite easily. I like the stance of the finished model as well. Though I bought this kit out of the trunk of a car from a fellow modeler, I believe it has just been re-released and available on the shelves once again.

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.


10 responses

  1. Very nice build Jack..I like the bright red paint especially the the painted bumpers..thats a cool look. I had one of those big wide 74' el caminos and painted out all the chrome bumpers & handles a similar bright red..your model reminded me of it..you're car looks good. Looking forward to seeing some more...

  2. Nice job on that, Jack...I like it!

  3. I like it, Jack, very attractive scheme and good attention to detail, but, how do you open the doors?

  4. 🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
    Very nice, clean and sharp work. The bright red color really gives it character. The work of detail on the engine is a very good touch.
    Good work Jack.

  5. A sharp result. Very nice.

  6. Excellent work, nice engine detail.

  7. Nice Chevelle! Brings back memories - my twin uncles (less than 10 years older than me) both bought Chevelles - one maroon and one red - and I drove them for a summer when working on my Grandad's farm (when I wasn't in a pickup hauling something...)

  8. Wonderful job Jack !

  9. Lovely build Jack, sweet as a nut mate.

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