Ken Krausfeldt's

1965 Corvette SCCA Race Car Model in 1/8" Scale

I've also been fascinated with the SCCA racecars. So, as I contemplated the necessary rebuild of my 1/8 scale 1965 Corvette model it became obvious to me what the theme should be. But, with minimal aftermarket running gear available, I knew that I had my work cut out to transform the platform-style frame and half-relief suspension of the original model into something that represented a real C2 racecar. Not shown are the steps taken to produce some realism into a the race theme: radio and heater deletes, filling in the rear-fascia exhaust body passthroughs, removal of the molded-in right seat. One of the biggest tasks was to remove, from the original platform frame unit, everything that does not exist in a C2 frame. My previous 1:1 experience, and several reference materials helped determine that path. Once completed, what I had left of the original platform required much fabrication to bring into being the basic frame foundation. Then on to the suspension fabrications and modifications, fuel tank fabrication (carved from a foam block and sealed), fuel and brake lines, battery and hold-down, engine detailing and radiator support. Detailing the cab into race trim proved to be tedious, but successful, with roll cage and racing harness, filling in the area of the removed seat with sheet plastic, and adding the removed lower cab details from the platform frame unit and grafting them onto the cab bucket, and then reshaping the drive tunnel. And, I purchased a very-rough set of scale American Torque-Thrust wheels, and converted them to true knockoff attachment to the hubs (I now observe that I did not remove the simulated lug-bolts in that conversion, which bothers me enough that I'll remedy that soon. Lots of work prepping those wheels since they were terrible resin-casts. MUCH work went into stripping the original body paint, then prepping, repainting, and polishing. I reached out to a custom decal maker for the race numbers and manufacturers race equipment decals (I tried to make them myself with decal paper and my ink-jet printer, only to create some real junk!).