1/25 Chevy Nova "Death Proof"

Hello Movie Freaks

I have just registered here, nice forum and very interesting stuff.
My name is Kevin, I´m a scale modeler from Germany and I have soft spot for all car-related movies. My focus in scale modeling is to build movie cars and now I´d like to show you a little progress on one of my most complex builds.

When I saw Death Proof in the cinema, I was hooked and wanted to build the Chevy Nova. A year after the movie came out Revell released a newly tooled model of the Chevy Nova and I immediately bought one. There was a load of things to modify to make a correct replica of the car. The whole interior needed to be rebuilt and there were a lot of other parts that had to be "stolen" from other kits.

Let´s start with a cool poster of the movie
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I began with building the roll cage for the interior.

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The cage fits very tight into the body of the car.

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Some more views of the cage.

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I did some scratchbuilding to make the wheels steerable.

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I built some raisers for the leaf springs to make it look a bit more detailed.

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New mufflers were built as seen in the movie after the car crashed.

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The inner fenders were cut down or removed to match the prop car.

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Interior ready for action.

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Engine bay ready for action, too.

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Modified rear panel, hard to see. I replaced the SS-trim with a plain sheet.

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I bought an etched detail set for an AMT kit because of the grille.

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I was very lucky as the grille fits perfect to the Revell kit. Didn´t expected that.

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The rear lights were removed as they needed to be modified from 69 to 71.

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The modified grille insert and bumper were painted with ALCLAD after removing the mold lines.

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Naked door panels were built and installed.

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The traction bars were upgraded by opening the ends.

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The exhaust was updated with scratchbuilt clamps.

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After all that scratchbuilding and stuff, it was time for some paint. I started with the chassis and engine. Everything was painted with a brush and email-paint.

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I built exhaust hinges from thin aluminium and bolted it to the car.

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The engine has now accurate Moroso valve covers and a new air filter.

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Spark plug wires were also added.

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A very comfortable passenger seat was scratchbuilt and installed...

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A plexiglass divider was installed. It was a pain to drill the holes by hand.

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The steering wheel was made by a friend. Center is photo etched, the ring is molded in resin.

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Scratchbuilt shifter and hand brake. The Beard racing seat was done by a friend in resin. The guy who also did the steering wheel...

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The interior is finished and ready to be installed into the body.

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The rear bumper was painted with ALCLAD, new lights were scratchbuilt and a correct license plate was installed.

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The bosy was painted in a dark grey and the chrome trim was done with Bare Metal Foil. Finally a flat clear coat was applied to seal everything.

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Well, that´s what I´ve got done so far. I only need to paint the hood with the skull and install the little Rubber Duck hood ornament.

Thanks for looking.:)

Greetz,
Kevin
 
Kevin, if you shot some hi res pictures for this build, you really need to consider submitting it for publication in one of the car model magazines as your build quality of this is DANG good. The chassis weathering alone looks perfect!
 
Hi guys

It would be definately cool to see my build published in a model car magazine. But since I have already shown it on the internet, I think there will be no chance. I know some modelers who have done it and they´ve had no permission to put the models online before the magazine with the model was released. And it makes kind of sense...who pays for a magazine if one can have the same information for free?

Thanks for the kind words, guys. It is much appreciated.

Best regards
Kevin
 
Very clean work on the mods! The painting is really great. The exhaust may look to clean compaired to the rest, but camera and lights could be fooling me as well.

Keep em coming. :thumbsup
 
Hi Nazgul

Thanks for your comment. Yes, you are right with the exhaust, but...

For the build I used reference pics from the current owner of the original prop car, which is now located somewhere in southern Germany. In Hollywood they often use pretty rusted cars for movies and do only some minor work to make it look good enough for camera shots. The Nova is one of those worn down beaters, equipped with all the new parts that are needed to make it ridable again. It would be pretty expensive for the producers if they would only use perfectly restored cars for the crashes and chase scenes in the movies.

You can see in the pictures above that they cut the inner fenders in the engine bay to have easier access to the front axle for repair. That´s a pretty sloppy way to repair a car. But it is easier and faster to do it this way. It´s just a junkyard car with a new paintjob and a cool rollcage inside. And a new exhaust, of course. ;)

Best regards
Kevin
 
Hello guys,

thanks for your nice comments. It is much appreciated. I took some new pictures today to keep you updated. As I said before, everything except the hood is done so far. A picture says more than tousand words, so I´m gonna let the pics speak for themselves this time. If you have any questions, don´t hesitate to ask.

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Hope you like it as much as I do and thanks for looking.

Best regard,
Kevin
 
really nice work, did you scratch build the rool cage? I like your detail and paint on the undercarriage. Really nice work all around
 
Thanks Darth

Yes, the roll cage was scratchbuilt after studying reference pics and movie scenes for countless hours. Pretty much everything of the interior was scratchbuilt. The cage itself was not too difficult to build, but I was having a hard time finding out how each single brace was shaped and where it has to be attached. The current owner of the movie prop car told me that I got it 100% correct, after I´ve sent him pics of the cage.

Greetz
Kevin
 
Thanks guys

I have Christine and the Vanishing Point Challenger in my stash, too. I´ll put up a build thread in here as soon as I get started with one of the kits. But it may take a while. First I´ll finish the Nova and Eleanor, then the ´70 Charger from Fast&Furious is coming along next. I have already prepared everything to get started with the build.

The next update on the Nova should be up within the next two days. Been a little bit busy lately as my girlfriend is moving. Why does renovating always end up in more work than expected?!?

Cheers
Kevin
 
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