Revell 1/25
2005 Corvette C6

Background

Throughout its 50 plus years of existence, the Chevrolet Corvette has been evolving from the original idea to develop a true American sports car, a car that could hold its own against the very best Europe and elsewhere had to offer.  The first Corvette with the Blue Flame six and the late 70’s/early 80’s entries were comfortable enough cars to drive everyday, but were lacking in the performance department due to their small engines. In between were the fabled third generation cars of the 1960’s, they had more horsepower than most people could handle but to get the best performance packages you had to give up basic comforts such as sound insulation or even a radio.

Fortunately, technology has come a long way since the first Corvette back in 1953 and nowhere is that more apparent than in the newly redesigned 2005 Corvette.  With its heated leather seats, available navigation system and virtually power everything, the C6 is lacking nothing in the comfort department that one would find in the luxury cars, but roll up the sleeve of this silk shirt and you find huge rippling muscles of steel.  400 horsepower and 400 ft/lbs of torque under the hood propels you from zero to 60 mph in an incredible 4.3 seconds, top speed is 186 miles per hour.  All that performance comes from the standard small block LS2. Yes, the Chevy small block V8 is still alive and kicking and putting smiles on the faces of their owners.  Although there are probably no parts shared between the new LS2 and that 265 cubic inch engine introduced in 1955, the basic idea is still the same.

The Kit

Engine

An accurate LS2 6.0 liter small block V-8 engine and Tremec T56 6-speed manual gearbox are represented with nearly 20 separate pars molded in silver styrene and some black molded parts. Corvette LS2 decals are provided for the top mounted engine covers. Radiator and air cleaner are nicely reproduced from the original Corvette; these parts are installed right before the body is mounted to the chassis. A separate duel exhaust is also available to mount to the LS2.

Chassis

The chassis represented appears to be the Z51 performance package with larger stabilizer bars and cross-drilled brake rotors; brake rotors are dimpled and will need to be drilled for added detail. The front calipers have raised Corvette lettering, very nice!

Wheels and Tires

Represented is the 18” in the front and 19” in the rear wheels and tires, these are very nice and help add to the proper ride height of the C6.  Beware, you will need to pay attention to the part numbers of the wheels when assembling the tire and installing the smaller tire to the front chassis and the larger tires to the rear.

Interior

The all new interior featured in the C6 is nicely represented complete with separately molded bucket seats, side panels and dash assembly, the builder has the opportunity to detail the fine details with different paint colors as represented on a factory Corvette.  The instrument cluster has a clear styrene cover and decals cut from sheet and glued from the back with white option.

Body

The body comes as a one piece assembly and appears to be warp free with no sink marks present, separate roof panel, mirrors, and hood are provided.  The Hood has been engineered to open and close by a from hinge attachment.

Decals

Decals appear to be typical Revell standard, in good register, lots of goodies found here for the engine compartment and interior details.

Conclusion

Overall this is very nice than compares very well to the new Revell Mustang GT kit previously reviewed here.  All part trees and clear parts where wrapped separately and no flash or broken parts was found in the kit.  If you’re a Corvette fan, you will need to get this one.  I highly recommend this kit.  This kit was purchased at my favorite local hobby shop.

References

http://www.corvettemuseum.com/specs/2005/index.shtml