Revell 1/25 '66 Chevelle Station Wagon Kit Build Review

By Ken Kitchen

Background

Did you ever back into a project? Most times we start with a kit, look at it and come up with a concept or design and start working towards that goal. Well with this project it started differently. I had a set of wheels on the shelf that I’d had for nearly 10 years with no idea how to use them. One evening I was talking with a friend about them and commented that they were very appealing wheels but I just couldn’t find a kit to use them on. My problem was that the wheels just seemed too small. He suggested that I put a sleeve on them and use a larger set of tires. From that comment this project was born.

I used the wheels and tires from the Revell 67 Chevelle SS 396. I cut the centers from the wheels and inserted my wheels. Now the wheels had the look that I wanted I had to find a kit to use them on. After searching my stash I settled on the Revell 1/25 '66 Chevelle Station Wagon.

The Kit

Information and in-box review on the Revell 1/25 '66 Chevelle Station Wagon can be found here.

Construction

Other than changing out the wheels and tires I built this kit mostly from the box. I started with a mock up of the chassis to ensure that the tires and wheels would fit. Once I was sure of that I followed the steps as described in the instruction sheet. I painted the engine Chevy engine orange and the chassis Krylon semi-flat black. The kit engine has enough pieces that with only some paint detailing it builds up into a credible model. So I didn’t do any further detailing. I painted the interior a light tan color to simulate leather. Then I created some decals for the seats to brighten up the inside. With the large space in the rear it just needed some stuff to really bring it alive, so I added some water skis and a scuba tank out of the parts box.

I painted the body with Tamiya TS-52 Candy Lime Green over Krylon gray primer. I love this paint. Unfortunately the photos don’t do this paint justice. It went on flawlessly with almost no orange peel. I didn’t even polish it out. For a clear coat I used my favorite never fail clear. Future acrylic floor polish. I know some people say it’s for floors but I’ve never had it react to paint the way other clears have. So that’s what I use. Given the results I couldn’t ask for more. After the clear dried I foiled the trim and added the decals. Here is the last place I deviated from the kit. It comes with some excellent flamed woodgrain decals but I decided to use the stripes from the 67 Chevelle kit that I robbed the tires and wheels from.

Final assembly was straight forward with one exception. I had to trim the bottom edge of the radiator core support to get it to fit properly and allow the hood to fit into place. My only other criticism of the kit is with the rear bumper. I found it difficult to glue in place because there is very limited gluing surface.

Conclusions

This was an enjoyable build, it wasn't a simple build as I made some changes but it was easy, enjoyable and I think it turned out well. Overall I enjoyed this kit very much and it looks great on my display shelf. This is a well-engineered kit and very little modifications were required to build it.

My sincere thanks to Revell for this review sample.

Ed Note: Ken is a member of Front Range Auto Modelers.