1959 Chevy Impala Convertible Revell Kit # 85-4944 Review

RoR Step-by-Step Review 20111209* – 1959 Chevy Impala Convertible Revell Kit # 85-4944 Review
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Review and Photos by Stephanie and Marty Oberman

I remember building this kit some years ago, so I somewhat knew what to expect from it despite my rather foggy memory. The last issue came in a rather low, long box as opposed to the re-issue’s normal-shaped box. The ’59 Impala spun off the ’60 Impala, also packaged in the unusual box.

 

001) – I wondered how they would retrofit the parts trees for this box. It seems Revell pulled it off quite nicely. The instruction sheet contains a glossary of part numbers with their corresponding identifications. The pictorial section does not show the part names, just numbers.

 

002) – I began by assembling the 348c.i. engine. The two-piece engine block/tranny contains the oil pan, which disappointed me. I like separate oil pans on my engines. I assembled the block halves; heads, water pump, and fuel pump and painted them Chevrolet Engine Orange as a unit. I detail-painted the fuel pump’s bowl silver. The intake manifold, oil filler tube, and valve covers were painted Testor’s Aluminum Plate buffing metalizer, and the filler tube’s cap painted gloss black afterward. The starter, distributor, air cleaner, fan, generator, power steering pump, fan belt pulleys, and two-piece air cleaner were painted gloss black. The triple carbs were painted gold, and the exhaust manifolds magnesium buffing metalizer. I painted the separate oil filter in my signature base silver with Tamiya clear orange over the silver base. Fan belts were detail-painted flat black.

The engine assembly went without a hitch for the most part, although the water pump’s placement seemed to throw the fan belt pulleys out of whack, which resulted in the generator/power steering pump interfering with the left valve cover, making the assembly stick out at a slight angle. I would suggest for future reference that the modeler mock up and test-fit the pulley assembly onto the water pump with the left valve cover attached before the pump is glued onto the block. Otherwise, the engine looks nice when finished and realistic-looking.

 

005) – I moved on to the chassis assembly. The front suspension contains separate upper A-arms and coil spring mounts which install onto the chassis. The steering box is supposed to be installed at this point but interfered with the left A-arm and didn’t look quite right, plus interfered with the engine installation so I removed and discarded it. I’ve rarely had luck with steering boxes anyway. Even after installing the engine I attempted to re-install the box, but it ended up resembling a hood prop instead. The two-piece exhaust system went in without a hitch, and looks right. It was painted stainless steel buffing metalizer with the rear mounts painted flat black to resemble rubber cushions for the exhaust clamps.

The one-piece lower suspension proved a bit tricky. It is quite flimsy and takes a bit of deft maneuvering to seat properly on the chassis and the front coil springs. Once secured in place though, it looks very presentable, although I worried about snapping it when it came time for the wheels to be attached. I painted all parts gloss black to offset the semi-gloss chassis pan. Both front and rear springs were painted gloss black with a rubbing of a silver Sharpie for depth and realism.

 

004) – Moving on to the rear suspension, I installed the rear springs, sway bar, and rear axle without any problems. I painted the top half of the shocks silver, and the rear stabilizer and driveshaft stainless steel metalizer. All installed without issue and the resulting finish looks great.

 

012) – I detail-painted the stock hubcaps and installed the wheel/tire assembly without any problems. The radiator wall however, presented a challenge. It seems the front inner fender wells are warped, which probably explains why the engine sits at a weird angle in the engine bay. After I installed the radiator and shroud to the wall, along with the battery, I used clamps to hold and finagle the wall to seat properly on the chassis. I then installed the upper radiator hose without issue.

 

 

008) – Next came the interior assembly. The interior consists of a platform-style floor pan with rear seat molded in, separate side panels, two-piece front bench seat, dashboard with two chrome inserts for the bottom half, steering wheel, column with shifter and turn signal stalk molded on, and chrome rear speaker for the center of the rear seat, along with pedal cluster consisting of accelerator, brake, and parking brake pedals. I wanted a white interior so I left the side panels as is, only detailing the door and window handles in silver. I painted the floorboard the same color as the body with a dull overcoat added. The dash and steering wheel were painted body color with gloss overcoats. There are decals for the instrument gauges, radio, and steering wheel center, as well as the seat inserts. Curiously enough, the insert “inlays” molded into the rear seats were far smaller than the decals, while the front seat inlays were the correct size…leading me to wonder if that particular floorboard may have come from the ’60 Impala kit tooling. The ’59 and ’60 Impala kits share many of the basic parts with each other.

 

 

009) – Assembling the interior proved to be an adventure. The front right section of the floorboard was twisted (warped). I installed the left side panel with no problems, and then glued the rear half of the right side panel and let dry completely. I applied glue to the front half and clamped it, drawing the floorboard up to the side panel. Issue resolved, right? Wrong. The rear of the interior bucket was now warped. I glued the firewall to the front of the interior floor and installed the wiper motor, master brake cylinder, and washer bottle to it. The dash and steering wheel installed without issue.

 

011) – I then primed, painted, and clear coated the body. I used DupliColor automotive GM Gunmetal metallic acrylic lacquer for the color, and DupliColor automotive primer and clear coat as well. I polished the body and applied Bare-Metal foil where applicable.

Installing the interior into the body was an adventure as well. I glued the rear of the interior into the body shell and let dry completely. I then glued the front half containing the firewall into the body, clamping it to ensure an even fit. I thought, “That should correct the warp.” Wrong again. Now the body was twisted.

Luckily, installing the chassis onto the body finally corrected everything. I glued the body/chassis at the front, let dry completely; I then glued the rear portion of the body to the chassis. While the fit is far from perfect, the warping issue was eliminated, and the car actually sits on all fours evenly. I think I’ll nickname this build “The Pretzel”. ;c) The only issue I encountered is the air cleaner sits so far back in the engine bay that it knocked the wiper motor out of its location on the firewall, and the cowl covers an eighth of the air cleaner. I doubt Revell intended this to happen.

 

015) – Thinking the warping issue had been resolved, I glued the clear headlight lenses into place on the chrome grille/headlight piece. Attaching this piece to the body resurrected the warping issue…it was much flatter than the curvature of the body surround into which it mounted. Clamping became the “activity du jour” with this kit. I liked the look of the “custom” front bumper with the grille guard and rubber bullet-type bumper guards, so I used that instead of the stock plain front bumper. The custom bumper was actually a dealer-installed option for ’59. I soon discovered that it too was warped…the one end of the bumper wrapping around the side of the front end was twisted. Luckily a friend had sent me an older issue ’59 hardtop kit from the original box it initially was released in, so I used that bumper instead. That one was straight. I have become convinced at this point that Revell’s decision to re-work the parts trees in this kit to fit into a standard sized model box has a lot to do with the warping issues I’ve encountered during this build. Either that or the kit sat in a hot delivery truck for way too long.

 

010) – Attaching the windshield and frame was not much of an issue. I borrowed a trick I used from a previous review build (’58 Thunderbird) and glued the frame onto the body. After it was completely set up and dry I slipped the glass into the frame and used the sun visors and rear-view mirror to lock it in place. I didn’t use a drop of glue on the windshield itself and it sits firmly in place in the frame.

The taillights are clear red pieces which install into chrome surrounds. I used another trick I love to provide depth and realism to taillights by gluing a textured piece of cigarette pack foil (found in hard packs only) to the chrome surrounds, burnished them down, then cut away the excess foil…almost the exact same procedure one uses when applying BMF (Bare-Metal Foil). The cigarette foil is not as thin as BMF, so it takes a bit more pressure with the Exacto knife to remove the excess. Nonetheless, it’s easy to do, as long as you’re either a smoker or know someone who is. The results can be astounding if done properly.

 

022) – The remaining exterior parts: separate chrome door handles, side chrome molding, windshield wipers, fender ornaments, rear bumper, and backup lights attached with no problem. The only deviation from the norm was with the rear antenna. I wanted to anchor it a bit more firmly into place, so after I removed it from the tree I sliced off the antenna itself from the base, and using a #80 drill bit in my pin vise, drilled a hole into the base at the same angle as the antenna. I then glued the base onto the rear sail panel and, when dry, used the same bit to drill into the body through the hole in the antenna base I had previously drilled. I measured and cut off a piece of #10 guitar string long enough to be inserted into the resulting hole, dipped it into a tube of glue, then slid it into the base and through the body. The result is a more accurate scale representation of a radio antenna.

 

017) – Lastly, I applied the decals for the front and rear emblems, as well as the dual flag emblems on the chrome side spears.

 

Final impressions: Having built this kit when originally released in a longer, flatter box, and not encountering any major issues during the build, I was extremely disappointed at the number of twisted and warped parts I encountered with this kit. Whether it’s due to being forced into a smaller box or the example I received simply sat in a hot delivery truck for too long, this kit should not have had the issues it did. I begrudgingly give this kit a 2-star rating, and I feel I’m being very generous here. The kit in its original packaging would have easily rated 4 stars.

Would I build this kit again? Not in this particular re-issue, but definitely in its original packaging. This has been a very difficult kit to rate since so many factors and variables exist to be able to give it its fair due. If the example I received is typical of the California Wheels issue, then no…I wouldn’t touch it. If my example was simply an anomaly, or the exception to the rule, then yes…I would want to build it again. Guess I’d have to see another example of this issue in order to determine that.

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