"And now for something completely different!" Our May 2024 Feature Car is a little smaller than the other cars we've featured. In fact it's one twenty-fifth the size of an actual car. David Anderson built this scale replica of his actual 1965 Beaumont wagon (featured October 2021). He did such a great job I felt it worthy of a feature of it's own. It's pretty safe to say this is a "one of one". Dave tells us how he did it:

I started with an old AMT kit that was based on the original GM dealer Promo model dating back to 1964.  Needless to say it is a horrible model kit with a super simple one piece chassis and metal axles and a screw-on bottom.  AMT did add an engine and interior details for the model kit form, but its all junk with no detail, so I didn’t use that stuff.

So here we go! I had to modify it using all of these other kits.  Mostly the 1990s release of a fairly detailed 1965 Z-16 Chevelle kit by Revell. I also swapped the Z-16 BBC for the L-79 327 SBC out of the nova kit, and a GTO dash of course to convert the whole thing to a Beaumont

Here is the original station wagon screwbottom metal axle version shown in yellow vs the much more detailed z-16 revell chassis that I am going to swap under the wagon body.

I cut up a chevelle grill, built a Beaumont one using strips of plastic, then resin cast a few copies to have for various future projects.  The GTO dash comes from a MPC 1965 GTO kit. With a few modifications like removing the emblem and grab bar.

The old wagon kit has a really bad rear end, so I had to file off all the taillight area and build up the area with square stock.  Also filling the trim and re-shaping the window and top of the tailgate, added some window trim and all the side mouldings.  As will as making a more realistic tailgate crank handle.

I painted the interior with my leftover Azure Aqua vinyl dye from the real car.  The real car also has the original door panels but my seat skins are 1964 chevelle repros(hold your disgust, its just the way it is).  I had to sand off all the original door panel and seat patterns and lay on individual ½ round strips on the seats - hundreds of strips!!!.  I also added a bunch of detail to the rear cargo area, and made decals for the door panel design and the waffle pattern in the cargo area.

The wagon kit has a junk bumper so I used the z-16 kit front but had to eliminate the moulded in bumper guards and rechrome the bumper.  I also had to make a new bumper valence to accommodate my new Beaumont grill.

Here is my new interior compared to what I started with.  I added all the details, the 4 speed shifter with decal pattern, and deluxe seatbelts and black carpet, and scratch built armrests.  All just like my real car.

I painted the body with PPG omni Danube blue from my real car, chrome foiled all the trim, and detailed out the taillights. A good comparison to the inaccurate original body.

The finished product and a photo of my actual car.  I made all the decals for the emblems in Photoshop and printed them on clear waterslide decal paper. There are lots of little details but here are a few highlights.  The door handles were sanded off and replaced with these super accurate separate chrome resin castings.  The wipers are now separate pieces.

The underside has details added such as a better driveshaft detailed with factory markings. The exhaust is mostly scratchbuilt with tailpipes like my real car. The gas tank was modified to look like a wagon style with the cross braces. The rear suspension was tweaked to raise it up a bit and I added a sway bar and scratch built shocks like my real car.

The engine is a totally accurate representation of my real car. It is the 66 Nova L79 as a base with a Chevelle oil pan added. The intake was scratch built along with the thermostat housing and the bypass hose. The fuel line runs properly with the canister fuel filter. I made the fan spacer, rad spacer, and all the little details with hoses, wires, etc.

The firewall has a coil mounted like the real car and all the firewall markings are accurate, including almost being able to read the cowl tag. The carb is a crazy accurate replica of a vacuum secondary holley and you can read the holley logo! I made the Acadian 327 decals. I did a dual master cyl upgrade like my real car has. The air cleaner I had to add a snorkel and chrome it.

The wheels and tires were a project in themselves. It took me awhile to find some realistic looking sizes. The wheels are aftermarket resin cast 15x6 15x7 versions. I made my own hubcaps out of aluminum on a metal lathe then resin cast them for multiple copies. I chromed them and then added the decals with all the little dots too!

More pics of the finished project

The car along side my previous build – the 1967 Beaumont custom V8 wagon.(see my build thread on that under the hobbies section.