This one is one of my all-time favorite Ertl cars. The quality and detailing have gotten much better on more recent releases, but the 1970 LS6 Chevelle is just one of the most awesome cars ever made. This model got the full-blown detailing job with all the painted details and chrome details I could come up with. This one also got real metal exhaust tips made from small diameter aluminum tubing (process invented by Chuck, thanks Chuck!).
What an awesome looking
body style this car has. Red cars look great when detailed. Red
is just the right contrast with the chrome. For one of Ertl's
earliest efforts, this one still holds up well. This one is the
Cannaday's LE, not the even harder to find Ertl first issue RE
in red.
See what a little extra
body color paint will do? The grill looks whole again. Do you
like my custom license plates? My buddy Ned printed those up for
me. It's hard to tell but those are 1969 Nebraska plates. Back
then the state tooled new plates every three years so a 1970 car
would have 1969 plates on it when new. Of course personalized
plates weren't available then, but who cares?
My buddy Chuck told me how
to make the exhaust tips. I had to make two sets of them to get
the right shape and size. With a quick buzz on the bench grinder
they have the correct angle cut to them as well. That angle cut
makes them have an awesome look.
The Ertl wheels are a little
chunky looking but they do take well to a bit of detailing. A
little silver paint to the spokes and lug nuts and they begin
to really show how they should look. I think I added a dab of
paint to the center caps as well.
Here's
that monster motor. I touched on the master cylinder, battery
caps, washer bottle and you can see some of the work done to the
grill. The underside of the hood was blacked out too. The exhaust
manifolds got some color as well since Ertl cast them in black
plastic. Lots of colors under the hood always looks good. The
only thing Ertl left out was the underhood cowl induction ducting.
I wonder if I could took up something like that.
I just love how these steering
wheels pop to life with a little white paint on the trim and SS
badge. The dash is well done so there isn't much else to do but
the shifter boot and knob. Most of the knobs on the dash should
be black so that's how I left them. I did also paint the screw
nubs in the door sills so they are mostly hidden in the "carpet".
The underside of an Ertl
always looks good when detailed and this is no exception. There
are plenty of parts to paint with varying colors so things really
come to life with some color.