We started with a fairly rare car (1 of 150) and the decision was made to detail it quite a lot. Though it's hard to tell from these photos, all the badge tampos have been replaced with photo etched badges from Scale Multisport. They were a little bit of a challenge to attach cleanly but do add a nice extra detail to the car. In some places I worked with what Ertl made or with chrome foil because I thought they'd look better than the photo etched parts. For example, the kit included hood vents but I thought the ones Ertl made had more depth and a better chrome look so I just painted in the black recesses and called it good.
Here you can see a lot of the detail that was added. The hood vents were blacked out in the recesses, the lug nuts were painted, the chrome trim was foiled and the photo etched badges were added. The badges visible are the "Camaro SS" and "396" on the fender and the "Camaro by Chevrolet" on the header panel. I chose to foil the side marker light bezel instead of using the photo etched parts. The photo etched parts would have covered up the color of the lens and would have left a sharp edge that would get snagged thus allowing them to get knocked off in handling.
The car comes with large colorful graphics so I had to make sure they didn't get damaged while I worked on the car. This was difficult to do since I had to handle it quite a lot to do this level of detailing.
Since big block cars in '69 received a blacked out tail panel I had to paint it black. For some reason Ertl did not do so on this model even though they typically do on '69 SS396 Camaro models. Here you can see the numbered license plate showing this car's rarity, the side marker, the added black paint and the photo etched "SS" badge. The trunk lid's "Camaro by Chevrolet" badge is obscured by the spoiler.
The red interior got detailing done to the steering wheel, console, shifter boot, shifter knob, floor pedals (such as they are) and a teeny little "Camaro" badge was added to the dash panel. The photo etched kit included steering wheel detailing parts and window cranks and other interior detailing parts but I felt the Ertl parts looked a lot better (and are 3 dimensional) so I did not use them.
I spent a lot of time and effort on the engine. The single snorkel closed air cleaner was modified into the correct open element air cleaner. I detailed the master cylinder and booster, hose clamps, carb, battery caps and cables, alternator, added plug wires, heater hoses and a fuel line. If you look very closely you will see spark plug wire looms holding the wires in proper orientation. These were part of the photo etched parts kit. I also trimmed the air cleaner decal since it had a lot of excess to it that made it look sloppy.
The underside of the hood got blacked out. Here you can better see the fuel line. While installing the heater hoses I realized Ertl made a large error on this engine. The alternator is on the wrong side! I think it was in 1968 or so when Chevy moved the alternator to the passenger side of the engine. I tried to find a way to modify it back to correctness but could not find a quick and effective way to do so so I left it as it was built.
Underneath the car got a detailed gas tank, gas tank straps, exhaust, leaf springs, shocks, driveshaft, transmission support and engine parts details. It doesn't really show well here, but the springs, driveshaft and cross member are painted steel while the other silver looking parts have a much brighter finish to give some contrast between the different types of metals.