This was a bit of a rush job as it will be a Christmas present a friend of mine will be giving to his father. Maisto hasn't made a stock looking black Bel Air but they have made a low rider version. Lucky for us the low rider version has a stock body and all the stock badges in place. By replacing the big wheels, tinted windows and boomer speakers with stock pieces from a stock Bel Air a stock black Bel Air can be had pretty easily. I did have to paint the stock wheels from the donor car black to match the body. While I had the windows out I removed all the painted trim and reapplied the trim with chrome foil. The trim at the top edge of the doors and below the rear side windows shouldn't have been there in the first place so I left that off.
Aside from the chrome on the exterior about all I did was black wash the hubcaps to give them the proper look and I painted the ribbed panels in the bumpers satin silver. My friend's dad had a black Impala so this isn't exactly the same but a black with red '62 Bel Air is pretty close. Regardless, this is a great looking model.
I didn't really do much to the interior except swap in the clear glass and paint the shifter boot. For an inexpensive model the interior is fairly nicely detailed.
A little flat gray paint has made the trunk pan look so much better. Well, that and replacing the boomer speaker trunk pan for the correct one!
I didn't do anything in the engine compartment but paint the master cylinder cap and the hood latch support.
Erraticating the red undercarriage and inner fenders is the greatest favor we can do for these cars. All Maisto would have had to do is cast this piece in black plastic they could have made their product much stronger. Luckily a simple coat of paint accomplishes the same. I also painted the exhaust, transmission and gas tank silver while the driveshaft and steering components got a steel color.
