Progress on 1/25 scale '64 R3 Avanti

[mr moto]

Hi everybody! I started building this model a while back and progress has been very slow which is typical for me. I plan to come back and post progress photos from time to time so stay tuned but don't be in a hurry! The plan is to convert it into a '64 with R3 engine and it's basically the AMT kit but will feature parts from the AMT and Aurora kits. Some of the Aurora parts are greatly superior to the AMT equivalent and vice versa so it will be decided on a case by case basis.



So far, most of the action has been on the engine and now that's "nominally" complete so this is a good time to post a few progress photos. The airbox had to be built from scratch and I think it came out looking too much like a cheeseburger but I didn't want to build it a second time so I went with it! I hope you enjoy!

[52-fan]

Looks good so far. I have built a couple of the AMT Avanti kits and just box stock was a challenge.

[nels]

Looks good. If you want to be authentic; the fan, blower, water surge tank, bell housing and trans are all red. Might as well do it right.

[mr moto]

Looks good. If you want to be authentic; the fan, blower, water surge tank, bell housing and trans are all red. Might as well do it right.

Interesting comment! I've compiled a very large number of reference photos of "R3" engines and I've never seen that exact combination. But it just might be 100% correct. It just shows how many clones and R2's with some R3 parts there are out there. I just went with the ones that seemed likely to be most correct but I'm not sure that there were even any two alike that I've seen. The Granatelli Bonneville cars appear to have black superchargers (in the black and white photos). The "last Avanti" looks to have a bright red orange expansion tank but virtually all others are black. The variations are endless! If there is a definitive word on this subject I'd love to hear it even if my paint scheme is incorrect.

[bezhawk]

I'm helping with the restoration on Avanti R3 #1. I currently have the blower torn down and waiting on parts. It's true, the blower is red, not orange. The surge tank is also R3 red. On the one I built earlier, I made the surge tank black, but since it was a clone, I felt it wasn't too big of a deal. I also polished the air chamber box, and chromed the valley cover.

[nels]

I was really unhappy to find out there was so much red in the engine compartment but there is, at least with the factory Avantis. I purchased the quality control cards for two of the nine cars. One or both cars had redoes done at the factory for incorrect paint schemes on the engine. I also visited the Cleveland Museum of Transportation, I think that's the name, and did a thorough inspection of the last R3 Avanti built. In my opinion Stude used way to much red in the Avant's engine compartment. Now the Paxton built cars were all over the map. Some had black wrinkle finish on the plenum, side pan breather tube and maybe more. Andy G was supposedly a big fan of black wrinkle finish. I actually think it looks pretty nice also.
Back on the red; I'm not certain about this one but I suspect the R3/4 rear brake drums may have been painted red. I've seen this on one factory non Avanti body car. It makes some sense as an inventory control method to make sure the cars got flanged axle rear ends installed. Maybe someone out there could verify this or crush it?

[mr moto]

Well, it sounds like even South Bend was having a hard time figuring out what the paint scheme was. In any case, I made a couple of "quality control" updates and this is the latest (and no doubt final) configuration. The fan and tank were easy to remove for repainting but that's as far as it goes!



The Halibrand wheels are also painted at this point:



The next issue to be tackled is the underbody.



I'm pretty certain that the chassis proper should be a semi-gloss black but what about the rest of the underbody area? Flat black? Body Color? Primed? Something else? Certainly one of the more obscure parts of the car but I'm sure there's some Avanti experts out there who will know.

[Gunslinger]

We've had big discussions on whether the air intake scoop on an Avanti was painted body color or blacked out from the factory...with no settled resolution. You may be starting a whole argument on whether the underbody was painted. It may depend on who produced the body...MFG or Studebaker. MFG was contracted to supply complete, painted bodies, now...did that mean the belly was painted body color? Did Studebaker produce and paint bodies the same or different?

The answer...if it can be determined and confirmed will be interesting.

[bezhawk]

Most of the ones I have restored were painted very lightly over the red oxide primer, then undercoated. When the undercoating is scrapped off there is primer visible through the paint. Not towards the center, the drive shaft hump was generally bare then undercoated. No attempt was made to turn the spray gun towards the fender side of the underneath either. Backsides of the fenders were generally bare under the undercoating. Undercoating was used to help prevent star rock chips from underneath. Corvettes that are left bare suffer from star chips when a rock is thrown up to the bottom of the fenders.

[mr moto]

What it sounds like is that if you looked underneath a factory fresh Avanti you would see not much but undercoating (flat black?). The paint and primer would be hidden. Does that sounds right? Would it have covered the frame also or was the undercoating applied before the body was attached to the frame (that seems to make sense)?
BTW, restoring R3 #1 has got to be a dream project! I'd love to see it when you're done.

[R3 challenger]

Looks good. If you want to be authentic; the fan, blower, water surge tank, bell housing and trans are all red. Might as well do it right.

Years ago, I purchased two of the nine factory R3 Avantis in unrestored (but reasonably good) condition, and Nels is correct: There's a lot of red under the hood and the bell housing and transmission were red also.

George

[mr moto]

Yet another question just occurred to me. When you say "a lot of red under the hood", does that mean on the engine only or were other things painted red also?

[lschuc]

I'm helping with the restoration on Avanti R3 #1. I currently have the blower torn down and waiting on parts. It's true, the blower is red, not orange. The surge tank is also R3 red. On the one I built earlier, I made the surge tank black, but since it was a clone, I felt it wasn't too big of a deal. I also polished the air chamber box, and chromed the valley cover. [ATTACH=CONFIG]44107[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]44109[/ATTACH]

And Brad also discovered that the supercharger red is much like the Porsche Guards Red color.

[R3 challenger]

Manuel, by "A lot of red under the hood" I meant that I was agreeing with Nels in the items he listed as being red from the factory on R3 Avantis. Of course, if the exterior color of the car was red, the inner fenders and firewall would have been red, too.

George

[8E45E]

I'm pretty certain that the chassis proper should be a semi-gloss black but what about the rest of the underbody area? Flat black? Body Color? Primed? Something else? Certainly one of the more obscure parts of the car but I'm sure there's some Avanti experts out there who will know.

The chassis, definitely paint black. The underbody? Go to the body shop supply house or hobby store and find some thin, fine-weave fiberglass mat and some resin, cut-to-fit between the frame rails, and pasted it down with the resin for a 'raw fiberglass appearance. I bet it was never finished at the factory on the underside.

Craig