Background:

Not my favourite Corvette (That'd be the C5), but the C8 is a great looking car on the whole, if a little heavy and awkward in the rear half. The more I look at it the more it grows on me. I've been waiting for some time for this kit to finally launch, and so I began the build on the day of purchase. I'd had the colour in mind for it for quite some time.

Kit review:

Pros:

It looks right. Very nice moulding - little cleanup, few mould lines, with pretty sharp details. Nice clean shiny glass and clear parts. Good wheels and tyres that are in proportion to the car and themselves - not that this fundamental item should be a "Pro" but given some of the past "wheels too small, tyres too tall" Revell kits, it is. It's all moulded in white so it's easy to choose any colour for the body without bleed-through, and there is no nasty chrome sprues either. There's a full and well detailed engine, and the wheels steer. There's a choice of both Right Hand Drive and Left Hand Drive dashboards. In the most part, aside from some of the engine - everything fits together not only perfectly but is engineered in such a way that when there are parts that look as if they could go either way around, tabs or notches have been moulded in to make correct assembly obvious. Other tabs and notches help with perfect location - in the headlight buckets for example, there's a solid "click" feeling when you have them in the correct position. The interior is as nicely detailed as the engine.

Cons:

The kit uses that slightly waxy looking plastic Revell always use so it's not as quite sharp as a Tamiya kit but still very good. The decal sheet is an interesting one: the European boxing of the kit (which I built) has an entirely different decal sheet to the US boxing of the kit and no matter which one you get, there are some decals you'll want that only the other version of the decal sheet has. In my case amongst other things, some brake caliper decals other than silver, and some decent USA number plates. Another problem with the kit is that the engine cover fouls the rear part of the roof when trying to open it and sadly very little of the mighty engine is visible once assembled, although that's not Revell's fault. Some of the illustrations in the instructions are a little vague on locating parts and the assembly order could be improved - such as putting the back bumper onto the body early. The engine assembly is vague in parts, some of the components just go up against each other with no clear mounting point. I also hate Revells flappy-ended European boxes, although that's not a fault of the kit itself.

Verdict:

It's very very good - certainly the best Revell kit I've built so far. There are a few small things that could trip up a less experienced builder like the weak rear bumper mounting and the sheer amount of force needed and resulting creaking to get the body over the chassis which is quite alarming if you'd not done that before. But very recommended.

Build notes:

Built over the course of 3 weeks in August 2024. I've made two changes to what was supplied in the box - I scratch built the side aero to match the C8 I use in Gran Turismo, and I swapped in a USA rear number plate from my spare decals pile. Despite being British, I've chosen to make the Left Hand Drive version of the C8 and use a USA plate as I usually prefer to make my cars according to their country of origin. I've chosen not to add the side windows as the car looks better as a spyder with the main roof off and windows down, and additionally I've not glued either the main roof, the smaller "behind" roof nor the engine cover's glass in place, and this all helps me get the roof-fouling engine cover open and shut for photography etc. The colour is a Toyota Tri-Coat called "Sulfur" (with an F) which is normally found on the new CH-R. The colour is interesting because of it's properties depending on angle and light - the photos show varying shades of orange, yellow and gold depending on the picture, and it's all of these and none of these just depending on how you catch it. Even the act of passing through a camera's lens changes it.

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