With a late start to production, the 1970 Chevrolet Camaro was gifted the unusual ½ designation. The majority of the Camaros from this year had a full bumper, but up until now, this kit has only been available with the split bumper. Thank you Round 2, because now the kit has not only a new full bumper, but also new front fascia that included a grille and parking lights, too. All the parts are relatively clean of flash and require only minimal cleanup.
I’ve built several of the split-bumper kits and have learned a trick or two when it comes to putting the model together. Assembly starts with the usual suspects: the wheels and engine. You can choose between a beautiful set of Chevrolet Rally wheels or no-name five-spoke mags. For me, pairing the Rally wheels with the pad-printed Goodyear tires set the tone for this pony car. The ’70 Z28 came with the same 350 V8 engine found in the Corvette, detuned slightly from 370 to 360 horsepower. The kit’s 19-piece engine builds into nice replica without any surprises and would serve well as a starting point for additional details.
But now it was time to deviate from the instructions. Step 4 tells you to mount the front subframe to the floor pan and install the engine. Do not do this—you’ll thank me later. Instead, build the front subframe just like the real cars were, including the engine and suspension. When it’s done, place the front frame assembly aside.
I moved on to Step 8 and built the rear suspension and exhaust. However, I left off the pipes leading from the engine to the muffler along with the tail pipes and set them aside. Then I backed up and completed Step 7, building the nicely detailed 12-part interior on the floor pan. I chose to finish the interior off-white and black two-tone that wouldn’t hide the details like an all-black interior might. Decals complete the gauge cluster.
Mounting the front and tail panels and rear spoiler to the body first make painting easier. Then I painted the firewall and radiator assembly and secured them inside the body when everything had dried. Next came the grille, taillights, and lenses.
At this point, I installed the rear section of the chassis into the body. The door-panel extensions need to be sanded down, otherwise they interfere with the body sitting properly on the chassis. (This flaw can be found in previous releases of this kit.) Take your time getting the chassis into the body; the lower body curvature requires you to bend the sides uncomfortably far to seat the chassis. Do not panic.
With the chassis glued, I attached the front clip to the body. Assembling the car in this order means you don’t have to try to line up the front radiator, rear chassis, and interior as one piece, which almost always results in parts separating and fit frustration. With the main assembly complete, all that’s left are details like bumpers, wheels, front spoiler, and finishing the exhausts.
I wanted to replicate Chevrolet lime green (Job Code 43) on this ’70 ½ Camaro Z28, and House of Kolor Lime Time Green Pearl (No. PBC38) does a good job of it. The chassis represents an early a car built in Van Nuys California which has the more orange/red oxide primer instead of the all black chassis found on the later Cali and Norwood Ohio plants builds. The decals replicate the markings for the Z28 and include side and tail emblems along with black or white hood and trunk stripes. Plus, Round 2 delivers a variety of license plates.
What a satisfying build! AMT’s new ’70 ½ Camaro Z28 creates a beautiful replica of the actual car, and I recommend it for modelers with some experience: First-time modelers could be frustrated by some of the challenges presented during final assembly.