Maindrian Pace Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 (edited) In between big-effort builds, I like to wind down a bit with a nice, low pressure antique promo restoration. Often for friends, (good friends) these roll onto the bench periodically. One friend collects '50s Ford promos that he couldn't get when he was a kid, but can now. These include every color offered of the rare '57 Ford sedan promo. Black is the rarest color, they almost never show up for sale. He finally found one, but it had been customized and was rough. I should have taken a few pics of it assembled, but forgot. It had the glass and interior from a pink '58 Edsel promo, (these sedans didn't have interiors) painted wide whitewalls, painted side trim and gold insert, and at one point had mirrors, spot lights, antennas, and mud flaps glued to it. Must have been a real doll. He gave me a green sedan promo to demonstrate the proper color scheme. First order of business was to remove the glass from the green car and use it to vacuform a new unit for the black one. I dyed it light green with glass dye from Hobby Lobby. Trimmed to fit: That turned out to be the easy part. The problem with the old warp-crazy acetate promos is that the acetate plastic is very fragile and nothing that I tried could strip the paint without ruining the surface of the plastic. And I mean nothing. So all of the silver paint had to be painstakingly scraped and sanded off of the trim, including the heavy brush painted gold, which turned out to cover a heavily painted red color, and then the trim had to be sanded and polished with a polishing kit to bring the shine back, and all had to be done without obliterating any of the details. It took days. I called the owner up to grouch about that, which seemed to make it go smoother. All of the bodywork to the glued areas had to be done without stripping the original white paint, including sink marks to the trunk from the Edsel windows being glued in. All black plastic areas had to be sanded and polished, Then it had to be masked off twice, first for the gold insert: Edited August 19, 2014 by Maindrian Pace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maindrian Pace Posted August 19, 2014 Author Share Posted August 19, 2014 And then for the white: Tamiya fine primer, followed by Testors Wimbledon White, a good match for Colonial white: Meanwhile, the chrome was sent off to Chrome Tech USA: And the heavy lifting was done. Here's why the acetate was so popular back in the day; it was very shiny right out of the mold, and shines up like mad with very little effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maindrian Pace Posted August 19, 2014 Author Share Posted August 19, 2014 That Tamiya masking tape is amazingly good stuff. And finally, Now maybe I can work on something that I own. -MJS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Excellent work and result.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blunc Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 you have some very lucky friends, that seems like a LOT of work. nice save/restoration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Great save, Mike! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynoMight Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Real good save! Great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maindrian Pace Posted August 19, 2014 Author Share Posted August 19, 2014 Thanks Gentlemen, I have two other promos to do, but next up is a '77 Ford pickup kit that's been in the planning stages for some time. -MJS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatz4u Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Mike, nice restoration, wow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Very nice job Mike. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maindrian Pace Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Thanks Al and Scott. -MJS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Excellent restoration! David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramfins59 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 That looks really great. It could use some BMF for the window and side trim and handles, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disabled modeler Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Very nice....I love restoring them myself....great work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurattraction Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Fantastic job, Mike...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalmage Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I agree. Looks fantastic but it definitely needs some BMF on the trim, and some white walls. that would really set it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maindrian Pace Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Thanks guys. It was detailed with silver paint and painted wide whitewalls when it was given to me to restore, the owner wanted it brought back to stock. On a $300-$500 promo, you just don't do BMF or any other detailing, you get the Modelhaus straightened resin version and do it to that. -MJS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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