Ramfins59

Hi gang.  After a 6 week hiatus of travelling, visiting friends in North Carolina, and a week in Disneyworld with my grandson, I'm happily back at my workbench.  I picked up a resin '58 Oldsmobile convertible kit from The Modelhaus and am adding it to my "1958 build mission".  This kit came with a full width continental kit.  I have so far sanded off the lettering on the hood & trunk, along with the door handles & wipers.  I'll replace those with pieces from my parts stash.  I painted the body with Tamiya Pink for a real 50's feel.  I'll be putting on chrome reversed wheels with pink painted wheel spyders also from Modelhaus.  Pics of the painted body follow.  I still have to give it another coat as I had to sand some "schmutz" spots.  I also have to paint the connie kit pieces and the dashboard which I only took out of the Westley Bleche White bath today and they're drying.  The interior will be done in pink and black with maybe a little white thrown in.  Thanks for looking in on this new project.

Hi gang.  I'm visiting my buddy, Tom Valenta, at his home in Hendersonville, NC.  I've been here since the day after the NNL East show.  It has been raining like hell here for a week, with another week of rainy days to come in the forecast.

I picked up some cool stuff at the NNL as usual.  I'll be continuing my "1958 build mission" with a '58 Oldsmobile convertible kit that I picked up from The Modelhaus.  If it is possible to get in a dry day here I'll be able to prime it and maybe even paint it.  It will eventually be painted Tamiya Pink, with a pink, black and white interior.  The kit comes with a full continental kit so I'm thinking that another mild custom might be coming down the pike.  Only a couple of '58's left to go after this one.

I think that once the Olds is done I'll be jumping back a couple of years and working on some 56's.  I also picked up a '56 Plymouth and a '56 DeSoto promo at the NNL.  I'll have to get some resin replacement stuff from Modelhaus for them.  I also have a '56 Olds and Pontiac promo, along with kits of the '56 Chevy, the Nomad, Ford Fairlane, and Chrysler, so it looks like I'll be busy with the '56 builds for the rest of the year.

Well, I hope that the weather is better wherever YOU are and that you all get some good modeling done.

Well this thing just fell together once all the pieces were finished.  The glass/headliner and interior went in with only a little persuasion.  I added an antenna from my parts stash.  After it all went together I cleaned off the smudges and fingerprints (Black shows EVERYTHING..!!)

I was my usually crazy detail person self and added a bunch of stuff in the engine compartment.  Besides detail painting the battery plate, I added PE terminals and cables.  I "borrowed" a heater from a '57 Fairlane kit and mounted it on the firewall, then added heater hoses.  A resin master cylinder was also added to the firewall with a brake line installed.  Finally, I ran a line from the washer fluid container to the firewall.  I don't know if my friend in MN will appreciate all the added details, but it made me feel good to do it for an old friend.

Now I have to decide whether I should ship it to him now, or bring it to the NNL East show in 10 days.  Of course then I'll be travelling to NC and FL after that and probably won't be able to ship it until sometime in June.  Hopefully Doug won't mind waiting that long to get it.

Thanks to all who look in on this.  It was a fun and different kind of project for me as I had never worked on or modified a diecast model before.  It was a good learning experience for me. 

My younger daughter's fiance' has a Chevy HHR and would love to have a model of his car.  I know Jimmy Flintstone has a Slammer body, but a PT Cruiser kit is needed for the rest of it.  I would like to attempt to make a model of his car for him so my daughter can give it it to him as a present.   

Does anyone have a PT Cruiser kit that they would be willing to part with..??  Please PM me to see if we can make a deal.  Thanks a lot.

Several Forum members have requested that I show pictures of all of the 1958 models that I have built in a group.  Forgive me if this bores some of you, but I just wanted to try to do what I was asked to do.

So far, I have built the following;

'58 Buick Roadmaster Convertible (Stock).

 "   Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Stock).

 "   Chevrolet Impala (Mild Custom).

 "   Chevrolet Pro Street Sedan Delivery.

 "   Ford Edsel Pacer (Mild Custom).

 "   Ford Fairlane Convertible (Mild Custom).

 "   Plymouth Belvedere (Stock).

Please excuse the lousy background, but I still haven't gotten around to getting a piece of white poster board (we used to call it Oaktag years ago) and all I could come up with was an old, stained, white towel.  I had trouble getting all of the models in the picture without it being too out of focus, using my HP, 5 MP, Digital camera.

Here's my "Class of '58" so far.  More will be added as I buy and complete them, along with all the other great cars from the 1950's.  

Thanks a lot for looking at my "small graduating class".