mr moto

The Lindberg '40 actually was originally a Palmer tooling. However bad that kit is, it's probably the best thing ever done by Palmer!

The bumpers on the Revell Merc look like "DeSoto style" bumpers but not actual '37 DeSoto's.

Thanks! Looks like I have my answer. Last year I built a '40 sedan delivery. If I can find where the leftover parts are that should be it.

What kit (I'm thinking old AMT Trophy Series) has '37 DeSoto bumpers in it as a custom option? I'm talking about the ribbed bumpers that were popular on customs in the 50's. Like these: I could swear I have some in my stash already but I can't find them and don't remember what kit I saw them in. THANKS!

Hi Everybody, It seems a long time since I've had a completion to post so I hope this is worth the wait. When I take a close look at it it's easy to see that it's not really contest quality but it shows pretty well in photos or sitting on a shelf. It's based on a Missing Link resin body and AMT '53 Stude donor. In a lot of ways the Missing Link body was one of the best resin casts I've seen but there were still a ton of issues in doing the conversion; a very difficult build overall. The hood and grille shell were very poorly shaped and had to be totally remade to look like the real thing. The grille mesh is stainless steel screen from Model Car Garage. The odd placement of the radio antenna on the trunk lid is actually the only location that was available from the factory in 1962. Any cars that now have it in other locations are aftermarket jobs. The paint is Studebaker's Brown Metallic factory color; a color that MCW doesn't make and I found out why. I went a local Sherwin-Williams auto paint center and they finally a match by eye to an original paint chip which I had. I also brought them the Studebaker paint code and cross reference codes to Dupont, Ditzler, Arco, etc. and they all drew blanks in their database search. Their computer optical match wouldn't accept the Stude paint chip either! We finally found a paint chip among the thousands hanging on their wall (many thanks to very knowledgeable employee) that everyone in the room agreed was the right color. The engine used started out in an AMT Avanti kit and was backdated to look like an early '62 Hawk engine. This part 2 of my proposed 3 part Hawk project. The first was a '56 Golden Hawk and sometime when I get the right vibes in the future I plan to start into '57 Golden Hawk. Don't hold your breath!

Yes, the Atlantis release has a molded windshield.

There used to be a kit of it but it kept falling off of the hobby store shelves.

What he said. I have their Aqua Gloss and even that dulls it somewhat. I've just accepted that Alclad doesn't stand up to being handled and treated it as such.

Maybe you should try contacting MCW for their opinion. They've probably done compatibility tests.

The Dupli is definitely the better choice especially because Viking Blue isn't a pearl finish.

It's my understanding from back in the day that the Mecom blue on all of the race cars was a 1960 Cadillac color same as a convertible that Mecom had owned. So the Scarab blue should be the same. You could try cross-referencing it to MCW's 1960 Caddy colors to be sure.

There's no doubt that it could be AI, but it still needs to be built.

That's too cool not to build it! If you don't, somebody else will.

John Mecom purchased his T-70 in 1965. It was the third one built and the first sent to the U.S. 1983 is likely when the Union kit was issued. By then the Texas oilman had sold his racing team and amused himself with racehorses and pro football teams.

From Hudson Miniatures to 3D printed! The mind boggles! Next they're going to tell me that the world is round and spinning. That's a great idea and excellent work. It sure beats carving one out of wood.

Well....actually they should! It's not your fault for "missing" that detail nor AMT's for putting it there. Studebaker's policy for the Avanti was running changes with no designated model years. Other people (such as me) call them 63's or 64's just to make things easy but Studebaker didn't. The AMT kit clearly represents a "transitional" car. These were built in August of 1963 and introduced 1964 parts as they became available. The kit has the "trifecta" that positively says it's August 1963: the extra cowl vents, round headlight rims, and a grill. Yes, earlier cars had no grill - just an opening. To build an earlier original style Avanti, leave off the grill and fill the added cowl vents. All the '64 cars had the vents and grill as well as squared headlight trim. So, there's actually nothing wrong with your build and it looks great! When you get around to building your '64 later, I recommend the site below (and there are lots of others, too) for background info. There are underhood changes to be aware of also. https://theavanti.com/r1.html

Now that I think about it, if that was the old tool it would probably reside at Atlantis now! Great build in any case!

You did an excellent job on this ancient kit. The reason it doesn't look like the usual Revelle kit is because it started life as an Aurora kit. The tooling was then purchased by Monogram and that's how it ended up with Revell after they merged.

Elegant!!! That is simple, reserved and beautiful. Gene Winfield would be proud of that work.

Beautiful build of one of my favorite cars. Looks great. I just noticed something that I'm sure is an error in the kit - not the build. There's a six volt battery under the hood but, by 1957, Ford and everybody else was using 12 volt systems. The T-Bird used a long 12 volt battery with six cells in a row much like the later Studebaker Avanti.

I feel I have to take time once again to thank all the appreciative commenters on this forum. The quality standard of builds (not to mention the builders themselves!) on this forum is very high and I thought this little build of mine would fly right under the radar. Thank you to everyone who has looked!!

Many, many thanks to everybody. Your great comments are much appreciated. I wish it was really as flawless as everyone seems to think but I'm happy that the flaws are hard to spot!

This is AMT's 1965 Lincoln kit shortened about 5/8" (16 scale inches). I think of it as a sort of styling exercise or maybe you could call it a phantom or a concept car. The roof is the removable hard top from the '57 T-Bird kit that has been lengthened and widened to fit, held in place with magnets. Interior is made from the rear half of an AMT '66 T-Bird interior with the Lincoln dash retained . Parts box steering wheel - it's probably from some Chrysler Corp product judging by the shape of it. Wheels are from the kit. They're similar to Pontiac 8-bolts but with knock-offs. The knock-offs in the kit looked very delicate so I never even tried to get them off the sprue and just pulled some from a parts box. The grill is a resin copy of the one from the original AMT 1956 Mark II promo with some custom headlights added. Paint is 1964 Lincoln "silver green" from MCW. Thanks for looking!

Here's what mine looks like in actual use on a '40 Ford:

I ordered some of those from 3D Scale and when they came in they didn't have the transparent wings. Just solid one color. It didn't upset me much since it looked very good anyway and most real ones are just chromed metal. BTW, the originals came on Packards starting in the 1930's and still optionally available into the '50s. Packard called it "the Cormorant" but I'm pretty familiar with cormorants and it looks like a swan to me!