Hubley 1960 Ford Country Sedan

[SSNJim]

8 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

My guess would be that this is not the first time that this model has been built.

Chances are pretty high that it was originally built with the chrome ribbed panels, and then somewhere along the line, those pieces were lost and the next owner painted the entire body and over the glue left by the missing panels.

Often times, these old vintage kits have multiple lives.

 

 

Steve

I was thinking that myself after I discovered it is glue on the ribbed panel and it was painted over. Maybe it was rebuilt/refreshed somewhere along the 50 or 60 years this car has been around. It would be interesting to know its past, I'm sure. 

[SSNJim]

13 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

I do have a  collection of old customs and builds from that era.  The above '60 Ford wagon is so over the top I just had to have it.  In fact several people who know my collecting disease forwarded me the eBay auction information. And there were several competitors to win it!  I believe this one started out as a convertible.  The entire roof and extension is balsa wood. It's been restored!  I polished it up and replaced the rear wheel covers to match the others, someone on one of the boards donated them!

And never apologize for a cool discussion thread!  This one is fun!

I do watch most of your rebuilds/refreshes, Tom. It's amazing the creativity that goes into some of these models.

That one particular post was a little long-winded. I totally agree, this is a fun thread. Lots of interesting information and models have come out of the wood work.

[Lunajammer]

16 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

My solution would be to grind the backs of the wheel covers flat, essentially turning them into a true hub cap to fit onto a correct sized steel wheel.

BTW, what kits have a good 1/24 stock steel wheel?

[StevenGuthmiller]

12 minutes ago, Lunajammer said:

BTW, what kits have a good 1/24 stock steel wheel?

Good question.

But in this case, a 1/25th scale wheel would probably work better.

1/24th would probably look too big with the small hub caps.

 

Steve

[SSNJim]

Curiosity got the better of me tonight. I did a test disassembly of the car. The 4 screws came out, but they've been out before. They were kind of stripped-ish; just pretty loose fitting. Once removed, the grille, bumpers, chassis, interior and front windshield fell right out. The dashboard came easily out of the interior, but I didn't mess with the steering wheel.

All the windows aft of the doors are still in the body. Apparently the whole window assembly was one piece to start with, but became two pieces at some point. The remaining windows are glued in pretty well along the runners that go along the roof, but don't seem to be glued along the lower edges of the windows even though there are glue marks there. I did some stabbing and jabbing at the rear windows, but they didn't budge, so I didn't push the issue. Just exploratory surgery, I'll button it back up soon until I'm ready to proceed with the rebuild.

So, it looks like it shouldn't be too bad once I get the rear windows out. This definitely isn't the first time the car was rebuilt. Some areas are very nicely done, others not so much.

[W Humble]

I think I have the orig decal sheet for the Hubley Ford, but someone folded it in the middle. I don't recall ever having had that model, but maybe a friend (c.1960!) did, and I glommed his decals?  Interested?  Trades?

Wick Humble  (73-1/2 years young)

[Ron Hamilton]

A friend of mine was working on a 60 wagon where he combined the AMT kit chassis and powertrain and made the wood framing to do it as a Country Squire. I built mine as a Country Squire making the framing and using pins as the studs, along with the kit roof rack. Your model looks promising. Do what you feel is right.

[SSNJim]

18 hours ago, W Humble said:

I think I have the orig decal sheet for the Hubley Ford, but someone folded it in the middle. I don't recall ever having had that model, but maybe a friend (c.1960!) did, and I glommed his decals?  Interested?  Trades?

Wick Humble  (73-1/2 years young)

Thanks, but no. I appreciate the offer.

[SSNJim]

2 hours ago, Ron Hamilton said:

A friend of mine was working on a 60 wagon where he combined the AMT kit chassis and powertrain and made the wood framing to do it as a Country Squire. I built mine as a Country Squire making the framing and using pins as the studs, along with the kit roof rack. Your model looks promising. Do what you feel is right.

Thanks. I'm going to go with a basic restore of the car to factory stock-ish and not much, if any, extra detailing.

Maybe I'll try the ice treatment tonight to try and get the windows out.

[SSNJim]

Not quite a year later, and the ice treatment failed miserably. I've never had much luck with that.

I'm working to scribe through the glass to get the visible parts out. They'll be replaced with clear plastic, but maybe a Deora will sacrifice its windshield.

Edited March 10, 2020 by SSNJim

[SfanGoch]

Get this HQT Stainless Saw Set.

They are thin enough (about 0.3mm thick) to slide under the runners of the glass and cut it out without damaging the body. There's a set of stainless scribers

which you'll also find indispensable. Both sets are better than using a No.11 X-Acto blade to make panel lines or open doors and trunks because the kerf is only 0.3mm wide. No excess plastic is removed which results in oversized gaps. I've used both to remove glued in glass, and in disassembling heavily glued parts, from built models I wish to rework. The scribers come in handy in loosening front and rear glass which are solidly glued in place. Use either of the top two scribers by running the tips under the window trim until the glass pops out. Then, as I previously mentioned, use the saw blades under the runners to remove the entire piece.

Edited March 10, 2020 by SfanGoch

[SSNJim]

Thanks for the suggestion. I do have a set of photoetched saw blades with similar saws. I'll give it a go.