alan barton Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) I can't believe it has been four months since I posted here but to tell the truth, that windshield opening gave a bit of a kick in the guts. Anyhow, our show is definitely on on July 18 so I had better get a move on. I spent last night working out my moves. I really didnt want to split the roof, especially as the rear window had come out so nicely. I wrapped Tarheel Rick's windshield in masking tape and then removed the front posts altogether and separated the B pillar from the door line. I then taped the windshield in place and pulled the roof down to where it belonged. Then, using any plastic scraps that looked like they would fit, I glued a bunch of stuff directly onto the roof and screen and that is where I will leave it until next weekend. Hopefully the windshield will release painlessly and I will start reworking the front of the roof to match the screen. It's not pretty! Wish me luck! Cheers Alan Edited March 28, 2021 by alan barton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted May 29, 2021 Author Share Posted May 29, 2021 Got a bit sidetracked on other projects but the Galaxie got its last coat of primer today - I think! The roof widening and post straightening is good for about a B+ but with less than two months to go I need to get a wriggle on! I also started carving up two Monogram Sprint car drivers to man the cop car, so to speak. This involved straightening the knee joint, straightening and repositioning the arms for a braced position, pie cutting the ankles to get the feet to fit the floor , hollowing out his back to better conform to the seat and doing similar plastic surgery on his derriere! It is far from pretty at this stage but putty should fix most sins. Fun fact - Holstein, the officer in the movie, is wearing a short sleeve shirt and a black bow tie - how normal was that for an American police officer in 1962? Our guys used to have to wear a long tie and long sleeves summer or winter although it is different these days. You can also see the front seat - it started life as the back seat in an unknown interior tub the pleats had a passing resemblance to the stock rear seat and with them mostly being covered by police officers that was good enough for this job. I also cut up one of the original bucket seats to widen the rear seat where I removed the convertible hood mounting compartments. I sprayed them flat black and then misted them with a Testors Tan so that plenty of shadows would show on the upholstery. You can just make out some of the work I have done so far on the door panels. again, they will be near enough for this job. The dash cluster housing has been widened to more closely represent a 61 dash - a print from the Internet will be used for the instruments themselves. Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 29, 2021 Share Posted May 29, 2021 I absolutely love what you've accomplished , using what you have and converting it into a completely different animal is my kind of build ! Great work Alan ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bainford Posted May 29, 2021 Share Posted May 29, 2021 An amazing transformation. I just spent the last 40 minutes enjoying your progress on this cool project. When I saw the opening photo of what you started with, I thought “no way”. You’ve shown me wrong. Impressive effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted May 30, 2021 Author Share Posted May 30, 2021 (edited) Thank you Bob, thank you Trevor. Funny how an American cop car built by an Aussie is appealing to Americans, Canadians, British,Welsh and Swedish modellers! Unfortunately today has turned into a real winter's day, cold and wet, so although I did get my primer on I ma going to wait until later in the week to do a final rub down with 800 and get the white paint on. In the meantime I thought I would tackle the dash. A few weeks ago I extended the 63 instrument housing with plastic and putty and cut out a photocopy of a 61 Galaxie instrument cluster from the internet. It isn't particularly clear but it gives the right effect. I found an under dash radio, from the AMT 53 Ford Pickup I think or maybe the Monogram 55, either way, the one with a telephone style handset on it. I sliced off the phone and made a more two -way radio like handpiece from a pedal, with a strip of fine coiled wire for the cord. Pretty happy with the final result, just enough detail to create interest, even if no-one ever looks inside! Cheers Alan Edited May 30, 2021 by alan barton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spottedlaurel Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Great to see this one is still progressing! The dash looks really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Glad to see this project is back on the bench. Coming along nicely. Very nice work and some nice problem solving. Looking forward to seeing this finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Good job on the radio ! 11 hours ago, alan barton said: Thank you Bob, thank you Trevor. Funny how an American cop car built by an Aussie is appealing to Americans, Canadians, British,Welsh and Swedish modellers! Early 60's Fords are very popular and four doors + a cop car make it even more so . But it's your cuttin' and body work that really makes this a great build ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doorsovdoon Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Dashboard looks amazing. Great work, I'm loving this build thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted June 29, 2021 Author Share Posted June 29, 2021 Another month passes by and I now have less than twenty months to go. You know that final coat of primer I put on weeks ago? Well, lets just say there has been at least another four final coats since then! Seems that lumps keep appearing as well as evidence of previous bodywork. We will see what happens tomorrow! I have also been doing some work on the door panels and got them painted tonight. I might have mentioned that I used Steve Guthmiller's technique of first cuutting the side panels off the interior tub and then using pieces of styrene and some saw cuts to represent the interior patterns of a 61 Galaxie. . I glued some short pieces of angled styrene to the bottom of the floor to assist with re-assembly. I have been trying to get Holstein and his offsider finished but they keep fighting me as far as positioning in the car is concerned so I am going to get those side panels glued back on tomorrow so that I can mock up the dash more securely and get the boys locked in. Cheeers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BullysCustomModelParts Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 twenty months?? plenty of time😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 OOOps, that would be twenty days! Nice catch Jackson! Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bills72sj Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 Amazing progress so far. I am impressed at how you keep pushing your skillset to make additional improvements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 An impressive amount of work so far! David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 Thank you, David and Bill. Yes, I have pushed myself to try a lot of new things on this model. It won't be perfect but considering what I started with I am pretty happy so far. Had a bit of a set back tonight when trying to fit the windshield that TarheelRick generously sent me. Turns out my roof had a distinct droop on the passenger side - I have no idea why I never saw it before but there it was! The only solution was to cut the post free and slip a 2mm slice of Evergreen in the gap to force the roof up, drown it with superglue and then start carving and sanding. It's not looking very pretty at the moment but we will see what primer shows in the morning. Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reuhkapelti2 Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 Alan, you mentioned several countries, where modellers are exited when following your ambitious build. You can now add atleast one modeller from Finland, as I today spotted your build and read it through instantly. So fantastic job so far. I also like to make quite big conversions with my kits, so it's fun to see your work. Keep it on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Darby Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 (edited) On 10/13/2020 at 12:22 AM, alan barton said: Interesting to see that it has a Y block, not an FE series engine, and that it has a different rear window pillar and glass treatment to the Graffiti car. I wonder if Ford changed design mid year - hard to imagine why you would have two otherwise identical four door sedans but for the back window? Hi Alan, Just discovered this thread. Very nice job on your conversion so far! I can give you some closure on your rear window dilemma. The two different roof lines were dependent on whether the car was a Fairlane (or lower line full size Ford), or if it was a Galaxie. My thought is that the Graffiti police car didn't start out as police car, but was converted as a prop. Anyway, once again, nice work, and my best wishes to you making your deadline! Edited July 1, 2021 by Dave Darby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Thanks for that information, Dave, that makes perfect sense! It seems rather indulgent to go to all that trouble when it really made no difference whatsoever to the operation of the car but hey, I guess the American auto industry was close to at its peak in that era so they just did it anyway! Now that I think about it, a small number of our home grown Aussie sedans in the late sixties/early seventies had formal rooflines on an otherwise standard four door sedan so we weren't immune to it either. Glad you are enjoying the build. I will be glad when it is finished because it is distracting me from other more worthy hot rod projects but it certainly ahs been a learning experience! Thank you, Ismo, for your comments. I always enjoyed the builds of Juha Airio, one of your countrymen, I believe. Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 That's a bummer about the roof, but at least it's a fairly easy fix. And you discovered it before the body was painted. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 You're dead right there, David! It cleaned up surprisingly well and a light coat of primer today revealed a fairly invisible repair - phheww! Unfortunately it also revealed a few highs and lows on the roof, just a little smaller than the Rockies but disturbing none the less. I hate to think that it might be old age but as I knew there were some issues on the roof and as I shadow coated it and then blocksanded the entire roof til it was silky smooth, I thought, I do question how I missed such obviuos flaws. it was another bummer to find that, Iike the kids in the back of a station wagon on vacation, I wasn't there yet! Doing some more block sanding tonight and then I will try again tomorrow. Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 (edited) On 6/30/2021 at 10:52 AM, alan barton said: Turns out my roof had a distinct droop on the passenger side - I have no idea why I never saw it before but there it was That happens to me! You didn’t see it because you’ve been looking at that body too long! Thus everything about it seems normal. I’ve had projects I’ve packed away and pulling them back out after a few years the first thing I see is some blooper I swear I never noticed before. Edited July 6, 2021 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70 Sting Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Incredible amount of work. 😵 Can't wait to see the final product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 One artist r Trick is to view the subject with a mirror it makes you view it differently. Vvery nice work- . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 I might try that Bob! Thanks to Tom and Henry for the support. I am working at home at the moment because our employee feels it is easier for us to work from home rather than come to work and wear masks inside all day SO - I got some primer on at lunchtime, dodging the winter rains we have been experiencing all week. I'm too scared to say that this is the last coat of primer because if I read back through this I think it would be the fourth of fifth time I have said that! So here is how it looked this afternoon. Hopefully white primer and white Tamiya acrylic tomorrow - fingers crossed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 Tonight I am working on Holstein and his partner getting a seat in the car. I thought Holstein was finished but somewhere along the way his right arm has squeezed in so there is some more surgery to be done. I started with a pair of Monogram sprintcar drivers. The heads are from the Revell Germany firefighters set - you only get one in the box so a friend of mine , Tony from AAA resin casting, made me two copies. There is not a lot you can photograph when doing figure conversions. You just cut shape, glue sand, cut off the part and position it again until finally everything looks right. I use Testor's tube glue to give me some time to push things around and then when I am happy, I lock it up with superglue. Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.