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1949 Custom Mercury Station Wagon


Exotics_Builder

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This build combines a resin body with the Revell 1949 Mercury kit.  It is being built as a traditional custom, which our club Guru defines as up to 1964.  Thus, modern chassis, wheels, engine, etc. are Verboten.

Although not really my area of interest, I decided to go for it since I had the pieces in the stash.

The resin body (I believe from Morgan Automotive Detail) is very nicely molded.  One would think, looking at it, that it is styrene, not resin.

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Given the look of the body, I decided to add accent trim to accentuate the shape.  Using Evergreen half round, I shaped "spear point" ends and glued to the body.

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Since the roof is chopped, the interior is difficult to view.  So I used a technique of spraying paint with granules  used to simulate artifical stone.  It gives a reasonable appearance of standard carpeting.

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I used Testors Extreme Lacquer Fiery Orange shot from the can, as my airbrush compressor is still in the moving box and yet to be set up.  Followed by Wet Look, again from the can.  In between, I added a couple of pinstripe decals from Gofer Decals.  Allowing it to cure before polishing.  I used Tamiya Wood Tan and Racing White for the interior followed by their semi-gloss clear.  I dug into my diminishing stash of AMerican Satco wide whitewalls and coupled them with a wheel set I got from Fujimi 20+ years ago.


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I plan on using the cadillac engine in the kit, detailing it out.  I do not plan on getting carried away on chassis/suspension detail.

 

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Great looking build. Adding the moldings can really change the overall look after they're foiled. That is one of my favorite colors and I have to use restraint not to paint everything Fiery Orange. Your carpet treatment is also interesting since you even gives you some of the color texture you would see in a 1:1 car. Nice interior colors and they go well with the exterior. 

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Love it (so far). I have one of the base kits in the stash that I was going to do somewhat custom (no chop, keep the wood, lowered ride height), and love the touches you've done on this resin body.  I'll stay tuned for more.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone remember who made this body? I've been after one for years. Morgan Automotive Detail (or one of the other Detroit guys) made a chopped wagon body, but it was based on the woody kit. This is all steel. Tom Kren did a beautiful build with that body way back when, and now seeing Gerry's beautiful build it has reinvigorated my search.

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  • 1 month later...

Update - 12-01.  Since I can''t edit title.

I have the body initially polished and will wait until rear window creation and back shelf are finished before final polish and BMF for the chrome accent.

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The resin kit has templates for the rear side windows and shelf, but not rear window.  I have clear styrene to make these and will create a template for the rear window.  After these are cut and fitted, I will finish off the shelf and then, final polish on the body.

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For the shelf, I decided to do a tufted finish like the door panels and seats, rather than carpet.  I was going to use Evergreen half round for it until I discovered that a HO scale corrugated roof sheet is close enough to the size to use that.  Once the basic shelf is fitted, I will apply the corrugation to it and smooth it all out.

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Regarding the engine, I decided to be a bit flamboyant and did it in Metallic Gold along with some detailing.  Simulated some linkage and fuel lines, wired the engine in correct firing order and added non-working dip sticks for engine oil and transmission.  Also, the kit mufflers look like Cherry Bombs, so I painted accordingly.

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For the beehive filter, I drilled holes for the intake and output lines then drilled into Plastruct Styrene Hex Rod for fittings. 

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Hope to get this one done by year-end, or soon thereafter.

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  • 1 month later...
On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2021 at 10:30 PM, Dave72 said:

Very nice looking build! The paint looks amazing! I really like the way the interior tuned out with all of the tuck n roll panels and the neat idea with carpet. Great info as well on how you did it all.

I agree! Excellent job on this model!

Sam

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  • 2 weeks later...

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