1956 Chrysler 1:32 scale

[#1 model citizen]

Started Spring 2006 I’m calling it done. (Finished 6/30/22) It was built to represent the Chrysler New Yorker St. Regis that  my dad had restored. It’s painted in the correct cloud white over desert rose. I used Testors classic black to complete the tri-tone color.        Dad’s Chrysler

I started with a built model I got off EBay and a reissued customizing kit. It was a fight all the way and I’m not at all pleased with the outcome. When I started this project I thought it would be a breeze to paint since the multi-piece body came together along the chrome. I should have been able to paint each piece separately and then assemble it. The poor fit of the parts where the rear deck, side panels and roof, especially on the right side, came together made it necessary to assemble body first and smooth out the seems. Foiling the chrome was also a challenge working along the seems. It’s definitely not my best work.  I did add the factory air conditioner that’s located under the package shelf. I scratch built the center vent. The MoPar master parts book indicated that there is a vent on either side as well. The illustrations in the parts book looked like speaker grills so that’s what I used.  😉 My dad’s AC worked very well and was really appreciated in Roswell, NM!The engine bay was well represented for the era. I goofed here. The valve covers should have been gold. 
I wanted the herringbone pattern on seats to stand out so I scraped the paint off after painting them white. This was tedious and, as you can see, the result isn’t perfect. The wheel covers, grille, bumpers, and taillights were stripped and painted with Alcad.

Thanks for looking. Comments welcome. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by #1 model citizen

[Tom99]

Very nice!

[Maindrian Pace]

That series of Revell kits from the mid '50s were somewhat primitive; well engineered for the day especially in the all-new medium of styrene plastic, but they were not known for fitting together very well or being particularly easy to build. Given that, this car looks great and presents very well in the factory three tone paint scheme. Nice job on a challenging kit.

[bisc63]

Overall external proportions look pretty good. Some of the trim is a bit heavy, but not bad at all for the scale. Looking at close-up pics, it's easy to forget just how small these kits are compared to what we normally see! You made a very nice looking display piece here. Good job. I would love to see a 1/25 version of this fine looking automobile from Moebius!

[rsmodels]

Very nice, John. I really like the colors you chose. As you know, these are not the easiest kits to build. You did a fine job. It's great to see it.

I built  a bunch of these 55 and 56 Revell kits  back in the 80's when I was building for a living.  I still  have a lot of NOS unbuilt ones as well as a few I built and a number of the original hobby shop display built-ups.

 Considering when they were issued, they are really great kits.

Edited September 6, 2022 by rsmodels

[PappyD340]

Looks great!

[Kah puts]

Outstanding John, fiddly little kits but they sure do put a smile on your face when done right, like this. 

[happy grumpy]

Nice job on the chrysler. The color looks really good on it.

[#1 model citizen]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:07 AM, Tom99 said:

Very nice!

Thanks Tom!

[#1 model citizen]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:19 PM, bisc63 said:

Overall external proportions look pretty good. Some of the trim is a bit heavy, but not bad at all for the scale. Looking at close-up pics, it's easy to forget just how small these kits are compared to what we normally see! You made a very nice looking display piece here. Good job. I would love to see a 1/25 version of this fine looking automobile from Moebius!

Thanks Rusty! As I said this fought me all the way, even the BMF. Once I had burnished and trimmed the foil I could not get the excess to peel off! I was afraid I was going to damage the paint trying to lift it off. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the thick areas aren’t the BMF residue that refused to lift. I had foiled another 1:32 model shortly before this one with no problem and much better results. It’s like since this model had special meaning to me and I wanted it perfect, it wasn’t going to let that happen no matter how much I struggled. When I zoomed in on the close ups it looks absolutely horrible!
Somewhere in this forum, perhaps under “What would YOU like to see as model”, there was some discussion about Möbius modifying their Chrysler 300 kits to other variants including an Imperial. The New Yorker would be a welcome addition, but doubt it will ever happen. 😞 Speaking of the Möbius 300s, I had more than enough cloud white leftover to paint a 300B. Haven’t finished polishing it, but below is a comparison of scales. 

[bisc63]

To clarify, I wasn't implying you had anything to do with the trim's somewhat "thick" appearance. I only meant it was over-scaled a bit in some places, and thus heavy appearing. I think you did a bang up job on this jewel! Oh yeah, plus one for the New Yorker variant of the Moebius; I'd love that.

[#1 model citizen]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:36 PM, rsmodels said:

Very nice, John. I really like the colors you chose. As you know, these are not the easiest kits to build. You did a fine job. It's great to see it.

I built  a bunch of these 55 and 56 Revell kits  back in the 80's when I was building for a living.  I still  have a lot of NOS unbuilt ones as well as a few I built and a number of the original hobby shop display built-ups.

 Considering when they were issued, they are really great kits.

Thank you very much much for your kind words of understanding. Despite their small scale and as difficult as these models are, the subject matter makes them hard to resist. I would love to see your models if you’d be kind enough to share. 

[#1 model citizen]

On 9/5/2022 at 9:43 PM, Kah puts said:

Outstanding John, fiddly little kits but they sure do put a smile on your face when done right, like this. 

 

14 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

Nice job on the chrysler. The color looks really good on it.

Thanks guys!

[#1 model citizen]

On 9/5/2022 at 8:05 PM, PappyD340 said:

Looks great!

Thank you!

[#1 model citizen]

33 minutes ago, bisc63 said:

To clarify, I wasn't implying you had anything to do with the trim's somewhat "thick" appearance. I only meant it was over-scaled a bit in some places, and thus heavy appearing. I think you did a bang up job on this jewel! Oh yeah, plus one for the New Yorker variant of the Moebius; I'd love that.

I would have to agree that it is somewhat out of scale. It seems a lot of the older models, especially the early annuals, had over scale chrome. Sometimes that can be a blessing as it doesn’t lost under a few coats of paint. And btw I wasn’t offended had you meant what I thought. I’m not offended by honest observation or constructive criticism. 🙂

[Danno]

Very nice!  It is a difficult kit.  You should be proud of as good an outcome as this one is!

[#1 model citizen]

18 hours ago, Danno said:

Very nice!  It is a difficult kit.  You should be proud of as good an outcome as this one is!

Thank you!

[rsmodels]

19 hours ago, #1 model citizen said:

Thank you very much much for your kind words of understanding. Despite their small scale and as difficult as these models are, the subject matter makes them hard to resist. I would love to see your models if you’d be kind enough to share. 

Okay John, I'll take some photos and post them here in a day or so. -Rich

[#1 model citizen]

2 hours ago, rsmodels said:

Okay John, I'll take some photos and post them here in a day or so. -Rich

Looking forward to them!👍

[rsmodels]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:21 AM, #1 model citizen said:

Looking forward to them!👍

Okay, here are photos of the section of my stash with most, if not all of my NOS Revell 55 and 56 1/32 cars. I also have a few of the reissues.

 Next are 3 photos of my built '55 and '56 Mercurys.

The last ones are factory builtups 55 Mercury, Buick, 2  Fords (in reverse colors), and Chrysler. I removed them from their original acetate enclosures but do still have them. They all came with the hoods glued open but I undid a few.

I did some looking to see if there is a more appropriate place to post about these models.  Maybe the car kit news and reviews section would be better?  I do plan to show the built Mercurys at some point but there are some interesting things about some of these kits , like the different shades of colors and the fact that the '56 Fords were originally issued in 2 different versions, one with crank windows and one with power windows. They also have a different  configuration of assembly points. There may not be enough interest for me to bother.

I have quite a few other Revell factory builtups including my favorite-the Chris Craft cabin cruiser from 1953. I have six of them, plus one I built and three or four NOS kits.  I hope all this isn't too boring.  -Rich

 

 

Edited September 9, 2022 by rsmodels

[blunc]

I like it, one of the best builds of this kit I have seen so far.

here is a thread for small scale stuff: 

 

[unclescott58]

Very cool. I especially like the adding of factory air. 

[#1 model citizen]

18 hours ago, rsmodels said:

Okay, here are photos of the section of my stash with most, if not all of my NOS Revell 55 and 56 1/32 cars. I also have a few of the reissues.

 Next are 2 photos of my built '55 and '56 Mercurys.

The last ones are factory builtups 55 Mercury, Buick, 2  Fords (in reverse colors), and Chrysler. I removed them from their original acetate enclosures but do still have them. They all came with the hoods glued open but I undid a few.

I did some looking to see if there is a more appropriate place to post about these models.  Maybe the car kit news and reviews section would be better?  I do plan to show the built Mercurys at some point but there are some interesting things about some of these kits , like the different shades of colors and the fact that the '56 Fords were originally issued in 2 different versions, one with crank windows and one with power windows. They also have a different  configuration of assembly points. There may not be enough interest for me to bother.

I have quite a few other Revell factory builtups including my favorite-the Chris Craft cabin cruiser from 1953. I have six of them, plus one I built and three or four NOS kits.  I hope all this isn't too boring.  -Rich

 

 

Wow! Thanks Rich! Your collection is overwhelming! So many models I didn’t even knew existed and many I wished I had! There’s so many I’d like to know about the history/ story.

Since I started this thread about the ‘56 Chrysler I have to ask about the white Chrysler with a red interior. It appears to have the Imperial/300 grille. Is this one you modified or scratch built? I have always been intrigued with the figures that came with the kits as well, and it was cool to see them included in your builds.

The car kit news and reviews would probably be the most appropriate section to post about these models (though without a heads up I would probably miss out simply because there is so much content on this sight. I will however hit the button to follow you 😉) Perhaps MCM could add a model history section to the site.

Although I can’t speak for the community at large, I for one would love to learn more of the history and your insight of these and other early kits (Highway Pioneers, Aurora, etc.) I found it quite interesting that there were two different versions of the ‘56 Ford. And Atlantis must think that there is still enough interest in them to reissue at least some of these early kits. (I’m still waiting for the release of the ‘56 Buick.) I don’t find this subject boring at all. Thanks so much for posting! -John 

 

[#1 model citizen]

1 hour ago, unclescott58 said:

Very cool. I especially like the adding of factory air. 

Thanks, Scott! I always thought the (outside mounted)scoops looked cool and even better since they actually served a purpose!

[#1 model citizen]

11 hours ago, blunc said:

I like it, one of the best builds of this kit I have seen so far.

here is a thread for small scale stuff: 

 

Thanks for the kind words and the heads up on the small scale builds. I will post this build there too. I have several other 1:32 projects on the back burner and if they ever come to a boil I will be sure to post them there as well. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by #1 model citizen