Monogram 1934 duesenberg.

[Brudda]

Building a monogram 1934 duesenberg. This is not a accurate build of any car out there. Or are the colors accurate.  I’m just building it to clear my head on these big kits and mfh kits. Going back to my roots. 1/24-25 kits. For example the engine has around 11 parts. My 1/24 mfh Ferrari had 19 parts just for the grill. The kit is pretty good so far. The box says 1966-72. Copyright anyways. Pretty good for a kit that old. Had to be state of the art back then. The engine is simple but builds up well. Building out of box. No extra details. 

[Brudda]

Just now, Brudda said:

Building a monogram 1934 duesenberg. This is not a accurate build of any car out there. Or are the colors accurate.  I’m just building it to clear my head on these big kits and mfh kits. Going back to my roots. 1/24-25 kits. For example the engine has around 11 parts. My 1/24 mfh Ferrari had 19 parts just for the grill. The kit is pretty good so far. The box says 1966-72. Copyright anyways. Pretty good for a kit that old. Had to be state of the art back then. The engine is simple but builds up well. Building out of box. No extra details. 

Here is the kit. 

[slusher]

Real nice engine and color for the body looks great..

[bisc63]

Very attractive color for a classic!

[Zippi]

Boy, that is looking killer so far.  Nice colors and detail work on the engine.  I like the price on the box at $2.99.

[David G.]

Great work on the engine. 

The car should look pretty cool in silver.

David G.

[Brudda]

7 hours ago, slusher said:

Real nice engine and color for the body looks great..

Thank you Carl

[Brudda]

6 hours ago, bisc63 said:

Very attractive color for a classic!

Thank you bisc63

[Brudda]

1 hour ago, Zippi said:

Boy, that is looking killer so far.  Nice colors and detail work on the engine.  I like the price on the box at $2.99.

Thank you Zippi. Seams like prices in 1966-72

[Brudda]

33 minutes ago, David G. said:

Great work on the engine. 

The car should look pretty cool in silver.

David G.

Thank you David G

[Brudda]

Just mocked up the engine in the body. Tight fit. The frame was warped. Need to fix that next. A kit this old has a few issues. 

[Brudda]

2 minutes ago, Brudda said:

Just mocked up the engine in the body. Tight fit. The frame was warped. Need to fix that next. A kit this old has a few issues. 

 

[Brudda]

13 minutes ago, Brudda said:

 

I forgot to say that I used several different types of chrome paint. ( some are inks I guess) molotow, house of color, spaz stick, alclad and testors silver in a spray can. The different finishes made the engine a little more interesting. Molotow was the best for duplicating chrome. 

[jaymcminn]

Beautiful work on this so far! I recently did exactly the same thing as you... after finishing up my labor-intensive 1/12 Porsche 934 build I built the old Monogram Mercedes 540k Coupe as a way to wind down. These old Monogram classics are great kits that build up into excellent replicas with a little TLC!

[Brudda]

21 minutes ago, jaymcminn said:

Beautiful work on this so far! I recently did exactly the same thing as you... after finishing up my labor-intensive 1/12 Porsche 934 build I built the old Monogram Mercedes 540k Coupe as a way to wind down. These old Monogram classics are great kits that build up into excellent replicas with a little TLC!

Thank you jaymcminn. My first old classic. I grew up with mustang’s and Camaros. These duesenberg‘a were old man’s cars, in my younger years. So i did not have any interest. But as you get older you start to understand what it took to build these machines back then. And the quality of the cars were incredible. I watched ( Jay Leno’s Garage) and learned a lot about them. Just like the 166 I did, I started this project with minimal interest. But I saw Terry’s build of this car and was amazed by and how he did it. Im always learning. Had a few chrome paints that I have never used before, so that was a new experience. The frame is warped, so I have to fix that. Being in the box for that many years, something is going to be messed up. But I do like this car. This build is more of an building experiment / experience. But as you say it’s a build to not be so crazy with detail and you know the rest. So far a pretty cool model. By the way , how was the Mercedes? Can you show some pics? I’m always trying to learn. Thank you sir. 

[Kenmojr]

Love these Duesenberg, Cord & Auburns. I wish there were more available. About 20 years ago in Bangor. Maine I picked up the Lindberg 1935 Auburn Boat-tail which I have not yet opened the box, let alone start to build. But hope to soon.

I will be watching this thread, love the direction the build is going....

[espo]

Great way to just relax and build it whatever way you like. The detail painting goes a long way to add realism to the engine and chassis. 

[jaymcminn]

3 hours ago, Brudda said:

Thank you jaymcminn. My first old classic. I grew up with mustang’s and Camaros. These duesenberg‘a were old man’s cars, in my younger years. So i did not have any interest. But as you get older you start to understand what it took to build these machines back then. And the quality of the cars were incredible. I watched ( Jay Leno’s Garage) and learned a lot about them. Just like the 166 I did, I started this project with minimal interest. But I saw Terry’s build of this car and was amazed by and how he did it. Im always learning. Had a few chrome paints that I have never used before, so that was a new experience. The frame is warped, so I have to fix that. Being in the box for that many years, something is going to be messed up. But I do like this car. This build is more of an building experiment / experience. But as you say it’s a build to not be so crazy with detail and you know the rest. So far a pretty cool model. By the way , how was the Mercedes? Can you show some pics? I’m always trying to learn. Thank you sir. 

The Mercedes was a blast to build... the relatively low parts count meant I could concentrate on the fit and finish of the body panels, which all needed massive tweaking to get it to turn out as it did. The frame was warped as well on mine and needed some adjustments to get it to sit right. The chrome was terrible, so airbrushed Molotow was used. Pics below...

[Kenmojr]

Your Mercedes looks amazing. In some ways it kind of reminds me a French Delahaye.

What year and kit is the Mercedes?

[David G.]

The engine looks good in place, good luck with the frame.

I was wondering, do you plan any accent colors to go with the silver?

David G.

[Brudda]

20 hours ago, jaymcminn said:

The Mercedes was a blast to build... the relatively low parts count meant I could concentrate on the fit and finish of the body panels, which all needed massive tweaking to get it to turn out as it did. The frame was warped as well on mine and needed some adjustments to get it to sit right. The chrome was terrible, so airbrushed Molotow was used. Pics below...

Fantastic 

[slusher]

I watched 2 separate shows that Duesenbergs was Jays show subject. First one was on the quality of the car and how. In todays world you can drive it 70and 80 on the express way all day long that is unheard of in mid 30’s cars. And he was on the expressway driving 75 passing cars in a restored Duesenberg. The other show he found a Duesenberg in a garage sitting 70 years. Repaired the engine and left the car original.

[Brudda]

On 9/8/2022 at 8:10 PM, slusher said:

I watched 2 separate shows that Duesenbergs was Jays show subject. First one was on the quality of the car and how. In todays world you can drive it 70and 80 on the express way all day long that is unheard of in mid 30’s cars. And he was on the expressway driving 75 passing cars in a restored Duesenberg. The other show he found a Duesenberg in a garage sitting 70 years. Repaired the engine and left the car original.

Hello Carl, yes isn’t the duesenberg’s on Jay Leno’s garage pretty cool. Just think, 1934 was only a few years after the stage coach. And horses. I think Jay said the top speed limit back then was 35 mph. And a car that did over a mile a minute? WOW had to be the amazing for the time.

[Brudda]

More on the duesenberg. Painted the frame and painted the chrome on some of the chrome parts. I really do not like seam lines on parts. The chrome on the spare tires had a very bad seam line. So I sanded it and repainted it with spaz stix. Came out pretty good. Better than expected. I try to take out seam lines on parts. A little more work but the results are so much more real. Learned this from John Ferdico, a aircraft builder that won just about every IPMS nationals he entered. And he was a contributor editor for fine scale. He taught me a lot on building models. I give him the credit for my win at the IPMS nationals for Shelby American. 

[Brudda]

1 hour ago, Brudda said:

More on the duesenberg. Painted the frame and painted the chrome on some of the chrome parts. I really do not like seam lines on parts. The chrome on the spare tires had a very bad seam line. So I sanded it and repainted it with spaz stix. Came out pretty good. Better than expected. I try to take out seam lines on parts. A little more work but the results are so much more real. Learned this from John Ferdico, a aircraft builder that won just about every IPMS nationals he entered. And he was a contributor editor for fine scale. He taught me a lot on building models. I give him the credit for my win at the IPMS nationals for Shelby American.