customline

Yup. Gotta shake 'em good to keep the settled out pigment from clogging the dip-tube. I heat my cans in fully hot water or with a hair dryer but my reason for heating is to boost the pressure for better atomization. I prefer the convenience of the spray can because I hate cleaning my airbrush (I'm old and lazy). I did, however, airbrush two assembled chassis and a floor pan Friday with a half bottle of Model Master Semigloss Black and it looks a thousand times better than a Krylon job, which is what I usually do ?. It's hard to tell in a photo but the chassis and floor pan look like unpainted black plastic. I mixed it pretty thin using cheap lacquer thinner (the Yost method) and before I was done the air cap was clogged with dried paint. The way that bottom looks, I'm not even sanding my tire treads. It's going "Showroom". ?

Those old Ramblers were known for front ends falling apart. Of course, by the time I had them, they had one wheel in the junkyard ?. I had a '60 2 door, a '61 wagon, and a '62 convertible which my Dad handed down to me. They were cheap to buy, cheap to run and when they broke you just junked 'em. ?.

Look what's sitting on the lot of a muffler shop a couple of miles up the road from me

What about the flathead from the '41 plymouth kit?

I don't know if you read this whole thread (sometimes I just browse) but I modelled my '56 Seville from this kit a few years ago. It was my all- time favorite daily driver (in the early-mid '70s.) So I had to immortalize it in styrene. I have wanted to get one of the Hudsons but I'm kinda backed-up now and will probably kick the bucket well before I get there. ☺️ I would love to see more '50s MoPups in 1:25. Buick and Olds too.

Thanks, Dave. As far as paint goes, I'm still kicking it around. I use Tamiya white fine surface under the color coat for all projects now. I have never used Tamiya colors from the rattle can (or otherwise, for that matter.) Maybe you could advise me on this stuff; is it lacquer? ?. My son has used it and he assured me it's the best rattle can on the planet. If it goes on like the primer, I should be good, right? I thought maybe I should decant it but my airbrush may not be better for a poor coverage paint. I worry about a streaky finish. The correct color for this car is, I think, Cloud White. MCW has it and I may go with that. Anyway, it's a ways off. Lots to get done before I commit to any color. I have some Alclad II gloss black lacquer base for chrome hanging around that would look reeeeealy good on this beast. ?

Just checked out your VW build. Great work ! It's a phantom, right? They never....uh....

Gee, Joe, I would think of this one as "special" . No, you have enough to deal with. ? I, personally, would love to build this one. I had a '60 American when I was a mere child. It had a flathead 6 with 3 on the tree. You gotta love that bathtub shape. I see a shop truck, delivery for a speed shop, maybe, with that engine choice. A mild custom. I want to see where you take it, Joe, it's looking great so far. Love the "shop scene" for photo taking, too.

I am currently using the full wheel covers for this project but that could change if I can't find tires that I can use on those nice wires. They look reeeeeeealy nice on a kustom (which is why I'm using the full wheel covers ?) . I was just warned off the pearl white so the jury is out on that one. Thanks for your interest, Joe.

Thanks, John, for your compliments and your warning. Actually I prefer to use the airbrush for this one and, since this one is totally stock, a solid color would be more appropriate. I love those little magnets. I use them mostly to hold hoods down even if it compromises the authenticity of the engine bay. If you use the "sliding wire in tube hinge" on a hood the magnets can help realign the hood upon closing. If you use individual display cases, the hoods will stay in place instead of falling off on the way to the shelf (how many times has that happened? ?)

Thank you Joe, I do the same thing on kits with opening doors, especially the Revell '31 Sedan. The hinges on that kit are so tiny.....I don't have the patience. The type of hinge I am using is pretty standard now. It swings the door open in a natural way and the panels remain removable because you don't glue the wires to the tubing. This also allows the panel to slide back into adjustment. You can add resistance by pinching the tube where needed and when you add rare earth magnets in the jambs the doors can self-align themselves well as staying closed. It's a system! I used it years ago on the AMT '69 GTX convertible kit and it worked beautifully. As far as color goes, I want to stay with one of the very few colors that were available for this somewhat limited model. There were no two-tones for the 300B. It was black, white or red. Period. It's going to be a while before I'm ready to paint but I have a can of Tamiya white pearl I've been saving that just may find purpose.

After a few attempts, I got the hinge made. I don't do a lot of this so it was a tad frustrating. I had to go back and watch the videos on YouTube. Sometimes a refresher helps. I haven't decided to open the other door ?. Yet. I dunno. I got the chassis and the floor pan painted in basic black. I can now assemble it and paint some details . ? Still a lot of work ahead on the door jamb,etc. Back to youtube....

It really is, Joe, and the subject isn't one that appeals to everyone so it's not surprising that you're not familiar with it. Moebius has a pretty good catalog now and their quality seems quite good. I could pick at a few things I don't like about this kit but overall it's well designed and I will probably try one of the Hudson kits at some point.

I did a little more tonight. It's getting a little scary. I had to "tack" the interior parts together so I could figure out the hinge positioning and other door panel issues. A tiny dab of CA does the job.?

Thanks John. My old Desoto had the "Juke Box Drive". It was a Firedome with the 2 speed. I'll be painting the tyranny on this build with dark gray metallic that resembles cast iron. Do you know if those transmissions were painted at the factory? I've researched this Chrysler a bit but I guess I need to check on that situation.

Oh, and then there's this other Ithing with the front seat. Gotta figure out how to fix THAT. At least they left me with a nice flat foundation to build on. and just for kicks, look at this very cool chopper I found in the ether. It's got me ? thinking... Naaaaah. ☺️

After much deliberation, I decided to go ahead with this thing the way I originally intended. I fixed the front seat first and was happy with it so it seemed OK to maybe open one door?. I glued some 1/16" brass rod to reinforce the minimal rocker panel (why do they call it that? ). Then I attacked it with my #11. It was exhilarating ?. That's as far as I got today. I also scraped away the molded area on the nose and trunk medallions where the decals will go. I will also be opening the trunk unless someone tries to stop me, at which point I will knuckle under very quickly. Lots of chores are not getting done until the hinges work perfectly.

Ah ha......I wonder if I could get away with that ?. What is IPA 70?

I like where I think you're going with this. I'm curious about the paint. Is it acrylic craft paint? Not familiar with that stuff.

Congrats on another beauty! I love what you did with this old Ford. It's not just the work but the vision that brought this one home. I never thought a '62 could look this good.

I like to use those little strontium magnets to keep hoods in place and sometimes they can be hidden but not this time. The service they provide outweighs the ugly (for me, anyway.) The bottom of the fan shroud has been cut away to facilitate assembly on my terms. The instructions spell out the sequence of assembly but instructions never seem to acknowledge the painting situation. I know, they are just suggestions ?. Check back from time to time if you are so inclined and your comments are welcome as usual.

I haven't had an opportunity to paint the assemblies that are ready but have done a few things by hand. Everybody likes a mock-up so this is what I have so far. Pay attention to the front seat. This sort of thing makes no sense. They molded the rocker arms which, in most cases, will be covered but the back of the front seat looks like they thought no one would see it ?. I thought about opening the doors but between the seat and the lackluster interior of the 1:1, it doesn't seem worth it. The dash will get attention but the engine will not get spark plug wires, just paint detailing and the provided decals. The interior will get foil and Molotow detailing. The body has, at this point, been cleared of parting lines and the low relief scripts on the rear quarters have been shaved as well as the outside door locks. The decal sheet has the scripts and other interrior and exterior details. They do not, however, provide decals for the center of the full wheel covers.

But now it's the OOB build I want to document . The kit I used for the Desoto was bought fairly early in the life of the tooling. You may recall the '55 showed up first. When the '56 came along I ran out to the LHS and couldn't wait to dive into the conversion and I recall how impressed I was with the detail and the colorful instructions. Time passed and the kit I have today was purchased over a year ago. It seems to have suffered a little from years of production. The crispness is not there and I am discovering its really not the way I remember it. But it's still a great kit and I really wish Moebius would convert this Chrysler tool into the Desoto Adventurer pace car. Anyone with me on that? I posted the following photos for those who have not seen the contents of the box.

I built this kit a few years back but it was to immortalize a 1:1 from my mis-spent youth, a '56 Desoto Firedome Seville 2 door hardtop, as it was, rust and all back then- around 1975. I liked the kit a whole lot and wanted to build it box stock so I grabbed another kit and I'm finally getting around to starting it. Below is the Desoto. The Moebius Chrysler kit was used along with a really nice 4 door Fireflite sedan promo I had to butcher and the optional engine rocker covers from the AMT '53 F100 and a few scratch items.

I love what you're doing with this, Bil. The time period that the subject depicts stokes the imagination. Barn finds and survivors are not rat rods. Rat rods are caricatures of early hot rods, at best and most are just aberrations. I applaud your efforts to render this historic hot rod in 1:25. I'm following. BTW, the wheels on the 1:1 are pretty close to the ones that come in the Revell '37 pickup/ panel kits.