customline

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.

When I was a kid, Steve, I didn't know what was so darn thrilling up on Blueberry Hill but I picked my blueberries in the woods. I wondered where that stupid hill was because I wanted to be thrilled too!. ☺️

I see pink! If that's Bondo, how do you like it? Looks great, Steve.

What would be the scenario for changing a flat on the rear if this was a 1:1 ? The skirts would appear to seriously inhibit that operation. Hydraulics?

Does that '64 cutlass come with a full detail engine? If not, then the AMT '66 might supply that too and maybe more? What other changes to make the '64 correct-ish? It might be advantageous to keep it Olds.

Yes, HDMI, right? I probably have a spare one here, yeah and maybe some old computer junk that could be torn apart. Good idea, Claude!

Just a thought ?...I was remembering when I got back into this stuff I watched the Don Yost video and it advocated micro-polishing the plastic before painting. I had the Tasca Thunderbolt kit that was molded in a dark red. After removing the parting lines and sprue gate nubs I tried micro-polishing the body and it polished up beautifully ?. I painted it anyway but all that was really needed was the gold on the roof. Styrene will polish up as well as paint will, maybe better. The next time I get a kit molded in color.....maybe......?

Engine looks great, Jeff. Have you decided to build it as a coupe or a roadster?

Thanks, Greg and Bob. I'll see if I can find some.

I'm certain this has been discussed many times before but searching for anything seems a waste of what little time I may have left so...I have tried to use wire that can be obtained in bulk and the thinnest material I have been able to find was sold by Radio Shack, which as you may know, disappeared some time ago. It was the only wire that would fit through the Detail Master looms but I have only two colors; a light blue and a light red and neither of them look legit. I absolutely refuse to pay the price for the stuff sold by the hobby vendors. So, if you don't do that...what do you use that will work with the PE looms and where do you get it? I have bought wire off Fleabay and gotten stuff from the People's Republic but I've run out of the good colors and I don't want to go there again for obvious reasons. AWG 30 with Tynar insulation (pictured)is about the best I've been able to find so far but I'm not really happy with it. I prefer to buy bulk because it's waaaaaaaay cheaper. Is this asking too much? ?