customline

Yeah, Bob, they engineered this thing right. Frankly, I was surprised ? and delighted ? when I reached that point. It's a pretty good kit. Very good, in fact. I'll grab 'em when I can get 'em cheap. I love the body style. Always have. I had a sister that was 5 years older and she was seeing a guy who's father ran a body shop. This kid drove a '53 or '54 hardtop that had been modified by cutting the roof off and providing a means of bolting it on. So if you wanted a convertible, you were committed. If it rained.....you had to get it home in a hurry. Your paint job looks great, I'm eager to see the finished car. ?

Just to belabor the point about the trim channels, I've sprayed so much primer on this thing, I'm sanding those channels and cleaning out the panel lines after every coat now.

I didn't like the look of the phony continental kit. If they'd provided an aftermarket full Connie kit with the extended splash pan and bumper brackets, I would have used it. The "stuck-on-the-back" look just looks bogus. Skirts are nice but the factory skirts are pretty minimal. I have a '54 in my garage (albeit in pieces) and all the skirts do is promote rust around the wheel openings. If it ever sees the road again it will be sans skirts. ? But, of course, we don't need to worry about that with styrene ?

I built one and sprayed it from a rattle can and it all fit good. Just go easy on the CA

As long as you kept the coats of paint to a reasonable thickness you should be good but if you have used many coats of primer like I have done on a custom job, you would need to sand those channels down to reduce the thickness of the paint. You probably already know this, Bob, but there may be others reading this who may not. I believe this is a popular kit and, well, I feel compelled to point it out. ?

Yeah, I kinda agree about the exhaust but the styling of that thing is breathtaking. It has an obvious roof swap and the overall look is just totally new. It's a brave move and the hot rod style exhaust married to a smooth kustom look is mind bending and I would really love to build a replica of it. The '39 Chevy isn't like my fave body style but this guy found a way to make it beautiful.

Naaahhhhhh, no good.? made a new axle from some more junk around here and this one is the one ?. OK, got the stance good, I'm happy with it and, ultimately, that's what counts ☺️. The axle is more in line with scale though it would be about 2.5 inches diameter in 1:1 for 1:24. A bit heavy but not beyond my ability to imagine welding it up with available material in the garage ....well, use your imagination ? Thanks for looking.

That's not dirty. Look below. This is dirty. ?

I'm glad I started this thread. The comments and photos are both helpful and inspirational. There is really great work being displayed here. I have thought that my hand painting is pretty fair but a sprayed finish looks much better if the masking is done well. I will take every bit of advice seriously and try the different methods expressed by all of you. Many thanks! If you wish, this is a good thread to further display interior work, I am enjoying it.

OK, new front axle closer to scale, from the AMT 37 chevy using the 39 springs. Need to cut a little clearence for the slicks inside the fender wells. More body work tomorrow to smooth out the rough stuff. thanks for looking.

Bob, I looked at the whitewall inserts in my kit and determined that the relief is too low, at least on the ones i have, to be of any use. i tried to bring out the lettering with craft paint and couldnt do ____ with it. i have built 2 of these and had not even noticed the lettering. how about sanding off the lettering and hit them with some flat white and call it a day? i cant say i have ever seen white walls with raised lettering.

pins, Mike, the long ones for making dresses and such. just cut the heads off. drill firewall and radiator shell, slide them in. theyre nice and shiney ?

what about a weak thin brownish wash just to make it visable? who had clean whitewalls all the time anyway?

Good! Keep 'em comming! I gotta make a list...

Thanks, Greg, but that black beauty isn't mine. ?. Mine is the oxide primed, bondo splattered, nose high cluster ______ above.

In '74 I drove a '56 DeSoto that I bought from a friend of a friend for $175.00. It ran well and rode like a dream. It had a little rust in the lower rear quarters but was solid otherwise. It was a great car....until I was rear-ended at a stop light by a stoner on our way to work. Anyone would have considered it a total. Cops had it towed but after work I retrieved it and drove it home, about 20 miles. The frame was buckled and it rode like it had no springs in back. I sent it to the boneyard and replaced it with a '55 Dodge Coronet 4 door. No cigar. I have immortalized the Gray Ghost in styrene. See below. It's a combination of the Moebius '56 Chrysler 300 and a 4 door promo I bought on ebay for $70.00.

Has anyone tried Ace Hardware Premium? I have had very good results with it and it has a really good nozzle/valve that gives a nice fine mist that's adjustable for a vertical or horizontal spray pattern. Decent variety of colors too. No "spray any way" nonsense so you can clear the nozzles. Not being able to clear the nozzle kills a lot of spray cans prematurely unless you clean them as stated by others here. Boosting the pressure with heat always helps as mentioned by others. Sometimes I use a hair dryer . I try to avoid anything that says "spray any way" on the label. Krylon "Cover Maxx" has the good valves also but check before you buy - not always true ?. Testors paint is good (the "Extreme Lacquer especially) but the cans suck. I have trouble pushing the valve down and sometimes they leak out the bottom very slowly ? Anyway, that's my 2 cents.?"

I tried this on tires with acrylic craft paint with decent results but have not tried scripts with Molotow chrome. Good thinking, Bob! Gonna try it?

Greg, thats a really nice color combination and I especially like the two toned wheels. Very clean build!

Consider yourself fortunate, Bob, my father was a very practical man. When he realized that the family car was in peril from me ('65 Impala convertible..... my mother's actually) he found a decent '61 Rambler American wagon (of all things) for $150. My first car! Try driving that to high school, Bob.? Now, I'd like to have it back - it would be a great gasser ? Studes were way ahead in styling through the '50s, but thought odd for that time. The Hawk was like nothing else on the road then. Should have kept it!

Yes, I like it! It's PG. I came up with one our vets would probably like - "Watch My Six"....and on the trunk lid "Thanks for Watching my Six !" As far as the roof goes, I would have liked it a bit less subtle. When I look at it from all angles, it's not as much of an improvement as I wanted. I wanted the profile to match the quarter window arc. Maybe it will look better in finish paint. After I started this thing I was perusing the net and found this (below) awesome thing. Roof problem solved ?g

Not exactly a silk purse, but that kit is definitely a sow's ear. ? it felt toy-like mostly due to that horrible red plastic. The front end was way too thin and fragile. I'll probably use it in a gasser. Someday. The engine is completely useless and the wheels...... ugh. I really only wanted that 3W shell but I expected more from Revell.

Slight update: created tube axle from evergreen, etc- brakes from ZZ Top '33 (?). Aluminum tube in modified wheel backs (Rev. '32 5W ?). Fabbed up ladder bars. Inserted aluminum tube I to rear axle. Modified unknown wheel backs. Mocked up to see stance. ? opinions? To high? I think so. Re-do. ?

As for the flattie in the '29 .....YES!

This is one of those aforementioned Revell 33s (I think the Beach Boys kit was a '32, but a 3W). It didn't matter how bad the kit was because it ended up like this: