customline

It appears there was enough paint on the body to support the rub-out. No serious burn-through anywhere. The hood will get repainted - too much white around the edges. The should call this color something else. It's not "lavender." Foil is next 🙂

I totally agree with Carl and John. Brilliant work on the upholstery, especially the seat inserts. Going with white will help with viewing all that nice work...I wish AMT had made a convertible version of this car.

I brushed painted the new sheet metal with some Revell acrylic water base flat black. That's it! Just need to join the body to the chassis and do some touch-up. Thanks for hangin'!

Yay! Looks like I won't be using Greg's handle and crank technology this time (unless I lose one). this makes masking a lot easier. And now....the inspiration. I like this body style in this color combo. The roof, I believe, is "Snowshoe White". I have some left-over "Corinthian White" that will be close enough. I'm waiting on MCW now for the "Glacier Blue".

Yes indeed, Greg, the hardware is in high relief and I expect I can remove them and, hopefully, re-use them. Plan B is making Greg handles 😉

This is a squirrel, Len.

Yup. I'm gonna break out some fresh chisel blades and get that stuff out of the way so I can mask it.

Speaking of side panels.... Above is the color arrangement I'll be using but substituting Glacier Blue where this one is red. Nothing but hours of fun here. Removing the hardware very carefully is the plan. If I can "reinstall" them, great. If not, I'll use "NOBLNG handles" (😉) to replace them. Not exactly OOB but I'm trying.

I think you're right, Bob. I'll just paint it like the example and not sweat the stitch pattern. The real work is the side panels anyway.

Thanks, Bruce, but that looks like a partial reupholstery job. It could be an option, I suppose. I thought that; but the difference is the piping around the front of the seat. It's all good. It's an OOB so I will assume the kit pattern is legit but ....🥴

Thanks for your tip, John, I'm thinking about it.

There's one little issue with this chassis swap that I neglected to address....till now. No inner sheet metal. Dang. 😔 Evergreen to the rescue. The idea is to mask the truth, not win a trophy. Made a template of the panel (that you'll see behind the tire) with card stock. I needed to add some .010 to the fender flange in order to have something to attach it to. The panels are .020. Lots of CA and kicker. I added a heavy member (circled) to the body and the new sheet metal that I shall use to anchor the rear. It also serves to close it all up. Next step is paint it all black. Thanks for still following.

Now I need to deal with the interior which will be a bit of a challenge. The color separations on the side panels are difficult to mask due to the handle, crank, and armrest locations. Seats are easier but they lack any molded detail except for the stitching on the outer areas. The seat "inserts" are rendered just plain. Below is an example of a stock interior. Here's the Lindberg version 👇 It's like they just forgot that part of it. The rest of the stitching is reproduced faithfully. Any ideas? I suppose I could carve the seams in. Naaah.

As I was puttering around today I thought I would check the exhaust pipe connection and sure enough, they don't meet. Something I did? Nope. I followed the instructions 😉 I corrected this indignity with a super-ingenious solution. Good thing I pre-drilled the exhaust pipe inlet. Some .020 brass inserted helps to line things up. A tiny bit of surgery to the frame at the firewall contact points was performed to get the body to settle down. I believe there is a very slight twist in the frame or the body because the right side of the fender to splash apron contact points won't quite meet. I have mocked this up many times and I'm sure I can resolve the issue at final assembly. Maybe. 🤨 It was this or just live with it. 😕 The rear shocks were painted with a brush and installed by well.....uh....forcing? them in 🙂. The tail pipe, naturally, interfered with the shock install so it had to be removed and bent into a more friendly configuration. As much as I try, I can't spot some of these things ahead of time. No biggie though. Below is the engine front mount (arrow) and the contact point on the frame (circled). Two contact points. One under the crank pin and one under the transmission tail shaft. When your engine has a single mount in the front, you need two at the rear, do you not? Later 🥴.

Yeah, Bill, that's what's going on here. My shelf space, though, is running out. Wifey has most of it spoken for. I have moles wrecking my yard so a few squirrels shouldn't be a big deal. But you're right about relieving the stress of over-detailing everything. Sometimes I just want to build a model. 🥴

Almost forgot. Here's the Vic up on all fours. 👇🤓

I thought it might be good idea to check glass fit. I must say I'm impressed with the fit of both the windshield and the backlight. There's not much gluing surface on the "glass" but what a fantastic fit! I may not need to glue the windshield; it just sorta snaps in place (although I don't believe it was intended to be glueless.) Maybe a few tiny drops of 5 minute epoxy will hold it in place. The backlight is almost that good too. In the photos, they are holding themselves in place. I filled the holes (circled) that are provided to mount the spotlights on both sides. I can't figure why they included them. I just don't see a need. There's a lot to like here. The fit is as good as it gets. I'm thinking I might need the glass installed before foiling due to the very limited gluing surface. The glass sorta locks into place perfectly. Kudos for that, Mr Lindberg! You can see what they provided for the glass to "lock" into (circled). The skirt has a thick attachment flange that can be thinned out easily and it can be done before gluing in place. I used the sanding drum on my Dremel to remove material with the skirts in place. Below we have the "bumperette" recess. I am opting out of that. I know, it won't be OOB but I don't like them. The recesses will be filled and forgotten. You know, like the spotlights. Oh....I ordered from MCW a bottle of "Glacier Blue," the chosen body color and the roof will be "Corinthian White" (left over from another project.) That's all for now, TTYL.

One thing I found while "mocking up" is that my engine would not settle onto its front mount due to the crossover pipe landing on the splash pan first. I put it together just the way it shows in the instructions.....I think. In order to get the front mount to settle on its contact point I had to modify the crossover pipe. I didn't recall having this issue with previous builds so I looked at both. The ragtop has duals and the hardtop has the crossover, which appeared to have been modified also. I just don't remember it. You can't see it very well once it's in place anyway. I shortened it up to get the engine down on the mount where it belongs. I wanted to see if I could finish the chassis and still be able to get the body on with wheels in place. The clearance for tires is almost non-existent but it is possible to assemble it that way but it's tight. I found that the chassis can be slid into the body from the front and manipulated very carefully into its location. Once the backlight is in place, it gets a bit more difficult but I have my ways 🙂. Below is the left front wheel almost up against the splash pan. Very tight. The rears will get some relief after I do some Dremel work on the inside surfaces of the skirts in order to aid final assembly when the time comes. The rear inside wheel wells are what cause the difficulties with assembly. Trimming them may be a way to make it easier but I'll keep that as an option for now. They can be trimmed enough to get some slack and not show much. Thanks for checking in and feel free to comment.

Thanks, David. "Interesting" is one way to describe this awful color 😅. You may be right about clear coating it. I'll give it a week and then try the rub-out on the body. The hood should probably get painted again. We shall see.

Sounds like we have similar issues with our behinds, Rick. It's a common problem among us "seasoned folks" 😉

Hey, Jay, you probably totally forgot about this but you had the last word back in March so it's only fitting I answer your last question first. LAVENDER 🥴 Also you are welcome to post pix of your shoebox; I would like to see it and I'm sure they would too. I painted it yesterday afternoon. The temp was high 80s, RH was around 50%. The paint is Tamiya lacquer, color "Lavender". I thought it was appropriate for an early '50s sled. Not so sure now. This morning I polished out the hood but I'm not liking it. I'm going to wait on the body before attempting to polish it out. I think it may be still too soft. It feels like it's ready but maybe not. Anyway, here's the mock-ups 👇🥴

Oh.....that won't happen but it's worth trying 🤪

I started it, I think, on Tuesday. The body is pretty clean with faint parting lines in the usual places. I shouldn't have started it. I still have about eight builds in various states of neglect so I feel guilty about this but it just sorta happened. I ordered the paint from MCW last night and I hope to get primer on the body tomorrow.

I don't know how I ended up with so many. I like the body style, Alan. Couldn't help myself, I guess. I wanted to see if I could actually build it by the instructions. It's clear to me already that the instructions are at fault, not the kit. The kit is solid. The instructions writer needs a different line of work.

In keeping with my simplified assembly ideas, I thought it best to assemble the inner fenders to the radiator support and radiator since they all get a coat of semi-gloss black. The firewall will be body color but the inner panels are black (from what I've been able to determine.) Hopefully, the assembly will mate up with the firewall without a problem. It's about the paint. Here's the exhaust in place. 👇 And now the wheels. The white wall inserts have been sprayed with Tamiya white primer and, because of the way things fit, need to be glued to the outer wheels. My thought was to add my CA to the inside of the insert where it contacts the chrome outer wheel. I sanded the chrome plating off the wheel to ensure a good bond. The inserts fit the tire well enough to stay put. It should work. 🙂 The arrows show where I put CA and I kicked it before it leaked through. It didn't. 🤓 The decal sheet, which is probably over 20 years old, includes the Ford emblems for the "wheel covers" but my attempt to use them failed so I grabbed my 20/0 velvet touch detail brush and wasted no moe time with the stupid decals. Tires are sanded and ready for action. Thanks for your interest.