customline

Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on two jobs well done. I hope you learned your lesson but if you ever are tempted to grab another of these '41 Plymouth kits because it's a cheap score, I will not be sympathetic. Seriously, though, they both look great, Len! Now you can marry the Ford nose to the Plymouth body. THAT would be something ?.

Chain yanking is always allowed on my threads, Greg. It's a nice break from all that model car nonsense. Today I received another '57 Chevy. Same as the "Pepper Shaker", an ebay prize for like $13. Open box, missing a few things. Brown ?. I bought a Pepper Shaker a while back in the same condition and the blown 409 was not there. I open today's prize and the chrome trees were still sealed ?. Then I pull out some trees and ....wait....I only see three engine block halves. Natually, half of my 409 is missing. No more five-sevens for me ( I knew a guy that talked like that.... "my 5-7 this", "my 5-7 that"...he had a nice '57 Bel Air hardtop and he was quite enamored with it. Probably why I'm not crazy about them.)..... I just decided to do it "High School Dropout Greeezuh from South Providence driven pigged-out rust-bucket ". And I'm going to borrow an idea from that '78 Nova beater thread that has me all inspired. Can't wait. ? On a lighter note... I managed to fashion a reasonable bumper/ grille thing today. As you may know, I cut the kit grille apart to shorten it and attach the upper trim where it belongs so that when the hood is open, it looks more like the 1:1. This necessitated modifying the fenders because now the bumper is a bit higher and well...anyway, I'm not quite done with the bondo work but here's what I've got so far. I had to use two kit grilles to do it. No big loss. And there you have it! It's a little off but (to me, at least) it looks better than the way Monogran did it. I'm keeping my options on the table, though, the bed trim thing looks like it won't work out because the trim is just too small and will be difficult to foil. I may have to abandon that and well.... I dunno. Thanks for listening to me talk to myself.

You can almost smell the "smoke" and gasoline. I miss it ?

Yeah, I know, I know....I just thought it was pertinent. It's my thread, Greg. ?.... no really, though, the point was the accuracy or lack thereof. I did wander off ( I do that occasionally) but this '55 really surprised me. I had been thinking about it, knowing it was malingering on my laundry room shelf (they're everywhere) and it bore the Monogram logo. It's clearly not a old Monogram kit (which was my memory of it) so in view of my current endeavors, I am greatly encouraged. I'll get back to "El Nomado" soon enough. I could get primer on it today, the weather should be perfect to get some paint done. The impulse to start this '55 is very powerful, though. It's a very good kit. The only thing that would make it better would be a separate frame.

Oh...and the spring shackles...a really nice touch. ☺️

You people are all crazy ?

Watch where you step, Bil, maybe Bulwinkle has been there too. ? ?

YES! THE PLASTIC AND DUCT TAPE ON THE QUARTER WINDOW HOLE! FREAKING BRILLIANT! ? I hope you don't mind if I use that ?

Yup, sorry. I need to stay out of this stuff.

Thanks, Greg, you just reminded me to check this one ? It says Monogram on the box but the instructions are clearly in a Revell format with the parts list. Look ? That Monogram logo had me fooled but this is a really nice full detail kit. Beyond that, who knows? Hey, maybe it's time has come. EDIT: I just went through this '55 kit and there is no flash, very little in the way of parting lines and the chrome is quite nice. The rear quarter side trim is cast separately and plated a la the Lindberg '53 Victoria. It has white wall inserts, decals for the scripts, wheel covers, engine, and dash guages as well as custom freehand pinstriping. This seems like a great kit to build OOB. Hopefully, there won't be any surprises. The mold is dated. I can't believe I didn't build this yet. ?

Wow, yeah. No escape out there ?

I've used the "hypodermic" double tube stuff and it's too difficult to handle for me and I promptly ?-canned it. I have found the Bob Smith "Quick Cure" stuff to be quite forgiving and I mix it on small paper plates. Never a problem (unless I forget what I'm doing and it hardens up before I make the assembly ☺️) Jes' tryin' ta hep ?

Back in the mid '70s, my sister drove up to RI from FL in a '70 Challenger she bought down there. The firewall was rusted out. THE FIREWALL! ? I guess she never opened the hood.

Yeah, I get it, Dave. 50/50 can be tricky. ?

Not done yet, Rob. Still need a grille. Gotta go talk to a caterpillar.

It does look pretty bad. If the frame could be separated from the glass without wrecking it, and the glue is CA, it can be scraped off with a sharp blade and the "glass" can be sanded out and micro-polished. If the glue was the thick melting type, your chances are much slimmer but unless you are using it as is, you have nothing to lose by trying, Mike. The glue is somewhat clear and if it's old and brittle it can be sanded down smooth and polished. I have repaired glue smears like this on clear parts because there was no other choice. Try it.

I love the '34 coupe (and the phaeton, and the tudor, and the roadster and the....well...all of them really) and this one is bad to the bone, Bil ! edit: did the bench squirrels chew the roof off that beige 5W?

I have not seen better weathering (even on a 1:1 !) - than this rust-bucket chevy ?,

Why not 5 minute epoxy for a glass install? It cures out absolutely clear....in 5 minutes ?

Well, the '56 Del Rey for sure, David, that's a pretty decent kit.

It wasn't AMT, I checked. The shape is a lot better, though. The Revell maybe? OK, ANYBODY, WHO MAKES THE MOST ACCURATE '57 CHEVY? see what I did there? I shouted to get everyone's attention ?.

So the next question is what did David dilute the PVA with?

Thanks, DJ, I am very happy to get this info.

Compare these two fronts. This stuff bothers me. After you look at it a while, it will bother you too. It's as if they didn't even try to get it right. Oh well, here I go again... Two things are being dealt with. The hood trim is now on the hood where it belongs and the grille height is more in line with reality. I removed about 1/8" from each end of the upper piece. Then I sanded off the plating (I was excited) and cut it into three pieces....and this is where I begin my journey down the rabbit hole. I glued the 3 pieces in their places. I can, at this point, leave it at that and proceed as if the bumper and trim will remain as stock, with foil applied to the upper trim (after paint, of course ?) and I may be able to obtain a can of chrome everybody is excited about or just do a Molotow touch-up on the bumper. I would need to get some PE mesh and I would retain the center bar and paint the badge correctly this time. Or....or mold it all to the body and paint it for a monochrome look. It is, after all, a custom. The grille would be something as yet not imagined. There's body work either way because I had to butcher the lower front corners of the fenders to get the bumper to fit up where it should be. Wish me luck. ?

Thanks, David, that sounds like a fool-proof technique. I just remembered, though, why I was saving that dash; a "kustom" Fleetline Chevy. It'll be pretty snazzy in that car. ? Stick around - you can follow me down the rabbit hole.