John Goschke

This build is outstanding! Those who would dismiss a model like this as being too simplistic should realize the level of craftsmanship involved in getting this old kit to look this good, particularly when one starts with a later issue as Ron did here, with all the mold lines, sinkmarks, flash and poor fit. Note that he even took the time fill the gigantic slots in the firewall for the hood hinges – very cleanly, too! The two-sided concept, picking up the differences between the box and instruction illustrations is brilliant. There's more here than meets the eye – this build is as much about the origins, longevity and shared experience of our hobby and the place this old kit has in it as it is about this one model.

Well done on the rebuild, Bill!

Nice work! Super detailing – it's great to see this old kit get some love!

Neat little car! Beautifully engineered and realistic-looking model. I see you've got a seat for Ellie Mae, but what about Grannie?

Very clean build! Not sure how I missed the existence of this kit. Great, one more thing for the want list!

Nice work on those panel lines, Tulio! Especially the front fender separations!

Darn it, Steve, I just settled in with my popcorn...

Two more thumbs up for the color choice!

Great project! Thanks for sharing the step by step on the trunk correction.

Uh. Wow. Such beautiful work. Love seeing such meticulous craftsmanship being employed to depict in miniature a beautiful, meticulously crafted original.

Cool project. Did you do any surface filling before sanding or just a high-build primer? Also, I wonder if it might've been easier to cut that rear spoiler off and fab it up from sheet styrene since it's mostly flat panels?

Not as a general rule, but when the inspiration struck to build a "paint custom" '59 Plymouth and I had a tired old build from 1976 of the Jo-Han kit, out came the Easy-Off!

Great work, Bill! The last thing I'll say about the AMT body is that the character line above the rear wheel well that runs to the rear bumper tip should be horizontal, not slanted down toward the back.

I love your work on these cars! Modeling at its best!

Thanks, Rich! Thanks! I try hard to keep these things true to a pretty narrow period between late '58 and 1961 or '62. Using vintage references really helps 'cause a lot of cars out there today are a hash of styles from different eras. Thanks, Mike! Me too! Been in love with fins since the '57 Dodges were introduced! Thanks, Lowlife! I love customs that enhance, refine, or simplify a car's original design. Thanks, Ron! I like the '57 Ford, too. But having ridden in my parent's '58 Del Rio as a kid and later owning two different Fairlane 500s, the '58 has a special place in my heart! Thanks, Bill! I appreciate that, and you know that even though I'm building customs I obsess over the shapes of things and as former IPMS airplane builder have done a lot of rivet counting. So, stand by, the next round of mods to this body are all about rep-stock details, reshaping all the window moldings and notching in a cowl vent. Oh, and the best way to get rid of the "looking up at you" appearance of the '57 is to customize it with a set of headlight bezels from a '56 F-100 pickup! Thanks, Malibu! No on the resin casting unfortunately. I want to get this puppy done in my lifetime! Thanks, Bisc! I hear you on the bumper idea – might be worth a Photoshop sketch. My concern is that it might make the bumper look more massive. Yep, '60 T-bird lights would be a natural and I do have another '58 Ford to try it on! At the moment basic color plans are Bob Paint's Plum Ice pearl body with Snow White pearl roof. Probably some thin Pearl White scallops and panel outlines on the body. Thanks, Citizen! I've never quite understood why folks are so down on the '58 Ford either, especially when you consider some the more flamboyant designs from GM that year, or, even worse, Studebaker-Packard!

I like your plan! Good job narrowing the whitewall as wide whites were out of style by '62 and the narrow one were factory equipment on these cars. Nice you'll be able to make use of your buddy's cast-offs.

Well, Bill, to be honest I haven't gotten much farther than working out the concept in Photoshop, but basically it's the Jo-han '59 with the quarters and decklid from the AMT '58. As we've discussed the basic shapes of Jo-han's Forward Look Mopars are far superior to AMT's '58 Belvedere, so I wanted use as much of the Jo-han car as possible. A critical aspect of the conversion is rotating the '58 quarters up so that the character line above the rear wheel well is horizontal as on the real car. What remains to be seen is how well the vertical curvature of the Jo-han and AMT pieces match. Obviously the windshield header, front fenders and hood would need relatively minor modification to '57 standard. The plan calls for using Jo-han '57 Plymouth front and rear bumpers. My intention was to make a curbside model since it would be finished as an early version of Terry Holloway's mild custom as painted by Larry Watson. Whether it will ever make it past what you see here, I don't know, so if you or anyone else wants to pick up the ball and run with it, feel free!

Thanks, Chris! Check it out!... I added a piece of photoetch mesh to the hood scoop, thanks to Chris Brame, and resolved the headlights. The headlights use reflectors made from 5mm "googly eyes" purchased at a fabric and craft store. I cut the clear dome (cornea?) off the eye and glued it to a piece of styrene rod that fits into the mounting hole for the original headlight. A Molotow "Chrome" pen was used to provide a reflective surface on the inside of the dome. The lenses are from the new tool Edsel Pacer kit.

Recently got the custom taillights fitted to the new body, including scribing the lines for the trunklid opening through the lights, below them, and along the bottom edge, which AMT chose to ignore when they tooled the kit. I also cut out the license plate housing AMT forgot – this time trying to create a nicer shape for the opening than I did on the first body before backing it with sheet styrene from the inside. Also made a set of tailpipe extensions that tie into the molded-in pipes on the '59 Ford chassis, and drilled out the ends and cut them on a little angle.

Kudos to you, Bill, and to Doug for bringing this cool engine to life! Maybe I'll need to think about full detail for my Jo-han '59 Plymouth-to-'57-conversion project (Yikes!)

These kits seem really crude given the potential for detail in the larger scale. Plus, the rooflines on the hardtops are wildly inaccurate, which is really odd since AMT already had a fine rendition of the same roof on their circa-1962 Trophy series 1/25th '57 Chevy. But that's just me counting rivets again...

It's Photoshopped.

More brilliant work! The underside coating and subtle weathering are beautifully done. Glad to see you posting again!

Nice work! That top works really well – nice proportions. Beautiful paint!

Greg, what if the roof scoop were reduced in height? Maybe by half or more, particularly toward the leading edge, where you could thin it down and blend it in so that it starts further back from the windshield header.