John Goschke

Perhaps the original poster might want to change the title of this thread...

Just to add to the confusion the car pictured on the supposed AMT box art is a '50 Olds 88 club coupe, not a '49! It is an ERTL 1/25th (NOT 1/24th) diecast that is available in many different promotional and souvenir paint schemes, with and without a coin slot in the trunk. They turn up on ebay frequently. Another company did make a 1/24th or 1/25th diecast '49 that is not as accurate, with an opening hood and engine detail. Here's the one I stripped and repainted awhile back. It was in blue and yellow Federated Auto Parts markings, with white letter tires, chrome steelies, and roll bar as a fictitious stock car racer. Ordinarily I wouldn't waste time with a diecast, but the authentic profile of this model and the fact that it was 1/25th convinced me that it was a keeper!

It just gets better and better!

As the Lady said to the Sailor, "How do you like my headlights?"... Drilled out to accept lens from Hasegawa '66 Wildcat(!) backed up with some BMF. Detailed wheelcovers. Cowl drilled to receive new wipers. Some work with a fresh #11 blade yields a much thinner horn ring.

Very impressive build!

Just picked up one of the reissues on Friday. Nice to have this old kit back. The frame in mine was warped; anybody else find this problem with theirs?

Nice work! Love these cars!

Great concept and super sanitary workmanship! Love those crisp, slightly shaded panel lines.

Nice build! Actually that body style, the non-Starliner two-door hardtop, was called the "Club Victoria" by Ford. The "Town Sedan" would've been the four-door sedan, "Club Sedan" would've been the two-door sedan, "Town Victoria" was the four-door hardtop.

Thanks. Yeah, Rick, that bumper's from Modelhaus. It does have some orange-peel apparently, however everything looks a "bit ruff" when you use the macro lens. It's not nearly as objectionable in normal viewing conditions.

Also plugged those fender ornaments slots with trimmed, fitted and shaped pieces of styrene. Shaved off the wipers for later replacement with scratch pieces and scribed the cowl/fender panel lines. And shaved off the moldlines on the hood or visor over the headlights... Moving to rear, scribed in the panel line around the fender cap and added a little styrene to start tightening the gap between the body and bumper.

Been working on this T-bird for the "Battle of the 'Birds" on the TraK forum. AMT annual kit with Modelhaus repro '58 bumpers, '59 Dodge wheelcovers. Lowered, nosed, decked, ugly mufflers replaced with polished aluminum tailpipe extensions. Here's where I'm at now. Bunch of little body details. Mainly reshaping the windshield posts and vent window frames to more closely reflect the character of the 1/1. Worked to give more overhang at the front over the windshield and on the sides over the vent windows, and also drop the lower vent frame down so that it's flush with the top of the door. This required cutting out the vent frames, reshaping them by trimming here and adding there, then gluing them back in. It's not 100% accurate but worked well enough, giving a nice "shadow line" below the drip rail over the vent window and windshield post. Also added a strip of styrene around the side window opening to represent weather stripping. More pix here.... http://public.fotki....59-thunderbird/

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In fact our meeting is tonight!

Outstanding!

Wow, Wow, Wow! I can't believe how nice this model is looking from where you started. Your bodywork looks flawless and that finish would sure reveal any fault. Amazing! To say I'm not a fan of this custom would be an understatement, but your model is incredible; looks better than the real car!

There you go; some wants chocolate, some wants vanilla! I'll buy two Black Widows if it means you get your California Street 'Vette (Wow, those are some big black louvers all over that thing!) Then you buy two Street 'Vettes so I get my Sizzler Dragster! I hear you on the box art builds! Enough already on those; chop 'em, customize 'em, or super detail them! What I like about the original Blue Beetle kit are the nice wheels and tires and the Cadillac script valve covers. As many of those old kits were re-issued many of those great parts were modified beyond redemption; those are the things I miss.

It helps the understanding of the appeal if, like me, you're a geezer of a certain age. The Monogram 1/24 hot rod kits were great when we were kids 'cause with multi-colored plastic, clean moldings and simple engineering it was relatively easy to build a better looking model (particularly without painting) than one could get with a comparable AMT or (god forbid) Revell kit. Granted the B. Widow kit is relatively crude detail-wise (no transmission!) but with a little work it could be made into a nice detailed 24th scale hot rod and it's still the only '27 RPU in scale. ...and it looks like this reissue has some GREAT tires! I've said it before but it bears repeating; it doesn't have to be BLACK!

Stunning! Love the way it's kinda like the factory color combo on steroids!

Really nice work!

Right, Bill. Getting a little off-topic from the kit in question, but it's interesting to note that the increased standardization across the Ford line for '59 (and reduced model offerings in the Mercury line for '59-'60) was part of a program lead at FoMoCo by future defense secretary, and corporate bean-counter extraordinaire, Robert McNamara to increase engineering and tooling sharing across the divisions and eliminate duplication. Another result of this cost-cutting was the elimination of the Edsel and the '61 Mercuries once again being "glorified Fords," rather than unique products as in '57 thru'60. While the '60 Fords were radically restyled, if you look at the chassis in comparison with the '57-'59 Fairlane and Galaxie, you'll see considerable similarity.

True for '57-'58 Skyliner retractable convertibles. I'm pretty sure that the quarters of the '59 retractables are the same as all other '59 Fords. In the interests of cost-cutting '59 Fords across all model lines were on the same wheelbase, including the Skyliner retractable, and share much more sheet metal than comparable '57s and '58s. While the Galaxie hardtops and sedans have a unique T-bird-style roof, they share their other sheet metal with the other '59s. Both the Fairlane and Fairlane 500 models were retained after the introduction of the Galaxie. Fairlane 500s look very similar to Galaxies except for their roof with wrap-around rear window, and slightly downgraded interior trim with a unique pattern. Adding to the confusion, all Galaxies carry Fairlane 500 badging on their decklids, technically making them Fairlane 500 Galaxies! Revell's kit depicts a pre-Galaxie Fairlane 500 Skyliner. A later Galaxie Skyliner would be virtually identical except for "Galaxie" script on the quarters in place of "Fairlane 500."

Monogram's 1/24th scale kit is definitely the one to have. It depicts a four-seat "Phaeton" convertible. I believe AMT's relatively rare and very nice 1/12th kit is a different body style, the two-seat "Sportsman Cabriolet." As has been pointed out the Cord Lindberg offers is one in a trio of truly awful ex-Pyro kits that also include a '48 Lincoln Continental and an Auburn Speedster. There's a reason they have photos of the real cars on the box! Buyer beware.

This is a great old kit! It can be a challenging build; as I recall one needs to re-think the build sequence shown on the instructions to adapt to spraying the assembled body prior to final assembly. Surprisingly, it has a high level of interchangeability with the original AMT annual kit, PMC promo wagons and Rancheros, and their resin derivatives, and it's worth having several on hand as parts kits if you plan on building several '59 Fords!

Yep. That's a Palmer kit. As with most Palmer kits that T-bird will look great when you build it as long as you replace the parts with all the parts from an AMT '64 T-bird kit! Here's a built up Palmer kit of a '63 or '64 Buick Rivera (just in case you don't recognize what it's supposed to be.) This is what happens if you don't replace all the parts.