John Goschke

Looks better and better, Marcos! Sure Pontiac interiors from the '60s are a pain to mask, but when the results look like this it's all worth it! Careful research and careful workmanship win again! Incidentally the '62 Pontiac annuals from AMT were Bonneville only. Though I believe the $2.00 "Advanced" Hardtop Customizing Kit had some Grand Prix parts as a custom option. Grand Prix would've required a different tool as it was on the shorter Catalina wheelbase. Something AMT only offered in '64 and '65.

Wow! Amazing stuff! Never watched the show as a kid, could never get past the marionette weirdness of the whole thing, but these sets and props are really cool. I like how everything's just detailed enough to work in the film, but in the stills looks a little rough.

Outstanding conversion work, Ron!

Poncho perfect interior there, Marcos! It should be noted that AMT's kit depicts a Catalina with the optional "Ventura" interior, which was probably pretty rare on Super Duty cars (and Catalinas in general in '62). In 1960 and '61 the Ventura was a separate model meant to fill the supposed price gap between the Bonneville and Catalina, with upgraded exterior trim in addition to a fancier interior. It was downgraded to being an interior option on the Catalina for '62 thru '65 and, to add to the confusion, became a separate model again in '66. Not sure, but I think it was dropped after that.

Nice build! There's a lot of potential in these old kits. Wish more of the old Merit kits were available in reissue form.

Thought I'd share these recent pics of an old unfinished project... In the early '80s I was sort of on a role for a while with replica stock projects. Then it came to a stop with this one and a subsequent unrelated change in lifestyle when I went to art school. Anyway, all these years later here's where it sits, with a few cracks in the lacquer and tarnished BMF. Johan/X-el promo reissue of the '58 Olds 98 with interior. I made a several modifications to the shape of the corners of the windshield posts and the vent windows and added a missing molding and weatherstripping to the side window openings. At the time I was fascinated by Continental kits and skirts, so I scratched a set of Foxcraft skirts and a Stylecraft connie kit. The spare cover was pirated out of a mint '61 Olds kit. The interior really sucked. It was too shallow and the dash was basically a poor copy of the '57 dash. So, keeping the steering wheel rim, I started carving everything else based on info from a '58 Olds color and upholstery book. Obviously that's where it got stalled out. The body was painted "Heather" with a "Mountain Haze" top, using Duplicolor touchup paint, decanted and mixed, then sprayed with a Preval spray bottle. What unfinished projects do you have that you regret not finishing? Let's see them!

Great car, great model!

Outstanding workmanship and photos!

After struggling with the foil popping off the lock while I was trimming it, I started pre-cutting out the tiny circle on the sheet of BMF then picking it up on the tip of a #11 blade to apply to the model, but of course it would pop off during burnishing. Fed up, I decided to use Testors Chrome Silver to detail paint the lock. Then I remembered that Testor Chrome Silver takes like 30 years to dry completely, and so would be the perfect adhesive for the little circle of BMF once the paint tacked up a little. Now I use that technique on all the little detail bits, including horn rings, that need BMF; detail paint Chrome Silver, once it's "dryish" to the touch, apply bmf. It also helps keep the little bit in place over time if you brush a little Future clear acrylic over the BMF. Not the best photo, but the lock buttons, deck hardware, and washer nozzles on this 'Vette were done that way... Same with this Desoto, along with all the emblems, scripts, and lettering... The horn ring on this '32 roadster was done that way...

Outstanding work as always, Marcos! The subtle weathering and detail painting on the engine and chassis are perfect. Just one suggestion, if you don't mind. One thing that helps this kit have a more accurate look is a little refinement of the rear wheel opening. Out of the box it's too flat and squared off on the top. In this photo you can see that its actually got a subtle curve to it...

Really looking forward to these two kits! They're both great cars. It'll also be good to have a Twin-H Hudson engine to rob for other projects along with an early Hemi. For my money, I don't care so much about the rest of the "greasy bits, four screws and two wire axles are fine with me as long as the bodies and interiors are right!

Steve, I stripped the old plating off with Easy-Off Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner (the yellow can) then cleaned up the flash and mold lines (a relatively easy task on these parts) and made sure everything fit the way I wanted. Then I polished out any file or sanding marks to give the parts a nice shine in bare plastic – the shinier the plastic the smoother the chrome. Careful prep is everything to ensure the best result. Using high-temp silicone I mounted the Fury parts along with a bunch of other bumpers on a 6 x 8 rack made out of coat hangar wire. Hope that helps.

Here's a sample of Dale Horner's work on my '59 Fury... Before... After...

Ditto what Bill "Mr. Obsessive" Geary said about this kit. One of the biggest disappointments by AMT ever. I bought one when it first came out, opened the box, looked at the body and put the kit away, feeling that it was not worth building. All the ones I've seen built have only confirmed that feeling, and many times I've thought "nice build, horrible kit." Opened it once since then to rob a rear view mirror for a Johan '56 Desoto. The mirrors are nice. It clearly demonstrates what we've lost with the demise of Johan and the destruction of their molds. Their renditions of these car were much more accurate, but sadly they were promos molded in warp prone acetate. You can get a hint of how nice they were by looking at the body from their '59 Plymouth kit (shown below in mockup form during a resto). While it does have a couple minor issues (too much crown to the windshield and a slightly small and too curved rear wheel well) they're fixable or not really objectionable, and this kit really captures the character of the real car. I believe Modelhaus offers '57 and '58 Plymouth bodies based on relatively unwarped Johan originals. Perhaps using one of them, and the chassis and interior from the AMT kit, one could build a reasonably accurate model. It would take a ton of work to correct the issues with the AMT body. In this photo of a real '58 you can see that the top and bottom molding outlining the side spear are very nearly straight, not like the curved pieces on the AMT body. On the real car the fins start subtly rising at the rear edge of the door to the final kick up behind the window, a feature not shown on the AMT body, which actually seems to have a hump in the beltline at the rear edge of the door. There are also extreme issues with the shape of the roof on the AMT kit, but I don't want to bore you any further.

Here are links to a couple '62 Catalina's on the web. One with green interior, the other with red. Blue interior should be similar, with the medium, light and dark shades in the same places. Green 4DHT.... http://www.hoobly.com/0/0/957935.html Black 421SD with red interior... http://musclecars.howstuffworks.com/classic-muscle-cars/1962-pontiac-catalina-super-duty.htm Hope that helps.

While I agree that Revell seems to have gotten the bulge atop the quarter more correct than AMT, in every other respect AMT's rendition much more accurately captures the character of the original. The issues with Revell's '65 seem so basic that the only way they'll be corrected on the '66 is if they start with a "clean sheet of paper."

Not mint unbuilt, but rare anyway, AMT 3-in-1 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Sunliner and Club Victoria. The ragtop is an old build in "as found" condition. The hardtop is a nice builtup that has had decals and custom louvers removed, along with the lightly tacked on (for once!) fender skirts, and new chrome on the bumpers by Dale Horner...

Thanks, Martin. The majority of the Monogram '56 Caddies were molded in styrene, unlike the much more common '55s, molded in shrinkage and warp-prone acetate. I have seen photos of a couple '56s molded in red acetate and they suffered from the same distortion as the '55s. These are really great old kits; it's a shame that every '55 is such an unbuildable disaster and the styrene '56s are so rare. The '56s do occasionally turn up on ebay, usually in builtup condition, and don't seem to bring crazy money, probably because of the less desirable 1/20th scale.

Some great stuff in this thread! Going forward this could become a good reference source. From my collection, here's one you don't see everyday. Monogram 1/20th '56 Cadillac...

...and the "Dodge" is a '61 Plymouth.

Outstanding in every respect! The best build of the '59 Caddy I've ever seen!

What an amazing build! The four-door conversion looks like it came from the factory. Love all the detail and added accessories that tell a story.

Nice clean build and beautiful paint!

Beautiful build of a unique car!

I purchased this refugee from the early '60s on ebay a bit over a year ago, having been attracted by those period canted quad headlights. The original builder, Sam, was an old friend of the seller, Larry Krauss, from when they built models together as kids. Larry did a trade way back then to get this car, and was selling it along with several other old models and parts lots. Sadly Larry and Sam have lost touch over the years. Sam started with an AMT '32 Ford roadster kit, cut off the rear of the body, then trimmed off a wedge-shaped portion of the lower body to channel it over the fender assembly. A piece of balsa is mlded in to form the rear of the cab. The bed is from the AMT '25 "T" kit. Sam did a great job fabbing filler panel between the inside of the rear fenders and the bed. The rear splash pan is also formed by molding in a chunk of balsa and a new floor was formed from balsa sheet. The rear suspension appears to be a combination of brakes, spring and radius rods from the '40 Ford sedan kit with a quick change diff and axle housing from either the "T" or the Double Dragster kit. The '40 also provided the injected Olds engine. The grill shell was radically sectioned and nestles nicely between the molded-in headlights, which along with the rear lights, are my favorite part of the build. The wheels and tires are from the Ala Kart. The dash is from the '25 "T" while the steering wheel is from a '60 Pontiac kit. In typical '60s style, the interior and bed are lined with the now rather dingy ivory corduroy, with black carpet thread piping that also cover the spare tire cover, gastank and running boards. The balsa seats are similarly upholstered, but with black cord inserts. The grill shell was originally painted silver like the tailgate. I decided to paint it Tamiya Racing White to match the rest of the car, and in the process discover that are at least three other layers of paint on the car, including maroon pearl, light metallic blue, and gold. While the old off-white lacquer is scratched, cracked, chipped, and lifting in some spots, in the interests of originality I just gave it a clean and polish. While taking the model apart for cleaning and rebuilding over the weekend, I decided to make some changes that could benefit the look and work to bring out what was really cool about this vintage model. Sam used the dropped axle and wishbone from the '40, which pushed the wheels too far back, so I used an original '32 axle and removed about half the leaves off the top of the spring, "C" notched the frame, cut down the front crossmember and shaved down the top of the rails to get the front low enough and the wheels where they should be under the top of the fender arch. I also split the wishbone and added a steering arm from an AMT '28 "A" along with a styrene rod tie rod. Sam had cut open the doors and butt-glued them to the body in the open position. I opted to glue the passenger side shut to show off the model's great profile and make a fixed wire "hinge" to hold the driver's side open. I also added some nerf bars from the old Ala Kart to complement the headlights and a cut-down custom grill from the '34 Ford pickup in place of the '32 grill. One issue I have yet to correct is lack of any exhaust system; there's almost no room for a header bewteen the heads and the inside of the fenders! Rebuilding this model was a rewarding weekend project and gives me a classic addition to my shelf that looks like it came right out of the pages of the original "Car Model' magazine! While it's a little rough here and there, the exaggerated profile, proportions and stance remind me of some Roth cars, and maybe the Lil Coffin, along with cars illustrated by Weesner. Definitely a model that's more than the sum of its parts!