restoman

Well... my plan is to finish all of them, so...I'll go with 100%. I guess...

Man, I really like that! You've put a lot of detail into it, and the pics are pretty darn good! Awesome!

There is very little room for exhaust and the '49 Merc manifolds didn't fit with a hot rod look. Soooo, my first attempt at making headers. Getting them all pointed the same way is harder than I thought!

Wheels... I think the rims are from either a '40 Ford or a '56 Ford. ? Kit tires and backing plates. Took quite a bit of filing to get them tucked nicely into the tires.

Scratch-built a box. It sits a little higher than stock and the side support braces are thicker than stock but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Scribed some plank floor lines inside. Started making up a tailgate... more on this to follow.

I used the kit seat and narrowed it a bit, made a base for under it, trimmed off some of the tuck-and-roll look from the sides and added some filler material to the upper rear seat back. It sits higher than in the kit and that's what I was after. Scribed some door lines in the inner body and decided to try to replicate some upholstery - just real basic stuff that an early hot rod might have. There's not much room in there so I thought I'd try some masking tape for the upholstery. i figure once it's primed, sanded and painted, it might fool some people. I widened the dash board and fit it under the cowl so there are no gaps around it. Stripped the chrome off the steering wheel, put it on a shaft and put it in where I figure a real-life one would fit. In the kit the wheel almost sat on top of the seat and I didn't like that, but I also didn't want it standing straight up like some hot rods. Now, it's far enough away from the seat, sits at a believable angle and still has knuckle room between it and the dash board. I added some angled toe boards, largely because I didn't have any room for pedals. Still not much room but there is enough for three pedals, barely. Comments most welcome!

There are no door on the kit body, so that had to be fixed. I sliced some styrene strips and carefully glued them around what would be the door openings, then scribed some panel gaps in next to them. The best I could come up with for a transmission tunnel is a plastic cap off of a spray bottle of my wife's tanning oil... good thing it's winter and she won't notice for a while. I'll blame the Dane later. Carved the master cylinder-looking things off of the firewall.

The body... I channeled it down over the rails a bit, filled the way-too-big cutout in the firewall and then made it fit the transmission a little better, filled the rear panel opening and fabbed up a flat floor board that runs the length of the body. The kit floor stopped at the edge of the seat...

I picked up this kit for almost nothing and once I looked at it, i'm glad I didn't spend much! This will be a mid-fifties hot rod, perhaps built by some talented amateur builder somewhere. The only kit parts to be used are the main body, the front suspension and steering, all the radius arms, the steering wheel, shifter, dash board and the seat and windshield frame - both of which will be modified. Tires and inner rims are from the kit as well. The rest will be from the parts bags or scratch-built. There will be very little chrome and a full length pick-up box out back. Rims will be '40 Ford style, red with trim rings and hub caps. I used .125 x .250 rectangular tubing for the frame. Possibly a little big, but ... maybe something a home-builder kind of guy might have used. The original rails just wouldn't work for what I had in mind. The engine and trans is from a '49 Mercury. The rear end of from a '37 Ford Panel Delivery. So far, I think I've got the stance I'm looking for

Like. Definitely like.

Right on! The Fuzz duster is close to next up on my bench. I plan to make it into a bit of a street warrior.

Growing up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, my Dad used to pick up a few models for me from the CO-OP grocery store. They only carried car models and had a very limited selection. He told me years later that as he was an avid airplane model builder when he was a kid, and that he sat on the Board of Directors for the store, he made sure they brought in models when I developed an interest in them. I think I got my first kit when I was 6 or 7, a white with blue stripes Trans Am, sometime around 1970-1972ish.

When I saw this thread I thought "Meh. Just a Nova." Clicked on it anyway... WOW! Super nice job! All thumbs up!

Very nice! Your Galaxie looks much better than the '59 Retractable I picked up a few weeks ago...

Yeah, I think if this was a round lamp car, it would be done all ready!

Had some time today to spend on this: I'm pretty happy with how it's fitting together. Some styrene needs to be added to the cowl area at the windshield base - the windshield barely fits. The rad support panel needs some plastic too. Those tiny looking Rally wheels aren't staying but they're good enough to ensure the wheels are centered in the wheel wells. Comments welcome.

Any details on this? I'd be interested in several...

That is sooooo nice. Great job! Love the paint!

I think I used Model Master Chrome Silver paint. The body is painted with automotive base/clear urethane, so I just washed the trim off with lacquer thinner. Zero damage to the clear coat...

No, though it looks like it. It's stepped so it only goes on one way. I got the kit at a discount store, packaged in a bag with more than a few missing parts. The hood trim may have come from the parts box... I think I paid something like $.50 for the kit.

Built this one quite a while ago but never really finished it. Washed of the silver paint I used on the trim and re-did it with foil, added the side glass, detailed the hubcaps a bit and finished off the engine.

I really like this. Coincidentally, I'm building a T bucket pick-up along the same theme: hot rod when hot rods were still built, not bought. I'll be watching this.

Very nice! I want to check out an IWATA this year. My two-stage Badger is a bit temperamental. I used IWATA paint guns for years and really like them: lightest, best balanced and finest atomization of any gun I've ever used!

I like that. A lot! Nice job!

I think that's pretty cool!