Dave Darby

Finally finished this one, after 41 days on the workbench. Paint is Testors One Coat White Lightning Pearl. Lucas "Flame Thrower" headlights from the AMT 55 Nomad kit. Custom Lenses from the 53 Studebaker kit. Scratchbuilt steering column and turn signal lever. Shifter made from a straight pin. Bucket seats from the AMT 53 Corvette. Vertex magneto from the 57 chevy kit, Plug wires have correct firing order. Scratch built fuel log and gas line. License plate made in Photoshop that says "Cristi" - my wife's name. And yes, she is quite pleased with her belated Christmas present. Off the bench and on the shelf! Since I'm in here, a few new bonus photos... Here is a link to the build process... http://www.modelcars...o=new_post&f=18

That's a nice chop. Looking good!

I'm a little late to the party here, but WOW, WOW, and WOW! Gorgeous build, John. I had a Pyro (?) 1/32 scale kit of that car when I was a kid. Your build makes me want to go out and score another one. Not that it would even come close to your level of detail.... Your's is a work of art.

Since I had the ability to redo this post to restore the photos, I decided to add a few things that didn't make it in the first time around, like some of the engine detailing... The kit exhaust manifolds (center) were pretty bad, so I replaced them with the chromed manifolds from the AMT 57 T Bird. Plug wiring and fuel line plumbing... This is the antenna from the AMT 25 Model T kit. OK, how anal retentive is this? Here are a couple more teaser photos before I take it apart, polish, and do final assembly.... The headlight lenses are from the AMT 53 Studebaker kit, dipped in Future to make 'em more clear. Now you can see those Lucas headlights better... And here is the rear. Taillight lenses are from the AMT 63 Galaxie, and similar to the headlight lenses, spent some time on the 4 way nail file to remove the extra height, then dipped in Future. The bumperettes are from the pre-1992 issues of the AMT 57 Ford. This photo shows off the pearl a little better. (Before I trimmed the taillight lenses down - Please, no red-rocket jokes...) All finished, and here is a link to the completed build:

That's the same idea I had. But, drop me your addy in a PM, Tom. Can't guarantee how fast it'll get to you, but you are welcome to it.

I like this better, how bout you? OK, I still have color sanding and rubbing out to do, plus finishing the engine, but here are a couple teaser mock-up shots for you... Paint is Testors White Lightning Pearl, with a Flame Red interior... What do you think?

Something else we decided on was bucket seats. (AMT 53 Corvette.) That came with another set of challenges, namely, the rear package tray. Note that it is molded to the back of the bench seat... My solution was to clamp the rear interior panel to the bench seat, then run a bead of glue along just the seam at the top... Then I flipped it over and scribed through the top part... Voila! A little work later resulted in this... Chassis is pretty straight forward... The wheels benefit from a little black wash... Something else that bugged me was the non-chrome steering column, with its clunky turn signal lever. So I grabbed part of the chrome sprue from the kit, and started drilling... Turn signal lever made from a piece of wire...

Since the connie kit was going away, stock bumpers are not an option. So rolled pans are the order of the day. AMT 57 Chevy in front... The rear was a little more challenging, owing to the extension for the spare, and the squarish contours of the lower body... My final solution was the front rolled pan from the AMT 59 El Camino, with the ends cut off, swapped end for end and flipped 90 degrees....

My lovely wife Cristi has been on me for a few years now to build her a model, a 56 Thunderbird, to be exact, so this year, I finally relented and started on this one. She wanted it Pearl White, so stock was not an option. And she was good with that! This of course, gave me the excuse I needed to get rid of that Continental kit that makes the 56 look so tail heavy. Anyway, let's look at some pics, and I'll show you the changes we've made along the way... Up on wheels mock-up. Whoa, that ride height! Not a fan of plastic axles, either. Luckilly, they made it easy to fix that little issue... A little work with the Dremel... Halfway there... The front was handled in a similar way. I cut off the plastic axle stubs, and drilled new holes to mount metal stub axles made from finishing nails. And here is a sneak preview of the rolling stock. AMT 62 T Bird wires in Revell/Monogram tires... The headlights were also a bone of contention. I hate lenses with pins, and flat mounting surfaces. So out came the drill.... Lucas headlights! From the AMT 55 Nomad. All the rage back in '62... To Be continued...

I like all of them, but the bottom three really grab me. Great stuff, Antonio!

Daddy Likes!

I'll second that. Happy Birthday, Jeff!

I like it a lot as well! What's the paint on that beauty?

Very cool 150, John. I really like your build! Another thing different between the V8s and the sixes (and I'm surprized it didn't give you some trouble, is that the radiator on 55-57 Chevys on the six cylinder cars is mounted in front of the core support, as opposed to behind on the V8s. This one isn't 100 percent stock, but it illustrates the stock mounting location and why it's necessary.

There are some sweet Galaxies here! I especially love that 427, Ron. Having built the box art cats (their way), I think when I ever get around to building mine, I will drill out the headlights so the lenses can fit flush. Great work, guys!

I've been a Model T nut since I was knee high to a grasshopper back in the early 60's. A great source of reference material is "Henry's Wonderful Model T" by Floyd Clymer. That said, the radiator for the hot rod version in the AMT 25 T kit is simply a sectioned and chromed setup. The main parts in that kit that would be useful for an earlier (pre-1923) are the chassis and running gear. The fenders, radiator, and hood in that kit could be fudged back to 1917, altho minus the fronts, the fenders could go back to 1915. 1916 was the end of the brass era Ts, so Ed's is really a 1915-16 style. 1917 brought in the steel painted radiator (like the one in the 1925 T kit minus the apron at the bottom. 1914 and earlier Model Ts had a flat, wooden cowl, where the 1915 and 16s had the cowl similar to the newer 1917-25 Ts. (See Ed's T and Andy's resin kits above). The Tognotti T is a rare and pricey kit, but many of the parts showed up later in MPC show rods. (check Dave's Show Rods for more). One more thing, the Tognotti has the 1908 -1914 style fenders, but it has a newer body with 1915 style cowl. Compare to these 1914s... See the flat wooden cowls? Notice also the rear fenders are not as curved.

The most recent builds of that kit I did were in 1994, when I built the two box art models for AMT. This is one of the boxes they came in... And the leftover goodies.... More box art... http://public.fotki.com/dwdarby/model_cars/my_box_art/?show=all

I wouldn't go as far far as to call it a terrible kit, but I can tell you what its criticisms are. Foremost is the windshield height. It's between one and two scale inches too short. The backlight has the same issue, along with being too squarish. The rear quarters are a few scale inches too short as well. Another issue is the A piller trim. Nearly all Ford Hardtops had the chrome trim that covered the entire post (see photo). For some reason, AMT/Ertl engraved it to have a body color break in the trim. The sad part of this that the original annual kit was quite a bit more accurate, and this kit is supposed to be "State of the Art" circa 1991. http://public.fotki....falcon_fairlan/

Just an educated hunch here, but my guess is that it will include whitewall decals similar to what 5 window coupe has.

I like it. Don't really see enough of those 53 Corvettes built. And yours is one of the nicer ones I've seen.

Just for fun.... http://public.fotki....odels/?show=all

I just tried the repopped chopped T body on the stock floor/fender unit, and it fit perfectly, just like the original did. The back of the trunk is flush with the rear deck, and it is the same length as stock, at least to my eyes.

I think they would be even better on this truck than in the Merc kit they came in, because the larger lug bolt pattern is more in scale with the truck than with the Merc. Great idea.

Pretty sure that the Maverick is the same tool as the Comet, so if Testors has the Comet tool, there is the Maverick. One tool, different inserts. Thats probably why there are no side emblems.

And tell me if this doesn't give you some ideas.... http://www.fastlaner....com/40ford.htm