Steamboat

Amazing work. That's a thing of beauty!

Cool project. Did Chevy make a '58 Nomad or is this a phantom build? Either way it's a cool idea.

Wow! Excellent attention to detail and work on the foil.

I got the interior finished up and ready to go in. I used the rear seat from a second kit to make the front bench seat. The 1:1 car had a rubber floor covering - no carpeting - so I just painted the floor flat black. I drew up and 3d printed the headrests and speaker grilles. The dash has the generic gauge cluster, JC Whitney 3-gauge panel, and 8-track player just as the 1:1 car did. I removed the SS emblems from the steering wheel and it works pretty well for a base model wheel.

Wow! That's gorgeous!

Got back to this one after 3 years. We had a spell of low humidity here in FL and I got a chance to get some painting done. The color is supposed to be Ontario Orange. I mixed Testor's orange and yellow enamels to make my own representation, followed y 2 coats of Model Master clear enamel. It's about ready for the vinyl top paint and then some polishing.

I built the Torino when it first came out about 20 years ago.. The nose was bent up from the wheel arches forward. I was able to bend it back after dipping it in hot water. Not sure if Polar Lights ever corrected that.

I print a lot of small parts myself using SLA resin. As long as they are washed properly in alcohol, almost any paint will work. I did find that when using Molotow Chrome, I liked the results when applying it directly to the part vs. applying it over primer. Many of my parts have visible layer lines. If necessary, I use several layers of primer, sanded in between, to get a smooth finish.

In my limited experience, Chevy big block engines seem to be more common in model kits. Also, many model kits have more room in the engine bay than their 1:1 counterparts. Maybe someone on here would trade parts with you if you start a post in the Wanted section.

Thanks everyone, for all the kind comments. This one really pushed me to improve my skills and remember some that I had forgotten. On to the next one! BTW, I'm working on a putting together a "kit" that will include the resin body and 3d printed parts. It should be available by the Fall. PM me if interested.

Way cool. One of my favorite kits from my younger years, and a very challenging one to build nicely. You knocked it out of the park!

I'm calling this one done. This is the fenderless version of the '49 Plymouth that the Ramchargers first raced in the 1959 season. There is a build thread in the WIP section. There were many innovations on this car that are still being used today, such as ram induction and tuned headers. The wheel base was altered and the car was raised sky high. The crankshaft of the engine was 36" above the pavement to assist weight transfer, later outlawed by the NHRA and beginning a long contest of wills between the NHRA and the Ramchargers. My model started 15 years ago with a resin clone of a die cast. The resin copy was then chopped and many of the body proportions were corrected. I then recast the chopped model. It got stalled because there are no parts available. The advent of 3d printing and a club "Shelf of Doom" build brought it back to life. The chassis and some of the interior is from the AMT '41 Plymouth. The rear axle is Monogram '57 Corvette. The Hemi came from the AMT '57 Chrysler 300 (prepainted version), with valve covers cloned from the Revell Hemi Hydro. Many of the other parts were scratch built or 3d printed. Anyways, here is the finished project. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

99% done! Just those pesky headers and the rear bumper to go... Here's a shot of the front suspension. The upper control arms are not moveable on the AMT '41 Plymouth, so to raise the ride height, I scratch built some spindle / lower ball joint assemblies to lower the spindle (raising the front of the car). I then hacked off the ends of the lower control arms and made them fit. Crude, but effective. The steering box is from my parts box. I used the '41 Plymouth steering links, although it makes no sense how it would work in real life. Dual pitman arms with no idlers? There is a lot of room for improvement in the front suspension for someone who really wants the detail! The rear suspension starts with the axle from the Monogram '57 Corvette, with hardware store coil springs and 4-links that I cloned in resin from an unknown original. I scratch built the panhard bar and mount. Shocks and driveshaft are parts box items. At the bottom of the photo you can see the tail lights. I 3d printed those. They are not really correct because they should not have the wedge shape where the mount to the body, but this was necessitated by the curve of the model body in that area which is actually pretty flat on the 1:1 car. A few more pieces to add and I'm calling it done. This will finish the WIP thread. I'll post some photos in the Under Glass section when I get a chance. Thanks everyone for your photos, knowledge and support!

I always test new paint combos on a plastic spoon beforehand. It increases my success rate on the model to 51.34675%!

Amazing work! Your CAD work and 3d printing blows me away!

Getting close to final assembly.. The body is painted with a gorgeous titillating mix of the 3 craft colors in the background (from my wife's art stock). It's actually a bit greener than the photo shows. I then airbrushed one coat of Future just to give it a little bit of luster. It also seems to have sealed the resin oils that were seeping from the casting, even though I soaked the body and hood in Super Clean for a day before any body work was started.. Hand lettering was done with a quill, although I think a small brush would have worked just as well if not better. I just need to glue in the windshield and the dash before I begin final assembly.

The Shelf of Doom project is due in 2 weeks at our next club meeting. I'm rushing to meet the deadline but I'm taking some liberties. The interior is pretty much done. It's a very basic, stripped down race car. The uncomfortable seat is made up of sheet styrene and angle, with 3d printed brackets attaching to the floor. 1959 NHRA rules indicated that shoulder straps were optional, so I just added seat belts. The shifter boot is from my parts box, shifter knob and shaft are a hat pin. The roll bar is 3d printed since I already had a file for one, and I just added the diagonal brace with styrene round stock. The dash will be attached to the body, so it's just supported with tweezers for these photos. The 1941 Plymouth dash is similar to the '49, but definitely not perfect. With some brown and silver paint, it can be made into a reasonable representation. I cut out the instrument cluster and center section according to one of the photos. The steering wheel is the '41 with the horn ring removed. Got some paint on the body today. More to come!

I've been off for a while with an injured index finger, but am getting back into it and I'm finally able to get some paint on the pieces and look towards final assembly. The pictures indicate that the factory color of the body was dark blue. I'm going with the assumption that the Ramchargers would not have bothered to primer the underside of the body, so I painted it blue and dulled it down a bit with rust and dust. I may add a bit more weathering to dull it some more. It makes a pretty colorful contrast to the freshly painted red frame!

Love the paint. Beautiful model!

I did a similar crew cab on a mid-70's Dodge a few years ago. I had a lot of difficulty getting the roof to look right. I ended up adding a sheet of styrene on top of the roof and sanding it to shape. Good luck with it!

Beautiful! I never thought of building a police car but now I want to. You nailed it!

Wow! Does the kit come with the hardware for the gull wing doors? That's a really nice touch.

Nicely done. The interior is especially well done.

That's cool. I bet it was fun to drive, but not to change spark plugs!

Wow! You don't ever see that one. Nicely done!