Plowboy

Thanx guys! I got the engine and frame back in paint. I still have to clear the frame. The engine is almost too shiney. I may hit it with Semi Gloss clear like I did with the floor pan. I only have a handful of parts left to primer and paint. The body is ready to be polished. Hopefully, no more surprises. Fingers crossed.

That proves that rectangular tail lights don't work either. At least the Camaro tail lights fit the shape of the tail panel. I'd pick the Camaro tail lights over those any time.

I now have the Mercury back in white primer. Yesterday, I shot a coat of gray and a coat of white. Today, I shot two coats of white. I'll let it all cure well, barely sand it with 1000 grit and shoot one or two coats of Pearl White. Depends on what the first coat looks like. I can use the window masks as templates for the glass.

Sharp looking little truck Tom! Did you have to make any adjustments to get the Foose chassis to fit? Like the wheelbase?

Thanx Karl! It's posted here if you want to check the rest of it out.

Nice pair of Pontiacs Craig!

My '36 and '48 Fords.

I agree. I think the crooked B pillars provides the perfect opportunity to see what it would look like as a hardtop. Steve, if you can get the stance exactly as you have it mocked up, it'll be perfect! Talk about nailing it straight out of the box! FYI, the AMT '67 Impala street version has a nice looking TPI BBC in it. Another nice engine is in the street '68 El Camino.

Thanx Chris! It ain't looking too good right now. I did solve my header problem though. As soon as I made the first down pipe, I knew there was no way I would have room for the steering rod by the time I completed the header. Then I remembered that the first V-8 Chevy engines had the motor mounts on the front of the block. So, I cut a pair from a Revell '55 and glued them to the block. I then cut the frame mounts loose and moved them forward appropriately. Now I have all the room I need for a nice set of block huggers. I need to trim the motor mounts down just a little. I want to stick the body back on the frame to see how much. The engine and transmission will either get painted satin black or the matching red. Hopefully, I won't have any more issues.

I just twist them until they lay flat. You have to twist them past square so when they spring back, they'll be flat. No heat of any kind. You'd be surprised at how much a frame can twist without breaking.

Thanx Carl! Hopefully, I won't make a mistake this time! The first coat of primer showed no touch ups needed. So, I'm headed in the right direction. If I stick to my plan, it should come out perfectly matched this time. Thanx David! Better late than never! Thanx Jeff! I'm looking forward to seeing it back in white myself! I have to keep telling myself not to rush. But, it's hard to when you have one so close to being finished. Thanx Steve! Waiting for this thing to come clean was a nightmare! Don't want to go there again!

No. It happened months afterward. No fault of his. I chalked it up to bad resin.

I crazy glue my parts to old pieces of sprue after sanding them. I always glue them at the attachment point so that once primered and painted, I can simply snap them off and assemble.

LittleMotorKarCo was the plater. Dale's one of the best there is if not the best. The wheels were flawless for the first few months. Then the plating wrinkled until hell wouldn't wouldn't have them. I'm pretty sure it was to do with the resin itself. Not the plating.

That is a beauty Phil! Love the color! This model demonstrates what capable hands can do with the Revell Mercury! Makes me want to build one. Nice work!

Something I'm going to try soon on a set of chrome wheels is shooting them with Tamiya Satin Clear. I think it'll have a good effect.

I had some resin wheels chrome plated once. They looked like garbage before I could use them. So, I wouldn't go that route. It wasn't the chrome as I also had styrene wheels plated and they're still in perfect shape. I'd use a Molotow pen on them.

Thanx Bill and Scott! I finally have the Mercury back on track! This go around, I scribed around the windshield, door and quarter glass to separate them and give me a line to paint to. I primered the underside of the hood and trunk first. Then I taped off the fenders and quarters and primered the underhood, headliner and trunk jambs. The hood and trunk were taped to the body and primered together. From this point on, the body will will be sprayed as a unit. Primer, paint and clear. Before I sand this coat of primer, I'll shoot the headliner with Dull Red. Hopefully, I'll have this done in a couple of weeks!

Thanx Bill! I now have the chassis, body and interior in paint. The red is Tamiya Bright Red. The Tan is also Tamiya. I've made a change regarding the wheels. I'm going with 19 and 23 inch Hellas. Not sure if I'll leave them as-is or paint them. I still have to get the exhaust worked out. I discovered too late that the center dump block hugger headers won't work with center motor mounts. So, I'm going to have to make a set of headers.

I have a couple of car based pickups. But, they have separate beds unlike the Ranchero and El Camino. I'll post them later if it's OK to post them here.

I like what he did to the front end. Much cleaner, neater looking. Nothing like the jumbled up mess from the factory. The gills on the side of the grille are a cool touch also. Really like the flush mounted glass! The Camaro tail lights are a shock to the system. But, they work IMO. If people didn’t recognize them, they would probably like them. I do not like the wheels! Those would have to go! Looks like he was trying to mimic some kind of factory wheel cover or something. Some big inch Magnums would look much better IMO. Stance looks almost stock. Yuck!! I don't like the dual stripes running down the hood, roof and trunk either. Can you say sooo overdone!? Also, I don't like the door handles. Change the wheels, lower it and get rid of stripes on top would be a big improvement IMO.

Paint, clear, polish, foil. Always.

So simple. Yet sooo cool! I like them all. But, the five window is my favorite! Great stuff and I look forward to seeing more!

You're welcome Bob! Don't know why this didn't occur to me earlier since you mentioned your seats are from a Focus. But, Revell did a Focus several years ago. If I'm not mistaken, it also came with custom bucket seats. Chances are, someone built one and has the stock seats kicking around.

Front end swaps can work. You just have to pick the right pieces to go together. I think it also helps to keep the parts in the "family". I've been thinking about putting a '37 Chevy coupe front end on a '41 pickup to go along with these two.