Devilleish

That flat hood treatment has been in my head for a long time and I just recently did the same to my radical custom '57. It's too much of a long-term project to start a thread on just yet in addition to being another custom AMT '57. I'll keep taking pictures and wait a little longer.

I'm going with these, one for the '57 that's being built now and the other for the '53 F100 coming up soon. https://www.shapeways.com/product/8SHNHPB25/mooneyes-1-25-steering-wheel

I have two of this kit now (late 80s/early 90s with all of the custom parts) and one is getting a custom treatment. I have reshaped the fins into something more pleasing to my eye and shaved the hood completely smooth (flat) among other things. Right now I'm dealing with removing the factory "pinch" at the rear of the quarter panels to help the new fin shape flow better. Lowering blocks on this kit push the driveshaft into the tunnel... I have to rebuild the tunnel on mine to accommodate the driveshaft with my preferred stance. I like the '57 Chevy well enough stock but always felt that it was a bit busy, although the 150 and wagons made the fins look right. I'll be following this also.

I hunted that auction down before I had realized that you linked directly to it and am now the one with the only bid on it so far. It appears to be a relatively simple conversion to make a passable 215 and I might be able to use an Offenhauser valve cover and split exhaust manifold I have. Since I have to build the intake I'll make a dual carb setup for it.

This is pretty much what I was afraid of. Not made of unobtanium but it's probably not going to be easy to find. Even if a later 262 was available in a truck kit it could be used as the basis for the 215 with a few changes. I have a bit of experience with a few of these engines in 1:1 applications and really like inlines in general. I'm especially interested in it for the F100 when I get to building that one.

I'm sitting here with two different 1953 Ford kits (AMT F100 and Lindberg Victoria) and was wondering if anyone made a six that would be correct for these? They look like I could modify a Chevy 235 if I absolutely had to but I'd like to start with something as close as possible to the right engine. The 144/170/200/250 is a much different engine, as is the later truck 240/300.

No better way to find imperfections in your bodywork than to lay some color on. I may leave it, depending on how obsessive I get, but a parting line is still showing up slightly. The Tamiya metallic pink I used is slightly brighter than the original Rose Beige but came out well enough for me to be happy with it. This is my first build in 15+ years, so I'm not going to be too picky. I'm glad I went with the staggered chrome steel wheels, they look better than I thought they would and with some detail will really stand out.

That '65 looks right sitting like that.

By all means. I'll switch back to this '63 once things progress a bit more.

1976 F100 stepside. The power steering was so easy in that truck that I could steer it with the back of my hand without slipping. None of my Cadillacs have ever been that easy to steer.

I decided on the color before I pulled it out of the box. It will be Rose Beige like this 1:1 car but with a white and Rose Beige interior. I would like to give one the full detail treatment also, but I'd like to get a resin box top body to do it with and knock it down a peg to a bench seat Galaxie 500 with a 223 inline six similar to the car a friend drove in high school.

One of my favorite kits, even with its simplicity, is the AMT '63 Galaxie 500XL. I started painting and detailing the chassis today and decided to look at how it sat. I'm building a "day 2" car with chrome steel wheels and slicks out back along with a couple of other goodies and an unconventional factory color. I had drilled the front axle hole higher to lower the nose and didn't care for it, so I put it back in the original location and was pleasantly surprised by the nose up stance. Here's quick shots of the difference.

I got tired of bodywork, endless filling, waiting and sanding, and my Cadillac V8 came in today. I did a quick and dirty job filling the axle hole since it won't be easy to see anyway and I'm not building a competitive showpiece. Some sprue and Plastic Weld cement did the trick well enough. A little detail work tonight on the seams, primer tomorrow, and paint to match the car after that.

I'm going to follow this with some interest. Growing up my best friend's mother drove a '68 Skylark GS California in pale yellow with a black vinyl top and interior. He inherited it when he got his driver's license in 1990 and kept it until 1997. I always liked the leaner look of the '68-69 over the later A-bodies.

The cut-off fins are something I've been considering for a long time (along with doing the same to a '59 Cadillac). I've seen it done on a 1:1 car that gave a less than desirable look but this looks like a more well thought out approach than that car was. I'm enjoying this.

I'm watching that one with great interest, especially after I saw that he had dramatically reduced the fins, which is one of the things I'd like to try in my own way also.

I'm a huge fan of the 1947-49 Fleetwood 75. GM kept the body style for the 75 an extra two years and the '49 had the old body with the new 331 OHV. Truthfully, any Cadillac of the generation from 1941-47 is at the top of my list.

If you're any good at making side trim (I'm not), turn the MPC two door sedan into a 150.

This is the first kit I ever chopped the top on, back around 1990 for a cousin I used to build with in high school. Back then I thought it wasn't too bad overall but never did pony up for one. I always wanted to customize one further, which would remove the little things that offend my eye about this particular kit. The 1957 Chevy and 1959 Cadillac are two cars that I want to remove the fins on and this will probably be the first of the two once I finish these Corvettes sitting in front of me.

It's a '53 in name only, this one will be more of a '54 or '55 also, plans are to paint it a muted gold and the interior color is up in the air at this point. I'm looking for a Cadillac 331-365 for it (inspired by the Cadillac powered '54 that Eric Rickman drove). There is also going to be some use of custom parts from the AMT '58 Impala, another kit I've built in the past and the first glue kit I ever actually properly finished as a kid around 1987 (I'm going to have to see if it's still in my mom's house next time I visit Ohio).

I didn't intend to start this kit first. I bought a nice and complete open 1990 issue AMT "Corvettes" set for $30 - just for the 1963 convertible - and decided the '53 and '57 were a great bonus and would be modified. I am not an NCRS type by any stretch of the imagination, so I decided to build the cars how I would want them as 1:1 examples if I were to come into the money. So far the '53 has been treated to shaved windsplits by the taillights, a relocated license plate box, and some general trim removal, which isn't quite done yet. There's a lot of glue in the rear to let dry at this point before I handle it roughly some more, so it'll be picked back up tomorrow afternoon. Enjoy, and by all means, critique. It's been some years since I've done this and I'd like eyes besides mine on my progress.

Hello everyone! I'm Phil and I have recently come back to modeling after a bit of a hiatus. I've been hanging around reading a lot in here and figured I'd introduce myself. If I can remember to take pictures I'll post my WIPs as I go also. I'm not sure how rusty my skills are but I'll be finding out soon enough.