LennyB

At long last we finally have some paint on the coupe.? Still need to get some clear on it and then some BMF. There is a small glitch on the hood which I will have to reshoot. But I will give it a couple of days to fully cure before attacking that. Just to be sure there are no other issues. The paint is Createx Opaque Red followed with Wicked Red. While they might seem the same looking at the bottle they are anything but. Just a bit more bodywork on the Woody and I hope to have that sprayed soon. So stay tuned.?

Thanks Greg, that's what I was hoping for.

Bill, thanks for the advice. I resprayed the body with Tamiya fine white primer and the next go I'm using a different, opaque yellow. which I'm mixing with their 4020 reducer with a bit of their gloss clear. Figured I would try it "their way" before I try it mine. But I see a lot of people using all types of mixes when they spray this stuff, including windshield washer fluid. I used the Wicked black on another project and it covered fine, although that is supposedly semi-opaque also. Just finished spraying my 41 Plymouth Coupe first with an opaque red and then covered with Wicked Crimson Red. Covered fine as well. Maybe the yellow just doesn't like me. ? Or maybe it's old. I've heard that complaint as well.

Love these old 'birds, thanks for sharing.

Great looking build and a good combination of parts. I've thought about using that chassis on several builds. Top marks on this one.

This is another one of my projects that I decided to try something new with the Createx Wicked Colors. This is more successful so far then my 68 Fairlane. ? Finish comes out satin and still needs a shot of clear. But now that the paint is on I found two obvious sink marks in the trunk lid I didn't see before. At first I thought I could ignore them but I think I will address them now otherwise I may never forgive myself. ? Hopefully I can just mask off the trunk, fix the sink marks and get away with respraying just that area. ??

Looks really nice, color combo and the stance right on the money I have this in my stash and had thought about using the Revell 64 Thunderbolt chassis. Is there any reason you went with the 66 instead?

David, that's a shame about the cracking. I assume since you said ink you are using an ink jet printer. I have wanted to print my own decals for some projects but was going to try it with a laser printer that using toner.

Last few week progress has been slow as several of my projects have reached the body painting stage. I have spent a lot of my time trying to make friends again with my airbrush which I haven't spoken to for nearly 30 years. To compound the situation I have been working with Createx Wicked colors which is a whole new animal for me. I won't bore you with the details but after a lot of test sprays on spoons and various body parts I decided to go ahead and spray the Fairlane. I decided to go with the Wicked Yellow. I got a pretty decent looking spray on the body except for one problem, the paint wasn't covering. I have something like 10 coats on the body and if you look at the peaks, such as the crease in the hood, the primer still bleeds through. Plus the yellow is not the shade I was expecting. And I've also lost a lot of my detail, the side molding no longer has a crease down the center. As I'm still trying to figure out this Createx paint system I'm finding myself frustrated with this company. Some of their product is clearly labeled, 'transparent' or 'opaque' etc.. The Wicked Colors just say "Airbrush Colors". I bought a whole flight of these which I planned on using for 4 different projects and now I learn they are semi-transparent. And the more you thin them the more transparent they become. Which is why the Fairlane looks the way it does. I had no success spraying them straight from the bottle as they say these will. 35PSI with a .5 needle. I found the best results when thinned 50/50 with their gloss clear added in. So for now it's back to square one, body has been stripped down and primed once again. So my detail is back and I'll start all over with an opaque yellow I picked up at HL and see how it goes.

As soon as I find them I will let you know. There were sitting right on the workbench, guess they went for a walk.??‍♀️ Paint looks great by the way.

Actually you are right, and probably easier. I don't have a 56 handy right now and 57's coming out my ears.?

As an alternative to finding a '56 bird for the chassis I was thinking (and this might be a stretch, 'er technically just the opposite) but what about using the chassis from the AMT '57 Fairlane. It would have to be shortened about 3/4" and I would do it by removing a 1/4" at the front of the rear springs and another 1/2" by the mufflers. Would have to tweak the frame rails a bit. But from what I recall the two cars have similar chassis designs. So it would give you a period correct chassis.

Craig, that's exactly what it is, I was just joking about the inspection number

Greg, glad to see you are making progress. I have my two in primer but not making much progress on getting any paint on them. The cowl vent option looks great and if you need some wipers I have some extra photo-etched ones as that's what I'm using on mine.

That just reminded me of the time back in high school, and I think it was just before graduation, we did the old "how many people can you fit in a VW" routine. I think we got 11 people in and drove down Main St. Went about a block before we had had enough and all jumped out, except John who was driving of course.

Actually Neil Young bought an interest in the Lionel company many years ago, something like 20%. Not sure if he still owns a part of it. And he would bring a layout on tour with him.

I tried to build one of these back in the day, parts were molded in black if that tells you the vintage. Paint job went south so I gave it a soak in brake fluid and the body swelled up in the trunk area and split in numerous placed. It was less 'flashy' then this one because the molds were fresher but something just wasn't right with the styrene. ? I'll be keeping an eye on your build, maybe it will inspire me to try again.?

Back in the late 60's my family had it's own ' FrankenBeetle '. It was a 63 that had been in a front end collision. My father replaced the whole front clip and got it back on the road. Resprayed the dark grey color in the garage and it looked pretty good. My younger brother used to climb all the way in the back behind the rear seat into the small storage area. One day my mother drove me to school and when she got home couldn't find my brother. She freaked out and drove back to the school thinking he had gotten out there. Needless to say he had fallen asleep in the storage area and see just couldn't see him. ? Sadly a few months later the bug got rear-ended and that was the end of that. Maybe a dark grey car that matches the color of the pavement is just not too visible on the road.?

Looks like an interesting project. Don't know that I've ever seen that custom gill treatment, it that from an early tooling?

One of my favorite Fords, looks sweet

Looks really nice. I’m guessing this is the monogram kit.

Yes, it’s quite small. Only a half inch wide. Small enough to work as a 1/25th car emblem?

I just found it lying on a sidewalk. It had adhesive on the back so it obviously fell off of something. BTW it’s made of plastic. Interesting, thanks for doing the work. As it was found in New York a UK connection is possible but unlikely. As I mentioned above it is plastic and is dome shaped with the logo imbedded in the plastic. Could be a one off logo but professionally done. Often thought it might be off of the box an item came in but not the actual item, such as a watch box. The quest goes on?

David At the time the first movie came out my father worked for VW. While corporate may not have had an agreement with Disney the dealers were all over it. Locally the dealer worked out an arrangement with the theater and they had a brand new beetle on display on the sidewalk in front of the theater. No it wasn't white and no it wasn't #53. I think it was actually red.

Ken, it came out killer. ?