OldNYJim

Huh, fascinating! I wondered what they could be for - thanks for the info! Makes sense! Funnily enough, my wife's Aunt who sent me these kits lives in Valparaiso, and these kits came from the Grandpa's garage in Munster! Throw in that the Studebaker factory was in South Bend and my wife is a Hoosier and we've got a lot of Indiana connections on this build!

Very cool! Did he have the V8 or the 6? I was going to google this this afternoon but you may know...what are the two hatches for one the front fenders? Just curious...

I never got super-excited about them until I started messing with this kit a little - but they’re really cool! I like the lines of the body and I bet this was a pretty spaceship-looking car to see on the road in 53 or 54! I did some reading up on the engines for these too - apparently they’re a GREAT engine; over engineered in terms of build quality but as simple as a SBC and they respond to being warmed up a little really nicely. I saw that a lot of Studebaker owners like throwing a turbo on these with little or no other modifications. Very cool!

Ps: how about dropping that old body over an airbagged-chassis, painting it a bright satin-finished paint job and giving it a little hot-rod treatment? ? More on that another time tho...

I got a text a couple of weeks ago from my wife’s aunt saying that she found a few Studebaker kits that had belonged to my wife’s Grandpa, who was a real Studebaker nut, and would I like them. They arrived late last week, and included with them is this built-up that we think he built as replica of a car he had owned in the fifties or sixties maybe: I said to my wife that it might be nice to rebuild this one so she’d have a nice build to remember her Grandpa by, so I broke it down as far as I could (including giving it a 24 hour trip into the freezer) so I could start fixing it up. I’m going to keep the color scheme as he built it originally - red interior but with an Ivory body (which is how we think he had his 1:1 car). I can’t quite bear to build something completely stock but it’s going to be pretty close - as though you maybe had a shop blow it apart today and rebuild it pretty close to original but maybe even nicer than the factory did. I did a little work on the engine over the weekend and (with the addition of a couple of parts from a second later-issue kit that I have here too) and got that ready for primer: I spent a couple of hours on trying to fix up the old body - it was complete but REALLY rough once I cleaned it up and got the glass out of it...so seeing as this is meant to be a nice factory-stock-ish build I’m thinking of saving the old one and swapping a brand new replacement body that I’ve got here...don’t worry, I’ve got a plan I’m excited about for that old body... I decided to check the local hardware stores last night and found this rattle can of an Ivory-color paint...totally NOT what I’d choose for this car personally, but seeing as I’m trying to replicate Grandpa’s car I’m going to go with it... Doesn’t look too far off from the 1:1 color to me! I’m going to mess with some different color primers and see how close I can get to the 1:1 color (or, at least the pictures of it I can find online) - but it should be a fairly handsome looking car when it’s done! More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

Oh yeah - it was right there in the link I posted ?

Oh, and by the way - they don’t sell THIS for 25 cents anymore! ?

Wow, it’s older than I thought! Thanks everyone - kit is currently in the freezer getting ready for it’s restoration

Interesting! I tried to look for a copyright date but couldn’t find one...how old are we talking, do you think?

It's a kustom

My wife’s aunt messaged me last week to say that she found a few kits, and asked whether I’d like them...and they came yesterday! My wife’s grandpa was a die-hard Studebaker fan and had both a lark and a Starliner...she thinks the white one was meant to be a replica of a 1:1 that he had. That one will be a stock-ish replica - not sure what to do with the Lark or the other 63 yet

Absolutely buddy! I’ll be happy to help! Speaking of which, laid down some flames on this thing today...I’ll need to let the paint set up a couple of days and then bury them in some clear ??

Pretty much done on this one - thanks for looking everyone!

Great tip! Thanks Claude! I'll try that!

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone! I really liked the sound of the EL tape, even factoring in Peter's concerns above so i ordered three feet on eBay for the grand sum of $3 I'll post back how it looks when I get it...if it's good enough for what I need it'll work GREAT...lets hope it does the trick! https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Glow-Light-El-Wire-String-Strip-Rope-Car-Dance-Party-USB-With-Controller-3V/113868498946?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=414130484931&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Beer can (or soda can, depending on your preference) material would be great for a lot of stuff I do, if I could only figure out a good way to roll it back flat somehow. Pity they don't make rectangular drinks cans That's a good tip! Thank you!! Something like this, presumably? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amerimax-Aluminum-Step-Flashing-Shingle-Silver-5-in-H-x-7-in-L-x-5-in-W/372231237062?epid=1600934592&hash=item56aab5edc6:g:fpcAAOSwXJ9akLLf

That’s a really impressive project! Thanks for sharing the pics! I wish I could find aluminum printer’s plate...all the print shops I’ve ever asked look at me like I’m crazy when I ask if they have any ?

I’ve always found acrylic to be WAY easier than most automotive products to get right with a minimum of fuss...I bet someone with your experience would find it pretty easy too. Love this build! I’ve really been enjoying this thread, as I do all of yours - thanks for the detailed and interesting posts you always publish on your projects!

Been wanting to build one of these for ages! Not for the $50+ people seem to want for a sealed kit though...found this for $6.50 on eBay ??

Great idea! I’d like to do a similar build to this one with a scratch built interior and maybe a proper chassis and engine...but this one was meant to be a quickie build so I’m going to TRY and resist the urge to do much more than paint it and switch the wheels out. We’ll see how that goes...?

Thank you! It's Createx Pearl Lime Green - I over-reduced it to make it work a little more like a candy and let some of the silver underneath show through...Createx makes the COOLEST colors!

Picked this up on Amazon last week - I really like this series of AMT kits...I like the designs and every now and then I want to do something fairly quick and easy to get something fun or interesting on my shelf. It's KINDA cool out of the box, but those wheels aren't the best and I'd like to do something a little more interesting with the paint: A quick rummage through the parts stash later... Someone on the Showrods board posted a link to those rear tires - they’re kinda like the old Richard Carroll ones from the sixties. Looks cooler already, I think! I used some isopropyl alcohol to remove the prepainted flames, shot with primer and then a base of silver: Then, after letting the base set-up overnight, hit it with some lime pearl candy this morning: More soon, soon as I’ve done more!

A few from around my neighborhood this week

I think the flocking looks great! What problems did you have with it? The end result is certainly impressive enough!

That C cab is really cool! I wanna see that one make some progress! The various rods are killer tho though