Bainford

Yes! Coolest Ford wagon, for sure. Rust and all.

I seem to recall a note on the Tamiya site saying to thin their acrylics with their lacquer thinner for a harder finish. Perhaps other lacquer thinners would work, too. I have NOT tried this myself, but sounds like it might be worth experimenting with if you find your finishes too soft. I am not sure, though, if this solves the original problem, which sounds to be a finish must softer than expected.

Interesting to read the personal views on this stuff. During my early building years (starting at the beginning of the 1970s) my favourites were Revell and MPC. Revell had the coolest subjects and I loved the complex assemblies, even though they frustrated me and I glue-bombed them. I always sought out early Revell kits. MPC was a favourite primarily because they use a very nice, opaque, soft white plastic that was a dream to work with when doing mods and alterations. I avoided Monogram at all cost during those early years. Their over-simplified assemblies, lack of finer detail, and lack of scale fidelity annoyed me, and all that Tom Daniels stuff made me think of them more as toys. I didn't start buying Monograms until they began rolling out new tools of muscle car kits in the early 80s. IMC kits were not common in this area, or perhaps their hey-day had passed by then, but like the Revell kits, I loved their subject matter and complexity. That included, of course, the Testors 'Those Famous Fords' series of re-boxed IMC kits. By the mid-70s, my favourite maker, Revell became my least favourite as they changed tactic from complex and fiddley kits to over-simplified, inaccurate kits with generic mechanical assemblies and 'guessed-at' body contours. To this day, that era of Revell tooling is succeeded only by Palmer as the worst stuff that has even been foisted upon the model car community. Jo-Han was almost unheard of in my area back in the day. I never heard of them until I got my first Auto World catalogue in 1978. I was intrigued, so I ordered the Chrysler Turbine to see what Jo-Han was all about. I was blown away by the detail of the kit, and determined that Jo-Han must me the best, most detailed kit-maker of all time. About a year later a local drug store started carrying a small shelf of Jo-Hans, and I soon learned what jo-Han was really all about. Nonetheless, I still liked the 'feel' of the Jo-Han kits, and by that time, an accurate body and an interesting engine was more important than complexity. Kits from Lindberg, Pyro, Renwal, and Hawk were largely avoided as low quality and simplified, though they were cheap, so a little lawn-mowing money in my pocket might bring one home. Heller kits were not common here, and expensive too, so never built one in period. Or, to this day, now that I think of it. Japanese kits then were simple, battery-powered things, and I couldn't be bothered with that.

Would the Monogram sprint car engine work for you? (I would post a picture but I'm on my phone, and that's a technical incompetence for me)

Good looking Caddy. Cool Boss figure, too.

Welcome aboard, Anthony.

That is some weird decal degradation. Were they overheated, or stored in some super dry place for a long time?

Welcome to the forum, Bertrand.

Very cool project. Very creative. Great to have an example of this stunning car in 3D. I am impressed with the effort so far.

Great story. Very creative period build, and nice work on the restoration. I am intrigued by the tail light panel; are those 'vanes' individually placed pieces of plastic?

Lovely cruiser. Nice looking Caddy in a great colour.

Neat collection of old COEs.

Now that's a cool roadside sighting. The 'Club' and the weather-checked dash are icing on the cake. Forget the resto; it's much more cool in it's present condition. Bring the maintenance up to date, check the tires, fill the tank, and hit the road.

Looking good, Gary. Glad to see this one back on the bench.

Welcome to the forum, Mark. That's an impressive portfolio.