Ron Hamilton

I have some of the Monogram up tops from the '59 Chevy and Cadillac kits. When I display this one, it going to be top down all the way Baby!!! I have to look through my paint and see what color would compliment this one.

With all the hoopla concerning the "Cash for Clunkers" program, I thought I would make my contribution to it. I bought two old clunkers at our model club meeting last month, and I decided to work on them. The first one was an original AMT 1960 Buick Invicta Convertible. As you can see, it has a fabulous, thick brush paint job in blue enamel. Even the bumpers, grille and headlamps got some. The windshield was dirty, scratched, and was painted with blue paint. There was even a little red peeking out around the edges. The lump you see on the hood is where a set of louvers was glued on the hood, and there was a big lump of glue residue under it. The previous owner punched out the accessory holes in each of the fenders. The interior was double painted. Red at first, then blue. The steering wheel looks to be out of a '59 Chrysler. I have a new one on order from The Modelhaus, as well as a set of tail lamps, wheels and lowering blocks. Everything else is from the Ron Hamilton Parts Department. It took a couple of attempts, but I stripped the body clean, and got the windshield out in one piece. I cleaned and polished the windshield, and fixed the bumpers. I stripped, filled and polished the bumpers and bare-metaled areas of them, as well as the emblems on the car prior to painting. I primed it with Plasticote" sandable primer after I straightened and leveled the body. I removed all of the mould lines, and added the fender separation lines. There are a couple os sink marks to address here and there, and I want to work on the interior to give it some better detail. I have not decided on the color yet, but it will blend in well with my '60 Ford, Pontiac and Chevy Convertibles.

Now that's a silk purse. made from the sow's ear!

Nice lil' pocket rocket!!!!

Gorgeous!!!!

Interesting thread. I have to look through my stash and select an appropriate kit to build.

Kyle, I really like the direction you are going in with your wagon. It took quite a bit of work to convert mine to a replica stock piece, with the small block and Powerglide. I built mine as a replica of the car in the 1966 sales brochure. I have a couple of more of these kits for future projects. I plan to do a '67 Concours wagon conversion with one, and a phantom '66 SS396 Wagon with the other. If it seems that I hijacked your thread, I didn't intend to, and if you feel I did, I will be happy to remove my post. I put my "Soccer Mom" car there to show the "before" picture. Yours is definitely the "after". Bill, I am sorry to hear that someone purloined your kit at the NNL. Funny, I saw one at the hobby shop today. It is an excellent kit.

That one is looking great Irv. I can't wait to see it finished. Are you going to do a model of it?

Kyle, I loan you my car for a week, and this is what you do to it????? LOL!!!! I'm loving it so far!!!!

I appreciate the work you are putting into that one. I have a '60 under construction, where I reworked the body to get rid of the terrible mould lines. It's ready to be primed, but I have not dercided on the color combination. I'm leaning towards Black or Red, with the Red and Black interior. Those old Valiants were interesting cars, even though I think they are plug ugly, but bordering on cute.

As Steve said, the suicide door Lincoln Sedans (1961 thru 1969) were marketed by AMT, and never re-released. Unbuilt examples are fairly expensive, but the '65 Convertible has been re-released, and would be the least expensive way to go with this. Missing Link Resin had a '65 Sedan body in their line to combine with the '65 Convertible kit. I am not sure if it is currently available, but if you contact them, they will gladly give you an answer. The quality of their products is top notch, so you can buy with confidence. I did a replica stock '61 and '67 Sedan. I have all of the AMT '61-'69 Lincoln kits in my stash, as it is one of my favorites, and no, I do not plan to sell any of them. If I do, Phil gets first dibs, as he has asked me on several occaisions.

You are very welcome. The car looks very good, so far.

Thanks all for the replys. There are some really interesting projects going on there. This should be quite interesting. I got the resin in today for the '69 G/P and '69 Bonneville HT. The '62's are primed, and needing just a little sink mark filling before I paint tham. So it's full steam ahead!!! I plan to get the '63 Bonneville Convertible ready for primer. Something will be painted and photographed by weeks end.

The Testors' Lacquers are meant to be used with their high gloss lacquer clearcoat. Waxing will not get you much of a shine. Nice looking build though. If it were me, I would clear it.

I do not have a lot of pics of the in process builds, but I can let you know what I am working on, and the direction I am going in on each one. AMT 1963 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible- This one was an "unbuilt kit with issues" I picked up off of that "auction site" I bought it pretty cheap, as it had what I thought was just a busted windshield header. I ordered up the replacement for it from the Modelhaus, and installed it on the model. It didn't look too bad, except that it would sit on three wheels!!! The body was warped, and unrepairable as it sat. So, I had to do some major surgury on it. In my collection of parts, I had a derelict ex-glue bomb '63 Bonneville Convertible body. It was never painted, and from the front doors forward, there were no issues. The rear quarter panels had glue burns from a set of cruiser skirts, as well as hacked up wheel wells, and the tulip panel was non existant, as the convertible boot was welded to it with a liberal coating of glue, and it was torn up from the removal of the boot. The warped body's issues were in the front of the car, so the rear quarters and everything else from theat body was mated to the glue-bomb body to make one. I haven't photographed it, but the bodywork is nearly complete, an now I have a one piece, straight body to work with now. This is the direction I want to take with the car, but in a different color. I have narrowed the colors down to either Marlin Aqua(dark turquoise) with an Aqua interior, or Saddle Bronze (medium gold), with a Saddle interior. The wheel trim will be a set of correct 8-Lugs on Whitewalls. AMT '63 Lemans Coupe and Convertible, which are restorations of old builts. The coupe is going to be a restomod in Black with a Saddle interior. The wheel trim will be a set modern wheels. The '63 Lemans Convetible is going to be a replica stock, probably in Nocturne Blue with a Blue interior. The wheel trim will be a set of full wheel covers on Whitewalls. AMT '62 Bonneville Hardtop and Convertible, which are restorations of old builts. The Hardtop is going to be a replica stock in Silverleaf Green with a Green Tri-Tone interior, while the Convetible is going to be a replica stock, probably in Ensign Blue with a Blue Tri Tone interior. The wheel trim will be a set of correct 8-Lugs on Whitewalls. MPC '69 Bonneville Hardtop and Convertible, and '69, '70' '71, and '72 Grand Prix Hardtops, which are restorations of old builts. The '69 Bonneville Hardtop is going to be a replica stock in Verdoro Green/White Vinyl Roof with a White/Black interior, while the '69 Bonneville Convetible is going to be a replica stock, probably in Warwick Blue(light metallic blue) with a White/Black interior. The wheel trim on both will be a set of correct Rally II's on Whitewalls. The '69 Grand Prix Hardtop will be Catillian Bronze, with a Brown Vinyl Roof and Saddle Interior. The wheel trim will be a set of correct Rally II's on Whitewalls. The '70 Grand Prix Hardtop will be Starlight Black, with a Black Vinyl Roof and Saddle Interior. The wheel trim will be a set of correct Rally II's on White Lettered Polyglas GT's. The '71 Grand Prix Hardtop will be Quezal Gold, with a Black Vinyl Roof and Black Interior. The wheel trim will be a set of Honeycomb Wheels on Whitewalls. The '72 Grand Prix Hardtop will be Anaconda Gold(the MPC Pre-Paint Color), with a Black Vinyl Roof and Black Interior. The wheel trim will be a set of finned wheel covers on whitewalls. I plan on having these models finished by the time that Pontiac is closed down by GM, which is a year from now.

Randy! That came out beautiful!!!!

I did a sedan delivery myself several years ago, modifying the AMT '65 Chevelle Wagon. Originally, I was going to do a 2 door wagon, but I liked the idea of a phantom sedan delivery. It fought me all the way, but I like it. I have since bought Jimmy Flintstone's '64 and '65 2 door Wagon Transkits. As a kid, I had an AMT '64 Malibu Wagon, and now I have an unbuilt one for a later project. Good luck with the project Steve, and I will probably get one of the '69 Wagons from Dencon.

Absolutey beautiful so far.

I'm just speechless. Incredible!!!!

The one I drove, while decent, was not nowhere as nice as this one. It was Beige with a pearl white vinyl interior. 390 4-bbl V8, full power, even though half of it didn't work. It was a 13 year old car, and my Dad's project(he paid $200.00 for it in 1973). I liked driving it, as it was a smooth running car, and we were working the bugs out of it. Too bad the rust got to it, or else I would have it right now.

Here are a couple of more shots.

With the "New and Improved" Bare Metal Foil, certain areas can be tricky. Sometimes the seemgly simple jobs can be a bear. Especially when you are old and feeble.

Bill, Thanks for the comments. The body on this one is not an old annual. It does use a modified roof panel. The resin body on this one was meant to be used with the new tool kit. I want to use the chassis and running gear on a Square Bird. I have a 1960 Convertible built-up that I want to do this with. It's not in too terrible shape, but it is begging for some detail. I also have a 1966 Town Coupe promo that I want to open up, using this kit as a basis.

I didn't do any extra detailing to the engine other than paint, and adding the photo etched air cleaner lid.

This car was built to represent one of the 1962 Hardtops equipped with the M-Code engine, and Kelsey Hays Wire Wheels, which were factory installed on the car. I built this one combining the excellent AMT Sports Roadster kit, the Model Car Garage Photoetch set, and the Time Machines Resin body. In building this one, I had to fabricate a rear package shelf, and procure a rear window from a derelict promo, as they were not included with the resin body, and not available from the aftermarket. As I am on a very tight budget, I painted this one with some Testors' Model Master Lacquer Paint from the spray can. The color is actually a GM color (Regal Red), but it a very close match to Ford's Rangoon Red from that era. I used most of the pieces from the Model Car Garage Photoetch Set, and Bare-Metaling this car was an absolute pain in the you know what, but it was worth it. I used to drive one of these in high school, so the car has a special place in my heart.