Ron Hamilton

Very Nice!!!!

Very nice!!!!

Exquisite!!!!!

John, You are absolutely right about the panel between the trunk lid and the rear seat. I may attend to that, but personally, I do not want to cut the body, but I may have to attend to the flipper panel, as this bugs me a little. I grew up with the cars, as my uncle had a '62, '64, and '65 convertible, I drove my Dad's '62 Hardtop when I was in high school, and one of my cousins had a '58 Hardtop. The problem is that this is a 56 year old model, and the plastic is quite brittle, and I have already cracked it on a couple of places. It has been repaired, and is in primer now. I do not want to over work it and crack it again.

Kind of funny, Today, I purchased a '71 Ranger XLT pickup. I could have gotten the '70, or the '72, but I bought the '71 because it is the only long bed in the series, and I wanted the sport wheel covers for a '70 Ford XL project I plan to do, and they are the only ones available in scale. The kit will also yield the proper wheelbase for another project, the restoration of an AMT '76 Ford F350, where I want to re-do the wheelbase on the chassis and bed, I started on the restoration by correcting the windshield, and cleaning it up. Now I can properly cut the chassis and bed, as well as make up the bed inners, using the Mobieus kit as a guide. I have seen a few of the AMT kits re-done, as well as several of the Mobieus kits built, and I can say they are very nice when properly built. I am happy with my '69.

One thing about working with old kits, you cannot leave well enough alone. Over last weekend, I started clearing out the mould separation lines, and deepening the door and trunk openings, and one thing led to another, I added the body separation lines between the fenders and cowl, the panel that covers the void when the top is down, the headlamp and tail light bezels. Raoul, the way I did this is that I looked at the reference photos of the car, and drew the lines on the unpainted car with a ball point pen. Once I was satisfied with the shape, I used an used x-acto knife to scribe the lines into the body, the first one with the sharp end of the knife, and several others with the back side if the knife, working slowly. Once I was satisfied with the work, I leveled everything down with a 4-way sanding stick. I think it came out well. On the one-to-one, there is a lot of leading, particularly on the front fascia, and rocker panels. Unlike modern cars, there are no seams here. While doing that, I blocked the body, to ensure it was straight enough to take paint, especially around the panel separation, and I worked the hood edges to line up with the fenders and front end. I laid a coat of primer on the car today, and other than a couple of scratches on one of the quarter panels and a sink mark I missed on the left front fender. As my funds are pretty tight, I am going to use some paint I have on hand. I am thinking about "accessorizing the car" with some period parts that could have been bought from the Ford dealer's parts department in the early '60's. The interior is next. I want to just sharpen it up a bit. It is going to represent the standard two-toned vinyl '60 Thunderbird Interior trim. John, if it was not for seeing your beautiful '59, I would not have gone so deep on this one. I think that you are going to like this one.

I picked this one up at our club meeting. It cleaned up nicely, and I have already made plans for it. The car is pretty rare as a model and as a one to one. fortunately, all that was missing on this one was one wheel cover, which I am not going to use anyway. The chrome did not hold up, so I may strip it, clean it up, and send it out for re-chroming, so I have plenty of time to work on it.

I found a set of them in my travels several years ago. I am going to use them on a resin '61 Dodge Hardtop in my stash.

I hope that the wheelcovers are the right diameter and depth.

The wheels on the box top were Appliance Mags, that were also in the 1966 Impala SS annuals. Personally, I would like AMT to include the '61 Dodge Spinner Caps that was in the original kit from the '60's.

Beautiful!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!

Handsome car!

Very nice!!!!!!!

I did the trim on my '69. It was not too difficult. I was surprised that it was not there, because when I did the research, the mouldings were there. The next one I do will be a 2-tone paint truck with a white roof. I really like the kit.

I love the idea of a 1st Gen Bronco!!!!

Absolutely stunning!!!!

They look good to me. Better than my work, and a lot easier. I just hope that they will stay put in high humidity.

When I did my '85 Fleetwood Brougham Coupe, my '60 Eldorado Biarritz I used a set of Detail Master Wire Wheels, and I made my own Vogues, using a bow compass, and PollyS Acrylics. A set of Vogue Decals would be welcome if they worked properly.

Looking at that one, I am glad that I kept the unused steelies, dog dishes, and the Blackwalls from the Revell '57 Ford for my AMT '57 T Bird.

Steve, That is going to be sharp. The Dark Green will give it an elegant look. I started fooling around with my '60 Convertible, but has since put it back in the box to work on later. I have to rework the trunk area to get a better fit. A friend of mine's Dad had a '60 convertible that was white, with a dark red interior. The model I have was built up in white, with a red and white interior. I am going to change it over to Black, with a Black and White interior, one I fix the trunk, and re-contour the windshield header to remove the lip.

I appreciate the offer Raoul. I have the kit air cleaner, and the hood hinge is so simple, I can make one out of plastic I have. Years ago, I built one of Monogram's 1/24 scale '58's, which has since turned into a bunch of parts when the glue let go. I never decided to bring it back, as I have another kit that I could build at any time. When I build the next '58, It will be a hardtop. I have been looking through my Thunderbird reference material, and I marked off the few body part separation lines on the body. I may just cut them in tonight, as I have the body close to being ready for primer. Originally, I was going to cut this one up, and mate it up with an AMT '62 T-Bird to get the added detail in the chassis that this one lacks, but I decided to use the original parts, as they are all there, and I can use the little bit of time I have to getting this one done. At least on this one, I will not have to deal with so many fitment issues inherent to mixing kits.

Several years ago, I happened upon a built-up AMT 1960 Ford Thunderbird convertible. As you can see in the picture, it was a decent build. The model looked to be pretty much complete, and best of all, it was not customized. The chrome is decent, and I do not have to get anything to complete the resurrection. I have decided to restore this one as a cleanup, and color change to a stock '60 Thunderbird color combination, or something relatively close. One of the reasons I decided to do this particular car, is that it is one of the first model kits to have an engine and under hood detail. As far as I know, it is an original annual 1960 AMT model kit, and one of a few that had the engine, which was included in the deal. I was able to disassemble the car with no problem, and strip the paint from the body and interior yesterday, using Polly S Paint remover, and it stripped clean. I noticed that the previous owner did a little sanding on the body, and fortunately none of the detail was lost. I have to scratch build a hood hinge, as one is broken. Due to the historical value of this particular model, I am not going to update it with any 21st century techniques. I want to do a clean build, with a decent paint job, foil, and interior detailing.

That is a very nice build Gerry. I had a friend who had one just like that, except that his was a 383/ 4-speed, and had Cragar S/S wheels on Blackwall tires.

Steve, I just can't get over the improvements you are making to the old girl. As a kid, I have never seen an early '60's Chrysler 300 in person, but I have since seen them as an adult, going to the various Carlisle and Hershey shows. The reason that I love this one, is that back in '62, my dad had a 1962 Olds Starfire Convertible, and this build brings back memories of that car. I remember in the heat of the hottest summer day, my dad would leave the top up, drop the side windows, and lower the rear plastic glass. That gave the car a different look, in that the car was white, with a 2 tone dark red interior, and a white convertible top. He added a set of skirts to it, which added a little length to the car, which in my opinion made the car look a little better. I have been trying to figure out how to convert a JoHan '62 Olds Super 88 4-Door hardtop into a Starfire to my satisfaction. Several years ago, I saw a R& R Resin '62 Starfire, but that thing looked so crude and incorrect in the photos, that I did not bother with it. I have a question concerning your build. Are you going to do it as a letter car, or a 300 sport? If you are doing a 300H as I plan to do, there is a nice car listed on Hemmings. http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/chrysler/300h/1804505.html While the Festival Red car looks great, I am going with a different exterior color on mine, either Embassy Red (Dark Red), Cordovan Poly (Dark Brown), or Moonlight Blue Poly (Dark Blue Metallic). Judging from the color combinations you have chosen in the past on your builds, anything you put on the car will look great!!!! I cannot wait for the next installment.