Phildaupho

Very handsome collection

Thanks Steve Thanks Glen Thanks Larry Thanks Jim I appreciate all yours comments.

Thanks Oliver Thanks Chris Thanks David Thanks Alan - I really got a kick out of your candy comment Thanks I really gained an appreciation of the Revell kit during this build. There is a lot to like about it especially the interior, chassis and engine compartment.

Thanks David for the colour cover photo which was taken after Sam sold the Merc and it moved back east. This is one of my favourite photos of the car with Sam just before he sold it after it having won Best Custom at the Oakland Roadster Show. This photo was colourized by custom car historian Rik Hoving who is also a great car modeller and has mastered a number of custom parts for Replicas and Miniatures.

Thanks Mark

Thanks Gary - I certainly gained a lot of respect for Sam building this model of his car Thanks Jim I agree Larry. Sam's Merc was definitely the inspiration for many custom 49/50 Mercury's Thanks David. I have always been better at body mods than painting. Thanks Craig. I bought the ALCLAD Emerald Green a number of years ago with Sam's Merc in mind Thanks Paul. I have to confess that the paint job is far from flawless. I had never used any ALCLAD paint other than their chrome and their prismatic paints. The bottle says ALCLAD LACQUER but I did not notice that it was described as Candy Emerald Green Enamel until I had been treating it like lacquer. The paint is extremely transparent so you can hardy see it any build up. As a result I went in closer, turned the pressure up and applied thicker coats. That resulted in visible paint tracks. I then polished it out and added more coats. I dropped my airbrush with a full cup of paint and ended up using every last drop. I had decided not to clear coat it because Sam did not clear his car. But in retrospect I should have cleared it because the ALCLAD is extremely fragile and I probably should have let cure for longer. Handling it left finger prints and even sitting roof down on a paper towel for a few hours left marks; all of which had to be polished out. It also chipped easily. The paint job in regular light is very dark so I knew the only way to get the effects I wanted was to photograph it outside in bright sunlight which definitely flatters the paint job Thanks Russ - see my comments above about the paint. I am going to be using ALCLAD Candy Apple Red in the near future so I think I will be able to avoid the problems I had with the green.

BODY - Revell ’49 Merc Custom - Fender line extended into full fad away - Hood reshaped and more distinctive peak added - Custom grill and bumpers from AMT ’49 Merc - Headlights from AMT ’49 Merc frenched into cut back fenders - Custom made taillights - Drip rails removed - Upper and lower side trim added and Bare Metal Foiled - Splitters added to windshield and back window - Spotlights from AMT ’59 El Camino - Scratch built fender skirts PAINT - ALCLAD Candy Emerald Green over ALCLAD silver base INTERIOR - Revell ’49 Merc satin white with green trim - Front seat split cut - Door handles and armrests added to door panels - Carpets and headliner dark green - clutch pedal added CHASSIS - Revell ’49 Merc Custom - Rear of frame C’d - Removed mounts of dual exhaust and lakes pipes DRIVETRAIN - Stock AMT ’49 Merc engine On the Workbench thread Sam Barris 1949 Mercury - WIP: Model Cars - Model Cars Magazine Forum

Built 14 years ago. I called this Magnum PU.

A very successful mash-up.

It turned out fabulous. Great photography.

I really like your rear-end treatment. Very attractive

I really like everything about this.

Very good looking and well done build of this obviously great kit which seems to have sold out.

Always great to see a Champ Car and yours looks great. These were really nice kits. I still have an All American Racer version in my stash.

Some great modelling going on here that I am sure is going to result in a very unique Ferrari.

Love that gar station photo. That car has a great stance. The AMT 49 Ford has to rate highly as one of the most significant North American kits of all time. I got my first one at the AMT Pavilion at the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair. Pretty neat that it is one of the common kit classes for the last GSL in 2023.

Your extra time spent on this project was worth it. This is a fantastic interpretation of Model A Coupe Hot Rod built with a great selection of parts.

One of the more interesting looking sport prototypes from the era. Nice to see a well built little model big on the computer screen.

Great looking model of a great looking race car. I just came across the program from that race but it did not include any photos of that car.

Thank you Bernard for such a complete explanation. The resulting decals look fantastic on your model

Great looking show rod. Just the right combination of everything. I am intrigued with your decals. How did you do the artwork?

Fantastically built lo-boy. This kit can produce some great looking hot rods and you have definitely proved that !!

I finally completed the interior and engine compartment so the entire inner body structure could be fully assembled. The split in front seat was cut open. Arm rests, cranks and levers were added to the door panels and a clutch pedal added to the floor board. Green trim done with .2mm archival ink pen which will look OK looking through the windows and to the naked eye. The carpet area is dark green as will be the headliner The engine compartment was built pretty much box stock except for filling the holes in the firewall for mounting a bee-hive filter. The radiator was modified for the dual flathead cooling hoses. I have to say I was very impressed with this kit in terms of the interior, engine compartment and chassis. Now on to finishing the body.

This topic has generated lots of interesting points of view. As a teenager and young man I preferred Car & Driver while my best friend read Road & Track which I switched to as an adult until discovering Autoweek and Autosport. A couple of years ago I was offered subscriptions for 2 years to R&T and 1 year to C/D at price I could not resist. Before either subscription expired and only a few months after renewing long-term to Autoweek it was taken over by the publishers of R&T - C/D and now only exists on-line. After many emails I was finally offered an extension to either R&T or C/D. I never warmed back up to C/D so chose R&T. I have to agree that just like C/D, the magazine being discussed is only R&T in name. None the less, I am much happier with this substitute magazine than I am with Fine Scale Modeller. I think I will at least find the new R&T entertaining if not as informative as it used to be.

I will definitely buy the DVD if it is made available and spread the news when and if it is available. Thanks Tim