Phildaupho

Great looking recent racing car

Incredibly realistic. One of my favorite engines

Great to see #2. Another beauty. Had to flip back to #1 to see the subtle differences. Looking forward to #3. I would really like to be able to do a series of models but do not have the required discipline

Thanks Steve. You may already know but there was a Monogram pro-stock third gen Camaro that was reissued in a few different liveries over the years. I never had one but considered buying one when I was collecting kits for this project.

Thanks Carl - I had not looked at this model since finishing it over two weeks ago but seeing it again to take the photo with the poster makes me very satisfied how it turned out.

This one looks fantastic. I look forward to seeing them all. Wonderful project which has been a colossal undertaking on your part.

Beautifully built Dan Gurney racing car

I came across this Motomaster poster rolled up in my garage as I was looking for something. Richard Spenard was one of the stars of the series. This is an ad poster so Players logo left off.

I totally agree with you. I am glad the air has been sort of cleared in regard to the Revell '49 Merc. I kind of see it in the same light as the Foose Cadillac which produces a cool custom out of the box, a canvas for additional modification or a source of interesting parts for other projects.

I measured them with a caliper and the measurements are virtually identical - 36mm

I think this photo shows that except for the chop, the dimensions are pretty close between the two kits and that the Revell is not sectioned.

Great concept and repurposing of the 427 Cobra rolling chassis

Dan - You built a fabulous looking Merc Custom by combining the AMT and Revell kits - well built

Thanks guys - I appreciate your interest. I have pretty much completed modifications. Now it is a matter of finessing them. I did skim door hardware and armrests off the interior of a Revell '57 kit. Next I plan to Bare-Metal-Foil the windshield and rear window frames and add dividers/splitters. After that I will move on to painting and assembly of the rolling chassis and interior.

That is an amazing F1 model. I had no idea anything like this was available

Well said Roger and I am really digging your Merc Custom.

Thanks guys - Initially I was not going to do a work in progress post on this project because I figured the build would be very straight forward. It has ended up being more involved than I thought it would be especially trying to rectify some of the short comings of the Revell kit that have been pointed out to me. But as a result I think I will end up with a much better looking tribute to the Sam Barris Merc.

Thank you both for your replies. There is definitely a lot that is good about this kit in its own right. But one of the best things is that it led to the tooling of the '49 Mercury Wagon kit with its completely stock front end. Although I am not inclined to do it myself, grafting the front end of the Wagon onto the Custom would solve some of the short comings previously mentioned. One could even shave the arm rests and door hardware off the interior panels and add to the custom. Personally I am looking forward to eventually using the lowered suspension from the Custom under a Woody build.

Your boat is far more attractive then some of finned creations I remember seeing cruising on lakes as a kid

I currently have a Revell '49 Merc on The Workbench Sam Barris 1949 Mercury - WIP: Model Cars - Model Cars Magazine Forum and during construction short comings of the kit have been pointed out to me that I had over looked or was not aware however I always thought there was something about the kit that did not look quite right. Don't get me wrong the Revell '49 Merc kit is a great source for building a very attractive custom right out of the box which contains lots of great parts for use on other projects. Some of the short comings of the Revell '49 Merc are as follows The body is very slab sided The grill opening is peaked and squared off The hood is very angular Some say the roof has a forward slope and is chopped too much The inner door panels although having a tuck and roll appearance do not have arm rests or door and window cranks The windshield and rear window do not have divider The extended front fenders for the headlights are a matter of taste Some modelers do not like the big round holes for mounting custom taillights It is interesting to compare the Revell '49 to the AMT stock '49 Merc that was released in the early 1960's

I spent some time sanding the hood and grill opening to partially correct the kit shortcomings by making both more rounded. I think it is definitely an improvement and closer to how it should be.

Thanks Tim for your reply. I always enjoy reading your insightful and knowledgeable comments. One of the many reasons I get so much out of participating on this forum is that there is always something to learn from other car modelers. Unfortunately I was not paying attention to new kit reviews when the Revell '49 Merc was released . Although I have at least three of these kits in my stash, I never had to urge to build another chopped Merc until now. I picked the Revell kit to build the Sam Barris Merc basically for expediency in that it seemed like many of the required modifications had already been done and many of the needed parts were included in the kit. Now that the build has progressed and replies have been made; the deficiencies of this kit are very obvious. But it is just a model car and I think it will still look very representative when it is in a display case under a poster of the real car. I could not resist taking a photo of this project next to the AMT '49 Merc I built in 1994 when I was just seriously getting back into the model car hobby. I did a lot of research on how to chop a '49 Merc whether scale model or full scale. I am still very happy with how the chop turned out. With the two side by side it is very obvious the Revell sides are too flat, the shape of the hood is way off and as pointed out by Roger the shape of the grill opening is not correct. Just for curiosity I may have to find the reviews of this kit when it was new to discover other possible deficiencies I have so far missed.

Thanks Roger - I did not modify the area above the grill. That is just one of the many aspects of the Revell kit I am learning about that was not rendered correctly.

The last major body modification was to figure out how to replicate the taillights. I had already filled the round holes for the kit taillights. The original car had custom hand-built taillights frenched into the body. My first attempt was to try and modify the stock AMT taillights for application directly to the body. This might have worked but the reworked taillights became so thin and fragile that I broke one. Then I decided to drill and cut oblong slots into the body which I back filled with sheet styrene. At first I planned to bare metal foil the recesses after body paint and then flow in multiple applications of clear red paint to create lenses. This probably would have produced acceptable results but I found a clear red sprue that I can shape to make lenses. They still need some work to fit flusher. At this point I decided to see how other parts fitted and to check the stance. I just had to drill new holes to mount the AMT ’49 rear bumper but the front bumper required that the peak be taken out of the Revell ’49 Merc gravel pan. The AMT ’49 Merc custom grill is similar to the original but I may reduce its depth to fit deeper inside the grill opening. I was not happy with the shape rounded shape of the kit spotlights so checked out the AMT ’49 Merc units which were more pointed but too small. The spotlights on the original were actual spotlights and fairly large. I found the spotlights in the AMT ’59 El Camino looked very close to the originals.

All I can say is WOW. I am sure the Corvette Museum would welcome this miniature Corvette.