W-409

Finally I finished something. I started building this thing back in 2013 pretty soon after the kit was released, but I worked it on and off, and it spent several years boxed away until I finally got around finishing it last week. So this was built from the Revell/Model King kit that comes with all of the vintage Police equipment. The kit itself is really good quality so I didn't do any major modifications, just some additional detailing here and there. Body had plenty of mold lines and mold flash though, they needed quite a lot of sanding and putty to smooth out. The body is painted with regular automotive spray paints, decals are from the kit and then the body has two coats of clear on it. Then the paint job was polished and chrome trim done with BMF. Engine bay is pretty much out of the box with the kit supplied Ford Y-Block. I added some basic detailing like spark plug wires, fuel lines, vacuum lines for vacuum wipers, throttle linkage, heater hoses, battery cables, brake lines etc. Interior is completely out of the box with just "detailing by paint". The grey color is primer with a coat of flat clear on top, except for the dashboard which was clear coated with glossy clear coat. Chassis has also no modifications, I just tried to detail everything by careful detail painting and some black wash. Overall the kit was a lot of fun to build. I can't remember having any fit issues with it. Here are some pictures of the finished product, all kinds of comments (Good or Bad) are welcome so I can make the next one better. Here is a link to the build thread in case you want to see progress pictures: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/82457-57-ford-custom-police-car/ And here is the finished interior.

Thanks David! Well this thing is pretty much finished. Tomorrow it'll go to a local Model Car Show over the Easter and after that I will take some photos of it and post them in Under Glass. Thanks to everyone who has been following this project and posting comments, I really appreciate it. See you in Under Glass section next week.

This is getting really close to being finished. Today I got the radiator and some small parts installed in the engine bay, added a few wires and hoses and then it was time to install the body on the chassis. Now it's only the exterior chrome parts and some small detailing in the exterior and engine bay, then I guess I will call it done.

Thanks David and Steve! Today I got the BMF done on the body. This being the base model, Ford Custom, there wasn't that many chrome trim to foil. Not my best work, but on the other hand I've also done worse. Anyway it looks decent for me not having dealt with BMF for a couple of years. Also the underside of the body was painted with flat black, except for the headliner which I painted grey. Air cleaner was glued together from two halves. The seam between them had to be smoothed out with putty before painting... Now I've prepped and painted almost all small parts that are still not installed. Windshield and rear window are glued to the body and drying. Tomorrow I hope I can start the final assembly.

Thanks guys for the kinds words, they are appreciated! David, yep, my spray can paint jobs always end up having some orange peel to polish. I want to move on to airbrush in the near future to make the paint jobs a bit better, and have a bit less orange peel to polish. Plus that then I would have a bigger selection of paint colors. Just need to figure out a good clear coat for airbrushing... Gary, you're right that the casting marks are one of those small things that improve the overall look of a model a lot. The body is now polished and ready for BMF. It was quite a lot of work because of the tricky body shapes especially in the quarter panel/tail fin area. But I think it turned out pretty good, especially considering how hard the black color is to get right. The radiator wall had some casting marks on the front side as well. I'm not sure how well they can be seen in the finished model, but I got rid of them before painting anyway.

Thanks guys, it's been another long while since anything has happened at the bench. Just haven't had the time to build anything lately. Now this thing is back on the bench however and my plan is to get it done. I hope I can pull it off... Hood had some ejector pin marks on the bottom side. They were smoothed out with putty, then some prepping and it was time for primer. I also started polishing the body. The roof was done first as it's the easiest part. It turned out pretty good, I just hope the black areas will turn out good, they are always tricky to get right...

Thanks, you're right it takes quite a bit of work to keep the cars in good condition, especially in the winter when there's snow and road salt and all kinds of stuff on the roads. Well, I don't drive the Impala in the winter because honestly it's a bit too nice car for that... The Ford is not the best winter ride either, so it will get winter driving only on some special occasions and when there is no salt on the roads. But the Rambler is driven every day. I wash it at least once in a week and more often if it's really dirty. Lot of work, but that way, together with other maintenance work, it stays in good condition. And I don't have to drive any modern car, because I really don't want to. Thanks! I like the '80 Laurel! Those are really rare over here.

Since 1:1 cars take the biggest amount of my free time, here are the cars I'm driving... Some of you might have seen some of these cars during the years but I'm guessing no-one remembers them anyway ! My daily driver is this '64 Rambler American. All original, sold new here in Finland. I have driven around 33 000 miles with it now during the last two years and it works fine! Has original Rambler 196 OHV six cylinder and three on the tree. Gets a pretty good mileage but is a lot cooler than any new car. Then in the summertime I drive pretty often with the '60 Chevy Impala. My dad bought this in 1988 and it has been in the family ever since. It has a 283 SBC and Powerglide tranny. The race car is now in progress, but hopefully we'll be back on track next summer. '74 Chevy Malibu Classic, built for NHRA Stock Eliminator class already in 1979 and that's what we're also running with it. 350 SBC and it used to have a TH350 tranny, but now we're converting it to run a Jerico 4 speed. Best ET so far 11.968 in J/SA class. And this is the latest addition to the family, bought it about a year ago... 1972 Ford Consul, but it's powered by Ford 302 and a six speed manual. Fun car to drive, and smokes tires easily!

I'll need to dig out my '69 Torino that I tried to build for one of these Cannonballs maybe 5 or so years ago. I remember I failed because of paint issues, but can't remember for sure how far I made it. If it's less than 50% done I think I'll take advantage of the Exception to Rule 1. But I need to dig it out and see how it looks first because honestly I can't remember how far I made it, plus that some things I built back then probably need to be redone anyway.

Today I bought a '68 Chevrolet Impala SS promo model. I've been trying to find one for a long time, but they always seem to be too expensive. But this one was found locally here in Finland and it was very cheap. The same gentleman also had a '67 Pontiac GTO Convertible promo model, which I bought as well. Both of these are in nearly flawless condition, and the price for both was way cheaper than what these go for in eBay... The Impala will be built factory stock with chassis and engine bay from AMT's '67 Impala. The GTO will probably be built factory stock with a more detailed chassis and engine bay at some point as well. But in the meanwhile they can be displayed the way they are.

Having a 1:1 scale '62 Chevy II 2D Sedan that I'm building as a Gasser, both of these kits are a must have. Actually, I need several of both... There are lots of possibilities for building these kits, and kitbashing a factory stock '65 Chevy II 2D Sedan or more realistic station wagon by using the AMT kit together with one of these, should not be too hard to do either... Can't wait!

Wow, haven't seen this one before. But, no matter who would cast it, I want one copy!

That would be a good idea if it's OK to do a build like that where chassis and at least most of the drivetrain would be from 1996 NASCAR racer and body would be older... On the other hand, I didn't remember I have one '96 SS Impala glue bomb... I will have to think about that, would it be interesting enough to build if I backdated the engine into something older...

Wow, that thing has so small bed that it might be hard to fit a V8 in it. Probably, but to be honest Japanese cars are really far outside my interests. Especially the newer ones (1980->). The C1500 Pickups and Chevy Caprice are probably the only body styles that would interest me even a little, but I think they don't interest me enough to start building. Although I would like to build a C1500 at some point, but I'd like to do it factory stock.

Excellent work on this classic kit! Like we see here, with some extra work these kits can be built in very good looking models. I'm following with great interest, as I have one of these waiting to be built as well.

This is pretty much what I thought as well. The Hot Wheels theme would be an interesting Community Build on its' own, but in my opinion it shouldn't be done as the Cannonball Run... Also the "Year you were born" doesn't work for me at all. If I was born in the 70s or earlier, then absolutely, but since I was born in 1996 I'd have to be out... Can't figure out any interesting cars from 1996 that I would like to build. Cars In Songs would be good, that theme would give tons of options for different kinds of builds. Wagon Run that someone mentioned on page 1... Absolutely, Wagons are very cool! If we have an interesting theme, I will try to build (and finish!) something.

It's been a while since my latest post here, but thanks for the kind words anyway! Gary, Thanks, the Photobucket issue is annoying, at some point I will move all those photos into my Fotki folder and then I can get rid of that Photobucket ad. The spark plug wires are pretty simple. Pick the spark plug material that you prefer, mine is made by Scale Production but there are bunch of other good manufacturers as well. Find a perfect size drill bit for the wire and drill nine holes to the top of the distributor. Before drilling, it is important to sand the top of the distributor cap smooth. Drill also holes to the cylinder heads where the spark plugs would be and then just add the wires on place with super glue. Yes, the Malibu has a 350 in it, built to match the NHRA Stock Eliminator rules. The best ET the car has gone is 11.96 and 109 MPH, but hopefully we can be a bit faster next summer. The American car culture is pretty big here in Finland, but it's even bigger in Sweden. Also Norway and Denmark have some culture, but otherwise it's not that big in Europe as far as I know. It's been a while since I've had an update. Summer went fast and I had no time to do anything with models. But now I was able to shoot a first couple of clear coats on the body of this '57. I will let it dry for a day or two and then I will shoot a couple of more clear coats. That way I have enough clear for polishing...

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'll need to find either the Hatchback or Wagon version of the Pacer then.

What is the best (most accurate and "fairly easy" to find) source for AMC 232 six cylinder engine? At least AMT's AMC Pacer Wagon has the 232 engine, and the kit has been reissued a few years ago so it's easy to find. But, are there any other choices?

I just went through this whole thread and you're doing some amazing work with this Dodge. Especially the door panels and seats are done very nicely. I will use the same method on some of my future projects as well. Excellent work so far.

Ed Fluck at Drag City Casting did a similar Willys Pickup body a few years ago. Unfortunately it seems to be out of stock, but maybe it's worth checking out if someone has an extra copy of that kit that they're willing to sell. The quality on these Ed's bodies is top notch.

I did not see this one coming, but I'm so happy to see this being reissued. There are never too many kits of these vintage Dragsters, and this kit has been on my "Want-list" for a long time... Needless to say, I'll be buying a couple when it's out.

Yesterday I bought this '65 Rambler Classic 770 promo from a friend. Someone has cut the roof off in the past, so some bodywork needs to be done. Anyway, it's a great starting point. I'm thinking factory stock...

Thanks for the kind words, they are much appreciated! I got the interior finished. It went together really nicely, but to be honest so far I can't remember having any issues with this kit overall. Steering wheel and steering column painted with Revell Enamel colors and for the steering wheel I used the kit supplied Ford decal. Dashboard is painted with grey primer from spray can, clear coated with gloss clear. Then I did some detail painting, used a bit BMF and black washing to bring out details. The radio and pedals were done pretty much the same method and glued on place. And here is the interior glued together: I also put decals on the body. Many of these old Police Cars have pretty few decals in them, so I didn't want to overdo it either. Sheriff logos to the doors and the "Car 5" textes on front fenders were enough. Now I'll let it dry over the weekend before clear coat.

Seems like we have somekind of Like button now, I guess someone had liked my post somewhere as I got a notification and somekind of green box was right next to my post. As long as the like button doesn't kill communication, or comments on build threads/finished models, I'm fine with it. Several forums where I visit, they have the like button, but I've personally never used it. I much rather post a comment than click the button. I don't use FB either so don't know how it works over there. But let's see, if people are still posting comments on build threads and finished models, then the button doesn't matter me. But if there is only bunch of likes and zero comments, then at least I will post my builds somewhere else in the future. Let's see what happens.