W-409

Very nice looking Riviera! These are very rarely seen built in this style which is a shame because I think this car looks maybe the best when built as a Custom. Yours is an excellent example of that - beautiful color and spot on stance. Nice detailing as well.

Välkommen Johan! Model Cars Magazine är en mycket bra forum och det är trevligt att se andra människor från Europa här. My Swedish is not perfect, so just in case here's the same in English: (Welcome Johan! Model Cars Magazine is a great forum and it's nice to see other people from Europe in here.).

Thanks Guys, I appreciate the comments! Brent: I'm using .080" styrene rod. It works really well, it's not too thick nor too thin in my opinion and it handles very well when bending it. It was also the same size as that roll cage that came with the kit and that I used as a basis for this new one. Thanks again!

What he said ! Fantastic work on that Clutch Inspection Plate. I would never had the idea of making it like that - and after looking at these pics, it must be the best, and probably the only possible, way to do it from sheet styrene. Very nice and clean work with that whole clutch / transmission assembly. When it's painted I bet it will be hard to tell if it's real or model.

Good looking start on both of these! I like that Murder Nova as well so it's great to see how it turns out. Also those Mustangs seem to be really popular in different Street Car / Doorslammer classes so it's neat to see someone really building a scale model out of one. Is that putty that you're using Green Putty? If it is, I have to warn you that it might sink a little when putting a bit heavier coat of it. It will take months - maybe a year, but the seams might be visible after that. It happened on one of my builds, and nowadays I only use that putty when using it either in very tricky spot (Because it's soft and easy to sand) or if I don't have to put much of it on. Just a warning, your putty work looks really smooth...Much better than mine!

Ouch - this looks nasty. That would be a cool one to build, though! Maybe some day.

Now I think the cage should be pretty much done. I bought a new set of styrene rod a while ago, but couldn't use it until now because I was in a hurry finishing my '50 Oldsmobile Club Coupe (http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=98453). Now when it's done I could get back working with this one so I added another X between those rear tubes that go from main hoop to rear floor. The seat is a bit too high as it doesn't fit under that Funny Car cage. The cage couldn't be higher or it would hit to the body so that seat is a bit too tall. I need to cut it a bit lower and then I can start working on other interior components as well...

A Big Thank You to everyone for the kind comments!!! I like those colors a lot as well and paint job turned out pretty good. I have always liked the shape of this car and I'm very glad to have one on my shelf now. It's also a great basis for a kit bashing project, especially that engine would fit in many Hot Rods... Ronnie: Post pics when you get started with yours, I'm very interested in seeing more of these built as Customs. I've never been a fan of fender skirts myself, and that's probably the reason why they can't be seen on my builds very often. Steven: I've always liked steel wheels a lot, with or without dog dishes. As you said, they work very well with white walls. Mike: Yep, doing engine modifications was one way to create something not everyone has done. I think it looks really good with two carbs instead of that original setup. Thanx again to everyone! Each and every comment is highly appreciated!

This is truly inspirational work. Excellent work on the little details, makes me sometimes wonder if this is a real car or a model. I will have to bookmark this thread for future reference...I have two of these Corvettes on my stash.

Joe - Thanks! I like how it turned out, too. Robin - Tack så mycket! That red turned out good. I like that kind of deep paint jobs on these cars.

The weather was really good today so I was able to shoot some pics of the finished Oldsmobile. They can be seen in Under Glass - section Here. Thanks to everyone who has been following this one and especially for those who have posted comments during the build. It was a lot of fun and now I can continue working on a couple of other projects...Stay tuned.

I have finally finished this Oldsmobile that I started in the summer of 2013. I wanted to build a clean Mild Custom with minor body modifications, which is the style I like the best in 1:1 scale as well. Shaving unneccessary chrome parts such as hood ornament and Oldsmobile logos etc was really easy, because they were all molded separately and there were no locator holes on the body parts. So I just left them off. I also left vent windows from front away, because it made this car look a lot smoother in my opinion. It's painted with Maston spray paints and clear coat is also from Maston. Then I polished the body. Engine is the Oldsmobile Rocket that comes with the kit, but I swapped a new intake manifold for two carburetors on it. Carbs and air cleaners are from my parts box. Otherwise the engine is pretty much stock except for the details that are built using either aftermarket products or scratchbuilt stuff - or both. Interior is pretty much stock, except for color choices on dashboard and upholstery. I flocked interior floor and used kit's decals on the dashboard and steering wheel. Chrome trim on door panels is BMF. Chassis was lowered from rear by shortening rear springs and grinding a little material away from rear frame. On front, I cut the spindles in three pieces and glued them back together moving the mounting point for tires a bit upwards for a lowered stance. Tires and wheels are from Revell kit. Exhaust pipes are made from styrene rod, mufflers are modified kit parts and exhaust tips are plastic tubing. It was a fun build and this kit is an excellent one. This one turned out just like I planned originally and I'm pretty happy with it, even though there are mistakes too. WIP-Thread can be found Here. And last here's one shot together with my '61 Oldsmobile Mild Custom that I finished a year ago.

Tim: Thanks! I think engine detailing is probably one of the funniest parts in model building and that's why I usually try to detail engine bays as well as I can with my skills. Steven: Thanks, that's another good tip! I will definitely try that as well on my next project. When looking at your builds, it sure does work. Lee: Thanks, I appreciate the kind words! I have to say that I'm really happy with this one as well. I got the Oldsmobile finished today. Here is the last set of WIP pictures & one teaser shot of the finished build. I will shoot more photos on Sunday after that show if the weather permits and post them in Under Glass. I have to say that I like how it turned out, it looks just like I planned originally. First, here are two pictures of my new exhaust that I got painted & installed. Exhaust tips are plastic tubing so I didn't have to drill any holes for those tips. I wish I could hear how the Rocket sounds with these exhaust pipes! Then here are two pics with body and chassis together. They fit pretty nicely together from front, but some minor work had to be done in the back as body was sitting a bit too high on the chassis. I added small styrene blocks to wrong side of the body that made the body to sit low enough on the chassis. After that everything fit perfectly and after lots of finishing touches the last picture is a teaser shot of finished model. See you soon in Under Glass.

This is quite interesting news! I very rarely buy models of European cars, but this might be an exception. I'd like to build a replica of either one of these things that Larry Watson painted back in the day...

Thanks Jim - That is a great tip, I just wonder why I haven't thought about that before... I will for sure try that next time. Today I've done lots of little detail work and it looks like I need to get it done tomorrow to take it in the show with me. It should be quite easy, especially as I'm on vacation tomorrow. I also painted inside of the body with flat black and installed the windows. I didn't want to install those little vent windows as I think it looks cleaner like that and I've seen it done on many Period Correct Custom Cars. Then I installed sun visors, rear view mirror and interior light on place. Battery was glued on place as well. I connected those battery cables, they are made from Scale Dreams' wire and those connectors are Detail Master Photo Etch parts. Battery mount was a real pain, though... I had to dig it out from my floor many times and of course my first try wasn't succesful either. But finally I did it. Other little things I did include painting that X-part of the frame, installing a driveshaft, adding generator wires and painting all other parts that are still missing to get them assembled tomorrow.

I really like those steel wheels! If I ordered one of these new, I'd for sure order it with steelies. Very nice work all over (As usual), fantastic paint work and as Peter said above, fantastic clean job with the BMF. Excellent looking Chrysler for sure. How about building the Pontiac next? That would be an easy pick to me as it's the only GM-product on that list.

Not only the body & flip don't fit together, almost every part in that kit fights back when trying to put it on place ! I built one of these years ago and I still see nightmares of it... I'm really interested to see what happens with this one. I bet it will look excellent when finished.

Thanks Carl, Peter, Ben and Jim! I appreciate the kind words. I'm happy how the paint looks as well. That color looks good & paint job is not too bad either. It has a couple of mistakes for sure, but luckily they're not very big. Today I put some BMF on the body. It was pretty tricky to do, especially those side trims on front & rear fenders. It was hard to get the foil cut that straight on such a long chrome trim. There are a couple of wrinkles in that BMF, but it doesn't look too bad, especially in person. Next thing was to start making new exhaust for this. This kit comes with an exhaust with only one exit from back of the car and that didn't sound good to me. So I bent two exhaust pipes from styrene rod and they end after going through the frame. I had to make some mufflers as well and I thought the original muffler from the kit could be turned into two a bit smaller mufflers for these pipes. So I cut the muffler in two pieces and added a round piece of sheet styrene to the other end to match the other. I didn't like kit's battery...So I took one from my parts box. It needed minor lowering, but my razor saw fixed that problem easily. I also went to the garage and shot some white paint on windshield wiper liquid container and grey Primer on that X-part of the frame. It will be painted tomorrow.

That Hot Rod that I posted looks really Traditional to me - also the wheels and tires. On that winner (What I was talking about on my original post), those wheels and tires are not Traditional. I don't know the wheel size, but to me they look too big and tire profile is too low. That paint job is more old school, but the whole car just doesn't look like something that could have been built in the 1950s or 1960s. It looks more like '90s or later Hi Tech to me...And I really don't like that style.

I think it looks horrible. Especially those wheels and tires are something that doesn't on a Hot Rod at all. But all in all it looks way too modern to me. This looks really good:

Great work John, as always. I wouldn't have thought that these kits can be turned that beautiful with as little modifications as you did. But of course if someone can do it, it's you. Fantastic work all over, very nice and smooth paint jobs, clean Alclad work and sharp details.

Now it looks like Photobucket is working again so I was able to upload the pics & post them here. As I said earlier, next thing to do is adding BMF and I bet that will be tricky. I still need to clean up excess wax from door lines and other tricky spots, just in case you wonder what those white spots are.

Thanks everyone for the comments, they are appreciated! Jim S: That's a cool set, the paint job should turn out even better when you're able to polish up to 12000 grit. No wonder your paint jobs are always so nice! I've tried that Dremel method too. It's not easy, but it can be done with good results. Gene: I'm really happy how it is turning out, too. I've done better engine work, but the body and paint is turning out pretty good so far... Hopefully I will get it done. Jim D: I like the color choice as well. These two colors fit very nicely together. Tony: I guess I would go crazy if I started polishing orange peel with 4000 grit cloth. I think 3200 is just perfect for the first grit, it smooths out orange peel quite easily, but it doesn't go through the paint immediately if there is enough clear. I think it's really easy to control the polishing when starting with 3200 grit. Well I'm happy to say it - the body is now polished. It took me pretty much time, but the end result is quite good. Luckily I didn't go through the paint at any spot, here it would have happened easier than on my previous builds because this body has lots of round shapes. Tomorrow starts a real pain....BMF! Edit: There seems to be a problem with Photobucket. Gotta re-try later with the pics.

Yep! http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=77488 Nothing wrong with rust repairs, but the "fun" starts when it's time to apply some Bondo... That paint job looks great! Perfect shade of blue that works very well with those body shapes and with the silver base color. Good job on that.

Yep, I've been in a hurry with my '50 Oldsmobile Mild Custom that I'm building for a model car show next Saturday. It should be done, but there's still a lot of work to do. Also I've spent some time in the garage with those rust repairs... Your Barracuda looks very good though, I think the paint should be okay after two hours of drying if you remove the tape.