W-409

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.

I have always let the body dry over night before taking the tapes off. But I think you can do it sooner as well, there should be no problem when the paint is 'touch dry'. That base color looks very good on that body. Good looking paint job and a nice color as well. I can't wait to see how it looks with the second color applied.

Unbeliavable! I'm building a '50 Oldsmobile right now and I started it in the summer of 2013... I could only hope that it would turn half as good as this. Honestly I can't believe that it is possible to build this nice model in that little time, but if anyone can do it, it's you. Fantastic work all over, especially that paint job and BMF look really good. Nice and clean assembly too.

This build subject is not exactly my style or something that I usually might post a comment, but.... WOW!!! This is incredible! When looking at the pics I thought it was a real car at first, until I realized that it has to be a model. Really nice and clean work, smooth paint job and very clean job painting the rubber trim on that body. It has always been very tricky for me (Probably because I rarely build so new cars that I don't practise it often). Good job in the interior as well, those little details finish it off.

Nice to see a '71-'72 instead of 1970 Chevelle. I have always liked more these '71 and '72 Chevelles than '70s. It's really nice to see one built this well, nice and clean work on everything, but especially that smooth paint job stands out. Very nice work.

Oh, now I understand the problem. Personally I don't see a difference between 1/24 and 1/25 (I know I have a bad eye for this kind of stuff), but many other people do .

This might be a dumb question... But what's wrong with Monogram (Or nowadays Revell) '68 GTO body? I have two of them and they look very good to me.

Jim - I'm using this kind of a polishing set that I bought a couple of years ago: The kit includes 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000 and 8000 grit polishing cloths. I have never used that 2400 grit, though, as I think 3200 is rough enough to get rid of orange peel and it doesn't go through the clear as easily as the 2400 would. That white bottle is somekind of a Surface Restoral liquid that is applied after 8000 grit and then I finish everything with Auto Glym Super Resin Polish wax. It works really well and it's surprisingly easy to use. It just takes a lot of time to polish one of these bodies properly. But as you know, Shiny Rules!

Thanks Everyone! Polishing this one isn't too easy because the body has lots of tricky shapes that make it easier to go through the paint. Luckily there isn't that much orange peel so the paint polishes out pretty good & so far I'm happy with the results, too. I have been polishing the body and it is getting there slowly. I haven't had much building time, but next week is vacation so maybe I can get this one polished early next week. Anyway, today I was able to polish the hood. It turned out good and that red paint sure looks good when polished. Hood wasn't the easiest one to polish either, especially that front end was really tricky.