W-409

I have no problem with chromed headlights. I think that chromed headlights are better than separate buckets and lenses if they are done poorly. But I believe that Round 2 does these nicely, so for me both ways are fine.

Thanks Jason, Bradley and Carl! I really appreciate the comments. Thanks for pointing out the mold seam. I didn't notice it while building and it's fixed now. It was really small in person, but after smoothing it out, the difference is huge. Thanks! I've always liked the combination of Red and Silver. Those two colors just fit so nicely together and I will be doing the same color scheme in some other builds as well. I've made some more progress with this one. After a couple rounds of putty and sanding I decided that the front seat is smooth enough for Primer. And it was, so I went ahead and painted it today. Also the backseat is painted. Today I went ahead and flocked the carpet on the interior. I've never liked Flocking, but it sure looks better than only flat black paint.

Thanks David! I really appreciate your help on this! You're actually correct about the valve covers. I don't know where did I get the feeling that they should be painted red, even though the reference pictures that I used clearly show their black color... Maybe it's because Chevy valve covers usually are the same color as the block. Well luckily I have paint stripping liquid very close and I will remove the red paint and spray some black over the valve covers. I have found pretty much pictures of the engine, but in the interior everything isn't that sure. And I have a very little idea about the chassis. I have to go and visit at my friend's place to see if he has those magazines (He has lots of them! ). Thanks for the tips. Today I painted the bellhousing with red oxide primer that I mixed using Humbrol Brown and Red paints. I will put some flat clear on it tomorrow and post a picture then.

Thank You, Charlie. I had really no idea about the function of that part. I don't ever remember seeing it before. Another thing that I had no idea about was the color of the bellhousing. I thought that it might be a different color than the transmission, but really had no idea so I left it the same red as the engine is. Thanks for the information on that, too. I'll go ahead and paint it with some kind of a mixture... The transmission is painted with Humbrol Gunmetal, and I think it looks pretty good. Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it, since I want to get this one correct. Now Let's Paint!

Thanks Lee and Carl! Today I thought that the engine is dry enough and painted the transmission with silver. But I can't get any further, because I have no idea what color I should paint that part that is circled in the picture. And what part it is? I'm really not a Ford Expert...

Thanks Oscar ! I really like the color as well. It will fit nicely on this body, especially with the Two-Tone paint scheme that I have in my mind... I have done some progress with this one. I clear coated the chassis and started putting it together. I glued the front axle to the frame and it fit perfectly. The springs are original ones from the kit, there was no need to lower them, because I had turned the spindles upside down to get the front end sitting a bit lower. Rear springs are shortened and rear end is lowered more than the front. Once I put the wheels and tires together, I just had to take a couple of pics...

Thanks Everyone! I really appreciate the kind words. I agree with you, Ken. This is a really nice kit with sharp details and lots of parts. The subject couldn't be much better, either. It is possible that I have to buy another one of these at some point... Today I watched the touch dry body and I'm not completely sure if I should do a light sanding with 2,000 grit paper and shoot another coat of clear or leave it like that. Another coat of clear would help with polishing, but make BMF work harder... Once the body is completely dry, I'll see what I'll do. But in the meanwhile I can work on some other things with this. For example the tachometer could be installed and wired. Also I'm working on a '50 Oldsmobile Custom at the moment...

Thanks Dan, James and Chris! I really didn't expect of any comments on this older build. I mean that I got so much comments when I introduced it, I just wanted to re-post the pictures... These kind words from you all really made my day. Thanks. And yeah, just read about that Fotki - thing on TRaK. It sounds really good, I hope they will be back soon.

Thanks Dominik. The antenna was like that when I cut it apart from the parts tree. I wondered about its shape then, but since I saw no problems with the chrome plating on that spot where it's bent, I thought that it's maybe supposed to be like that. After looking from Google, it shouldn't. Gotta fix it. Thanks.

I'm a bit late, but Thanks Mike and Kevin! I thought that this build started so nicely that it would be a shame to leave it in box for a couple of more months. So I took it back on the bench a couple of days ago. I put some more Micro Sol on the decals and got them pretty nicely on place. Today it was time for a clear coat. Tomorrow I'll see how it looks and decide what I do. Maybe a light sanding and more clear, or then just leave it as is and polish the paint.

If you are doing a Super Stock Drag Car, you must decide if you want to build an old Super Stocker, that could race in 1969 or so, or modern day Super Stocker. Obviously, the modern one would need bigger modifications, just like Dale said, big wheel wells in the rear etc. Old Super Stock car would be an easier one to build, because the rule was that you could fit as big slicks as you could make fit into stock wheel wells. The whole car would be closer to a 'Stock Car'. That picture what Dale posted, is not a Super Stocker, though. It says B/Stock on the B-Pillar. I drive Stock Eliminator in real life and I have studied the history of Stock and Super Stock a bit.

Looks like Fotki has lost the pictures on this one... Anyway I figured out how to take better pics on my models, and I decided to take some pictures of this one. Now while we are waiting for those Fotki pictures to return, here are some newer ones (If anyone is interested in these older builds anymore).

I think no one was driving a '69 Olds Pro Stock back then... If you are going to build a modern Tube Chassis Drag Car from '69 Oldsmobile, it is Not a Pro Stock car. Pro Stock rules are very limited and most of the guys run with new Camaros, Mustangs etc. I'm not a Pro Stock expert, I guess someone else can tell about the rules in more specific way. If you are going to build a modern Tube Chassis car, there are many different classes where it can run. For example Competition Eliminator, Top Sportsman, Pro Modified and so on depending on the engine and other stuff. But unfortunately, Pro Stock is not one of them. This is what today's Pro Stock car looks: I don't try to be a nitpicker or anything... Just trying to help you on the classes. If you want to build a modern day Drag Car with Tube Chassis, I think your best choice would be Pro Sportsman kits from Revell. '55 And '57 Chevrolet kits have a nice tube chassis that can be fitted in many different cars. I haven't tried it in '69 Olds, but I guess it will fit with some adjustments. Also Revell '56 Jukebox Ford has the same chassis, as well as Revell's Christine Pro Mod kit. Those kits have nice engines and basically all you need would be the Oldsmobile body and one of those Revell kits.

This turned out great! Nice to see someone else building Stockers as well. It looks very nice overall and gives me the inspiration to continue my '58 Chevy Sedan Delivery Junior Stocker project.

Yep, a truly amazing build with fantastic weathering. All of the little details you added, they really finish this thing. Thank You for sharing this build from start to finish, it was a pleasure to watch. Oh, and the pictures are excellent, too. This could very well be a replica of my '55 Chrysler after 50 years. :lol:

Yep, it might be true that the Semi Gloss paint would be correct. But I think that I will try a light coat of gloss clear over the dashboard without any polishing etc. So that it would look like metal part, but without the "Show Shine". Oh and I forgot to say that the sauna is unheated. When it's unheated, it really makes paint dry faster at least in our house. A bathroom where the sauna is, is a bit warmer room than rest of the house. During the Winter, my painting process is a bit more complicated than in the Summer. On Summertime I paint outside and take painted parts immediately inside and put them in the sauna. Winter is a bit harder, I have to paint in a garage and leave those parts there until they are 'Touch Dry' and then I can bring them to the sauna. Because a fresh paint doesn't like it when the temperature is below the freezing point, even though walking from garage to inside the house takes about 20 seconds.

Today I went to our Capital, Helsinki, where was a Christmas Swap Meet with lots of cool Hot Rod style stuff for sale. One of Helsinki's Model Shops was on the way back home, so I stopped there and found a bottle of gray paint to be used on the Metal parts in the interior. It's a Semi Gloss paint, but hopefully Gloss Clear Coat will do the trick... But I got something visible done as well. I painted the engine Yesterday with red straight out from Spray Can. I think it turned out okay. I think the most important thing when painting engine or any other part that has lots of curves and different kinds of shapes, is spraying many light coats instead of just one light and one wet coat. Now I put the parts in Sauna so they hopefully are dry tomorrow and I can start assembling.

Thanks Guys, I appreciate the kind words! Charlie: I usually never look at the painting instructions on model kits. But I haven't found that good reference pictures of this type of cars... All seem to be the "Basic" '57 Ford Customs. I guess the gray dash and other metal parts will be painted with Revell or Humbrol Enamel Paint from Airbrush. I just have to go and pick on bottle up. Those pictures are really helpful, Thanks a lot! I forgot to say on the first post, that all reference pictures and information about these cars would be highly appreciated. I'm not a Ford-Expert....

That paint job looks like glass! Really nice work with it, also the decals are looking great. I like that shade of silver on Front Wheels, too, and your engine detailing is spectacular.

I agree with Carl... Really nice build! When I saw the topic title 'Corvette Funny Car' I thought already that this will be something cool. And it was. Really great paint and detail work. Good job. Edit: Your two other Corvette Funny Cars are really nice as well!

I have wanted to do a more detailed WIP Thread on here for a long time. The idea is to tell in more detailed way how I do these things and I hope that someone will find these things helpful, or at least enjoy the progress on this '57 Ford. At least I enjoy reading and looking those very detailed WIP-Threads and I learn lots of good tips and tricks from them. I got this Revell / Model King '57 Ford Police Car kit as a Birthday Present a couple of days ago. The kit is an excellent one, everything seems to be correct. I'll be building something like Sean's Box Art Build from this one. I'm a bit afraid of that black paint job, but I hope it will turn out somewhat successful... Here are pictures of all parts trees and parts that are included in the kit: http://s486.photobucket.com/user/nigot58/library/57%20Ford%20Police%20Car?sort=3&page=1 I started from the engine, as usual. I glued the block halves together with liquid glue. I normally use Plastruct's Plastic Weld or Tamiya Liquid Cement. This time I went with Tamiya. After the parts dried, I sanded the seam between those halves smooth and brushed more liquid glue on that seam. After sanding that again, it looked good for primering. Just the regular Spray Can Primer that can be found from any Hardware Store was sprayed on. It looked really smooth after primer, that no Putty was needed. At the same time I removed mold seams, flash etc (Though there was very little of flash) from other engine parts that will be painted the same red color as the engine block. I sprayed the same Primer on those parts as well. If everything goes alright, tomorrow is the time for red paint. The chassis/interior part needed some putty work. First I sanded the molded in Copyright Textes away from the chassis. Then I put some putty to smooth things out and same thing on the interior side to cover ejector pin marks. There are a couple of Ejector Marks left, but they will be all covered with seats or dashboard. Also the Dashboard needed just a little sanding. I started removing a couple of mold seams of it with a file and then continued with 600 and 1,000 grit sandpaper and finished with 2,000. After Primer it looks ready for paint as well.

Really nice build with an excellent paint job. So Smooth and Shiny! Great details in the engine bay as well. Nice build, and yes, we'd like to see pictures about all of your '57 Fords together... ...But now back to my '57 Ford Police Car project...

That turned out really great! Every single detail seems to be just right and your overall building skills are so amazing that it could very well be the real car in the pictures. What did you use to make the index marking on the windows? It looks really good to me.

I haven't made any progress with my El Camino either except that I pulled it out a couple of weeks ago, watched the kit's Engine Bay and put it fast back in the box. The reason why it stopped, is the engine bay... Inner fenders are in need of styrene and there I lost the interest. But I will try to continue it, just need to finish a couple of other ones first. I'll try to get it going again early next year.

Thanks Jon! Am I really this old (17) already... I can't fit into Junior category anymore.