MrObsessive

One of my all time favorite '50's racers! There's no mistaking that sound! Pure racing art at it's finest!

Steelton is right next door to Harrisburg. Steelton sits right on Rte. 230 which runs into Highspire, Middletown, Elizabethtown............ I'm also right near Rte. 83 and 81. You're closer to Pittsburgh, which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive for me.

If you're new to BMF and you're having a hard time foiling areas which are rather faint-------such as chrome trim around tailfins, windows, etc.............It's a good idea to lightly scribe those areas first with the back edge of your Exacto blade to give you a more positive location for your blade to guide when applying. You'll want to do this BEFORE you do any painting or primering, so good prep work is paramount here. Also, if you're having trouble seeing the blade and where it's going, take a black magic marker and outline the blade with it. It makes a nice difference in seeing where you're going. One more thing to add to what Jody said------yes, you definitely want a new blade for BMF work, but you also should not need excess pressure to cut the excess BMF. You want just the weight of the blade to do the work. Putting too much pressure on the blade is a sure fire way to getting a nice deep gouge in that nice new paint job! Patience is the key here!

Very clever Bob! Didja really think you could get that past us computer geeks?

Thanks for the heads up Marc! Gotta love the Chinese and their translation to english!

Looks like great minds think alike, eh Mark?

Mike, I'll try to answer your questions.............. Only use super glue in hidden places and sparingly at that! Super glue by its nature will fog plastic windows white so it's mostly never used for such. You're better off using a 5 min epoxy for clear parts, or a "white glue" such as Krystal Klear (sp) or Formula 500. As far as other glues, that can run the gamut. I seldom use the tube glues such as Testors because as you mentioned, they take forever to dry. I say they never really dry as I've seen parts that were glued on one side show up on the other side because of the solvents which are inherent in tube glues. I use liquid glue such as Ambroid Pro Weld------while others might prefer a product called Tenax. Both can be found in a well stocked hobby shop or online. I can't help you on your Gasser quest as I'm not into those-----some others can help I'm sure. For tinting windows, you might check out Tamiya's clear acrylics such as their clear blue, green and smoke for tinting. You'll need an airbrush though to apply those colors. HTH!

I'm not a truck builder but that IS nice! Background makes all the difference! Did ya hear that George??

Ditto to what everyone else said Miguel! Nice tribute and a great mini diorama!

Yup! About the same--------you'd want to thin out the doors like I did the inside rear fender area to be more in scale to represent how it would look in 1:1.

Oh what I have in mind for that one, the bros in P.R. will be VERY tickled with!

Cruz, what else is there to say? Top notch build all the way! Now I've just got off eBay not long ago a certain vintage Corolla on the cheap that I was thinking of doing the same thing with, but with a "twist". hehehe I'll be in touch.............

Another problem area I noticed, is this way too thick body work section here. Now I'm going beyond Modeling 101 a bit, and my "Obsessiveness" is kicking in.........but I've got to fix this! Let's take the Dremel Moto Tool and thin the fender walls out a bit. Be careful if you want to do this! I have a variable speed tool so I have it at the lowest setting possible! I don't want the speed so fast for it to slip and gouge the bodywork. Ahhhhh! Much better! But now I see another SNAFU.............. Let's add a "lip" to the inside of the trunk area. Real trunks in 1:1 have a lip to seal the trunk with weatherstripping to keep the nasties out..........we want to replicate something like that here. If this step is a bit much for you, you can skip it-------this is aimed more at the advanced builders who sometimes neglect this subtle yet important detail. I added sheet plastic at the corners.............. Then with a round file, I wanted to create a radius for the corners. Look inside any car trunk--------the corners never come to an abrupt sharp angle.........there's always radii there. Since the corners have an angle to both sides, I want to join all the corners with some strip plastic that's also angled. The strip plastic is a .010 x .080 pieces that'll be used here. Using the Ambroid, I'm gluing the strips around the perimeter of the trunk opening. Now! This looks more "complete" and less "empty". I didn't shave down the tulip panel as this needs to stay put because the trunk hinges off of it. I need as little drama as possible to build this! I'll clean the edges up as well as fill in the gaps.............then I think I'm about ready to paint! BTW, the paint color will be deep Krylon Navy Blue----- a very close color that Mercury offered for 1949. The darker colors to me always show off the curves a lot better than lighter colors when it's all rubbed out and polished. Well that's all for now! I'm going to depart from my norm and paint the body early. Usually I wait until near the end of the build to minimize fit troubles. For the sake of this tutorial however, I'll paint early and while the paint is drying, go through the engine, chassis, and interior prep. Thanks for looking! Comments welcome! Edit: Whoops! Looks like Fotki had onions for dinner again! The final pic should show now...........that's the one with the lip around the perimeter of the trunk opening.

Another update so far! Here's pics of what the Tamiya Putty comes in. I hear it's now discontinued (I don't know why).....it's too bad because this putty was perfect for small jobs as it DOES NOT SHRINK! I now have a total of 2 1/2 tubes. I think I remember hearing about it being discontinued the last time I was at our local train shop. That's probably the reason why I bought the extra tube. A little goes a long way with Tamiya Putty. The hood needed some tweaking as it wouldn't sit right on the cowl. I believe the thickness of the hood is not consistent from side to side-----so I added a tiny shim to the rear of it. I also cleaned up the back edge of the hood to match the contours of the cowl better. I want to make the hood so that it can lift off totally. Not that there will be much detail under the hood (remember this is Modeling 101!) but to make some visual interest just the same. Now I want to do something about those fender skirts! There is NO positive location to place them on the body! Sooooooo.................. While the masking tape is holding the skirt in place where I want it, I made a tracing on the inside of the skirt where I will place some plastic rod later. As you can see a few pieces of plastic rod, have been added. The reason I'm doing it this way is I want to paint the skirts separate from the body. That way there won't be any "pulling away" or "fuzziness" around the edges of the skirts when painted. It's also easier to rub out the paint, polish, then add the skirts afterward. By making a positive location, you also lessen the chance of smearing epoxy all over the body when attaching. After the body is painted, thoroughly dry, rubbed out and polished, I'll then attach the skirts with Tamiya tape for positioning, then epoxy 'em from the inside. Stay tuned for more...........!

Pete, I bought another tube (actually I have three) about a year ago. I thought I heard it had been discontinued, but haven't seen concrete evidence of that. Wouldn't surprise me though as when something really good works, they always find a way to get rid of it somehow. I'll be posting another update tomorrow-------in the middle of fixing something to eat so I can get to work shortly. Later!

It better, because that's my birthday!

Is this what you're thinking of? Diamond Duster Only 1/25 scale versions of the Cougar II were done that I know of-------first by IMC, then reissued by Testors in the '70's, and then in the '90s' by Lindberg, the reissue I did.

Bill, you got that roof mounted dead on perfect!! That roof shape BTW, is more correct than Monogram's '64 Goat as it has the correct "swoop" to the roofline. So if Revell did a new '65, let's hope they get that detail right! Beautiful color BTW.............your paint jobs are always flawless!

Welcome Curt! Glad you decided to post! As a fan of vintage racers including old F1 and Indy racers.............that Honda looks GREAT!! That was before all the super wild wings and heavy decals...............much more "innocent" then!

Jerry, I used embossing powder which can be picked up at any Arts & Crafts store. It comes in a ton of colors and for something this size in this scale, it gives the carpeting a more in scale appearance than using flocking.

Thanks for all the nice words folks...............I really appreciate it! Kustom eh? Would you settle for a nearly box stock build of a '49 Merc?

Waaaay nice and clean!! Your BMF work is top notch too--------------a must for a car like this!

Thank you Ron! That was thrust of my original intent as to why I started the thread. One simple change such as perhaps wheelbase placement MIGHT make the American front drivers more appealing, and not the same 'ol, same 'ol we've been fed for nearly 30 years now. American cars USED to stand out because of their styling...........now why should anyone care if they're just following along and not leading?

Wow! This is a neat conversion! This would have made a sharper looking convertible than the regular Dodge Coronet IMO. Ditto on using a larger boot...........I'd extend the tulip panel back a few scale inches. But then it IS a concept........who says it has to have a functional folding top?

You're welcome Lyn! I'm afraid the first model I ever built is over 30 years gone now! My first model was a Monogram '57 Corvette that was lets say------less than stellar. I'd thought I'd do this for folks who are just either getting started for the first time, or those who've been away for long time and need some brushing up. We've got a lot of new ones joining up lately-----at least if it's here in a post that they can bookmark and keep, they can refer to it if they're wanting to know the basics. I'll be on this one awhile.........I'll try to keep updates to least a couple a week. I've been off work since Friday, and go back tomorrow night, thus the more frequent than usual posts I've been able to make.