MrObsessive

Yeah, what he said!! The dashboard is incredible!! I love the convex curve of the gauge faces........did you flow epoxy onto them?

Welcome aboard Andy!

That's what I was wondering Bob.......if it'll be another unassembled diecast and not a full on plastic kit. Their website doesn't say so.....(well it probably does in Japanese! ) but let's hope it's in plastic-------that is if it will materialize at all. I'm not getting my hopes up until I can see it in person after the '60 Pontiac/'78 Monte Carlo debacle.

Welcome Steve and thanks for the compliment! Yeah, I can see that BEAUTIFUL trailer hitched behind my '55 Ford when I get it done! I LOVE that color!

I just found out through a reliable source that there's a 1/12 scale Ford GT40 kit coming!! Trumpeter's going to make it...........let's hope they get this one really right as this is another one of my favorite road racers of the '60's! And yes, given the price of some of their past stuff, it won't be necessarily cheap! But should be worth it! Now maybe they can squeeze out a Daytona Cobra Coupe in 1/12?? I hope they're not teasing us with this one as it does show a Mark II 427 in the online catalog! Check out Trumpeter's website over here. Scroll down a bit to see it..................Dialup beware!!

AAAAH memories! Each one of those cars was somewhere in my neighborhood block circa 1965-70. Yes, they knew how to design a good lookin' 4 door back in the '50's-'60's.......somewhere along the line they lost their way, but seem to be making a comeback particularly GM. I LOVE the new for '08 Cadillac CTS (and BEAUTIFUL CTS Coupe Concept!!) If only they could make an honest to goodness 4 door hardtop again, I'd seriously consider buying a 4 door. I can't stand the way too thick B pillars in 4 doors today which block my left side peripheral vision! I'm 6'3" and have to have the seat as far back as it'll go...............that B pillar is a real pain in the rear to see around!

Yes, I have the plated threaded ones with the nuts (the smallest size they have). Actually, I got them from the late Augie Hiscano at the '04 Birmingham NNL. I haven't used them yet though............Looks like they would be great for removable wheels with a mini lug nut wrench or something!

Uh Oh! I gotta watch my back! That carb detail is excellent Cruz! Yes it's tedious, but well worth the effort for an engine like that! Keep up the great work!

Junkman, Modelhaus sells that flattop roof section separately. I have a project like that in mind for down the road-------I would start with the Monogram '59 Chevy convertible as a base. They're pretty plentiful and there's no windshield frame to have to wack off since the roof section has it molded in. Heaven knows when I'll start on mine..............I have all the parts and pieces to do one, now all I need is the time and ambition!

I'd love for someone to kit a proper 1957-58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. Pic courtesy of Google A VERY sexy 4 door hardtop IMO!! Would also look kinda neat for the lowrider crowd, as it's lines suit that type of vehicle very well.

Now that's funny!

Thanks Raul! I get the bolts from here. Great realistic stuff...........a little pricey though!

I went about scratchbuilding a new sway bar..............I found some really flexible wire that one can get from the craft store------it's the stuff that folks use to hang up plants from the ceiling and it comes wrapped up in kind of an oblong shape. I don't know the exact name of the wire, I just remember getting some a while back because it looked proper for certain things. I tried bending steel rod, but it was soooooo stiff and unforgiving, frustration set in and I scoured my scratchbuilding supplies to use the "hangar wire" I drilled out some plastic rod, to slip over the wire to simulate bushings per the 1:1. Then I bent the rod to suit the model's chassis. I needed to make some hold down brackets for the sway bar.................cat food can aluminum once again to the rescue! I bent the brackets over the bushings and then drilled holes later to accept more brass bolts. I then cut the sway bar down a bit and then got out my mini vise and flattened both ends of the sway bar. Holes were then drilled with a #75 drill bit to hold the vertical ends of the sway bar later. Now I went and scratchbuilt shocks to slip inside the springs and then the lower A arms were glued in place. The tie rod was now painted and snapped in place on the king pins. I was going to scratchbuild a working idler and pitman arm but decided to let that go for times sake! BTW, the lower part of the sway bar was made with brass tubing with an I.D. of 3/64". This is available from Special Shapes and come in handy for certain aspects of scratchbuilding. I painted the tubing with Alclad to match the upper part of the sway bar. Some touchup paint is needed around the bushings, and I'm going to wrap thin strips of electrical tape around parts of the sway bar to simulate rubber bushings. I'm working on the rear end now.............some reshaping and making of extra parts is needed with that too. I don't know when I'll post an update again-------hopefully soon as my work schedule allows. So stay tuned!

Guess it's been too long since I did an update! Work got in the way over the last couple weeks even over the holiday........and when there's overtime, I ain't much in the building mood! Not to mention taking pics and making a reasonably coherent post! Things have slowed down at work so that's given me some time over the last week or so to get some more done on the '55. The chassis has been a slow go, due to my dislike of what was in the original kit and some reengineering I had to do to make it suit my tastes. One of the things I did was to redo the trunk floor, as I just didn't like the flat sheet plastic floor that covered over the gas tank. I found some good photos on the 'net of the Ford's trunk and even with the trunk mat in place, there's a noticeable depression in the floor of where the gas tank would be. Here's the messy details so far!................ I ripped away the plastic sheet covering the trunk and got out my trusty Dynatron Putty-Cote. As seen, I spread on a whole bunch of it leaving the depression area open and let it dry overnight. After everything was dried, I sanded, filed and smoothed everything out to my satisfaction. There need not be a squeaky clean and smooth surface here as the trunk mat will cover everything......but I wanted a surface smooth and as crater free as possible for the mat to adhere to. Not shown in the pic are the side fender walls which I did reattach. I thought it time to paint the chassis floor red oxide primer, and then overspray the sides with the Regency Purple Metallic from PaintScratch.com. The frame rails were hand painted with Polly Scale Engine Black. Before too long, I need to paint the gas tank steel. I thought it high time to scratch build new mufflers and exhausts before I ran out of ambition! The mufflers came partially from the cut away floor and the rest was added plastic. The exhausts are aluminum rod while the front exhaust pipes leading to the engine are bent solder. I used solder for this area as it was easier to bend through the frame rails. The exhausts are just test fit for now and will be tweaked a bit more for final assembly later. With the chassis work mostly out of the way now..............I turned my attention to the front suspension. Looking at my 1:1 reference photos, '55 Fords used a front stabilizer bar which I thought was more of a '60's thing. I wanted to put this on the model which had just molded in bar of plastic going from one side of the frame rails to the other. In the pics you see above, I wanted to make a "perches" for the sway bar to sit on. These were made with cat food can aluminum. The hobby store stuff is always too thick, so I figured, next time I feed the cats, save the tops of the cans as the aluminum is just the right thickness to scratchbuild stuff! The perch is held down with tiny brass bolts and epoxied over. The holes were drilled with a #75 drill bit. Next, I needed to try my hand at scratchbuilding springs. These won't be functional but they're better than the molded springs the kit gives you. The wire is bead wire from the craft store. I simple wrapped it around tubing which was the approximate size of the inside of the kits lower and upper A arms, and tried to make the spacing as symmetrical as possible. The springs were mounted and straightened out in the housings and painted. More to come!

Okay, here's a few pics of the '61........... If you want to read more thoughts I have on the kit and whatnot, give a click here..........I put a description under most of the pics. (18 in all) You can decide if you want to go on with buying one or not. I will say that Ray's models are not for the faint of heart, and while not impossible to build, they do require a bit more work than say Modelhaus to make presentable. His prices are very reasonable though for what you get IMO..................but expect to put some time in to make a showpiece. Hope this helps!

I have the R&R '61 Olds, and yes it will need quite a bit of cleanup before jumping in. The casting itself isn't bad, but it has (had) excessive flash around the rockers and the roofline. Ray (or whoever did the master) grafted the roof off of the '62 Chevy Belair, and from a distance the conversion looks nice. But I can see where some of the original contours of the 4 door hardtop kit were sanded away to do the conversion, and weren't replaced as per the 1:1. Yes, the chassis from the '62 Pontiac will work, but not without some stretching as I believe the '61 Olds 88's chassis was a bit longer than the '62 Pontiac Catalina. Forget the chassis out of the kit! It's totally useless as it's from the old '59-'60 promo and doesn't fit wheelbase wise whatsoever! The interior is repopped out of the old '61 4 door kit................it's very shallow as a lot of kits were back in those days. If I ever build this one, I'd much rather replace the interior with something from the Chevy (with proper seat patterns) and make it presentable. Stay tuned as I'll dig the kit out of one of my storage boxes and take some pics to demo....................I'll also see if I have one of the '62 Poncho kits' chassis to try on for size.

Now this is my kind of car!........ Beautiful paint!!

HeeHee! Must have been a lonely meeting with just one car there Bob! Just kiddin'! I need to get back there and visit you guys again!..........maybe next month!

Actually the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham had them (intro'd late '56), but at $13,000 and some change they were hardly numerous on the roads. And yes, some states considered the cars illegal until that states particular legislature passed the allowance. .........................about Studebaker/Packard-------Yikes! You ain't kiddin'! I saw very few of these as a little kid.................it's no wonder! 1958 Packard

The final full size year Nash (1957) also had quads.................but the car was so unusual (and mostly unloved) that they've been forgotten. Pic courtesy of Google........

Albert I LOVE that '61! Is that the resin from MCW? I think the '61 annual is a Bonneville, but I always liked the shorter Catalinas a little better.

Yes, as Curt mentioned, there's a noticeable difference between the 2 door sedan, and the 2 door hardtop. Chevrolet wanted to give their new for '58 Impala a somewhat custom look, so they divided up the roofline to create it's unique look. There was a Bel Air hardtop in '58, but's its roofline is shared with the lesser Delray/Biscayne/BelAir 2 door sedans. Note too that the B pillar is a bit more swept back on the hardtop than it is on the sedan. Chevy referred to the Impala hardtop as a "Sports Coupe" to showcase the difference. Here's a couple pics I swiped off Google to see the different details.............. (Uggghhh!! Hate those wheels on that type of car!) And yes, the decklids on the sedans (and the 2 door hardtop Belairs) are also different from the Impala.............the decklids are shorter on the sedan, and the leading edge doesn't "curve" as much as the Impala. But wait there's more!! If you wanted to do a really accurate 2 door sedan, you'd also have to change the shape of the of the trailing edge of the fins.................they had a different "slant" between the two models as the Impala had triple tailights per side, while the others had two.

That may also be a DelRay which was a cut below the Biscayne for '58. Considering police budgets back in those days..............that's most likely what they were.

Believe it or not Albert, I also picked up this kit at our club meeting Saturday! I was very impressed by the preliminary reviews of the kit, and couldn't resist buying it. I even have some "reference photos" of the car already saved on my hard disk. I'd like to build mine as a kind of Highboy(?) with cycle fenders. Like you, I've never built a street rod before, so this'll be a "first" for me..............I have a number of builds in mind for '08 that'll be firsts!

Ray, you want to try here............Mind boggling array of all kinds of magnets!