mr moto

From Hudson Miniatures to 3D printed! The mind boggles! Next they're going to tell me that the world is round and spinning. That's a great idea and excellent work. It sure beats carving one out of wood.

Well....actually they should! It's not your fault for "missing" that detail nor AMT's for putting it there. Studebaker's policy for the Avanti was running changes with no designated model years. Other people (such as me) call them 63's or 64's just to make things easy but Studebaker didn't. The AMT kit clearly represents a "transitional" car. These were built in August of 1963 and introduced 1964 parts as they became available. The kit has the "trifecta" that positively says it's August 1963: the extra cowl vents, round headlight rims, and a grill. Yes, earlier cars had no grill - just an opening. To build an earlier original style Avanti, leave off the grill and fill the added cowl vents. All the '64 cars had the vents and grill as well as squared headlight trim. So, there's actually nothing wrong with your build and it looks great! When you get around to building your '64 later, I recommend the site below (and there are lots of others, too) for background info. There are underhood changes to be aware of also. https://theavanti.com/r1.html

Now that I think about it, if that was the old tool it would probably reside at Atlantis now! Great build in any case!

You did an excellent job on this ancient kit. The reason it doesn't look like the usual Revelle kit is because it started life as an Aurora kit. The tooling was then purchased by Monogram and that's how it ended up with Revell after they merged.

Elegant!!! That is simple, reserved and beautiful. Gene Winfield would be proud of that work.

Beautiful build of one of my favorite cars. Looks great. I just noticed something that I'm sure is an error in the kit - not the build. There's a six volt battery under the hood but, by 1957, Ford and everybody else was using 12 volt systems. The T-Bird used a long 12 volt battery with six cells in a row much like the later Studebaker Avanti.

I feel I have to take time once again to thank all the appreciative commenters on this forum. The quality standard of builds (not to mention the builders themselves!) on this forum is very high and I thought this little build of mine would fly right under the radar. Thank you to everyone who has looked!!

Many, many thanks to everybody. Your great comments are much appreciated. I wish it was really as flawless as everyone seems to think but I'm happy that the flaws are hard to spot!

This is AMT's 1965 Lincoln kit shortened about 5/8" (16 scale inches). I think of it as a sort of styling exercise or maybe you could call it a phantom or a concept car. The roof is the removable hard top from the '57 T-Bird kit that has been lengthened and widened to fit, held in place with magnets. Interior is made from the rear half of an AMT '66 T-Bird interior with the Lincoln dash retained . Parts box steering wheel - it's probably from some Chrysler Corp product judging by the shape of it. Wheels are from the kit. They're similar to Pontiac 8-bolts but with knock-offs. The knock-offs in the kit looked very delicate so I never even tried to get them off the sprue and just pulled some from a parts box. The grill is a resin copy of the one from the original AMT 1956 Mark II promo with some custom headlights added. Paint is 1964 Lincoln "silver green" from MCW. Thanks for looking!

Here's what mine looks like in actual use on a '40 Ford:

I ordered some of those from 3D Scale and when they came in they didn't have the transparent wings. Just solid one color. It didn't upset me much since it looked very good anyway and most real ones are just chromed metal. BTW, the originals came on Packards starting in the 1930's and still optionally available into the '50s. Packard called it "the Cormorant" but I'm pretty familiar with cormorants and it looks like a swan to me!

Thanks, Bill, but actually that's a 1956 Golden Hawk made by R&R Vacuumcraft not a 1957 Silver Hawk as made by Missing Link. Actually, I may be in the market for it anyway as a contributor to my Studebaker parts stash. The R&R kit is a pretty rough thing but I did already build one a few years ago. It was a tough project but came out good in the end.

Several years back Missing Link (now defunct) made a '57 Studebaker Silver Hawk trans kit for the AMT '53 Stude kit. I actually ordered one from their website but it was out of stock and I was put on the waiting list. They never made any more before Missing Link folded - because of poor health as I recall. Does anyone have one to offer? I'm willing to pay and also may be able provide some interesting trades if you're a Stude fan. A long shot I know but there must be a few still out there.

I've had great luck using regular Clorox bleach but not all coatings are the same.

Lens wipes generally are silicone treated and I advise keeping silicone away from your models. It will prevent paint adhesion and will tend to contaminate nearby parts through handling.

I just did a test of my brilliant idea to use regular CA glue to cast lenses. Made a mold with Alumilite 2 part silicone putty and used Loctite "professional liquid" super glue as the casting medium. Another great idea bites the dust! A total flop! I guess I should get some Bondic to try.

Has anyone done this with regular CA glue? I've used it for foilcastlng but not for clear lenses. I suppose I could try CA lenses today with little time and no money invested.

That's far and away the best build of that kit I've ever seen. It's probably the best one I ever will see, also!

They are also available from Scale Hobbyist and similar vendors for those (like me) who would rather support hobby specific businesses.

Wow! You really put in some extra effort on this one and added the things that AMT left out. The engine detailing is outstanding and you're right about the seats being so narrow that it just looks silly. Love it.

That looks terrific! The 300C actually was only available in three colors from the factory: red, white or black. Your build shows what a bad decision Chrysler made on that one. It looks way better than any of the standard colors. Great build!

I second that.

That is true but most, if not all, were re-issued with a number of incorrect, non-original parts - usually interior pieces or the entire interiors. I have Plymouths with Dodge interiors or steering wheels. The 1962 Chrysler 300H was re-issued with the "lower level" non-letter car interior. The correct factory stock kits were one shot deals.

Being on rails, it's designed to driven in either direction without being turned around. Possibly might have an engine in only one end.

Did you clear it with enamel? It's notorious for yellowing. In any case, I would clear it with something different this time.