mr moto

The fins are indeed from scratch - just Evergreen styrene sheet, .04 I think. Their shape was inspired by the 1960 Dodge. The windshield is the stock part from the kit. It was made into a wraparound by moving the "A" pillars back so that the vent panes became a part of the windshield. For the rear window, I used the stock window as filler for the roof contour, cut a new opening, and then used a piece of clear acetate for the new window. All the customizing was done as simply as possible. I searched for photos of the interior but there aren't any from the construction and it didn't really work to try and get a good photo through the side window. I can tell you that it has four bucket seats. They're all alike and are the custom seats that come in the '53 Stude kit and there's a full length console in between made from two of the kit's custom consoles. It also has a 1960 Plymouth steering wheel that came from Modelhaus - my absolute favorite wheel for a custom. Thanks to everyone who posted comments. Pretty amazing to see this interest after such a long time.

You just don't appreciate surrealism!

This is a surprise seeing this thread come back to life! I'll have to dig deep and see if I have any interior photos but it sounds like I didn't even have my own camera back then.

Wow! That is true model building and fabulous work by any standard. I'm currently reviving a Studebaker Golden Hawk project that was started in 2011 so I understand the types of challenges that you faced but your build would be much more of a case of starting from scratch. You've set the bar very high. Truly excellent.

If lacquer never dries neither does any other paint. Rubbing a finish with lacquer thinner is not a realistic test of whether or not a paint has dried. It will remove any other paint that I have ever used including two part epoxies. Lacquer thinner will even completely dissolve styrene.

WOW! It was super impressive before I found out it was the 1/32 kit. Incredible work.

The alternate method you're suggesting should work fine. There are as many ways to chop tops as there are model builders. However, it looks to me like you did a great job this time!

It did occur to me that building model cars is not quite as important as breathing. Seriously, there are other ways to get a good finish.

Here's the kit I used for this build: The old AMT/Ertl version - 1970's or 80's I think. I believe the new Fire Chief release would still contain everything that I used for this build. Other than kit parts, it uses AMT '32 Ford wheels, Modelhaus tires, Reps & Miniatures stromberg carbs, Roth Outlaw headlights and front nerf plus taillights and maybe one or two other things from the parts box. There are a few small scratch built items like the exhaust tip, club plaque and flying eyeball - the wings actually came in the kit. I dropped the stock front axle instead of using the dropped tube axle that was in the kit - wanted the vintage home made look of early hot rods. Paint is MCW Luminous Cordovan (1962 Plymouth color) with flames shadowed in Duplicolor Bright Silver and then everything topped with Duplicolor Metalcast Red. Oh yeah, almost forgot, the wheels are done in MCW Gotham Gold (1959 Caddy). So here it is: And the best part in the whole build is one that probably nobody will ever see - the back of the front seat:

That 3M mask is a high quality unit but you may need different cartridges. I didn't find any links to an MSDS on the Splash Paints site but I located one for a product called "2K Aliphatic Urethane Top Coat" which may be the same product as labeled by its actual manufacturer. It recommends "combination organic vapor and particulate respirator (NIOSH approved)". Cartridges are color coded per NIOSH and the recommended ones would be magenta and black. I believe that respirator comes with white cartridges. Those are listed by NIOSH for "Acid Gasses". If you need other cartridges they are easy to find on-line or at Grainger industrial supply stores which are located almost everywhere in the USA though most people don't know about them. I see you're in North Carolina and they appear to be in 5 cities in that state.

That's exactly true. In my area BMF is always allowed and I've heard of stretched sprue being allowed for antennas so the roll bar question MIGHT be okay. Just ask first.

A lot of those were old kits when I was a kid in the '60s. ?

That's outstanding work! It's hard to believe it started out as Chevy. It shows real model making talent beyond just building "as usual".

My experience is that I can't get a good finish with anything made by Testors if I use it straight from the can. Wet Look Clear works great if decanted and airbrushed. If you need to use a spray can, you'll probably get a better result with a different brand like Tamiya. Just my experience.

I'm using the 0.5 mm. Also have the 0.7 but it seems like overkill. Too much of the paint is wasted as overspray. Very informative thread. I guess the lacquer thinner in this area is unlikely to contain much acetone. I did see some Duplicolor brand lacquer thinner at a local Pep Boys that said it was 100 percent acetone. Fortunately, I passed on it.

This thread has me very confused. I've been using my Grex Tritium for several years with nothing but lacquer and cleaning/thinning with hardware store lacquer thinner. No problems. None. Bought the fan spray as an add-on as soon as they were available. No problems there either. Just don't get it!???

Great work! That's as clean and as beautiful a piece of work as I've ever seen. The 1953 Studebaker convertible has been a subject of special interest to me ever since I saw it on a local (New Orleans) newscast in 1954 when I was 5 years old. It made a BIG impression! The factory only built one but it's been a source of mystery and confusion ever since. It's been repainted many times and was out of sight for long periods of time. It was built as a 1953 painted metallic gray and updated to 1954 exterior appearance (and repainted in a light tan) when the new models came out. The interior was left as a 1953. In 1954 it was loaned to a New Orleans dealer to be used in Mardi Gras parades - that's how I saw it on the news. There are a number of non-factory conversions around and some are done to very high standards. Anyway, the whole story is too long and intricate to tell here but these are the most recent photos that I'm aware of. They were taken in 2015 when it came out of hiding because it was purchased by well known (in the Studebaker world) Stude enthusiast Ed Reynolds.

That's an AMAZING job for a Palmer. I didn't think that was possible. I am in awe!

I'd love to do some more but it's not likely. If it happens it would be a '53 Starliner since, like the Avanti, there's a good quality easily available kit to build the nucleus of it. Anything else would be way more complicated. I already have a couple of major Studebaker projects ('56 Golden Hawk and '62 GT Hawk) on a back burner for when I feel motivated enough - don't want to complicate things any more.

Thank you, everybody! It seemed like a natural thing to do. The Rolls reminded me of a '51 Mercury with a funny grill.

Hi everybody, The plan for this one was to turn a Rolls into something of a sled without losing any of the "dignified" look that is the RR signature. It's based on the Minicraft re-issue of the old Hubley promo tooling from the early sixties. Kept it simple. Other than the chop, the skirts, the stance and the flames, pretty much everything else is standard Rolls and just like it came out of the box. The paint is Duplicolor with Testors Wet Look clear. Hope you enjoy!

Again, thanks to everyone for the kind words. It's good to be appreciated! Well, not exactly. The real thing is supposed to hover when parked with no landing gear involved. My version is held up by three short pieces of clear lucite plastic rod - hopefully, out of sight. The rods fit into little pockets in the base so it won't move around when it's docked but it can be removed.

Many thank you's to everybody for the great comments. I really appreciate it! While the "Bugsport" comic isn't widely known, it was a huge hit in the Studebaker world which is actually still a large and active community of enthusiasts. No new 'toons have been posted in years. Ted Bastien had to concentrate on other projects that actually generate income (like Paw Patrol). If you'd like to look at Bugsport here's a link: http://tedsstudio.com/bugsport/?page0001 Yes, the interior is built stock but not totally out-of-the-box. The AMT kit depicts a transitional 1963/64 car with the 813 BKV interior option - basically a 1964 interior installed in a 1963 car and only available in black. Since the original "postcard" car is definitely an early production '63, I back-dated the interior with a few slight changes. It's done in a popular color scheme for 1963 cars of elk and fawn with black carpet (designated as color scheme no. 2). BTW, the body is painted in factory Avanti Gold from MCW Finishes. The driver is cobbled together from a 1/32 scale Ulrich Mini-Man with head and hands from a Pegasus alien.

Super nice job! Shows what can be done with a very basic kit.

I doubt that too many onthis forum are familiar with the on-line comic strip called Bugsport so here's a little history to get you ready for what I built. Back in 1963, Studebaker created a series of picture postcards to help their dealers promote the new models on the lot. This was one of the Avanti promotional postcards: Then around 2004 or so cartoonist Ted Bastien created the fictional town of Bugsport. It's inhabited by a mix of aliens and humans and the aliens are just regular citizens like everybody else. They're in the Masons, they work at the lumber mill, the book store, etc. However, their means of transportation is a little unusual. They use Studebakers that incorporate alien technology. This is how Ted Bastien saw the postcard scene: Well, I figured if I don't do it nobody else will so here it is: