Ramfins59

Dennis that looks really great. Nice job.

Yeah Teddy, I notice it all the time, especially all the great Street Rods and Pickups that members build. But I've been so "hung up" on building 1950's cars for the past year or so that they're all I want to build right now. So far I've completed about 2 dozen and still have over 2 dozen in the pile to work on, plus at least another dozen or more to still get. I have about 2 dozen Street Rod kits in my stash that I will "eventually get to. This Forum does make you feel like a kid in a candy store when you keep seeing all the cool models that you just can't wait to build.

That looks really great and I like the wheels very much.

I don't know Harry. I was originally thinking spinner hubcaps (which are my favorite on a Custom) but now I'm kind of leaning towards Caddy Sombrero caps. As Charlie stated above, the rounded shapes and "bulges" would compliment the roundness and "bulges" of the body of the car. I'll have to mock up some choices before I finally decide on anything.

Thank you all for your kind and encouraging comments. A little more progress today. A couple of hours of tedious carving and sanding and I finished smoothing the firewall and inner fenders. I also removed the mold lines and ejector pin marks from the radiator. More tedious carving and sanding and I got the door handles off and I thinned down the vent window posts by about half...... they were way too thick. I think at this point I'm just about done with working on the body and it's time for primer and then to move on to work on another part of this car.

Thanks Charlie. Some progress made today but nothing worth taking a picture of. I sanded the ejector pin marks from the underside of the hood and the interior roof. The plastic strips at the bottom of the skirts are all sanded and shaped. I drilled small depressions about 1/4 inch below the headlight openings for amber MV lens turn signals, and drilled mounting holes in the A pillars for dummy spotlights. A mounting hole was also drilled in the top of the driver's door near the vent window for a peep style rear view mirror. The firewall has been sanded smooth along with one of the inner fenders. I'll finish the other one tomorrow. I've had enough sanding for one day.

You're right Tom. I had gotten 5 packs of them from Norm a couple of months ago and will be picking up another 3 packs at the NNL next month along with some other stuff that I preordered from him. Hey, what's a 4 1/2 hour drive among friends...... Guess I'll have to drink the beer all by myself then.

Hey John, thanks man. Yeah I originally wanted the car to be the Baby Blue color but that didn't work out...... Have I mentioned how much I hate enamel paints...!!! I'm OK with the Metallic Blue color even though it wasn't my first choice. I'm staying with the whitewalls and stock hubcaps that came on the promo.

Thanks again guys. Tulio, I totally agree with you about keeping the front end aligned. I attached the custom front end piece before I cut out the piece that was molded across the top of the engine compartment, the straight piece marked "REMOVE". That kept it all aligned properly. I'm planning to smooth up the inner fenders and firewall for a cleaner, custom look once I'm completely done working on the body..

Thanks Bill. Please feel free to "steal" or "borrow" any ideas you want.

Thank you all so very much for your kind words and compliments. They mean a lot and give me the incentive to keep doing up these 50's cars as best I can. Carl, yes, I'm lucky that I'm able to "paint in the lines" and have it come out looking good. Charlie, yes, I'm hoping to bring this car, along with the '59 Dodge I recently finished, the '57 Dodge I did several months ago, and the '56 Nomad for the "Circle Your Wagons" NNL show subtheme. Gary, I had originally painted the car's body with Krylon Baby Blue enamel and Duplicolor Arctic White and I also painted the dashboard with the Baby Blue. When I clearcoated the body with Model Master Gloss Clearcoat it orange peeled so badly that I had to strip the paint. I chose to repaint the body with Duplicolor Light Blue Metallic so I could use Duplicolor's clearcoat and not have the enamel clearcoat be a problem again. I left the Modelhaus resin dashboard as is because I had already detailed it with BMF, chrome silver paint and some Black Detailer. I've had disastrous results stripping Modelhaus resin parts with the Scalecoat paint stripper that I normally use, so I figured that I could get away with leaving the dashboard as is, even though I know that the dashboards are usually the body color of the car. Obviously your eagle eye picked up on that faux pas of mine...LOL (and that does NOT upset me at all). I DO have some Purple Power that I can use to strip the dashboard and then repaint and redetail it (even though I really hate doing things twice..!!) Tom G., come on out here to Cranberry... I just picked up some Yuengling beer and I have loads of popcorn ready to be popped. Frank, I got the window cranks and handles from Norm Veber at Replicas & Miniatures Co. of MD. You get enough in a pack to do at least 4 or 5 interiors. They are great for use in all the promo's and cars with poorly molded interior details. Bill G., go for it man. I know how you've ranted about the '58 Plymouth... between the roofline and the side trim..!! I know that those inaccuracies bother you more than they do a lot of us other modelers. I'm not quite as picky over exacting accuracy as you. I was happy to be able to build a model that looked enough like a '58 Plymouth to make me happy. To each his own.

Thanks Carl. To get the grille shell piece to fit I first trimmed off about 1/4 inch of plastic at the bottom front of the wheelwell opening for the wraparound part of the rolled pan to seat properly and I added some pieces of sheet plastic to widen the outside edges with liquid cement and CA glue and sanded it all smooth following the curve of the pan. I also had to enlarge the grille opening for the grille surround to "set into" the front end rather than sticking out too far. .

Thank you Carl and Ron. Carl, believe it or not I painted the entire interior (except for the dashboard) with fine paint brushes following the molded patterns, I didn't mask off anything.

Al, you did your usual fine job on that Ranchero.

Yes Tommy I've noticed that too...... especially some guy in Canada who always lists each and every part of every kit separately for ridiculous prices. I also notice that quite a few sellers really don't know their cars. For instance, today I saw a '56 Plymouth Taxi model that the seller had listed as a 1957 Plymouth. I sent him a message advising him of that. Usually they will correct their listing or at least put a correction in their description.

Thank you Ira. I warmed the spray cans for awhile before painting which really helps the paint flow better. I was very lucky on this one......no dusties or schmutz landed before the paint dried.

Thanks a lot guys. James, I also wish that Bob Dudek had LOTS more of the parts that he made, but he no longer has access to a CNC machine to make the parts. I'll also be using a set of aluminum "frenched" headlight bezels that he originally made for the Revell chopped '49 Merc kit...... they fit this car like a glove.......and...... I have one last set of his gorgeous Lake Pipes to use on this car too. The front end of the Chevy needed some trimming to get the grille surround/rolled pan piece to fit in. It wasn't just a "drop in fit". Mark, the Sombrero caps would probably look pretty good. My "personal" all-time favorite hubcap on a Custom is a '59 Dodge Royal Lancer 4 bar spinner. To my taste, it is the "ultimate" spinner hubcap. I've already used it on several models so maybe......just maybe...... I'll change this time around.

Thanks guys, I appreciate your great comments. Dave, Yes, I put BMF on the hood and trunk lettering before I painted the Blue color. I'll carefully use a polishing cloth to remove the paint from the top of the lettering before I clearcoat the body.

I've had this itch to do a full-on Custom, so while I was waiting for primer and paint to dry on the '59 Plymouth model, I started on this '51 Chevy Fleetline. I had sanded off the hood, trunk and side chrome along with all the mold lines some time ago which gave me a good head start on this project. I attached a custom front grille surround and rolled pan piece from the '50 Ford Convertible kit along with the rear rolled pan piece from the Fleetline kit. They are attached with liquid cement and any gaps were filled with CA glue and all was filed and sanded smooth. The windshield center post was removed. I carved out recesses in the rear fenders for aluminum teardrop taillight bezels that I got some time ago from Bob Dudek. Next I drilled 2 holes in the top of the passenger side rear fender and glued in 2 short lengths of plastic tubing again using liquid cement. These are for recessed or sunken antennas. I sanded them smooth with the top of the fender and again filled in any gaps with CA glue and sanded ot all smooth. I added thin strips of plastic to the front lip of the hood and to the rear driver's side corner of the hood using liquid cement to fill in some gaps and sanded it all smooth. The white strips of plastic you see at the bottom of the flush mounted skirts are to extend the skirts completely down to the bottom of the rear fenders, They will be sanded smooth with the skirts and even with the bottom of the fenders once the liquid cement completely dries. The grille insert will be the '53 DeSoto tooth piece from the Revell '49 Merc kit. For a color I'm thinking Duplicolor Navy Blue and possibly some White pinstriping. For wheels I know I'll go with wide whitewalls but I'm trying to choose between spinner hubcaps (my favorite) or chrome reversed wheels, or maybe Caddy Sombrero caps. I've got a long way to go on this buildup. I haven't touched the engine (I think I'll go with a fully dressed straight six), the chassis or the interior yet. I thank you for looking in on this Custom buildup. Further progress will be "reported" as it happens. Any and all comments are welcomed and appreciated.

This is a Johan promo. I sanded all the mold lines, prepped, primed and painted the body. The roof is painted with Model Master Wimbledon White lacquer which I masked off and then sprayed the rest of the body with Duplicolor Light Blue Metallic. I'll give it a day or so to gas out and will then clearcoat it. I'm almost finished with the resin Modelhaus interior. It is just mocked up for these pictures. The carpet is flocked in Dark Blue. The seats and side panels are painted a light Blue and white and resin cranks and handles, painted chrome silver, were installed. The dash was painted a light Blue with BMF and chrome silver paint trim. Black Detailer brings out some of the dash details. The steering wheel is gloss White with chrome silver paint trim. I still have to add a turn signal lever. More progress to come as it happens. Thanks for looking in on this project. Any and all comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Greg, that's one of the reasons why I'll always pass on an EBAY item if I can't see EVERY side of the car from every angle. Some sellers avoid showing pictures of damaged or warped areas of a car, which is stupid because they'll usually have to take it back and refund your money if that's what you decide. Yes you'd be out the return postage, but fortunately vent window posts are a relatively easy fix although you'd rather not have to go through that..

Nice work Paul. That is a nice color combo.

Bernard, that is looking really great.... very "Deco" looking Have you considered using a PE piece, LaSalle style, for the grille instead of the '40 Ford piece? Are you going to use teardrop taillights? Sorry for all the questions.

Ed, will you be at NNL East..?? If so I might pick up some of this stuff there.

That's looking pretty good so far Darryl.