espo

Great looking color combination and it's not often you get to see a "full dressed" '50's convertible. Glad to hear you life is getting back on track. Look forward to your other builds soon.

A thought on the interior console. The pictures of the 1:1 car showing the center console it appears just like the console from a '66 Chevrolet Impala SS. If you have a Revell '66 Impala SS kit you might find what you need there.

Cover it in flat clear and call the exterior done. Just about everything else you could possible need for the interior, chassis, and drive train is readily available. Think of it as a 1:1 scale model. Bonus is that the front end was one of the best designs that GM ever offered.

He was a great artist. I have one of his drawings of Dale Earnhardt on the wall, signed by Dale, next to my computer.

Rust in all the right places and a crusty looking bed. The "story" is a perfect explanation for the build. Love it.

Amazing paint work. Sometimes you just have to unleash an artist and tell them to just go "Feral" with their design.

Nice to see you're back after this build. Look forward to your progress.

I remember that the magazine had extensive coverage of their work on this car. Then it was stolen while on the show tour.

The picture of the Ford dealer reminds me of the Ford dealership were my father took delivery of a new '49 Ford in the fall of '48. We rode home in the start of a light snow storm. This was in Arlington Heights Ill. just east of Chicago. It was not much more than a big gas station.

Very nice clean looking build. I like your paint description, I bet it even looks better in person.

Very nicely done, I like the box art theme.

Great looking conversion. All of the different body/bed parts seem to flow naturally.

I have used the early 3x2 set up from the AMT '64 GTO kit on the '62 Cataline engine and they fit perfectly. I know that's different but I think with very little finessing the 2x4 set up should work.

I would use the Glass Pack Mufflers. This was often the first addition a new owner would have done back when. Your detail painting on the firewall looks great. you must have a steady hand. I also like how you used a light wash on the engine giving it much more depth and realism.

Looks great, and this kit is not easy to build to this level of finish. I just noticed that they include a '55 year model roof instead of the '56 and '57 porthole roof.

BigallDad is correct on the Oil Filter canister. I don't recall when GM started using the spin on type filter but I think it was in the early '70's or late '60's. Who is to say you can't sand it to correct the inaccuracy much like the body mold lines ?

Looks very good. Color almost looks OEM. Nice to see a little warmed over 6 cylinder.

Very nice looking little truck. I like the interior pattern you used.

Beautiful, very clean looking build and an excellent car choice. I like how the HO stripe looks with the white interior.

This was always one of my favorite models. Nice to see you represented it.

Separating the Oil Filter in this way will make it more realistic and easier to detail. At that time Chevrolet still used a semi gloss black canister with the filter cartridge inside.

Very accurate looking interior details. A black interior can be difficult as you pointed out and sometimes just using different shades of clear, dull to semi gloss, can change the look more than you might think.

You sure got your bright color all right. Nice finish, real smooth looking.

I think the thing to remember when these cars were coming down the assembly line they didn't have the time to paint every nuck and crany the way a car being restored would be. A majority of manufactures used different primer paints depending on the era and location on the body. GM tended to use a fairly flat black color. The OEM hoods would usually have a nice paint job on the top and sides and it had little if any overspray on the underside. The trunk lids on the other hand were usually painted very nicely and most often shared a finish on a par with the top side. There were exceptions as there always is. You may find that a higher line model would have had the hood painted and some form of sound deadening applied. I have owned two different '57 Fords years ago when they were just late model used cars. Neither had been painted before I bought them. They were both white and one was a Fairlane 500 Convertible and the other was a basic Mainline two door. Bothe hoods had a finish on the firewall and the underside of the hood that matched the body as to color and quality of finish. So as you can see the possibilities are all over the map.

Obviously something major has happened here. Besides manufacturing problems that should be corrected and the body replaced, What condition was the kit box in ? Between the production and boxing of this kit you have to wonder if something in transit from here to there had happened. If this kit was exposed to an extended time of high heat and pressure on the body could be a cause ? Are any other parts in the kit effected in the same manor ?