56 Ford Victoria

[AaronPerkins]

I started this over the weekend. Its my first attempt at any modifications. We will see how it goes. 

[AaronPerkins]

[Dogfish_7]

Looking good so far.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Always liked this body style, will be interesting to see where it goes. 

[AaronPerkins]

Got one of the doors really started then gouged the panel so had to stop for putty. Started the drip railing for the trunk started as well. There don't seem to be any super unrealistic gaps in doors or trunk (yet). Thanks for checking it out. 

[MeatMan]

Good luck Aaron. I started mine and had some paint issues this past summer. I hope to get it back together this winter.

Which way are you going to build it?

[AaronPerkins]

I'm thinking since this my first time cutting and stuff, gonna go straight hardtop.

[OldNYJim]

Looks great so far - and great scratchbuilding!  Keep us posted!

[AaronPerkins]

Thanks everyone. It's moving slower than I thought. I always had a great deal of respect for the people that did all the modifications. Now doing it myself i have even more. I do have to give credit where credit is due though. I'd like to give a shout out to MrObsessive. I've been using his 56 to 55 conversion pics from his fotki a lot and to Ace for his tips on the trunk interior which should be started soon. 

Edited December 7, 2016 by AaronPerkins

[Dogfish_7]

You're a brave man, to open the doors. My hat's off to you.

[espo]

You wisely are making your own door hinges. The kits hinges were sloppy when this tool was new and I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better with age. By removing the kits door jams you can now shape them as needed. The Victoria hardtop is a great looking design, but depending on what look you're going for the Crown Victoria may even look better sometimes. If you keep most of the stock chrome and side moldings it would look great as a Crown Victoria. It would be easy to mockup to see if it goes with what you are building. The Glass Roof can look a little out of place with some color combinations.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

You wisely are making your own door hinges. The kits hinges were sloppy when this tool was new and I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better with age. By removing the kits door jams you can now shape them as needed. The Victoria hardtop is a great looking design, but depending on what look you're going for the Crown Victoria may even look better sometimes. If you keep most of the stock chrome and side moldings it would look great as a Crown Victoria. It would be easy to mockup to see if it goes with what you are building. The Glass Roof can look a little out of place with some color combinations.

I don't know how wise actually is to make new door hinges. 

Built a huge number of AMT '57 Fords, '58 Impalas, and two '56 Fords, and never saw the need for new hinges. The kit's parts are closer to the real deal than hinges made out of wire. The hinges on the real car are quite beefy parts, with a general rectangular section, a lot closer tho the plastic hinges on the kit. 

None of my cars lost a door, or has wobbly doors.

Always thought wire hinges to be very unrealistic. Specially on a trunk lid, where the tubes made for them to go in do look quite odd. 

The only kit I had problems with the hinges, and had to add some reinforcements was the Testors 1948 Ford Sedan Coupe. 

It may be a personal preference thing, but I'm not a fan of wire hinges. They scream "model" quite well, how Harry would say. 

 

 

[vintagercr]

Looking good!

[AaronPerkins]

I don't know how wise actually is to make new door hinges. 

Built a huge number of AMT '57 Fords, '58 Impalas, and two '56 Fords, and never saw the need for new hinges. The kit's parts are closer to the real deal than hinges made out of wire. The hinges on the real car are quite beefy parts, with a general rectangular section, a lot closer tho the plastic hinges on the kit. 

None of my cars lost a door, or has wobbly doors.

Always thought wire hinges to be very unrealistic. Specially on a trunk lid, where the tubes made for them to go in do look quite odd. 

The only kit I had problems with the hinges, and had to add some reinforcements was the Testors 1948 Ford Sedan Coupe. 

It may be a personal preference thing, but I'm not a fan of wire hinges. They scream "model" quite well, how Harry would say. 

 

 

I do agree with the wire hinges look to some extent. On this one though with the door open it leaned down at the outer edge. So I was going to use a flat wire so it wasn't just a "bent piece of wire " look. And for the trunk, I plan on affixing the hinges between where the bottom side of the trunk and the "bracing" that covers the bottom side of the trunk meet. I'd like to not have tubing showing from the underside. I'm not sure if that makes sense reading it but it makes sense in my mind. Hopefully I'll be successful and you guys will actually get to see what I'm thinking.

You wisely are making your own door hinges. The kits hinges were sloppy when this tool was new and I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better with age. By removing the kits door jams you can now shape them as needed. The Victoria hardtop is a great looking design, but depending on what look you're going for the Crown Victoria may even look better sometimes. If you keep most of the stock chrome and side moldings it would look great as a Crown Victoria. It would be easy to mockup to see if it goes with what you are building. The Glass Roof can look a little out of place with some color combinations.

I am personally not a fan of the glass roof unless it's a black/red color combo. I'm thinking of going with a coral bottom and white top or the "old" green color and white.

Thanks for all the looks and comments.

[espo]

What I meant be my comment on the door hinges is based on only my personal experience. The '56 Victoria and '57 Fords I have built in the past all had doors that did not seem to want to close properly and always  dropped down when opened. That is why I  felt that some other type of hinge would work better. The kits door hinges do look somewhat like the real thing, but in 1/25th plastic it doesn't seem to work like a 1:1 door. I looked at a '56 Victoria in my stash and I think that the color of green used on the glass roof does not look like the color on the 1:1 car. The '56s I recall seeing usually had the lighter color across the hood, trunk, and above the side moldings on the body. The darker color would then be on the roof and below the body side moldings. This may work if you choose to use the glass roof and want to go with the green and white colors you mentioned.  I think that Ford may have had the option of reversing the color position, but I can only recall seeing a hand full painted that way  and those were on a few '55s and even fewer '56s. But this is like Burger King, you can do it your way. What ever you do please keep the story going on this build.

[AaronPerkins]

I had to do homework last night (should have my degree in January, never should have started college past 35). Hopefully tonight I'll get to mess around with the hinges and see if I can flatten some rod to get the boxy look from the kit ones. My wife actually volunteered today to see if she could hammer out some hanger to be flat. 

[AaronPerkins]

I'll have to pay closer attention to 1:1 pics. I got to looking at the detail and didn't realize the paint scheme went that way. Thanks for the info. 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

I'll have to pay closer attention to 1:1 pics. I got to looking at the detail and didn't realize the paint scheme went that way. Thanks for the info. 

I don't know if you are going stock with the build, but if so, the main color (as defined by FoMoCo is the one on the hood, trunk and sides above the chrome trim) is the one that goes on the door jambs. '56 Ford is the same as '57 Fords on this matter. 

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Victoria by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Club Victoria by CCCP Digital Studio, on Flickr

The main color also goes on the firewall, that is not black. The inner fenders are semi gloss black, as is the radiator support. Also, on a factory stock '56, the front splash pan between the bumper and grille is always painted argent, and never body color.

[AaronPerkins]

Thank you so much for that info. It's a tremendous help.