‘57 Fairlane 500 Gloo-bomb

[Geno]

Man, that is gonna be sharp. I love the '57 Fords, good looking cars. Way better looking than a '57 Chevy. JMHO though.

[mitchy]

Thanks. 

I’m a little wary of metallic paint on scale models, due to the size of the flakes. It rarely looks correct due to the flake texture when trying to emulate a real car’s colour. 

Using the factory colour ‘full-size’ metallic paint for a model would give a 24x size metal flake, equivalent to 6-12mm flakes on the full size car!

On a custom job you can get away with it just about due to custom metal flake paint which has larger flakes anyway. So I risked it here.

 

[Tom Geiger]

Looks great from the East Coast of the USA!   Especially considering what you started out with!

Have you decided on what to do with the tail lights yet?

 

 

[mitchy]

51 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

Have you decided on what to do with the tail lights yet?

Regarding the taillights, I have decided to leave the tail fin tips, which house the tail lights, and mount the lights directly in the body as is. 

I quite like the cut-off effect, especially as I have now removed some of the body details (badging, door handles, etc) for a cleaner look.

[mitchy]

I have been known to raid the kids’ Lego pile now and then, today I found two one-stud discs which fit perfectly in the recesses, with the original Fairlane cone-shaped lamp inserts. A dab of silver paint perhaps, and that should do it!

Lego and original parts:

 

Might work....:

 

[mitchy]

Engine gets a new scheme too, something to contrast with the deep purple. From dull red to Faskolor Faspearl Teal. It will ‘ping’ a little more now!

I think the interior may receive some red treatment, perhaps using the two reds on the earlier plastic spoon test. The seat posts have been cut down and angled back to get the seats into a more natural position.

This means cutting into the custom trans tunnel trim so they will fit flush.

Also, the rear of the chassis needs some tweaking for the bigger tyres; wheel wells moved inwards and will require extensions to bring them back to the correct outer width.

I am squeezing together the floorpan behind the rear axle to preserve the chassis rails and exhaust details, otherwise I would have had to cut them for the wheel well mod.

That is just about all the modification there will be, though I still have to figure out ride heights, narrow the rear axle, and build some new leaf springs.

Then its filler, glue, paint and assemble.

Should be done by christmas 2029....

[1930fordpickup]

Looks great. 

[Thomas777]

I'm loving the build.

[mitchy]

A little more progress made; wheel wells are now deeper, and profiled for the drag slicks to fit nice and snug. Still some trimming/filling to be done before paint. 

The exhaust pipes and chassis rails are preserved, by narrowing the whole floorpan rear of the rear axle. 

So its going to be a four-seater street machine with dragster details. Why not?

Engine is building up, and the paintwork polished. 

Thankx

[Oldschool4x4]

That has turned out really nice, love the colors.

[mitchy]

The rear springs could be repaired, but instead I quickly knocked up some replacement leaf springs with plastic card and dowel. I have given them some excessive arc whereby the car can be either lowered by straightening the springs, or raised by using longer drop-links. I am hoping for a tail-up look similar to the original glue-bomb pics, so there should be plenty of detail to go under there as it will be visible.

The original model’s drop-link was that silver post wrapped in yellow electrician’s tape! As the new springs are fairly fine, they will likely flatten over time under the weight of the model, so I shall add the missing shock absorbers for support.

[mitchy]

To note; The engine came with that lovely supercharger, but also with direct air stacks, so the supercharger is moot, obviously. 

It shall not be installed, a pity, but it does make for a tidier engine bay.

 

As it was: 

And now.... 

 

Edited August 9, 2019 by mitchy

[mitchy]

Testing for stance with the narrowed axle and new springs.

 

[mitchy]

Adding some trim detail with chrome paint, masked with Micro Mask, then tape.

[mitchy]

 

I’ll tuck those parts away now and get on with the interior!

Edited August 11, 2019 by mitchy

[TarheelRick]

This 57 is coming together rather nicely.  That stance is very reminiscent of many '57 Fords and others during my teen years. - "tail high for traction". Will be watching your interior work, I am using those same seats and console in a full custom '61 Starliner I am working on.

[Foxer]

This is really looking good.

I can't believe you cleaned all the gunk off the body without the A posts breaking! 

[mitchy]

46 minutes ago, Foxer said:

This is really looking good.

I can't believe you cleaned all the gunk off the body without the A posts breaking! 

.

Nope, I lost the cracked one whilst unmasking today!

Edited August 11, 2019 by mitchy

[mitchy]

The underside remains simple black, with some C1 metalizer powder to pick out the two pipes and some other detail.

 

The interior, however, is not subtle. Various tones of Faskolor pearl red:

-it is awful, but I love it. Soon to be sporting some chrome details.

[Super28]

Looking good

 

[mitchy]

Have not been here for over a year, other projects on the go, but I thought I would drop another picture now that I am itching to get back to the bench.

 Thanks!

Edited February 21, 2021 by mitchy

[bisc63]

Really fun to watch your process, this is such a nice re-build! Love your color choices, there wasn't a bad color in the bunch!

[Bills72sj]

I am liking what you are creating.

[doorsovdoon]

I must have missed this one! Great work so far, I'm liking where this '57 is going. Good work on the rear lights, I had to do something similar on mine when they disintegrated from brush cleaner.

[espo]

I like the color you went with on this. I remember now when you started this a couple of years ago. I went back and looked at all that you had done with the restoration of this glue bomb and I don't know how I missed your work in the mean time.