Ferbz Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 I have since gray primered/spot puttied the body, reprimed wiith white primer, block wetsanded that, and sprayed the basecoat using Testors Gold Inca metallic. In an attempt to preserve the window trim detail, I masked them window openings with masking tape. However the tape pulled up some of the gold along the edges of the window openings and I had to retouch these areas with a small brush. I have since added a couple of coats of clear to protect the basecoat as I wait for a good weather day to spray the candy tangerine and final clearcoats. All in all, I think it's looking pretty good so far(whew!) Once the final coats of paint gets sprayed, I'll be turning my attention to the interior to let the body sit for awhile before wetsanding/polishing. I'll post some of the details I've had to gather and scratchbuild to make this scale copy of Curly's old car. Stay tuned.... I've also added a picture of the 1:1 car I grabbed off the internet: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowlife ! ! Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Coming along well, I really like this project ! Great chop too ... You can just reply to the original thread with new progress, keep it all together ? Look forward to more on this ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Lowlife ! ! said: Coming along well, I really like this project ! Great chop too ... You can just reply to the original thread with new progress, keep it all together ? Look forward to more on this ! Thanks man! I've chopped a handful of AMT Mercs over the years(most of them have turned out alright) and as a modeler, I do try to make a counscious effort to try do something better with every attempt, but without being fully aware until recently, the chop on this one has turned out to be pretty good Thanks for the reminder! I forgot that I could do just that :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intmd8r Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Awesome work so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted March 24, 2023 Author Share Posted March 24, 2023 It's been quite some time since I posted about this build, mostly due to the fact that the initial paintjob went sideways on me! lol The candy coats went on fine, but the clear started fogging in a way I had never seen before. Feeling deflated about the whole thing, I stripped it all and let it sit (for a couple years apparently!) I ended up not liking the graininess of the Testors Inca Gold metallic I used as a basecoat anyway. It had the right tone, but the metallic felt out of scale on the model. After some more testing, I ended up using Tamiya Yellow Pearl as a base. I also added just a couple coats of clear with Interference Pearl powder over it just to brighten it up a bit. Candy is tough to get even! (at least for me) but I was able to do a decent job. It's nowhere near perfect as it still has it's problems, one of them is the candy red fades being a bit too heavy handed and not exactly the same on both sides. This 2nd attempt is better than the 1st so I'm keeping it. I am NOT repainting it a 3rd time! The 3 panel pic is how it looked after I stripped it. Alot of the careful putty work got removed along with the paint so that had to all be redone. That was depressing because I really dislike doing it lol It's crucial to get it as nice as possible in order to yield the best results so I gave it my best shot (again!) I've also been working on some of the detail work that I'll also share. Stay tuned..... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Great looking body work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted March 24, 2023 Author Share Posted March 24, 2023 2 hours ago, espo said: Great looking body work. Thanks! I've tried out some new custom body mod techniques on this build I've not done before. I'm still not sure how it's all going to come together (lol!) but I'm happy with the progress so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatMan Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Nice recovery! Looks beautiful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sledsel Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Nice chop, great looking paint on it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modlbldr Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 This is looking amazing! Your paint looks like a beautiful sunrise! Keep up the good work. Later- 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Excellent chop job and it looks like you nailed the paint color. David G. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarheelRick Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 I am always impressed when a modeler takes on a full custom like this. You sir are accomplishing some mighty fine work with this model. In your first post you said you would "post some of the details", one detail that particularly interests me is those beautiful Buick headlights. How did you accomplish that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 On 3/24/2023 at 6:42 PM, MeatMan said: Nice recovery! Looks beautiful! Thanks! It was a HUGE hurdle mentally to get the body work fixed after the stripping. I really dislike doing things over, but in the end I'll have a neat story to tell (hopefully!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 On 3/25/2023 at 6:41 AM, Modlbldr said: This is looking amazing! Your paint looks like a beautiful sunrise! Keep up the good work. Later- Thanks! It doesn't 'glow' quite the same as the real car, at least the way I remember it, but it'll have to do. I'm NOT repainting it a 3rd time! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 On 3/25/2023 at 7:48 AM, David G. said: Excellent chop job and it looks like you nailed the paint color. David G. Thanks! I've chopped a handful of AMT mercs prior to this, but this one is my best effort so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 On 3/25/2023 at 8:39 AM, TarheelRick said: I am always impressed when a modeler takes on a full custom like this. You sir are accomplishing some mighty fine work with this model. In your first post you said you would "post some of the details", one detail that particularly interests me is those beautiful Buick headlights. How did you accomplish that? Thanks! I believe you can do a search in the WIP for Curley Tremayne Merc. You should be able to find my initial post on the project. In there are more pics of the bodywork process when I first started it all. Among the pics I posted there is this one that shows the steps I took to scratch build the frenched headlight area at the front of the fenders, and a general description of the steps. I'll soon also post how I started to build the insert/lights: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 More progress ensues! Focusing on the front end, here's how I made the headlight inserts and buckets: I cut some foil backed plastic pill packets to make the textured insert. I cut/shaped a pair to fit the front fender opening, then used a hole punch to make the turn signal lens area. However, the hole punch ended up mangling the insert and making them unusable! I decided to make another pair, except this time I punched the hole in the pill packet material FIRST, then cut and shape the inserts around the turn signal hole....that worked much better. 2nd time is the charm, right? 🙃 The headlights are made from the AMT 49 Merc kit's round headlight bucket pair with the bezels sanded down to fit inside the Buick shape: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino246gt Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 Very impressive! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 8 hours ago, dino246gt said: Very impressive! Thanks! Some fellow modelers have mentioned that I could've purchased a pair of resin Buick headlight pieces, but I wanted to see if I could make them from scratch. I'm pretty happy with the results 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 (edited) Another update for the front end is the grill area: I made the background from railroad brass mesh spray painted flat black and backed up behind it with a sheet of styrene painted dark gray. The original 1:1 car used a 63-64 Buick grill bar and bottom valance piece. I could have built the grill bar from scratch with dicey results...lol but instead I wracked my brain for a bit trying to think of something to at least start with. I finally recalled that the Chrysler grill piece from the old AMT parts pack had a center bar and central cylinder in it that looked very similar to the Buick piece I needed. I cut it out what I needed from it and drilled out the center cylinder. I found a suitable bullet that was a clear red tail light and glued it into place. Some prepping and gloss black paint followed by Alclad chrome finished up the grill bar. The bottom valance piece was scratch built from sheet styrene sheet cut to shape and grooved thin aluminum sheet also cut to shape and then glued onto the styrene piece. The complete unit was then covered in BMF. Everything was mounted and glued into place. It's not exact, but it's close enough in my eyes to give the right impression! Edited May 18, 2023 by Ferbz 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 Fabulous front-end treatment! You came up with some truly clever solutions to the challenges that you faced. Kudos! David G 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferbz Posted May 19, 2023 Author Share Posted May 19, 2023 1 hour ago, David G. said: Fabulous front-end treatment! You came up with some truly clever solutions to the challenges that you faced. Kudos! David G Thank you! I'm discovering over the years that my model building skills jump ahead quite a bit when I'm merely able to solve 'weird' problems with 'weird' solutions lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geemoney Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 INCREDIBLE! Butch would be proud! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Karson Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 WOW! Outstanding replication in scale going on here! Wanna see more, Brother! -KK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 5 hours ago, Ferbz said: Thank you! I'm discovering over the years that my model building skills jump ahead quite a bit when I'm merely able to solve 'weird' problems with 'weird' solutions lol Absolutely. Nice work on this one, too. After seeing your Ford pickup, I'll be making a point to look for your build posts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.