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Posted

Another little quickie curbside build. 

A friend of mine [YES, I have friends ?] gave me this a couple years ago. I had started stripping it but floods happen and when I wanted to get back to it, I couldn't find the bumpers.

Anyway, I got a nice pair of bumpers and a so-so set of windows for it off the bay last week. 

Plans are for a simple build with candy green paint over white pearl for the body and maybe darker green candy over silver flake on the roof.  The KH spoke wheels from the AMT '66 Mercury with white stripe tires. 

I may try thermoforming a couple more rear windows from the one I have as I have another coupe that needs a rear window.

IMG 2199

IMG 2200

Posted

  I drove ,owned, one of those back in the 80's. I had built a replica of that car out of the new ( at the time) AMT 62,converted the roof from a monogram 58 bird to fit as my car had been a hardtop. Short story, I would REALLY like to get my hands on one of those early t bird kits. can't wait to see this .

Posted

Came out pretty good but I did have to do some wet sanding to get some of the red off that was being stubborn. 

Glad I was able to save the 4 chrome slashes on the rear 1/4s and the two raised character lines on the hood as they're the defining details of a '61

The rest of the emblems and script were already removed making this a good candidate for a mild custom. Only thing I had to do is fill the depressions below the door handles.

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  • 1 month later...
Posted

Got the paint off and found a previous owner had tried to strip paint off the hood by scraping it off. A couple heavy coats of BIN and some wet sanding got it smooth but not even as shown by the silver guide coat. Block sanded out the bad areas and ready for another coat of BIN and another silver guide coat but I think it's OK now. rest of the body was pretty good and need no extra work.

The wheels are from the AMT '66 Mercury, my favorite wheel for old Thunderbirds and the tires are from the current issue of the AMT '60 Chevy pickup with the go-cart. I think they're the thinnest pinstripes I've seen on a kit tire. The other side has a wide whitewall right to the rim.

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2v2a9Ey1vx2A694.jpg

 

 

  • Like 1
  • 11 months later...
Posted

It's been a while but I did get some color on this one last weekend. It's a custom mix candy green with a bit of candy yellow added over a chunky silver flake.
Maybe should have put a gold base instead of silver but it has an early '60s feel to the shade it turned out.

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2v2aLG1iGx2A694.jpg

  • Like 7
  • 1 month later...
Posted
41 minutes ago, dino246gt said:

Very nice!  Still working on it?

 

I've been concentrating on the '64 Pontiac but the T-bird is still on the table. 

I've sprayed a couple more coats of clear on it but haven't polished it out yet. 

Posted
14 hours ago, Sam I Am said:

Love what you're doing with this. I have a couple that I need ideas for.

Thanks Sam but this one's going to be pretty simple. Just some candy paint and a set of wheels on the stock body.  Some factory designs are so good that they don't need much more than that.

Posted
1 hour ago, Paul Payne said:

Nice job- totally different from the banana glue bomb! Planning on some bmf? Restored one of these several years ago- very satisfying! 

Definitely BMFing it Paul. Been working on the Pontiac mostly but I did polish out the paint last weekend. 

It's flood season again so things might go sideways again but if the river stays put I should have the Pontiac finished [or close to it] this weekend then I'll finish up the T-bird.

Posted

Glad I stumbled upon this one, Steve.  That's a classy color for that car and the wheel/tire choice is perfection. I love T-birds. Hurry up! Get 'er done!

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Well, I wasn't  happy with the paint after I got it buffed out. It was full of tiny stress cracks. I don't know where they came from as I didn't twist or flex the body in any way.

So, I stripped it and started over. The body came out of the stripper much smoother than the first time too. It looks much crisper this time around. I'm going to go with a gold base this time so the green should be a bit more on the yellow side. 

IMG 3323

IMG 3324

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