AMT 1959 Chrysler Imperial: WIP

[slusher]

Nice touch on you rear view mirror..

[Tom Geiger]

Nice work and good catch on the mirror.

Beware of the steering wheel. Every one I’ve seen on both originals and the modern repops have a mold alignment problem 

[espo]

The interior looks great. I remember friends who owned different Chrysler products from that era, and the dash mounted mirror always struck me as different. The only draw back I can remember was if anyone was siting in the back seat they would block the drivers view out the rear window. Very nice reproduction and mounting of the mirror. 

[FLHCAHZ]

Great work David!  The interior and undercarriage look very tidy

[David G.]

22 hours ago, slusher said:

Nice touch on you rear view mirror..

Thank you Carl.

21 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Nice work and good catch on the mirror.

Beware of the steering wheel. Every one I’ve seen on both originals and the modern repops have a mold alignment problem 

Thanks Tom. The steering wheel did indeed have some mold alignment but they weren't that serious.

21 hours ago, espo said:

The interior looks great. I remember friends who owned different Chrysler products from that era, and the dash mounted mirror always struck me as different. The only draw back I can remember was if anyone was siting in the back seat they would block the drivers view out the rear window. Very nice reproduction and mounting of the mirror. 

Thank you David. I've heard that about those mirrors. If I'm not mistaken, the Corvette convertibles of that era also had a dash mounted rearview mirror. Of course, there were no rear seat passengers to block the view though.  

9 hours ago, FLHCAHZ said:

Great work David!  The interior and undercarriage look very tidy

Thank you Chaz.

David G.

[bisc63]

Loving the progress on this!  Makes me want to get back on mine, but I still have a couple of projects moved ahead of it ...

[David G.]

5 hours ago, bisc63 said:

Loving the progress on this!  Makes me want to get back on mine, but I still have a couple of projects moved ahead of it ...

Thank you Rusty. How far along are you on yours?

I got the dashboard decal applied yesterday, I should be posting more photos soon.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everyone.

The interior is now complete and the work of fitting the roof to the body has begun in earnest.

Here are a couple of shots of the interior.

 

Here is a tighter shot that better shows the decal that AMT thoughtfully provided for the dashboard instrumentation.

I haven't used this gray flocking in a while and now I remember why. It often comes out looking like shag carpet. I think I'll go back to using the embossing powder from here on out.

That's all for now. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to leave a comment.

David G.

[FLHCAHZ]

interior looks great!  Nice detail on the dashboard.

[Dave Van]

Thanks for showing the grille gap fix. I never figured that out. 

Who is going to build the limo version from Lemony Snickets movie????

[espo]

Great looking interior. Have you tried running the flocking material thru an old Tea Strainer before applying it ? 

[Mike F.]

Nice job on the interior. I like the shag carpet. Looks comfy ?

[David G.]

23 hours ago, FLHCAHZ said:

interior looks great!  Nice detail on the dashboard.

Thank you Chaz.

21 hours ago, Dave Van said:

Thanks for showing the grille gap fix. I never figured that out. 

Who is going to build the limo version from Lemony Snickets movie????

Thank you Dave but I owe the inspiration for the grille adjustments to Rusty @bisc63, it's his advise that pointed me in the right direction. I had made some of my own adjustments that brought the gap a little closer but without his input, I most likely would have left the gap as it was then.

I never saw that movie but I did think that this body would make a great basis for an airport limo conversion. A courtesy car for the Las Vegas Hilton, circa 1961.

21 hours ago, espo said:

Great looking interior. Have you tried running the flocking material thru an old Tea Strainer before applying it ? 

Thank you David. Rather like sifting the ground cover as it's applied to a model railroad. I'll have to keep that in mind, thanks for the tip.

19 hours ago, Mike F. said:

Nice job on the interior. I like the shag carpet. Looks comfy ?

Thanks Mike. It kind of reminds me of the shag carpet that the custom van builders used to use back in the Seventies.

Thanks to all,

David G.

[Dave Van]

[hedotwo]

Great job so far David! 

[David G.]

22 hours ago, Dave Van said:

Yeah, that would be do-able. It would take two full kits and a little hack-n-slash but the body lines are fairly straight so it wouldn't be too bad. The version that came up in my mind's eye had a little less C-pillar and a little more see-through.

One would also have to add B and C pillars because the kit is a hardtop.

And then there's the interior.... ?

 

22 hours ago, hedotwo said:

Great job so far David! 

Thank you Rich.

David G.

Edited August 26, 2021 by David G.
typo

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

The next task is fitting the roof to the body.

First I added some styrene to the lead edge of the roof to fill the small gap there.

 

Then I added some styrene to redefine and sharpen the lines of the lower ends of the rear pillars where they mount to the body.

 

After cleaning up and smoothing these areas, it was time for a test fit. Though a more positive and stable fit for the roof was created by the addition of the material, this also shifted the gaps to the areas just above the wing vents. Not a bad thing.

Time for more styrene!

 

The stock I had on hand was the correct thickness but twice as wide as I needed so I cut my length then split the piece down the center. I used Tamiya extra thin cement to glue the strips to the tops of the wing vents. I also made a small relief cut in the areas just behind the windshield frame to allow the strips to abut against the frame hopefully allowing for a smoother transition at the juncture.

 

I put the whole mess together for another test fit. It looks like this should address most of the alignment issues.

 

After allowing the strips to cure for a few hours, I trimmed and shaped them. The next step is permanent installation of the roof. There will, of course be more filling and adjusting required but all the contact points are smooth and even and that's a good place to start.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment.

David G. 

[doorsovdoon]

I like that you filled in the spotlight holes. I wish I did the same on mine cos I didn't realise until after paint how comically oversized they look when fitted! Nice work.

[mustang1989]

Some good work going on in this thread Dave.

[espo]

You have been doing some great body work getting the roof to align with the windshield moldings. I was going to suggest maybe even adding just another layer of material at the corners where the roof meets the top corner of the windshield. This could be filled and sanded to shape also.  

[David G.]

21 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

I like that you filled in the spotlight holes. I wish I did the same on mine cos I didn't realise until after paint how comically oversized they look when fitted! Nice work.

Thank you Gareth. I was puzzled over why AMT cast the spotlight holes on the outside rather than the inside like all the other holes that were cast into the body. Especially in an area so rich with detail.

20 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

Some good work going on in this thread Dave.

Thanks Joe. I always try to do good work. It doesn't always work out that way, but most times it does.   Thank You. 

20 hours ago, espo said:

You have been doing some great body work getting the roof to align with the windshield moldings. I was going to suggest maybe even adding just another layer of material at the corners where the roof meets the top corner of the windshield. This could be filled and sanded to shape also.  

It's flush at the joint along the header area, I even got a little adhesive "squeeze out" when I pressed the parts together. That's the largest and most visible area of that assembly and I pretty much achieved the fit I wanted for it. I felt that if I tried to do much more with the fit at the corners it might cause problems with the fit at the header. I've messed up my share of projects by overworking them, as the saying goes- "All art is knowing when to stop." and that's the point at which I stopped.

The fit on the corners is a little rough but the areas are small enough that I feel I can easily use putty to back-fill and smooth them over. I also need to find a way to continue the drip rail trim so it mates with the trim around the windshield. I'm planning on using strips of styrene for this too which should help to hide any imperfections in those places.

Thanks for taking the time to share your advice David, I truly appreciate any and all tips and pointers as they've helped me out more times than I can count. 

Regards,

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everyone!

By this point with most of my builds I would have done a color test shot. I usually do this with the hood but this model is a curbside and the hood is cast as part of the body so I just didn't think of it until now. The next best option is the continental piece for the decklid, so here it is.

The main body will be Tamiya TS-42 Light Gunmetal and the landau will be Tamiya TS-40 Metallic Black. I still haven't decided if I'm going to paint the roof or the landau black as I've seen it both ways and I can't decide which I like better.

As always, thanks for taking the time to look.

David G.

[FLHCAHZ]

Looking really good!  I think the black landau will look good and really tie in the interior. The light gunmetal is a great choice for this car. 

[David G.]

13 minutes ago, FLHCAHZ said:

Looking really good!  I think the black landau will look good and really tie in the interior. The light gunmetal is a great choice for this car. 

Thank you Chaz. I haven't made a final decision on the configuration yet but here is the photo that inspired my color choice.

 

It also looks like this one might have a continental bump that's color matched to the roof. I'm not sure if I want to go that route but it would be right for the time period.

Thanks again for the input Chaz.

David G.

[FLHCAHZ]

I understand your dilemma.  That looks sharp with the body color roof