AMT 53 Ford PU

[oldscool]

This one had been languishing almost finished for a couple of years so I decided to finish it in parallel with the 34 Ford build. Painted with Tamiya Light Blue. This color doesn't look as good as I thought it would but I'm reluctant to repaint because it turned out so beautifully smooth. Totally OOB. Drilled out the carbs and left off the air filters. Chassis is all Tamiya Gloss Black. Seat and tonneau are Testors little bottle Flat Brown. I did the ejector pin marks on the back of the West Coast mirrors with Stoplight Red and calling them reflectors as I remember seeing them back in the day on these mirrors. Except for the grille swap this one is a "J C Whitney custom".

I did add some small shims to the edges of the hood opening to keep the hood from being sunken below the surrounding body work. Also shimmed the back of the cab where it touches the frame rails to keep from having the sagging in the middle look that a lot of pickup models seem to have. Still needs a radiator hose as I need to scratch one( Don't care for the forked hose that is in the kit). I may also rip the bumper off and repaint it white. Front could be lower as well. Also lost the inside mirror and two headlight lenses along the way but should be easy to find replacement lenses. One more issue is if built per the instructions the steering wheel sticks to far out of the dash(as you can see).

This is the fourth one of these kits I have built in my modelling life and will probably build at least one more and use the left over Thunderbird engine from the 34 pickup kit.

[espo]

Great clean looking build. The blue color doesn't look bad and you're right it is smooth, it's very close to one of the OEM colors, in fact a coworker years ago had a '53 that was stock and was that color. 

[Tom Geiger]

You done good!

One of my favorite kits.   I did the same thing with the mirrors!  

Just give the hood emblems a whack of silver and call it done!    

[oldscool]

10 minutes ago, espo said:

Great clean looking build. The blue color doesn't look bad and you're right it is smooth, it's very close to one of the OEM colors, in fact a coworker years ago had a '53 that was stock and was that color. 

That's good to know. I just felt it was a little to garish for the era.

[oldscool]

5 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

You done good!

One of my favorite kits.   I did the same thing with the mirrors!  

Just give the hood emblems a whack of silver and call it done!    

Thanks! Makes me feel good to get an attaboy from someone as good as you Tom, and I will do the hood emblem.

[oldscool]

Just noticed that I used both shifters. Must have had an off day when I did the interior.?

[Zippi]

Boy....that is a looker Gerald.  Nice looking blue.  I like the reflectors on the back of the mirrors.

[PappyD340]

Super nice!

[slusher]

Nice looking Ford..

[NOBLNG]

Nice truck. I agree, that is a beautiful paint job!?