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Posted (edited)

Hello Everybody!

My next project is the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 snap kit by Polar Lights. This is a simplified version of the movie car but still an adequate representation. It should provide a good platform for a skilled builder to to add as much detail as they want. I do plan to bump up the detail a bit here and there, I'll have to see how it goes.

.Ecto_1_00.jpg.672a0ee1537fdd6dd9dc50b7514969c9.jpg

 

The first order of business is a test fit in the hope of identifying any potential problem areas.

.Ecto_1_01.jpg.77b5055a66ca113bf4408f54fc2f2b34.jpg

 

Ah-Ha! Here's one here. The locating tabs on the forward ends of the fin pieces seem to interfere with the positioning. They may have to go.

.Ecto_1_02.jpg.75e8467fa1aad59cb7ba19548923ec04.jpg

 

But in the meantime, it's on to the basic body prep.

First some primer.

.Ecto_1_03.jpg.89bb9972e97a5bf4e0f30a319838ac0d.jpg

 

Then some sanding.

.Ecto_1_04.jpg.f00832376a7341e2b3fc1b1b4894b93e.jpg

 

Given the age of the molds, the body castings aren't too bad. Just some standard parting lines.

.Ecto_1_05.jpg.7dda8905285e630b1c34fc04fdb08ef2.jpg

 

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

David G.

 

 

Edited by David G.
Posted

Cool, I'll be watching. I built one as a teen in the early 90's but tried doing a Miller Meteor ambulance. It just looked like an Ecto1 that had been stripped down, Lol. I'm more experienced now so might get one of these and try again. 

Posted
16 hours ago, doorsovdoon said:

Cool, I'll be watching. I built one as a teen in the early 90's but tried doing a Miller Meteor ambulance. It just looked like an Ecto1 that had been stripped down, Lol. I'm more experienced now so might get one of these and try again. 

Thanks Gareth.

Do you have any photos of that conversion? I'd be interested in seeing how it came out.

David G.

Posted
34 minutes ago, David G. said:

Thanks Gareth.

Do you have any photos of that conversion? I'd be interested in seeing how it came out.

David G.

No unfortunately, the few models I built then haven't survived and I didn't think of taking pictures of them. Basically I painted it red with a white roof and glued a couple of round red Lego pips on the roof. I don't think I even sanded or filled the fixtures for the Ecto gear.

Posted

Hi David, this will be a fun build. Like Gareth, I modified one of these, mine became a custom ambulance. Look forward to seeing more of your progress.

Cheers, Steve

Posted
9 hours ago, Steve H said:

Hi David, this will be a fun build. Like Gareth, I modified one of these, mine became a custom ambulance. Look forward to seeing more of your progress.

Cheers, Steve

Thank you Steve, I appreciate your comment. If you have any photos of your ambulance conversion, feel free to post them. I'd love to see 'em.

David G.

Posted

Hello Everybody!

Welcome to the "Fun With Fins" episode.

Fitting and installing the tailfins requires a bit of care and attention to insure proper positioning. At least for me it did. 

One of the first actions I took was stripping the "chrome" from the rear bumper. Not only did the thickness of the coating significantly interfere with the fit, there were noticeable drips and sags in the finish. ? 

Since both fins need to be fitted simultaneously with the rear bumper to assure proper location, I tacked them in place with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement to allow myself a little working time. On the first pass, there was a noticeable gap between the lower bumper pods and the body.

.Ecto_1_06.jpg.2d102bb2d5cf605e99a97ee02295d173.jpg

 

While the gap on the inboard side was even along the entire mating surface.

.Ecto_1_07.jpg.62b83ebfb410e1154e3c8026b918a46b.jpg

 

This told me that the fin pieces were too far back, preventing the bumper from fitting properly.

.Ecto_1_08.jpg.d72b7c1ef06a3869bbf506e51229d1b8.jpg

 

The first thing I did was cut off the aforementioned locating tabs at the front of the fin inserts (finserts? :D). While this allowed the fins to fit more closely at the front, it didn't move them forward enough to entirely address the fit issue. I also had to file about 2 mm from the front of slot the at the top of both fenders to cover the rest of the distance.

I even considered cutting away both the locating tabs entirely. This may have even worked better but I decided to keep the ones at the bottom to help hold the pieces in place as the cement cured.

.Ecto_1_09.jpg.66cbb26858329f63d323351405abc573.jpg

 

In this shot, the top of the fin is a tipped a little outward. I was able to mostly correct this by clamping it in place during the cure.

.Ecto_1_10.jpg.4d623eab833510a6fb396604d116a2e8.jpg

 

Fitting these and installing these fin pieces used up an entire build session. But correcting such an obvious problem was certainly worth the time and effort. After all, that's what model building is all about.

.Ecto_1_11.jpg.d0730ffa468bfd96b718e5f7a5c3362a.jpg

 

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

David G.

 

Posted

That’s looking really good. I love these cars and have built 2 of the AMT Ectos. Looks like you are investing the time to make this one right. 

Posted

 Nice work on the fins, that was time well spent. Unfortunately, I was not as careful assembling mine and the fins are far from perfect. This was based on the AMT glue kit.

C2BC7C42-676A-4D60-B5A4-6DEB29D302DA.thumb.jpeg.8f8d9fbebcfcd86d1014041d72d2547b.jpeg

I will be watched your progress, looking good!

Posted
22 hours ago, Zippi said:

That looks pretty kewl.  I'll have to keep tabs on this one.

Thanks Bob.

21 hours ago, Oldmopars said:

That’s looking really good. I love these cars and have built 2 of the AMT Ectos. Looks like you are investing the time to make this one right. 

Thank you Scott. I also have a couple of more kits, both the AMT version of Ecto-1A. One of which I've been working on converting back into a hearse, here's a link. It's been a while since I worked on it but I plan on cracking back into it after I wrap this one up.

20 hours ago, Steve H said:

 Nice work on the fins, that was time well spent. Unfortunately, I was not as careful assembling mine and the fins are far from perfect. This was based on the AMT glue kit.

C2BC7C42-676A-4D60-B5A4-6DEB29D302DA.thumb.jpeg.8f8d9fbebcfcd86d1014041d72d2547b.jpeg

I will be watched your progress, looking good!

Thanks Steve.

I remember seeing that one. I remember asking you about the custom decals. It reminds me of one of those promotional parade vehicles that companies used to have made for them. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks again,

David G.

Posted

David, the locating pins and removing the chrome cause you gap in the rear bumper? I have never owned a or looked at one of these Cadillacs other then the internet and forum..

Posted
16 hours ago, happy grumpy said:

Really great start. I want to build one as an ambulance, this seems like a good base for it.

Thank you Mario. Yes, this could be converted into an ambulance but it would take some modification. The computer equipment would have to be removed from the cargo area and you'd have to find some period appropriate emergency lights, but it could be done.

4 hours ago, slusher said:

David, the locating pins and removing the chrome cause you gap in the rear bumper? I have never owned a or looked at one of these Cadillacs other then the internet and forum..

Hi Carl, thanks for your comment. The thickness of the chrome on the bumper did cause some interference between the locating tabs and their slots. I would have had to file the tabs or open the slots to get a proper fit.  Even without the issue caused by the improper fin alignment.

Between those two issues, there would have been just no way to get a satisfactory fit on the bumper without some modification or correction. I just attribute this to the age of the molds.

Thanks again,

David G.

Posted (edited)
On 11/8/2021 at 1:00 PM, happy grumpy said:

Really great start. I want to build one as an ambulance, this seems like a good base for it.

I would use the AMT version. I did this to one, the AMT rescue van can supply a few of the Ambulance bits you will need. It is also a good source for the decals. 

Edited by Oldmopars
Posted
12 hours ago, Oldmopars said:

I would use the AMT version. I did this to one, the AMT rescue van can supply a few of the Ambulance bits you will need. It is also a good source for the decals. 

I agree. The two good things that the Polar Lights version has is a stock rear bumper and wheels. The AMT version has a rear step bumper and Western Smoothie style wheels. Overall, the AMT kit assembles better too.

I ended up buying one Polar Lights kit and two by AMT. My plan is to build the original Ecto-1 using mostly the Polar Lights kit, convert one of the AMT kits back into a standard hearse and the other AMT kit either into a flower car or a standard ambulance. Though I'm currently working on the first two plans, I'm not so sure about the third at this point.

I'm also very curious to see what this new Surf Shark version has to offer.

David G.

Posted (edited)

Hello Everybody!

I was able to get a little more work done so here are some more photos.

First is laying out and masking the basic colors on the interior. Tamiya white primer masked for the white portions on the door panels and Dupli-Color Chrome for the for the computers.

.Ecto_1_13.jpg.0f01c436a6498fe3223a8416664e66f5.jpg

 

Tamiya AS-10 Ocean Gray for the carpet and rear deck is applied and being masked to shoot the Dupli-Color Flat Black black for the seats and door panels.

.Ecto_1_14.jpg.81097b0fbf7aaaa0a6aaac3d5b5c4bb5.jpg

 

Here's the interior with all the basic colors shot and the masking removed. I did get a little tape scarring on the computer consoles but I have a plan to deal with that.

.Ecto_1_15.jpg.ebd0d3abd545a8dea2fbb024fd66c064.jpg

The next step is some detail painting and maybe a few more scratch-built bits and pieces to add casual visual interest. Most of this won't be visible through the tinted windows after final assembly so I don't plan on going over the top with the added details.

And of course, the obligatory Test-Fit!

.Ecto_1_12.jpg

 

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

David G.

Edited by David G.
typo
Posted
23 hours ago, FLHCAHZ said:

The interior looks great!

Thank you Chaz.

23 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

This is coming along nicely. Great fix on those fins.?

Thanks Greg, I appreciate your comment.

22 hours ago, slusher said:

Nice interior painting…

Thanks Carl.

David G.

Posted (edited)

Hello Everybody!

I'm still working on the interior details. In the meantime I've done some basic detail painting on the basic chassis plate.

.Ecto_1_16.jpg.2f5a5be094ac3053b60c6a19d421b942.jpg

 

I may do a little more to clean it up, or I may not. I haven't decided yet. But I'll probably do at least a little light weathering.

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

David G.

Edited by David G.
typo
Posted

Hello Everybody!

I have some more done on the interior, I've added some basic detail to the dashboard.

.Ecto_1_17.jpg.16926e1394e7c53c38c918998641a59f.jpg

 

Here's what I have for the interior tub so far.

.Ecto_1_18.jpg.c9434de568ad16d0e56f2f2f6ff6a414.jpg

 

I do plan to add some more detail but not too much as most of it won't be easy to see once the model is assembled.

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

David G.

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