Lead City Customs

[Mattilacken]

Sweet!

[Cool Hand]

Well bit disappointed, going to put the Mercury Comet back in the stash.

My kit is missing the grill.

 

 Contacted Moebius, awaiting a reply, but even then USPS has stopped shipping to Australia. ☹️

[Sandboarder]

On 1/30/2022 at 5:01 PM, Cool Hand said:

 

I am sorry but this is awesome!! Someone must have built it this way back in the day. 
 

“Build on of 3 great versions, stock, high ride or wild”

high ride ??? 

[Cool Hand]

High ride..........mmm.... if it was to be riding high , would be Donk style for sure. If I had two kits, would do one as a Donk.

 

These are the wheels.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Cool Hand

[David G.]

That's a bummer about the grille.

Nice stance on the tail dragger though. Do you have a color in mind yet?

David G.

[Cool Hand]

17 hours ago, David G. said:

Do you have a color in mind yet?

Same as always Black.

[Cool Hand]

Got the stance set on the 57 Bel Air.

 

Lot of cutting and mods to the undercarriage to get it to set so low with the Pegasus 19' and 23' wheels.

Oob Chassis. 

Very limited how much it could be lowered with the wheels I chose to use.

So out with the Dremel and sanding drum.

It all had to go.

Started of with a masking tape template of the floor pan and re built from there.

Sometimes you got to do what ever it takes to get them slammed. Stance matters.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Cool Hand

[David G.]

That's some pretty solid styrene engineering!

David G.

[Cool Hand]

Thanks David, wont been seen once its on the shelf. So didnt have to do anything fancy, just kept it simple to serve it's purpose.

[Cool Hand]

Got out the Pen sander to make short work of removing the quarter panel trim.

Used a couple different sanding heads and self adhesive 240 grit.

Also pre scribed around some of the trim, deepened the door, trunk and hood lines. Quick rough sand up to 600 then put on a coat of 1500 gray surfacer to see what else needs work. Not bad for the first lazy go around.

[Joe Handley]

5 hours ago, David G. said:

That's some pretty solid styrene engineering!

David G.

Agreed, I'm very familiar with that kit and this is a ton of cutting for what he did!

[Blueprint]

Couple tires set on reverse rotation - handling won't be great ?

[Cool Hand]

Done a bit of rough body work, flattened the hood and removed the rockets and also flattened the entire side trim. Then wet sanded everything from 600-2500 with Infini sanding sponge.

And applied another coat of 1500 gray surfacer.  Im hoping one more round of wet sanding to tidy up the rough spots where I got lazy, another coat of 1500 surfacer, a final round of wet sanding and should be good for paint.

Thats a spot of 500 surfacer on the headlight surround, chasing a pinhole thats giving me grief. Also a few other spots of 500 here and there but not as noticeable as that one

Edited February 4, 2022 by Cool Hand

[espo]

I like the way you removed the spears from the hood. I remember reading an article in the old Rod & Custom magazine many years ago where they were showing how to do this. What they were doing at the time was to use the center section of a '56 Ford hood to replace the center section of the '57 Chevy hood. Seems like a lot of work now but that's the way they did it. 

[Cool Hand]

Thanks David, removed them for something different.

And thanks for sharing that info of how they did it on the 1:1's back in the day.

[Cool Hand]

Not much of an update, applied white base coat.

Used Gaianotes paint which is excellent. High gloss, fast drying, very durable. Thinned 1:1.5 and used the Vision with .38 @ 25psi.

[Steve H]

That 57 body looks good with some trim removed. The hood is very clean looking. Interesting how removing some key features from an iconic car changes the appearance, but you have retained the classic lines. I love it. 

[Cool Hand]

Thanks Steve, plan to try different things out on each of the 57 snaptite kits I have. And also using them for airbrush paint practice.

 

[Cool Hand]

I really dont like painting metallics and pearls, as I am not very good applying them especially with an airbrush. Thats why I like to paint everything black, but that gets boring and there are some very nice colours out there.

Thats what the 57 is all about, experimenting, learning and doing something other than black.

Got it painted, I was worried about the texture on the trim from the pearl, so masked it before applying the paint.

Got a bit of pebbling on the trunk near lower window trim, and few here and there. Oh well, live and learn. Will wipe some of when fully dry and hope to bury the rest in the clear.

Cant wait to see this cleared and in the sunlight.

Edited February 10, 2022 by Cool Hand

[Cool Hand]

Ended up having to colour wet sand the 57. Pebbling was bad in a couple spots

So used Donn Yost method of sanding metallics, but I used GodHand 4000, 6000, 8000, 10000 sanding sponges.

Very surprised how well the SMS pearl wet sanded, Almost could have left it as is and cleared. But had to re coat as there was some thin spots, no burn thru at all.

 

And here it is after the re coat. Doesnt look any different than before. But it is as it has no pebbling LOL!

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Cool Hand

[Cool Hand]

Needed another build to get some more practice using the SMS paints.

So got this kit out.

 

Opened up the wheel arch's in preparation for the flares/over fenders. Only using these wheels for mock up purposes.

Applied a very light check coat of 1500 surfacer black.

Also lowered it a bit more.

 

 

Re scribed door lines and pre scribe around the trim.

Next up will remove the mold lines and block wet sand entire body with 1000-1500 grit. Then wet sand again with 2000-12000.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by Cool Hand

[Cool Hand]

Got the body all prep sanded and flares attached, next will apply 1500 gray surfacer.

Still undecided on the wheels, so will keep using these for now.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Cool Hand

[Cool Hand]

Applied a coat of gray surfacer and think ive decided on the wheels

These are the wheels. Havent used them on a build before.

[chris chabre]

cant wait to see what you do with the Comet.Hopefully you can find a grille assembly.per usual, everything looks awesome!

[Spottedlaurel]

Chevy looks good in blue.

I like the Bilbo wheels on the Skyline. It reminds me I must get and build one of my C110s.