AMT '53 Studebaker Starliner

[rightrudder]

1 hour ago, drodg said:

Love watching your build.  Here is a picture of my dad's 53 Starlight V8 right after he took delivery.   He always thought the Starlight had less rattles than the Starliner because of the pillar.   

Yes, David, thank you for sharing!! I love this kind of shot. I have a color slide of my dad in his '59 Ford Galaxie Skyliner, top down, elbow on the windowsill, with a huge grin on his face. Rear 3/4 shot, so he's turning back to look at the camera. It was the only car he bought new. I need to make a huge print and frame it. I'm sure that pillar helped shore things up...cool little vent window back there too.

 

1 hour ago, ZTony8 said:

The only thing that dates it is the high cowl height.

For sure, and it's narrow! Previous project was a '62 T-Bird, which seems about 25 percent wider. 

[JJ Deuce]

1 hour ago, ZTony8 said:

The only thing that dates it is the high cowl height.

Yeah, the styling is great in that it distracts from how tall the car actually is.  

[ZTony8]

Just now, JJ Deuce said:

Yeah, the styling is great in that it distracts from how tall the car actually is.  

Not so much the coupe but more so on the sedans. The 4 doors  do look odd with the higher roof.

[rightrudder]

So I'm 90 percent there with smoothing out the engine bay. I might add a couple details back in like the voltage regulator, but it seem easier to shave the whole works off.

Here's a pic of the steerable front suspension. I ended up assembling and gluing everything first, then shooting it with a can of splattery 10-year-old Krylon satin black. Turned out too glossy, so I'll spray it with matte clear coat later. I'm gonna attempt some slight dry-brush weathering before that. I never spend too much time on the underside, and devote more effort to engine, body and interior.

I decided on doing rattle-can exterior paint, with Tamiya Mica Red. I wanted to airbrush in acrylic but I couldn't find the right shade, and my experience with Tamiya can lacquers is that they atomize finely and go on pretty smooth.

Question: Will a dark primer affect the final shade of a solid color? I know they make a big difference with metalllics. I bought some Mr. Hobby 1500 surfacer and will experiment a little before final paint.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by rightrudder

[drodg]

1 hour ago, rightrudder said:

Yes, David, thank you for sharing!! I love this kind of shot. I have a color slide of my dad in his '59 Ford Galaxie Skyliner, top down, elbow on the windowsill, with a huge grin on his face. Rear 3/4 shot, so he's turning back to look at the camera. It was the only car he bought new. I need to make a huge print and frame it. I'm sure that pillar helped shore things up...cool little vent window back there too.

 

For sure, and it's narrow! Previous project was a '62 T-Bird, which seems about 25 percent wider. 

Your welcome.  Love watching the build

[espo]

As for primers, the lighter colors like white will often give the color coat a brighter look. This can depend on the paint used as a color coat. You might test on a spoon using Tamiya pink primer as that is supposed to give a red color more depth. 

[rightrudder]

38 minutes ago, espo said:

As for primers, the lighter colors like white will often give the color coat a brighter look. This can depend on the paint used as a color coat. You might test on a spoon using Tamiya pink primer as that is supposed to give a red color more depth. 

Thanks for that, David. I'm thinking I might have to use two different primers, one for the body and one for the white top. Will get some spoons to test.

Chassis is nearly complete. I went overboard with the weathering and it looks like a 200,000-mile junkyard dog (!), but it's better than the too-new shiny appearance it had before. I guess less is more here.

[rightrudder]

Front looks like the driver did too many Dukes of Hazzard jumps and landed hard on the crossmember!

 

[rightrudder]

I'm making a ton of progress today! Mounting the motor and getting it to sit right has been a challenge. I shaved the inside edges of the chassis motor mounts and bent each one outward (pretty easy as they're thin plastic) and got it to locate decently. But that generator is hanging waaayyy out there and sure enough, there's some interference with the body that I wasn't happy with.

It's possible to cram it in there, but the belt distorts and the generator gets cocked a little. I thought at first I'd shorten the generator by half and shorten the belt, to tuck it in near the rocker cover, but ultimately I decided to notch the inner fender. It's already a semi-custom with the shaved firewall, right?

 

 

[Bronzekeg]

great looking build again.

[Dave72]

Very cool so far! The engine and weathering on the chassis looks great! 

[rightrudder]

Thanks, guys! I can't wait to put some paint on the body. My Tamiya Mica Red showed up today, and the shell is about 90 percent prepped. I'm waiting on an order that contains some putty as there's just a few spots that need attention.

In the meantime, I'll work on the interior. I was going to go with the individual front buckets and center console, but unfortunately the pleats are molded very poorly. The front bench looks great, so I'll use that instead.

[rightrudder]

Well, I think it's time to declutter the workspace! Note the use of fine china for my parts tray, and slip-joint pliers to get the caps off those Tamiya acrylics. ?

Also, Impala kit finally arrived!!

Here's some close-ups of the taillights/housings. The kit includes the larger custom lenses that do away with the chrome housings altogether, and the standard lenses. Note that the lens detail is molded into the chrome part, so you could paint it red and call it done. 

Previous builders of the kit have noted that the stock lenses stick out too much. I think I'll sand them down to reduce thickness, and maybe modify housing if necessary.

Interior is proceeding apace...I went with a two-tone light gray/cream scheme, which should look good with the red body.

 

[TransAmMike]

Aww, the body style ahead of it's time. I too always thought they were a cool car. I can remember somewhere aroud 1955 my Dad and I going to look at used one. He didn't buy it tho.

Anyway, I'm glad you are doing this and it has now peaked my interest in getting one...the model of course?

[rightrudder]

1 hour ago, TransAmMike said:

Aww, the body style ahead of it's time. I too always thought they were a cool car. I can remember somewhere aroud 1955 my Dad and I going to look at used one. He didn't buy it tho.

Anyway, I'm glad you are doing this and it has now peaked my interest in getting one...the model of course?

Awesome! It's a fun kit to build.

[rightrudder]

I finished up the interior this afternoon. I used Rustoleum Painter's Touch Heirloom White satin, and airbrushed Testors flat gray enamel. Gauges and radio dial are from Best Model Car Parts...they're printed on photo paper, so you cut 'em out and glue 'em in. Really a good way to go! The photo paper is glossy, so it reflects a little like gauge glass. Not obvious in these photos but you see it at certain angles.

I mounted the front bench too far forward initially (no locating pins or holes, just a flat floor), so I had to break it loose and reglue.

Things I'd do differently next time:

• I love the cream color of the paint, but even after a full day's drying time it's still tacky to the touch. I think some Krylon is in my future.
• I'd go a shade or two lighter with the gray
• I hate that I blobbed too much silver paint around the glovebox area. I figure at this point an attempted fix would make it worse, so onward!

 

 

[TransAmMike]

Well Douglas, that interior realllly looks great. Keep the pics coming. 

[slusher]

Great detail on your dash..  may I ask haw you cut your round decals?

[rightrudder]

Thanks guys! Will definitely keep the iPhone camera humming.

Carl, I use regular scissors. I thought about using an X-Acto but the radius is so small it seemed it would be too difficult. To make it easier with scissors, cut a square around the gauge, getting right down to the black of the gauge face. Then cut those corners to make and octagon, and so on. Even if you want to cut curved lines, making a square first will break down the curved cuts to four 90-degree segments, which is a ton more manageable. I wish the manufacturer would figure a way to cut them out for us, right?

Trimming parts and doing test-fits before paint. Bumpers fit very nicely. I glued on the front pan, and the fit is such that I'll want to use a little putty. Not totally necessary as the front bumper mostly covers that seam, but I don't want to shortcut it.

Worked on the taillights, and to do it right, you need to scrape out all the detail in the chrome housing. A tedious job. I think they'd probably look fine with some Tamiya clear red and a lot less work!

[espo]

20 hours ago, rightrudder said:

Well, I think it's time to declutter the workspace! Note the use of fine china for my parts tray, and slip-joint pliers to get the caps off those Tamiya acrylics. ?

Also, Impala kit finally arrived!!

Here's some close-ups of the taillights/housings. The kit includes the larger custom lenses that do away with the chrome housings altogether, and the standard lenses. Note that the lens detail is molded into the chrome part, so you could paint it red and call it done. 

Previous builders of the kit have noted that the stock lenses stick out too much. I think I'll sand them down to reduce thickness, and maybe modify housing if necessary.

Interior is proceeding apace...I went with a two-tone light gray/cream scheme, which should look good with the red body.

 

I have been following your build and really like how it's looking  I would like to offer a suggestion about the Tamiya bottle caps. They don't take well to a lot of strong arming. I have much the same problem and it seems to come from small amounts of paint on the top edge of the bottle drying and causing the cap to bond to the bottle. Next time this happens try placing the bottle upside down in some warm water that just covers the cap and allows some water to go into the threaded area of the bottle. What I have found is that the water tends to soften the dried paint and after just a few minutes the cap can be removed by hand. I have never had a leak thru of the water into the paint in the bottle. 

[rightrudder]

Thank you for the tip, David. I'll try that.

I have a bad habit of removing excess paint by brushing the rim of the bottle, which nicely cements everything in place when I put the cap back on! I need to do this on the underside of the cap, or on a paper towel. Funny how some colors seem to make better "cement" than others!

[TransAmMike]

2 hours ago, espo said:

I have been following your build and really like how it's looking  I would like to offer a suggestion about the Tamiya bottle caps. They don't take well to a lot of strong arming. I have much the same problem and it seems to come from small amounts of paint on the top edge of the bottle drying and causing the cap to bond to the bottle. Next time this happens try placing the bottle upside down in some warm water that just covers the cap and allows some water to go into the threaded area of the bottle. What I have found is that the water tends to soften the dried paint and after just a few minutes the cap can be removed by hand. I have never had a leak thru of the water into the paint in the bottle. 

Ditto that!!   I have a bad habit of not wiping the top of the rim of the paint bottles and it seems I always have to do the hot water dip. Most of the time that works. Dummy here tried to open a small Testors bottle using an open end wrench on the bottle and a pliers to trist off the cap. Broke the top of the glass bottle right off in my hand slicing a layer of skin. Not recommended?

[espo]

57 minutes ago, rightrudder said:

Thank you for the tip, David. I'll try that.

I have a bad habit of removing excess paint by brushing the rim of the bottle, which nicely cements everything in place when I put the cap back on! I need to do this on the underside of the cap, or on a paper towel. Funny how some colors seem to make better "cement" than others!

Another issue with the caps. and I find this mostly true with Tamiya paints for some reason. We shake the bottle to agitate and mix the paint. We oprn the jar and start painting whatever. I'll usually try and use as much of the paint on the bottom side of the cap, but some is always left over, and this often attributes to the cap sticking. Whenever I notice much buildup in the caps threads, I'll run the cap under the faucet and scrape out any dried paint as well. I have found that the cap will go back on easier and doesn't gum up as often. 

[lordairgtar]

23 hours ago, rightrudder said:

 

Since the chrome tail lamp trim already has the lens engraved into the plastic, I would just dab clear read onto the chrome piece and save the red clear plastic lamps for something else

[rightrudder]

Great suggestions for the Tamiya acrylics, guys.  Mike, I've opened Testors bottles exactly as you described, and have been lucky enough not to break one. But it's scary!

1 hour ago, lordairgtar said:

Since the chrome tail lamp trim already has the lens engraved into the plastic, I would just dab clear read onto the chrome piece and save the red clear plastic lamps for something else

Gregg, in retrospect, I probably shoulda done just that. In fact, just painting them in would have been closer to the real thing, as they're just slightly recessed. Anyways, here's how they turned out. I gouged out all the detail, painted the recess with Molotow chrome, and sanded the lenses to about half thickness. I'm pleased with the result.

 

 

Here are a few shots of the body. Front pan needs a little sanding to conform, and I'm waiting on some putty. As I said before, the bumper covers up most of this seam, but where the parts mate in the wheel opening is visible. Note how low the front anti-roll bar/crossmember is in relation to the body. I'm sure it's by design, but something you don't see too often. Bumper mounts to the underside of the beak with tabs, but the bumper rides slightly too high, so I'll shim the tabs with some scrap styrene.

 

The only other work needed aside from the usual deflashing, etc. was the on the right side where the door meets the front fender. Fender was high relative to door, so block sanding was needed to get them flush. Also, the mold parting line runs in the door cutline which makes it a little messy. In this "after" picture, I've done most of the sanding and re-scribed the line on the door's upper part.

 

 

Last one: the hood fits great! A relief as the '62 T-Bird's hood was a little warped and I couldn't get it to sit right. There is a single center-mounted hinge provided, but I'm gonna leave that off and go the lift-and-remove route. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by rightrudder