Custom 1941 Plymouth

[Joe Handley]

Guess I never started a thread for this one, been working in it off and on for the better part of the last year, just an AMT ‘41 Plymouth with some custom work and Pegasus wheels.  It was being built for my club’s Christmas party and was maybe 75% done by spring, but found other new shiny things to distract myself with and now need to do the last 25% by Saturday ??

here’s where I started, had been partially shaved by the time I took the first pic.

 

Then decided to lose the running boards and add the Pegasus Crossbars with wide whites.

 

here’s where I stopped, did a very slight body drop by sanding the bottom of the interior tub flat, fabricated my own drop spindles and lowered the rear by grinding away at its mounting points, then added some square styrene rod along where the running boards would but up against the body under the doors

 

I had also hand carved pleated squares into the kit seats too!

and this is where it stood after pulling it out of the box, plus a change of venue!

 

I’ve blown it apart now and have everything but the body outside in primer

 

Before I did the above, I attached the smoothed fender liners and firewall in place and started trying out the Frenched headlight buckets from AMT’s ‘49 Merc, which I liked the look of!

getting those liners and the firewall to fit was such a pain, I did reinforce the joints on the backside with more of that Bondic UV Resin as well as fill in that gap in the with it too though!

 

I also tried the mold in that valance pan that goes over the rear bumper and modify the trunk at the bottom, but that did not work out well, so……more on that later……

 

I started filling in around the top edges of the fenders with Bondic to get them so the chromed lip of the Merc headlight trim rings would flush up against them, though I’m still tweaking that.

 

Now…..for that rear valance, I made a new one from .060 styrene that will be molded in once the front body work for the headlights is done.

 

So here is where the body is as of right now.

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Joe Handley

[Joe Nunes]

Nice work!  ?

Joe

[dino246gt]

I'm liking what you're doing!

 

[Tarkmucker]

I like this. I started doing similar things to one about 15 years ago. Unfortunately it’s been in and out of rotation to be completed so many times. Looking forward to seeing more 

[Joe Handley]

1 hour ago, Tarkmucker said:

I like this. I started doing similar things to one about 15 years ago. Unfortunately it’s been in and out of rotation to be completed so many times. Looking forward to seeing more 

Thanks!

I may have a pre RC2 AMT/ERTL Version of this car that I was making a custom of as well somewhere in storage, I think Dad and I have 4 of these between the 2 of us floating around this house and/or storage.

[Joe Handley]

Did a little more work on the car after work tonight!  Got the resin on the fenders shaped about right to match the headlights and the lines for the trunk filled in and the valance cemented in place. Forgot to mention that I removed the vent windows and frames on the doors too!

[Joe Handley]

Ok, the body is ready for primer, I should have things pretty well filled, just need to see what needs fine tuning before paint.

I do have the chassis, suspension, and engine/transmission already in paint, just difficult to tell since I had to shoot it in the dark, both paint and pics wise. The chassis, suspension, steering and drive shaft are all Testors’ Blazing Black Metallic while the engine and trans assembly will be all Krylon Chrome Silver with black accents.

I do have plans to use one of the air cleaner housings and and the alternator from the Chrysler Cross Ram 413 in the Merc that donated it’s light buckets too.

[customline]

I like what you did with the headlights because the stock units are kinda ugly. I really like this kit, it's a nice departure from the usual and a lot can be done with it.  I built one of these as a custom and one as a gasser.   I am eager to see where this one goes!

[carnut]

Like a few other people here, I’m really digging what you are doing on the 41 Plymouth. I have a chopped taildragger that I’m stalled on and I’m going to have to get it out and finish it up.

Outstanding work so far, keep it going.

[Joe Handley]

2 hours ago, customline said:

I like what you did with the headlights because the stock units are kinda ugly. I really like this kit, it's a nice departure from the usual and a lot can be done with it.  I built one of these as a custom and one as a gasser.   I am eager to see where this one goes!

Thanks, I thought they were ugly too and thought it would be worth trying these or the stock Merc lights. Found the stock Merc trim rings were just too……”fat” for the  lack of a better term as well for my liking, but the frenched buckets were perfect.  It is now in primer as I shot it on lunch and will get to work on the body on after I’m done working for the day.

[Joe Handley]

1 hour ago, carnut said:

Like a few other people here, I’m really digging what you are doing on the 41 Plymouth. I have a chopped taildragger that I’m stalled on and I’m going to have to get it out and finish it up.

Outstanding work so far, keep it going.

Thanks, I appreciate it! Kinda wish I hadn’t slacked on this one so long though. Hope to see yours on here soon though!

[Joe Handley]

Shot the primer when I went on lunch today and touched up the black as well, spraying metallic black outside and in the dark with just a house side wasn’t the greatest idea…….oops.

I will at least have an idea where I need to do more body work once I’m done working for the day.

[Joe Handley]

Ok, getting into the body work now that I can see the bodywork I’ve done in the primer and know where to work.

 

Then here’s the interior tub and front seat in primer……..sorta

 

still need to do some painting, but here’s the engine so far!

[customline]

9 hours ago, Joe Handley said:

Thanks, I thought they were ugly too and thought it would be worth trying these or the stock Merc lights. Found the stock Merc trim rings were just too……”fat” for the  lack of a better term as well for my liking, but the frenched buckets were perfect.  It is now in primer as I shot it on lunch and will get to work on the body on after I’m done working for the day.

Yeah, looks great with those bezels. Maybe the when you build the Merc you can just tunnel the headlights, since you used the Frenched bezels on this one. I tunneled the lights on my Plymouth. Don't recall exactly what I used but I may have modified the stock buckets and dropped them in from behind.

[Joe Handley]

3 hours ago, customline said:

Yeah, looks great with those bezels. Maybe the when you build the Merc you can just tunnel the headlights, since you used the Frenched bezels on this one. I tunneled the lights on my Plymouth. Don't recall exactly what I used but I may have modified the stock buckets and dropped them in from behind.

I have a pre RC2 AMT/ERTL kit somewhere and IIRC, I was think about doing something like that with it for headlights when I put it away into storage. The Merc donor kit, unfortunately, is now a parts kit so it will be raided for bits and pieces over time.

[customline]

7 hours ago, Joe Handley said:

I have a pre RC2 AMT/ERTL kit somewhere and IIRC, I was think about doing something like that with it for headlights when I put it away into storage. The Merc donor kit, unfortunately, is now a parts kit so it will be raided for bits and pieces over time.

I get confused, now and then, and need to go back and re-read this stuff. I find things that I missed. The thing I missed was that the headlight donor was the AMT kit, which I have not experienced since I built it as a child back around 1963. All I remember about it was that it was molded in black. I was thinking the Merc kit you've been raiding was the Revell kit. ☺️. I'm relieved ?.  I still deeply regret having passes up buying the chopped merc kit, which was on clearance at the local Michael's some years ago. I had built that kit once and knew what a great kit it was but then Wifey said "why would you want another one? " ?.  My response was weak and seemingly illogical, as I recall. For anyone reading this, some advise: Don't pass on any kit that's on clearance.  Period. (I did come away, that day, with the AMT 70 impala in the big, flat box that was also on clearance, and which I still have not built because I stole the Rat motor out of it ?. )

Edited December 7, 2022 by customline
Punctuation

[espo]

Bine watching your build. This Plymouth body style has never been that interesting to me even though I have the kit. That said, after seeing some of the body changes you have made, I'm thinking I might just build one also.  

[Joe Handley]

1 hour ago, customline said:

I get confused, now and then, and need to go back and re-read this stuff. I find things that I missed. The thing I missed was that the headlight donor was the AMT kit, which I have not experienced since I built it as a child back around 1963. All I remember about it was that it was molded in black. I was thinking the Merc kit you've been raiding was the Revell kit. ☺️. I'm relieved ?.  I still deeply regret having passes up buying the chopped merc kit, which was on clearance at the local Michael's some years ago. I had built that kit once and knew what a great kit it was but then Wifey said "why would you want another one? " ?.  My response was weak and seemingly illogical, as I recall. For anyone reading this, some advise: Don't pass on any kit that's on clearance.  Period. (I did come away, that day, with the AMT 70 impala in the big, flat box that was also on clearance, and which I still have not built because I stole the Rat motor out of it ?. )

I still have 2 of those Revell Mercs that I have not started!  There is a side treatment I had done on the donor AMT Merc body that I want to apply to one of those, eventually since that kit is a bit of a mess now. I do have one of those '70 Impala kits too, it's in storage at this time too.

[Joe Handley]

The hood isn’t sanded yet, but the body is looking pretty good and ready for more primer, then maybe the color coat!

[Joe Handley]

Body came out pretty good, gotta just clean up the filler primer and seal prime before the color and clear coats.

 

and then here’s the chassis and suspension in Blazing Black as well as the front bench seat.

[customline]

This MoPup is looking real nice, BJ, you work fast!

[Joe Handley]

1 hour ago, customline said:

This MoPup is looking real nice, BJ, you work fast!

Thanks! It needs to be done by Saturday as does the vintage Revell Maxwell kit Dad is building and we slacked way too much this summer on our projects. Our model club has a build project that is “Orphans”, so why not a Mopar and it’s fore runner??

[Joe Handley]

Chassis is assembled and ready to test fit the body to so I can see what tweaking I may need to do to that valance I scratched together.

[Joe Handley]

Well, here we are, need to shoot the paint and clear on the outside and then paint the interior.

 

Here’s what I’m going to shoot it with, the green is the same green my XJ Cherokee was painted as well as what I painted my Wild Willy 4x4, but this will get gloss clear instead of flat like the WW4x4 is in.

and then this white is what I’m going to paint the interior, but leave the clear off those and flock the floor with green/gold embossing powder.

[Joe Handley]

The color is going down ?

That green will look fantastic on this!