CabDriver Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 I picked up one of these kits at a model show last year, and this project has been rattling around my brain for long enough… Actually, I got taken on the first one of these I picked up - it was sealed with tape and allegedly complete…and it was, besides the interior pieces, chassis, a tire…some crucial stuff like that. Still, I was impressed enough with the quality and detail of this self-proclaimed Snap Kit that I REALLY wanted to build one, so I picked up another, designed some decals and here goes nothing… As any model builder knows, following the directions is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT, and step one was gluing the engine halves together: Once I’d done that, I lost interest in following the directions and jumped ahead to painting the body 🤪 I regularly (daily, in fact) use a Pantone swatch book for my work; a Pantone book is a color chart used most commonly in the print industry to match colors, and when I was still living in NY I made notes of various colors in the city’s color palette for projects like this. Having that reference number allowed me to mix up some Createx to get really close to the proper 90s NY taxi color: Whilst that was drying, I got back to what I was meant to be doing and prepped and painted some engine components (more on those after the weekend, most likely): And then last night I spent a ‘fun’ hour masking up the body to shoot the black trim: I like Createx black for projects like this - it shoots super smooth and clean, clean-up is easy and you can touch in any flaws with a brush. Just a little clean-up required here and then I’ll shoot some intercoat before the next steps. And…that’s about as far as I got so far…not a bunch of progress so far but I’ve got the idea in my mind that this one will be realistically used and weathered but not TOO much…a nice clean cab still, fairly early into it’s probably-long career. More soon, soon as I’ve done more! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mittagskind Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 Looks good. I'm looking forward on the progress and follow here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugatti Fan Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 Nice model taking shape. Remember riding in one when visiting NYC a few years back. This thread got me thinking, has anyone ever kitted one of the iconic Checker Cabs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulf Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 Interesting build, please tell us in detail about primer paint weathering and clear coat. This is one of the four taxi kits ? AMTs Ford 1970, an English Austin (old London taxi) and Airfix easy builder (like Lego) modern London taxi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 22 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said: This thread got me thinking, has anyone ever kitted one of the iconic Checker Cabs? No that has never been kited in 1/25 scale. There might be a diecast, not sure though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLMFAA1 Posted July 16, 2023 Share Posted July 16, 2023 Nice work, I wonder if the Caprice had to be modified like the Fords had to be? The Ford crown Vic had the Lincoln chassis to make the leg and head room required by the taxi commission. To tell the commercial built Ford taxi as opposed to a conversion the factory ones had silver rear and front bumpers. greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 On 7/15/2023 at 12:39 AM, Mittagskind said: Looks good. I'm looking forward on the progress and follow here. Thank you! On 7/15/2023 at 1:35 AM, Bugatti Fan said: Nice model taking shape. Remember riding in one when visiting NYC a few years back. This thread got me thinking, has anyone ever kitted one of the iconic Checker Cabs? 21 hours ago, 1930fordpickup said: No that has never been kited in 1/25 scale. There might be a diecast, not sure though. I seem to remember seeing a resin Checker cab at one point, but I’m hazy on who made it… On 7/15/2023 at 3:44 AM, Ulf said: Interesting build, please tell us in detail about primer paint weathering and clear coat. This is one of the four taxi kits ? AMTs Ford 1970, an English Austin (old London taxi) and Airfix easy builder (like Lego) modern London taxi. I will do! So far it was gray primer, a yellow base, the ‘actual’ yellow, then a light coat of clear lacquer to seal it in, followed by Createx for the black. I’ve got some more steps to do when it comes to the weathering tho. I’d bet there’s more taxi cab kits out there, but I’m no expert… 14 hours ago, GLMFAA1 said: Nice work, I wonder if the Caprice had to be modified like the Fords had to be? The Ford crown Vic had the Lincoln chassis to make the leg and head room required by the taxi commission. To tell the commercial built Ford taxi as opposed to a conversion the factory ones had silver rear and front bumpers. greg I don’t know all of the mods, but there WAS a ‘taxi package’ Caprice offered. In NY in the early nineties the requirement for a cab be that it was a vehicle that, when registered to the livery commission, had less than 500 miles on the clock - so I’d guess most of these Caprices were brand new off the showroom floor. A little more progress today… Applied the decals I had printed, and ran some Tamiya panel line into the panel gaps… The engine bay needs a few stages of painting and masking to get all the details correctly painted, so I did the next step on that today. Silly Putty is a LIFESAVER for masking tasks like this… As you can see, the engine bay is also the interior tub, so this part is going to get a bunch more attention before I’m done… And I got the frame into paint…I’m going for used-not-ruined as my guide for the weathering on this project, but bad as the five borough’s streets are, even a fairly new car is going to get beat on pretty hard…first step was Createx black, followed by a healthy dose of drybrushing and then a little airbrushed Vallejo brown to bring out some of that nice detail: Then, once that was all dry, I used some washes and did a little more airbrushing to add some visual interest…I’m pretty pleased with how the frame turned out! The exhaust got much the same treatment; Vallejo dull silver with a couple of shades of brown airbrushed to add some grime and wear: I’m excited to see these bits all together…but I forgot to paint a couple of the suspension pieces so that’s on hold for now… And, that’s about the progress for today…plenty more to do…more soon, soon as I’ve done more! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, CabDriver said: I seem to remember seeing a resin Checker cab at one point, but I’m hazy on who made it… I have seen pictures posted here years ago, I also don't recall who did that casting. Not even sure it was a good casting or not. I have looked around and found this at Star Models, here is the link. Supurba_Taxi (resinrealm.net) Edited July 17, 2023 by 1930fordpickup Added information. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugatti Fan Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 This Caprice Taxi is really taking shape well and will really look the business when finished. I have been modelling since way back over 50 years but would never have thought to use 'Silly Putty' material as a flexible masking medium. Just shows. You live and you learn! Since my last post I have learnt that Franklyn Mint did a Checker Cab in 1/24th and a Chinese company Sun Star did one in 1/18th scale. Both die cast models. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1972coronet Posted July 17, 2023 Share Posted July 17, 2023 (edited) On 7/16/2023 at 5:30 AM, GLMFAA1 said: Nice work, I wonder if the Caprice had to be modified like the Fords had to be? The Ford crown Vic had the Lincoln chassis to make the leg and head room required by the taxi commission. To tell the commercial built Ford taxi as opposed to a conversion the factory ones had silver rear and front bumpers. greg NYC cabs had rear footwell / leg room / floor-to-ceiling specs which were unique to them. I know that Chrysler had a V.I.N. marqued with an 'N' as the second-placement (e.g., WN41 for Coronet models). These cars were sent from the Lynch Road Assembly to Amblewagon where rear footwells with deeper steps were spliced-in where the stock footwells were. I've seen one in person ; a 1970 Coronet with a heavy duty 225 / 727-RG . Too bad that it was rusted to the roof. The 1998-2011 Crown Victoria NYC cabs were built on the Lincoln chassis (long wheelbase ; longer and taller rear doors). Someone has one in their collection which is a time capsule : 19 (nineteen) miles on its odometer ! I'll post a link in a bit ... Edited July 18, 2023 by 1972coronet I'm tired and my cat's hungry. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted July 20, 2023 Author Share Posted July 20, 2023 (edited) Thanks for the replies, fellas! You ever notice how you spend all your time on these simple kits doing masking, which takes longer than just painting a bunch of individual parts in the first place? Good thing I like masking… Did a tiny bit more on the interior tub (also the engine bay): Silly putty to the rescue again! The interior of the taxi-spec Caprices was a dark blue, apparently, so I found some reference pics and shot the main components ready for future detailing (and picked out that washer bottle too)…plenty more stuff to paint on these bits… Next job, get the frame assembled (or at least the suspension and exhaust…): I’m pretty pleased with the general look (at least for what is MEANT to be a quick easy snap-kit build 🤪) Just a mini update - more soon, soon as I’ve done more! Edited July 20, 2023 by CabDriver 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mittagskind Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1972coronet Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 Looking great @CabDriver ! Seeing that blue interior reminds me of the 1991 Caprice (Revell) which I'd built in 1995 (as a retired LASO unit). IIRC, 9C3 was the COPO number for the Taxi models. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamsuperdan Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 This looks great so far! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hct728(Bob) Posted July 22, 2023 Share Posted July 22, 2023 Nice to see you dig this old kit up and do it justice! Quality workmanship at that! I have collected all of this series and had planned to do police, fire, taxi, Caprice and Impala versions, then there's the Alternomad and wagon conversion, so inspiring to see you doing this 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted July 24, 2023 Author Share Posted July 24, 2023 Thanks fellas! A little more progress this weekend, after spending the week priming and painting about everything that I hadn’t painted already…got a real yard sale coming together! None of the bits I had left to handle were of any particular note - lots of satin black, but the wheels did get a coat of satin clear to dull down the chrome a little, plus a light black-wash and some weathering on the tires: Polished out the body - I didn’t go NUTS on it, because it’ll be getting some weathering and really isn’t meant to be show-car shiny…just got the orange peel off it and gave it an in-scale sheen: One kit part I WON’T be using is the kit’s taxi sign on the roof - it’s not accurate for a NY car so I 3D modeled one and printed it today: I got the few decals (actually stickers) applied to the dash and fare-meter - they’re all I’ll be using from the kit’s sheet: Apparently the driver of this cab is named Shah Duzy Mahmou, which I guess is feasible 🤪 And he just got a $38-and-change fare: The interior literally snaps together, as you’d hope from a snap kit, and everything fits beautifully - this kit was really a joy to piece together so far: After test fitting everything I un-snapped it and got the engine glued in place - one of the few parts I felt NEEDED glue, to be safe…I love how this underside turned out! Next up, getting the interior tub, frame and body all together for the final time… And now we’re down to some of the final little details before I can add a light layer of exterior weathering and wrap this thing up…I’m excited to do a little airbrushing and some washes to add some subtle grime and use to this thing… Thanks for looking - more soon, soon as I’ve done more! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mittagskind Posted July 24, 2023 Share Posted July 24, 2023 Very nice. It's going to become a pretty realistic object. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hct728(Bob) Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 So that's what you can do with a Snap Kit? Pretty impressive! You sure brought out all the chassis and engine details with paint, drybrushing and washes, amazing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted July 29, 2023 Author Share Posted July 29, 2023 Thanks fellas! I finished this one up this week - most of what I had left to do was just attaching the last few parts to it…and attaching some good old NY grime to it too… Some finished pics…thanks for following along! Can’t wait to tackle another one of these - it’s a fun kit and it basically fell together! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 Nice job! But forgive my ignorance - what is that on top of the hood, right side front? [Looks like a TV remote, LOL.] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mittagskind Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 Yeah great. A car wash is surely nearby. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted July 30, 2023 Author Share Posted July 30, 2023 21 hours ago, Danno said: Nice job! But forgive my ignorance - what is that on top of the hood, right side front? [Looks like a TV remote, LOL.] Thank you!! I probably shoulda explained that tv remote, huh? That’s the medallion - a little metal plaque that mounts to the hood of an NY cab to prove it’s legit and properly certified. That little chunk of metal would sell, pre-Uber anyway, for up to a MILLION dollars. Here’s a close-up: Because they got so expensive, NY introduced a cheaper variation for aspiring cab-drivers which would allow them to operate for a much lower starting price (but only permitted them to pickup fares in certain areas, primarily outside of Manhattan) - and they had to run this pea-green color scheme: I need to build one of those too… 21 hours ago, Mittagskind said: Yeah great. A car wash is surely nearby. Yep - this one is deep into a 48 hour rotating-driver shift 🤪 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis M Posted August 1, 2023 Share Posted August 1, 2023 Amazing job Jim'' I love it. I used to drive a taxi in Jersey. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted August 3, 2023 Share Posted August 3, 2023 Very nice! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattilacken Posted September 18, 2023 Share Posted September 18, 2023 Nice build! chassi looks great as you said! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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