1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

[Andy Oldenburg]

The Brougham was a luxurious premium car. At a list price of 13.000 Dollars only 704 were sold in the 2 years of construction. It cost more than the average Rolls Royce. And was doomed because Cadillac lost another 10.000 with every sale. A beautiful and rare classic. So I was looking forward to finally building my first Caddy.

In contrast to my high expectations you can´t imagine my disappointment unboxing this kit. My vendor didn´t mention that the model only fits level 2: It has no engine, less than 60 parts, the "tires" are styrene donuts and the qualitiy level is §$%&? In a sentence, the crappiest kit I have ever laid my hands on. It took 2 days of brooding to make my decision to build or bin.

I chose to give it my TLC and add as much details and levels as possible. I have enough spare parts to build a decent engine and turn this kit into a fine show. The body/undercarriage parts connect at the middle, where you would expect a chrome trim.

Everything is molded quite crude. The undercarriage has all the details molded on (exhaust system, engine pan etc), so I had to cut and grind out large sections. And I did want an engine to look at. I was able to salvage an engine bay from an extra body (`58 Impala). After cutting the hood open I added lips and glued the bay into place. The hood needed small strips of styrene to fit smug into the opening.

I filled the cavities on the bottom with sheet styrene and smoothed the surface with putty. Because I will add an exhaust system only a minimum of cleaning will be necessary.

My order of work on this kit will be much different than my usual habit. Fortunately the roof is an extra part, so I can work the interior while getting the body finished. Opening the hood wasn´t enough complexity yet, so I decided to get some doors open! Yup, those opposite doors with the suicide back door. Needed some brain work to think it out, I didn´t want to go into a dead end street... The body glued and after first sanding:

Now without the doors...

The interior panels have to fit too...

The hinges are the usual method, just that the doors are not flat. After fumbling to find the correct spots, I used 2-component epoxy to glue the styrene tubes. It fills the gapes very well and wont loosen later. The hinges themselves are 1mm brass. And by the way, I will only equip the driver side with doors (this is enough work already😂).

The tricky part is getting the doors into the correct place to glue the hinges to the inside of the body. Getting it crooked here is a minor catastrophe. Securing them in the right spot with tape.

A look from the inside before applying the glue. Here too I trusted in epoxy. The door gaps might seem wide at this stage, but I will cover the open ends with sheet styrene and fill the cracks with putty. I hope to get under 1mm gaps in the end.

Behold, the hinges work and the doors swing wide open! Just like the original Brougham.

I want to avoid the doors not closing correctly when the build is finished and chose to hide magnets in the right places. The front door will hold the back door closed, so I will only need 2 magnets at the right places. One is under the bottom side of the interior panel. The other will be hidden in the driver seat. The magnets I happen to have at home are quite strong so they can bridge about 1cm and still keep up enough pull to keep the door closed, but not me having to pull too had to open the door. I do hope this works out! Heres the one in the door before I cover the holes.

A lot of work ahead, but I´m happy to build this and am having a fine time. Thanks for watching!

 

 

[dino246gt]

Oooh, I love your project already!

I fitted the Foose Caddy underside, but mine's  a custom.

I added a bit of length ahead of the windshield to the body, as seen in the white styrene pieces.

Lower half of body at the front door line and upper half in the center of the wheel openings.

Wheel openings didn't change because they're in the lower half.

Can't wait to see more of yours!

Edited November 13, 2023 by dino246gt

[Dan Hay]

I love Cadillacs, and have felt the model selections are sparse. Glad you're doing this kit some justice. I have one of these built, but box stock so I look forward to see it done and more detailed.

[espo]

Looks like a great start and an exceptional effort on correcting the body and chassis short comings. While I share your disappointment with the basic kit, I have seen several builders here who have done wonders with it. 

[oldrevellfan]

Nice project!

I had the idea to open the door like you do, but was a bit afraid , I will folllow your work !

[Modlbldr]

Looks like you have an excellent plan and are off to a great start. Can't wait to see the following updates and your finished product. Great work!

Later-

[NOBLNG]

Wow, great start.👍 Shame that it’s only a curbside. The only Caddy I’ve built is the Monogram ‘59…beautiful kit!🙂 I love the looks of these old boats, so…I’ll watch.😎

Edited November 15, 2023 by NOBLNG

[T-Ray]

Could this kit be salvaged with a modified '58 Impala chassis? Or, doing a little research, it seems that many of these Caddy's have gotten more conventional frames, a modified '57 Chevy frame or something like that? 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Ambitious and interesting project, definitely worth the effort. Good luck to you, sir.  

Edited November 15, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[dodgefever]

On 11/13/2023 at 3:10 PM, Andy Oldenburg said:

My vendor didn´t mention that the model only fits level 2: It has no engine, less than 60 parts, the "tires" are styrene donuts and the qualitiy level is §$%&? In a sentence, the crappiest kit I have ever laid my hands on.

 

No idea what "level 2" is, but this kit was first issued by Revell in 1957, so you have to manage your expectations.

[NOBLNG]

57 minutes ago, dodgefever said:

 

No idea what "level 2" is, but this kit was first issued by Revell in 1957, so you have to manage your expectations.

From the internet:

Level 1 - Beginner's and snap-together kits which require no gluing or painting.

Level 2 - Simple kits with up to 30 parts to glue and paint, for beginners.

Level 3 - More demanding kits with up to 100 parts to glue and paint.

Level 4 - For the more experienced modeller with up to 150 parts to glue and paint.

And Level 5 kits are highly detailed and deemed to be “difficult”.😬

Edited November 15, 2023 by NOBLNG

[slusher]

Some really nice work!!

[Andy Oldenburg]

Thanks to everybody for you friendly response! I have bin moving on with this build. A few words about my first anguish about the kit. Nice to know now that the mold must be really old. This must explain why the major body parts didn´t fit very well at all. Anyway this kit cost about as much as a newly engineered issue (32 Euros), so I did have some minimum expectations. I´m skilled enough to get anything built, redesigned, chopped and put together. But in these cases I think about beginners that enter our hobby and abandon their build and quit building models because the first kit pick is a bummer.

I covered the open areas of the doors with 0.5mm styrene. I usually cut the styrene pieces larger and cut the excess sheet after drying with a scalpel.

The doors gaps have gotten smaller.

I added a lip the the back door to further close the gap. I necessary I can add another thin layer later.

The first base paint did reveal several murky areas. Now comes the boring part of building to me: Putty, sanding, putty, sanding, spraying, putty.....🥱😕😂

I cut thin strips of 0.5mm styrene to add the trim running the middle line. This will help cover up the poor fit of the body parts.

Finished with extensive wet sanding. I´m letting the body dry a bit and after the next base coat will see how much putty work is left to do. As you can see I shaved off the door handles. Nicer ones are on their way now from Scale Production.

Thanks for watching!

 

[John King]

Excellent work, looking forward to seeing it finished. 

[eldo60]

Nice work, gonna try my hand at opening doors and trunk. as well as operating lights 

[CabDriver]

Something I’ve been pondering on this kit, that I’m interested to see how you tackle, is the lack of a separate frame for the windshield.  

Great work on upgrading this old kit so far!   

[TarheelRick]

I also have this kit in my stash.  I have looked at it several times and put it back on the shelf.  My ambition is not quite as strong as yours, so I am considering using it for parts.  Those big old fins would look really good on a '50's style custom, as would the quad headlights. I am also considering a small diorama using the two figures included. Really like the approach you are taking with this build, will definitely be watching.

[Andy Oldenburg]

Hi guys,

thanks for your response. I´m always surprised about how many of you must have a big stock of kits ready to be built. I usually only have my next project waiting for me😂😉.

@ Jim - Yes, the wind shield doesn´t have a frame, but the original only had a quite thin and elegant one. The top will connect to the roof, so it´s only about the side edges. The simplest would be just a strip of BMF. But i´m thinking about adding a thin styrene strip first to build a "frame".

While the body is drying after sanding or the paint and putty have to harden I have started building the engine. Um, what engine? OK, I scavenged my boxes for parts that come as close as possible to the original. I even had that big triangular air filter left over. The engine will include parts from about 4 different kits. I´m adding some extra details for realness. The valve covers are not close to the simple painted original ones, but I had a pair with the Cadillac emblem. So it has a custom touch.

Next step was giving the engine a mild used look. It´s from ´57....

The air filter received some enhancement with chrome knobs and that flying V. There are two 1mm pegs underneath that fit into the holes of the double Holleys.

I couldn´t get any really good images of the belt and pulley setup. There seems to have been different variants. I will concentrate on the alternator and the power steering pump. Since I like working with "real" rubber belts, the pulley wheels needed some working. In this case I didn´t have to fabricate new wheels, but could use a kit part. I deconstructed the piece and cut off the wheels. After sanding the wheels round I used a triangular file for the first V-cut. Then I widened the V with a diamond file flat and smooth. These parts will be attached to the block with brass pins. That way they can take the slight pull of the rubber belts without breaking off. 

Looks like the body is dry now. Time for the color coat. hope to come back soon!

Thanks for watching!

 

[Zippi]

This project is coming along nicely.  I'm liking it.

[ColonelKrypton]

I quite like the 57 Cadillac but the picture of the kit parts made me shudder.  I doubt I would have attempted such a build.

You are doing a marvelous job of fixing the kit turning a sows ear into a lovely silk purse.

cheers, Graham

 

[papajohn97]

Amazing job that you’re doing so far Andy on this “Rubic’s Cube” kit. I noticed there are very few builds posted of this kit and now I understand why!

I don’t ever recall seeing what one of these EB’s looked like with both doors open. After consulting a listing for one that was auctioned on bringatrailer.com, I learned that they included a weird angled vertical strut extending off the chassis on either side of the front seat:

It looks like both doors engaged/ locked against this side strut. I’m not suggesting that you need to incorporate these struts in your build (you have enough to do with all the other mods!) but I just thought it was interesting how the designers/ engineers handled suicide doors on a four-door hardtop.

I look forward to seeing how you conquer this beast!

[Andy Oldenburg]

Hi John,

happen to say, yes, I am planing to fabricate that side strut. Compared to all the other work, it won´t be that hard to build. Depending on the viewing angle, it doesn´t look that dominant to me. It does come to my mind though, how many rear passengers must have bumped their knees on that strut, or messed their fancy attire with grease...😂

[Kennyboy]

My take on this dismal kit

[Matt87]

I have this kit to. It is a crappy kit. But i think its just because its a very early model kit. But when i do build it i definitely want to make most of it i can as far as detail goes. There beutiful cars.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Nice progress.  

I have to concur that calling this a "level 2" kit, when it takes well above average skills to even get a nice OOB build from it, is kinda a stretch.

That said, I have a few early issues purchased before the repops came online, with one started on its way to becoming a chopped custom two-door, and one slated to become a Nomad-esque wagon.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy