1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

[Andy Oldenburg]

I´ve crossed the finish line! "Everything" done, but I will take a close look a while, if I might have missed something....

Thanks to everybody that has followed my progress. When I started I had no idea where my creativity would lead me. In the end I am really happy that I took the challenge and not put the kit to the back of the shelf.

The engine bay has all the parts added and the bonnet closes too. The hinge is working fine.

Left and right of the back bench there are ugly gaps that I want to get rid of. I glued dark pieces of styrene from the back.

Before I glued the roof to the body I didn´t want to forget to take some pictures of the interior.

The sun visors and the rear view mirror are attached.

The 1:1 Brogham has an exhaust system that kind of weaves itself through the frame. I tried to copy that but the result didn´t look good to me. So I chose a conventional setup  and feel OK with that. The exhaust pipe is finger bent from 2mm styrene rod. The mufflers were out of my scrap box. This is a first test fitting and I will work the parts a bit to make them fit better.

Exhaust system is painted, weathered and equipped with hooks.

Since the wheels are not from the original kit and the front suspension doesn´t have a kingpin, I chose a simple wire as a wheel axle. The wheels are all glued to their axles.

The front bumper with the metal mesh grill is connected.

Here is that post for the door locks. My plan to keep the doors closed with magnets works out fine. The counterpart of the hidden door magnet is tucked under the driver seat. The front door holds the back door closed and the alignment fits. The post has no function but adds realness. I will confess that I had to cheat a bit to make room for the post. I shifted the bench to the right by about 4mm.

Being the kit as it is, some major parts didn´t quite fit in the end. The windshield is too wide by 5mm. I had to adapt the roof part and it was some juggling until the roof fit to the windows AND everything looked correct. Because I wanted the driver side to look best I had to push the windshield to the right. The wipers and the mirror are from Scale Production (Nooo, you don´t get detailed parts in this kit??)

The door handles are epoxy after market. I did want them to fit at the precise spots, so I had to pin them. Which was a tricky task because of the size, but it worked out. Here the pinned handles before attaching.

I will show the final images in the Under Glass forum. From Europe my humble thanks for all of your support! After a few classic builds my fingers are itching for something low and nasty again, and I have an idea what that will be.....

Merry Christmas to everybody!

Andy