AMT's 1957 Ford Hardtop: WIP

[customline]

Oh she's a beauty, Dave. And yeah, when the Garage Guy speaks, people listen 😶. I do.

I'm happy to hear of your BMF experience; I ordered up two of the 001s from them on your say-so.  Can't wait to take it for a spin. They had some problems with their vendors, as I recall, some time ago and the "Ultra Bright" was not for anyone with patience like mine 🥴.

[Nacho Z]

It has been an enjoyable Sunday morning. Piping hot coffee, fresh baked, just out of the oven, chocolate chip cookies and a nice 6 page read of a build thread on a gorgeous ‘57 Ford. Great work, David!  I’m glad that I took the time to check out this thread.

[David G.]

22 hours ago, customline said:

Oh she's a beauty, Dave. And yeah, when the Garage Guy speaks, people listen 😶. I do.

I'm happy to hear of your BMF experience; I ordered up two of the 001s from them on your say-so.  Can't wait to take it for a spin. They had some problems with their vendors, as I recall, some time ago and the "Ultra Bright" was not for anyone with patience like mine 🥴.

Thank you Jim.

That's great, I hope your BMF batch works as well for you as does this does for me.

21 hours ago, Nacho Z said:

It has been an enjoyable Sunday morning. Piping hot coffee, fresh baked, just out of the oven, chocolate chip cookies and a nice 6 page read of a build thread on a gorgeous ‘57 Ford. Great work, David!  I’m glad that I took the time to check out this thread.

Thank you John, I'm glad you enjoyed the thread and the build. I'm also happy to know that my work was a part of your pleasant Sunday morning.

Thanks for sharing that.

David G.

Edited April 22 by David G.
typo

[slusher]

Beautiful foil work David,I could never foil one-off Fords I would have to paint it.  Beautiful work David!

[David G.]

22 hours ago, slusher said:

Beautiful foil work David,I could never foil one-off Fords I would have to paint it.  Beautiful work David!

Thank you Carl. I've done chrome trim by painting, foiling and penning with Molotow. For me it's foil that's often the easiest, for now anyway. But it also depends on the application and practicality.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

I'm nearing the final stages of this build, just a couple more times at the bench and I should have it done.

In the meantime, here's another update.

With most of the body tasks done it's time to move on to other things, like tinting the windshield. What I'm using for this is some Future acrylic which I've tinted with some blue food coloring. I brush it the mixture on and let it even itself out. The adjustable clamp device holds it at a good angle while the Future levels itself and cures.

 

 

I just need to work on getting the initial application a little more even- and graduated.

 

 

I think the end result achieved the desired effect. Except for that gap at the top of the windshield... maybe I should just leave well enough alone.

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment.

David G.

[LennyB]

David, I agree it works. And of course we're going to blame AMT for the gap.😉

[FoMoCo66]

2 hours ago, LennyB said:

David, I agree it works. And of course we're going to blame AMT for the gap.😉

It's always AMT's fault on their kits, but it's never Revell's fault on their kits.🤣

Anyway good job on the wind shield. I've always wanted to try that kit.

[Bronzekeg]

looking great, stay with it!

[customline]

Wouldn't it be cool if somebody came up with a colored, translucent self-adhesive film you could cut to size and shape like BMF and just apply it to your glass?  It seems to me that it's out there somewhere. 🤓

[Kah puts]

I’ve used Future with food colouring a few times and I’ve found over time it loses its tint, but maybe you’ll have more luck.

[David G.]

18 hours ago, LennyB said:

David, I agree it works. And of course we're going to blame AMT for the gap.😉

Thank you Len. I could probably fix the gap but it's really only visible from this angle. I think I can live with that.

 

16 hours ago, FoMoCo66 said:

It's always AMT's fault on their kits, but it's never Revell's fault on their kits.🤣

Anyway good job on the wind shield. I've always wanted to try that kit.

That's funny Ace!  There does seem to be some truth in that statement though. Revell does seem to try just a little harder.  

Thanks, it did work pretty well I just need to fine-tune the technique some.

 

14 hours ago, Bronzekeg said:

looking great, stay with it!

Thank you Ken, I shall!

 

13 hours ago, customline said:

Wouldn't it be cool if somebody came up with a colored, translucent self-adhesive film you could cut to size and shape like BMF and just apply it to your glass?  It seems to me that it's out there somewhere. 🤓

I have thought about that Jim. I've thought about sources for such a thing. There is standard automotive window tint, but that doesn't really work well with plastic. Getting transparent plastic film to stick to transparent plastic without any of the adhesive showing seems to be the problem.

I've tried that an found it easier just to use transparent acrylic paints. Which is essentially what I made with the food coloring and Future.

The reason that I tried using Future was because of its softness and self-leveling qualities. When applied with a brush and allowed to level, it doesn't have as hard of an edge as transparent acrylic does. And no brush marks.

I think the next step is to see if I can build out layers to get a more even transition.

 

11 hours ago, Kah puts said:

I’ve used Future with food colouring a few times and I’ve found over time it loses its tint, but maybe you’ll have more luck.

Thanks Glen, I'll keep an eye out for that.

Maybe a solution to that issue would be using Future to dilute transparent acrylic paint... or tinting the Future with acrylic paint depending on the proportions.

Thanks for all your comments,

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

I started this one in December of last year and it's been a long road but the journey is almost at an end! 

The headlights, tail lights and hood are all in place. The bumpers are mounted. And the body and chassis have been mated for the final time. This one is done!

 

 

I'm going to let it rest for a few days.  After that, I'll clean it up, touch up the Molotow on the scripts and door handles and get it registered... well, put some license plate decals on it.  

Then I'll get it over to the photo studio for the final photos!

 

Thanks to all of you who followed along and offered your advice and support. I'll see you all in the Under Glass section soon.

David G.

[customline]

Oh she's a beauty, Dave. Congrats!

[David G.]

21 hours ago, customline said:

Oh she's a beauty, Dave. Congrats!

Thank you Jim.

David G.

[SpeedShift]

On 4/15/2024 at 2:26 PM, customline said:

Yup. Good point, David. The '41 is still sitting there but I've been working on some other projects and have been fortunate with perfect painting weather over the weekend.  I'm getting my messes cleaned up. I appreciate the commisseration, David, it makes all this hobby stuff more enjoyable. 

Hi. Remember me?

Great paint job...what brand of paint and color is it ?

[customline]

2 hours ago, SpeedShift said:

Great paint job...what brand of paint and color is it ?

That's good ol' Model Master Plum Crazy! I thought it fitting for this old Mo-pup. I have it polished out and foiled and in the process of final assembly.  

[slusher]

 Nice method for tint the wind  shield David, I will remember that!

[David G.]

11 hours ago, slusher said:

 Nice method for tint the wind  shield David, I will remember that!

Thank you Carl.

The technique is a bit tricky and I'll need more practice to get it smoothed out. Perhaps you'll have even better luck with it.

David G.

[Bronzekeg]

this build turned out real nice David!!

[David G.]

7 hours ago, Bronzekeg said:

this build turned out real nice David!!

Thank you Ken. Hopefully, I'll get it into the "photo studio" soon for the Under Glass shots.

David G.

[Tom Geiger]

On 4/20/2024 at 8:36 AM, LennyB said:

Reminds me of something my father always complains about. He has some Danbury and Franklin Mint models he’s bought over the years. Their models often come with tons of accessories on them. Sun visor over the windshield, spot lamps, multiple mirrors, etc.  It appears they borrow a car to base their model on and install whatever options that owner (and there are a lot of car owners out there that have to have every conceivable option on their car) has on the car on the model.  Again, clearly not car guys and not fully researching their subject.  So they don’t make factory correct cars.

Um no... the Danbury Mint cars were designed by Rick Hanmore and Doug Whyte, both very knowledgeable car guys, and esteemed members of the model car community.  I saw both of them at NNL East this past weekend.

[horsepower]

On 4/26/2024 at 5:42 AM, David G. said:

Hello Everybody!

I'm nearing the final stages of this build, just a couple more times at the bench and I should have it done.

In the meantime, here's another update.

With most of the body tasks done it's time to move on to other things, like tinting the windshield. What I'm using for this is some Future acrylic which I've tinted with some blue food coloring. I brush it the mixture on and let it even itself out. The adjustable clamp device holds it at a good angle while the Future levels itself and cures.

 

 

I just need to work on getting the initial application a little more even- and graduated.

 

 

I think the end result achieved the desired effect. Except for that gap at the top of the windshield... maybe I should just leave well enough alone.

I have used the transparent acrylic colors from Tamiya and put them on with an airbrush. You might have to mix blue and green to get the shade you want but the nice thing is they also have a transparent smoke that can be used for darkening the shaded band right at the top and they also work well with adding a little of their clear and lightly spray the rest of the windows (completely) to appear like factory tinted windows and then you can either spray some future on for gloss or dip the whole thing in future I use a container (usually a cup) to cover the whole piece and important thing is to remember to wait until there aren't any bubbles that you might have to put the part through, I use a little alligator clip attached to a bamboo skewer and dip the entire part in the future and very slowly and carefully holding the part at an angle pull it out and hold over the cup at an angle to allow as much as possible to drip off of one of the corners then I usually put it on a paper towel as close as possible straight up and down to allow to dry overnight. The paper towel will wick any excess off without causing a ripple at the edge of built up future. This has been very successful for me and will result in a even shine to both sides of the glass.

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment.

 

 

[David G.]

15 hours ago, horsepower said:

I have used the transparent acrylic colors from Tamiya and put them on with an airbrush. You might have to mix blue and green to get the shade you want but the nice thing is they also have a transparent smoke that can be used for darkening the shaded band right at the top and they also work well with adding a little of their clear and lightly spray the rest of the windows (completely) to appear like factory tinted windows and then you can either spray some future on for gloss or dip the whole thing in future I use a container (usually a cup) to cover the whole piece and important thing is to remember to wait until there aren't any bubbles that you might have to put the part through, I use a little alligator clip attached to a bamboo skewer and dip the entire part in the future and very slowly and carefully holding the part at an angle pull it out and hold over the cup at an angle to allow as much as possible to drip off of one of the corners then I usually put it on a paper towel as close as possible straight up and down to allow to dry overnight. The paper towel will wick any excess off without causing a ripple at the edge of built up future. This has been very successful for me and will result in a even shine to both sides of the glass.

Thank you for the pointers Delton, I'm always looking for ways to improve my skills.

I have thought about dipping, that would certainly eliminate any possibility of brush marks.

I do have an airbrush but I'm not that skilled with it. Though an airbrush would be ideal for tinting a windshield in this way it's not currently a very practical option for me. Everything aside from brush painting I currently do outside on my patio with spray cans and occasionally my airbrush. Which I have to set up each time I use it. For a literal three second shot of transparent blue across the top of a windshield, it's just not worth the effort for me.

But dipping, that's certainly worth a go for the next time around.

Thanks again,

David G.

[SpeedShift]

10 hours ago, David G. said:

Thank you for the pointers Delton, I'm always looking for ways to improve my skills.

I have thought about dipping, that would certainly eliminate any possibility of brush marks.

I do have an airbrush but I'm not that skilled with it. Though an airbrush would be ideal for tinting a windshield in this way it's not currently a very practical option for me. Everything aside from brush painting I currently do outside on my patio with spray cans and occasionally my airbrush. Which I have to set up each time I use it. For a literal three second shot of transparent blue across the top of a windshield, it's just not worth the effort for me.

But dipping, that's certainly worth a go for the next time around.

Thanks again,

David G.

I need to try a good tinting method myself...even with an airbrush it took several tries on these Roth bubble tops, using clear Tamiya bottle paint.

Orange on the Road Agent bubble top came out ok (probably because I was adding clear yellow over the kit supplied pink bubble top to make it orange - (like the real car), but the blue on the clear Mysterion bubble top was frustrating. I overdid the paint trying to get the blue color to show up, ended up with too much color, and an annoying orange peel surface. When I tried to polish it smooth, I took off too much paint and it was so uneven in hue I ruined the first one.

Definitely a trick to it, to get an even balanced hue across the surface.

Guess that's why I haven't tried a candy finish yet...like Cany Apple Red

 

 

Edited May 2 by SpeedShift