Resin '49 Mercury WIP

[bobss396]

I dug this out, determined to finish up some stalled projects. This is from around 2009.

Resin body. I forget who made it. Most of kit is the AMT '49 Mercury. 

Interior tub and hood scoop are from a '66 T-Bird. I'm not 100% sure where the engine is from. 

I made up a dummy floor pan from the Mercury kit since the T-Bird tub is so shallow.

Wheels are from the kit, tires from Modelhaus. Trim rings I machined from aluminum rod.

Firewall is aluminum sheet, actually chimney flashing. Taillights were made from a piece of red plastic from the '37 Chevy.

Grille is from Norm Veber. Trunk lid is sunken for the license plate. I have a load of small parts bagged up, I'll add more from my 3D printed stash.

[espo]

The shape of the headlights on this body reminds me of the custom options in the original AMT '57 Chevy. The exhaust manifolds resemble what would be on a big block MoPar engine, think 383 or 440. Looks like the caster did a nice job on the chopped roof proportions. Like your firewall solution. 

[bobss396]

14 hours ago, espo said:

The shape of the headlights on this body reminds me of the custom options in the original AMT '57 Chevy. The exhaust manifolds resemble what would be on a big block MoPar engine, think 383 or 440. Looks like the caster did a nice job on the chopped roof proportions. Like your firewall solution. 

Yes, I really remember that '57 kit. Now I think this is a 440 from a Charger. 

I've had this so long, I forgot where the body is from. The chop is nice. I have notes with it about the windshield fit. I will be gluing the trunk lid on this one. In total, I have 3 Mercs in the works.

[LennyB]

On 11/23/2024 at 6:19 AM, bobss396 said:

Yes, I really remember that '57 kit. Now I think this is a 440 from a Charger. 

I've had this so long, I forgot where the body is from. The chop is nice. I have notes with it about the windshield fit. I will be gluing the trunk lid on this one. In total, I have 3 Mercs in the works.

Only three in the works? You can never have enough Mercury’s.  Coming along nicely.  

Edited November 24, 2024 by LennyB

[bobss396]

On 11/23/2024 at 6:54 AM, LennyB said:

Only three in the works? You can never have Mercury’s.  Coming along nicely.  

I likely have 3 of other things in yhe queue too. Planning on spending 2025 catching up on stalled projects.

[customline]

This should be cool, Bob, I'm following! 😀.....but you gotta lose the steering....the steering....device.  Well... it's not a wheel, is it? 🥴.  

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, customline said:

This should be cool, Bob, I'm following! 😀.....but you gotta lose the steering....the steering....device.  Well... it's not a wheel, is it? 🥴.  

Jim, that’s the screen holder, this Ford will have built in Sirius/XM radio and Apple CarPlay 

[bobss396]

15 hours ago, customline said:

This should be cool, Bob, I'm following! 😀.....but you gotta lose the steering....the steering....device.  Well... it's not a wheel, is it? 🥴.  

Oh that bad boy stays... I picked up a nice bag of custom 'wheels at a show.

[customline]

20 minutes ago, bobss396 said:

Oh that bad boy stays... I picked up a nice bag of custom 'wheels at a show.

You need to stay away from those shows, Bob. Get some help (I'll bet it was the voices, wasn't it? 🥴)

[bobss396]

Ok, back to work on this gem. The engine just about fell out of it, so I'm making new mounts up. The exhaust was loose too. I had forgotten I prepped it for sneaker pipes, I have some 3D printed side pipes on order. I may omit the under car exhaust entirely.

The trunk lid had a license plate recess, I moved that down to the rear valance. I blocked up the exhaust notches too.

The body work is close to complete, I need to squirt more primer on it. I just washed the body. Paint is a Mopar touch up spray. Wheels will match the body color, I machined up some trim rings a while ago. 

[MeatMan]

Awesome project!

[rattle can man]

Wasn't the engine in the AMT kit supposed to be a 413?

[Zippi]

An oldie but goodie. Moving right along Bob.  That firewall looks pretty sharp.  Love the 49 Merc.

[bobss396]

On 1/13/2025 at 1:51 PM, rattle can man said:

Wasn't the engine in the AMT kit supposed to be a 413?

This is from a Charger kit. 383 or 440.

[bobss396]

On 1/14/2025 at 7:04 AM, Zippi said:

An oldie but goodie. Moving right along Bob.  That firewall looks pretty sharp.  Love the 49 Merc.

Thanks. I still have to poke a few more holes in it. It wasn't much work to make.

[bobss396]

Ok, hope this is final primer. I'll give it until later tonight to look at it.

The Revell chrome spray came out better than expected. I'll try to take better pictures of it.

[customline]

Bob, the Desoto grille looks really good. Did you apply the Revell chrome over primer, a black base, or just on the bare resin?

Edited January 16 by customline

[bobss396]

21 hours ago, customline said:

Bob, the Desoto grille looks really good. Did you apply the Revell chrome over primer, a black base, or just on the bare resin?

This is one of Norm's resin grilles. I shot Tamiya gloss black over it, the resin itself has a good surface, as supplied. 

I let it sit for a day, took it outside and shot the chrome over the black. It really took very little, one major pass to get 100% coverage then shot it straight on before I took it back inside.

The can sprays very well. I did heat it up in hot water first.

[customline]

1 hour ago, bobss396 said:

This is one of Norm's resin grilles. I shot Tamiya gloss black over it, the resin itself has a good surface, as supplied. 

I let it sit for a day, took it outside and shot the chrome over the black. It really took very little, one major pass to get 100% coverage then shot it straight on before I took it back inside.

The can sprays very well. I did heat it up in hot water first.

Thanks, Bob.  The hot water is a good, safe way to get the pressure up.  It helps to "atomize" the paint.  It sounds like it got a heavy wet coat. Is that the case?

[Kenmojr]

Gonna be one nice "led sled"...

[bobss396]

21 hours ago, customline said:

Thanks, Bob.  The hot water is a good, safe way to get the pressure up.  It helps to "atomize" the paint.  It sounds like it got a heavy wet coat. Is that the case?

I'd say so. It goes on very well and I tend to have a heavy hand with any paint. 

[rattle can man]

I missed that you did an engine swap.

[slusher]

Nice build you have going, glad I found it!  What did you make your tail lights out of?

[bobss396]

7 hours ago, slusher said:

Nice build you have going, glad I found it!  What did you make your tail lights out of?

I save up old red plastic sprue to use in general. The source of these was a clear red plastic grille insert from the AMT '37 Chevy kit.

It already had the curve in it. I sanded off the raised part, got about 95% of the shape and cut them off with a razor saw. I even polished them up before the last cutoff.