Ed "Big Daddy" Roth '56 Ford F100 pickup

[slusher]

Your making nice progress!

[eajonesgue]

My original intent was to paint the flames on the body, using masks printed out by a club member on his Silhouette machine.  The reasons I wanted to paint were:

- the decals looked like they were going to be difficult to lay down around the compound curves of the fenders

- the flame decals don't seem to be the correct colour for the restored truck - they seem more of a reddish brown shade than a bright red

- the original sheet has two decals that were damaged (see photo)

However, the vinyl masks had a number of tears in them and the vinyl masks did not stick very well.  Before looking at the masks, I contacted Bill Brillinger of Precision Design Company (www.pdc.ca) about getting him to make up decals for the dashboard.  I sent him the photos I had of the interior and some dimensions.  I did a mock up of what the dash would look like using masking tape.  Bill mentioned that he had the artwork for the flame decals that he did for a customer in HO (1:87) scale (talk about tiny).  I am ordering the dashboard and the flame decals (in a brighter red colour and in 1:25 scale).  During our conversation, I wanted to see how the original decals worked.  I applied the bed cover mural decal and it worked flawlessly.  I will use the kit decal pinstriping and lettering decals.

[meechum68]

WOW!!  The level of detail is .. awesome!!

I need to keep building to get better and one day put out this kind of beauty! 

 

[TopherMcGinnis]

Any progress?

[eajonesgue]

Hey, I was away on a trip for a couple of weeks and then summer activities have taken up much of my time.  Below are some of the progress I have made since the last posing June 1.  

Engine was painted decanted Tamiya chrome yellow, transmission was brush painted with Tamiya enamel flat aluminum. I also added some 3D printed detail bolt heads (these are from Falcon Scale Models)

[eajonesgue]

The dashboard was brush painted Tamiya lemon yellow and the a BestModelCarParts (eBay seller) dash gauge was added.  The red and blue markings are a decal, custom made by Precision Design Company (PDC.ca).  It looks pretty darn close to the dash in the restored car.

I am now starting on the flame decals, which are quite the challenge.

[eajonesgue]

I have some of the flame decals on the rear fenders, roof and hood.  Work is slow as I have to cut around all the flames first.  There are still some wrinkles that need to be smoothed out.

[eajonesgue]

Started to attach some of the engine parts

[eajonesgue]

I have got all the flame decals attached, but there will be a number of touch-ups needed where the decals did not lay down smoothly (see front grill) and the lips of the fender wells.  I have also used Molotow chrome on the door handles and window cranks.

 

[eajonesgue]

I took some artistic license on the seat and door panels and used a light coloured wash to highlight the upholstery seams.  This was followed by a coat of flat acrylic clear (which does have a bit of shine to it).  It just didn't look right all plain white.

[Mr. Metallic]

Ambitious project you have going here simply because you started with the Revell 56 pickup, a tough customer for sure. But the improvements you are making look great.

[eajonesgue]

Some more progress shots:

- wheels have been airbrushed LP-50 bright red.  Be careful - the spare tire wheel is not the same as the other four wheels, the stub at the back is a bigger diameter (you can guess how I found out about this)

- made a mold of the Tweedy Pie drum brakes and have cast a number of them.  Five of them have been brush painted gloss black and the best four chosen for the axles.

- the floor has been flocked with black, but a very sticky white glue was used and it looks like it dried too quickly

[TopherMcGinnis]

I use the same color paint as the flocking to help hide bald spots. I also do one section at a time.

[stavanzer]

This looks great!

Coming along very nicely.

[eajonesgue]

Well, I tried to fix the issue with the wrinkles and overlaps with the decals by lightly sanding the affected areas and then touch up painting.  However, as you can see from the photos, I had mixed results.  I have removed the decals and am going to put this model away until January (2026) and try back at it.  I will go back to Plan A, which is to paint the red areas, use the masks that my club member made and paint the white.  See you next year.

[espo]

Can be difficult to apply larger decals over so many compound curves in the body. With a mask of some sort, you should have a much better-looking flame job.