49 Merc Hot Rod style Shake & Bake - Completed 03-22

[Bernard Kron]

The Revell '49 Mercury often gets berated for a certain blandness, a feeling I agree with. But it's a really well engineered kit with lots of excellent details. So I decided to build it largely out of the box but with some changes in details to give it a more aggressive hot rodded look, I started it about 2 weeks ago.

First off, after staring at it for a while I decided that as much as the chop may be bland, the stance is the real problem, and indeed may sell the chop short. It sits flat front and rear and as such is probably not low enough. So I lowered the back end 1 ½ scale inches. Next up, I changed out the tires to Modelhaus T -160 C, Commander 78 series tires. These are really wide whites (4 ¾ scale inch whitewalls) and a bit oversized. I thought they would fill out the wheel wells better than the somewhat conservative kit whitewalls. Hubcaps will be Modelhaus 51/52 Olds six bar flippers.

Next up I went with the louvered hood, bubble skirts, and a tinted primer paint scheme based on a really striking Krylon Gum Drop lavender acrylic I found at the local hardware store. Love it or hate it, it's hard to miss. I added the kit flames for contrast.

I gave the engine a more purposeful look by painting it in GM blue with stock Cadillac script valve covers courtesy of Replicas & Miniatures and an air cleaner from an AMT '49 Ford kit.

The interior is finished in Oxford White and Tamiya TS-37 which they call "lavender" but is really a plum purple color.

I haven't decided on the grill yet, but I will be running the ribbed bumpers and probably lakes pipes. I plan to finish it up in the next couple of days.

Special thanks go out to Raul Perez who gave me the model in the first place and kept encouraging me to build it OTB because it's such a great "Shake & Bake" kit. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, "Shake & Bake" is what Raul calls kits that virtually build themselves - put glue and paint in the box, replace the lid, shake and out comes a completed model! This is pretty close to stock Revell and I must admit it's a blast to build!

Thanx for lookin',

B.

Edited March 22, 2010 by gbk1

[Mooneyzs]

Looking Good So far. I like what you have done with the kit. Not sure if I missed it but are the rims from the kit?? or where they an aftermarket rim from modelhaus??

[Dr. Cranky]

Oh, I love the color. Great job so far. Keep it going. Nice.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx guys!

... Not sure if I missed it but are the rims from the kit?? or where they an aftermarket rim from modelhaus??

The wheels are the standard AMT steelies found in kits like the '40 Ford Coupe and Tudor. All Modelhaus tires and huibcaps are scaled to those wheels. I used the backs from the Revell kit and the AMT wheels. I had to remove a small amount of material from the inside of the Modelhaus tires to take the kit backs. On the AMT wheels I removed the axle boss from the inside so that the wheel would sit down into the tire properly. As regards the Modelhaus hubcaps, they're always a bit thick and stand too far out from the rim. You have a choice of either thinning down the back of the hubcap or hogging out the face of the wheel. Each has its dangers. If you're using a Dremel on the wheel face you risk gouging the rim edge (which can be seen) so you have to be very careful. Thinning the backs of the hubcaps is perhaps less riskiy but the plating is fragile so care is need there as well.

Edited March 15, 2010 by gbk1

[Raul_Perez]

WOW!!! That is really WILD!!

That is some color you found, Bernard!!

It will be interesting to see how the interior color looks with the exterior once you've got it all put together!!

The engine details look really good, too!!

Later,

[MikeMc]

love the suede!!!

[Brizio]

Love the color! And nice job too!