Oldschool AMT '49 Merc

[what the...]

Hey everyone, brand spankin' newbie here.

This is my first swing at models since I was a kid, and I thought I'd try and customize a few things. It also meant I had to buy two kits, because I was pretty sure I'd screw something up.

I'm not sure what I'm going for with this, but my first thought is to lean a little towards a ratrod looking thing.

Chopped the top, and shaved off a bunch of the support pillars. Not sure if there's an established way to do this? It was a total PITA, but maybe I'm just an impatient little twit. Still working with the Testors putty on the rear corners, it keeps cracking. Lowering the top seemed to move the whole roof forward. Is there a simpler way to do this? Here are some side-by-sides with the stock body. After I'd gone through a first round of putty and sanding, I threw a cost of silver paint on because I wanted to see if I could get a bare metal look. It's okay, but the paint didn't adhere to the plastic the same way that it did to the putty.

Here's the chassis with the engine in. Tried to do a little engine detail here and there, but my hands shake. Must be all the booze!

Here's the interior, with a few touches I added. To go along with my all-go theme, I dropped the passenger bucket, shaved the mounting point for it off the floor, and added a roll cage which I fashioned from some left over parts of the tree that the peices came on. I kinda like it.

Edited September 12, 2007 by what the...

[oldcars]

Welcome to the forum. I don't know when you were a kid but the car is looking real good so far. Can't wait to see the finished machine.

[bsoder]

Your off to a great start!!

[bobss396]

Nice to see someone still slice 'n dice an AMT Merc. One of my all time favorite kits since I built my first one in 1963. I still have a couple of chopped resin bodies that I plan to build.

I'm not a big fan of Testors putty (or anything else that they make). You might want to try some of the Tamiya 2-part putty which is much nicer to work with and sands to a featheredge. For small areas, try some of the professional spot putties which dry hard and fast.

Bob

[mikelo]

I agree with Bob, it is nice to see an ol' AMT, especially with all the R/M ones out now. Keep us posted.

[what the...]

I agree with Bob, it is nice to see an ol' AMT, especially with all the R/M ones out now. Keep us posted.

I was wondering why some of my peices looked different than what the others had. I've also noticed that this young Jedi has a LONG way to go. The quality of the workr on this site boggles the mind.

Here's some photos from today. This is just a test fit. Sanded down the silver metallic and went with flat black, hit the tires with a little whitewall action, put a front windscreen in, filled in the turn signal holes on the front of the body.

In the first one you can see where I had to paint over the trim. I blocked it off to paint it silver, and peeled the tape off to discover that it hadn't kept the silver from running. After much stomping and swearing, I just hit it with the brush. I guess I'll have to spray another coat tomorrow.

Still need to put in the radiator and a few other engine details too. Haven't figured out how I'll work the whole chrome situation in the front, but definitely going with roll pans in the front and rear instead of bumpers.

[what the...]

So I decided to fix the flat black down the drivers side from my flop of an attempt at painting the molding. Also decided to fix the passenger C-pillar that continues to crack every few days. I just hope I can get it finished and on a shelf somewhere before it drives me mad.

Putty, my new friend. The saran is what I was using to keep the paint off the interior.

After paint

Another after paint shot. Notice the now tinted corner windows up front. Yep. Forgot to lay some blocking over that.

Edited September 12, 2007 by what the...