1957 Dodge - - W.I.P.

[Tanker D]

Hey Rich, this is gonna look cool. Love the forward look years!

[Ramfins59]

Thanks Don, yeah I am also a fan of the Mopar styling of the late 50's. I'm still working on the interior and hope to be able to post some pictures soon.

[FASTBACK340]

Thank you Richard and John.

John I hope all is well with you and Amy. Did you go to the LIARS Show?

Nah, I had to work. I managed to get Thanksgiving week off for vacation, I wasn't about to bust ball-joints over getting that Saturday off. My place is very spiteful & vindictive. After getting a choice week off I couldn't complain about working.....

Edited November 19, 2013 by FASTBACK340

[Ramfins59]

Today I finished painting the body on this car. Yesterday I sprayed Chrysler Yellow and today I masked that off (It was a real pain to do too...... I used Frog Tape) and sprayed the second color of Tamiya Red Brown. Only very minor touchups were needed after peeling off the Frog Tape. It will obviously look a lot neater once the BMF is applied. Tomorrow I will clearcoat the body and give it a day or so to fully dry before I polish that out and then apply the BMF (that should be a real tedious chore with all the trim on this car.)

I also pretty much finished the interior, except for the dashboard and steering wheel. I flocked the carpet brown and brush painted the seat and door panel inserts with Insignia Yellow paint. Then I brush painted the rest of the seats and door panels with Floquil flat Roof Brown. After that I applied BMF around the yellow door panel inserts. The cranks and handles are painted chrome silver (for some reason BMF always fights me when I try to cover cranks and handles so I find it easier to just paint them chrome silver.) I still have to detail the dashboard and steering wheel and I also have to add gas and brake pedals because there aren't any there or in the kit.

This project is moving along pretty quickly as is usually the case with curbside models. Thanks for following along. Further progress reports will come as they happen.

[slusher]

Thank you all very much everyone.

I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed with all of the 50's cars that I still have lined up to be worked on. I've got 3 55's, 1 '56, 4 57's, 1 '58 and 7 '59's. Not to forget another half dozen from '50 to 54...... I'm gonna be very busy for awhile. Plus there are about 2 dozen others that I don't have yet either in resin, promo or kit form. As I keep saying, so many models... so little time. I'm determined to keep plodding along to get them ALL done.

Great color choices Rich, and nice progress. You should not be overwhelmed with your 50's car series. lf you wasn't building them it would be something else. Your really good at the 50's cars and have a passion. l have showed my wife your builds. Keep the foil coming because you have a fan base and l am one...

Edited November 20, 2013 by slusher

[Ramfins59]

Carl, thank you so much for your encouragement. I'm not so overwhelmed that I'll stop working on the 1950's cars. It's just that I've built a bunch of them already and haven't made a dent in "the pile" yet to be done. I'm enjoying the heck out of this "50's build mission of mine, and I really love finding and building a subject that we don't see everyday on this Forum or at shows. I've got quite a few of those lined up to be worked on..... and to be bought as the budget permits.

Also, thanks for "being a fan". I hope your wife likes what you have showed her of my work and I thank her too. Wives can be great critics and advisers in our hobby. Mine critiques all of my builds and is totally supportive of my work. She brings home modeling "goodies" as surprises for me all the time, in addition to chauffeuring .me to shows and hobby shops since I don't drive any more.

[TFchronos]

Beautiful color choices, they look great together!

Edited November 20, 2013 by TFchronos

[Ramfins59]

Thank you Jonathan, I appreciate your kind words.

[FASTBACK340]

Looking good Rich!

When you starting on the Tuna Boat?

[Ramfins59]

Hey thanks John. As soon as I can find paint that matches the baby BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH brown on the car I'll start working on it.

[Shardik]

Richard, you allways come up with such bold color combinations and they always look so right. You've inspired me to branch out a bit, so I actually picked up a can of yellow paint for a Cord that I got on e-Bay. Now if I can just lay it down as nicely as you do...

[Ramfins59]

Thanks Johann. I always get Google reference pictures and color charts of the 50's cars that I've been building for the past year or so. I look until I find either a solid color or a 2 tone color combo that really strikes me for a particular car and then I try to match it as closely as I can. In addition, I also try to get the interiors to match or compliment the body colors. As far as laying down the paint, I don't have any special techniques or secrets. I just prep the body, prime it, let it dry for a day, then paint it, let that dry for a day, do any needed touchups, then clearcoat it. I'll let the clearcoat dry for at least a full day, then polish it out with Novus 2 polish. Then comes BMF work and final assembly.

I'm glad that you've been able to "expand your horizons", so to speak, paintwise. There are some pretty cool looking color combinations out there. You only have to look for them and use your imagination and of course good color sense. I will admit though, that masking off some of these 50's cars for a 2 tone paint scheme is a real pain in the butt.

[FASTBACK340]

Hey thanks John. As soon as I can find paint that matches the baby ###### brown on the car I'll start working on it.

MCW lists 5953 Gold Met. and 5954 Copper Met. as `59 Dodge colors. Was your car re-painted?

On a separate note, I saw Tom's `60 Plymouth wagon on Facebook. Wow.....

Edited November 21, 2013 by FASTBACK340

[Ramfins59]

Yeah John, I think at some point the car was repainted (obviously not by me.) The hood ornament was removed and the holes filled in, plus, when an old guy who was visiting neighbors across the street backed into the driver's door, the thick paint chips showed a lighter color underneath the mustardy color. I'm sure I'll find something close to what was on the car eventually.

Re Tom's wagon, he's been building a lot of models for SA's model review section and hasn't had a lot of time to put in on his own stuff. He'll get back to it eventually.

[Ramfins59]

Yesterday I spent almost 7 hours applying, burnishing and trimming the BMF on this car..!! What a bear of a job! It came out pretty good in the end. There are still a couple of small paint touchups to do and then I can start on final assembly.

Thanks for following along. Additional updates to come as they happen.

[Ju Ju]

That looks nice, I like the colors you used.

[Ron Hamilton]

Yesterday I spent almost 7 hours applying, burnishing and trimming the BMF on this car..!! What a bear of a job! It came out pretty good in the end. There are still a couple of small paint touchups to do and then I can start on final assembly.

Thanks for following along. Additional updates to come as they happen.

Rich, thank you for building the late '50's stuff in the style of the period. I am not going to divulge what I have in my collection, as you may be standing at my door with your checkbook, and a couple of big bags (lol). At first I was not feeling the color combo on the Dodge, but after seeing the Bare Metal job you put on this one, it looks pretty good. After seeing this, I went to the basement, and took a look at an upcoming project, a 1959 Galaxie hardtop. It needs to be rebuilt, and other than where the previous owner had glued on the cruiser skirts, the model is in phenominal condition. The only thing I needed was a set of AMT '59 Ford wheelcovers, which I got off of Ebay last week.

When I was a little kid, my uncle had a '59 4-Door hardtop, which was Raven Black, with the Red/Black/and White interior. That's the color combination I am going with on my build. I plan to fix the glue-burn on the wheel arches and make a set of Foxcraft stainless steel skirts, but the cruiser skirts look pretty good too, so that is what I may do. I am also thinking about a continental kit, as I can make one, using a '60 Edsel piece I have as a guide. The only problem is that I will not have much room to display it with the conne kit, so I will probably leave it off.

The build will be similar to this car. Of course it will have wide whites, as I would never build a '50's car without them, unless it is a race car.

Thanks Rich for motivating us with your builds.

[Repstock]

The build will be similar to this car. Of course it will have wide whites, as I would never build a '50's car without them, unless it is a race car.

Thanks Rich for motivating us with your builds.

This Ford looks exactly like a 352 powered Galaxie I used to own. It later became an engagement and wedding ring for my wife of now 23 years. It was a cool looking car and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the memories, Ron!

As a side note, I got the wheelcovers at the local Ford dealer. Still on the shelf in 1988.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Repstock

[Ron Hamilton]

This Ford looks exactly like a 352 powered Galaxie I used to own. It later became an engagement and wedding ring for my wife of now 23 years. It was a cool looking car and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the memories, Ron!

As a side note, I got the wheelcovers at the local Ford dealer. Still on the shelf in 1988.

I am going to start my own thread on this one, as not to hijack Rich. That Dodge is so cool. I think about "Highway Patrol" every time I see one of his builds. That show had the coolest '50's cars.

[Ramfins59]

Ron, thank you so much for enjoying my 1950's car builds.

Funny you should mention the "Highway Patrol" show. When I finish work on this Dodge I'm going to start work on a 1955 Buick Century diecast model by Maisto which is another one in 1/26 scale. I scored it on EBAY for the bargain price of $16 (+ shipping). It is painted as a California Highway Patrol car that Broderick Crawford drove. I am, of course, going to redo it "my way". I already have it taken apart in a box, ready to start work on it after the Turkey Day weekend festivities.

This Buick will make a really great addition to my 50's cars build mission.

I love finding unusual modeling subjects of 1950's cars when searching thru EBAY. I have quite a few already lined up for future builds. Ron, please PM me if you ever want to thin out that "secret collection" that you have. Maybe I'll send you a PM listing the cars that I need to fill in the gaps..... Then maybe we can talk...

[charlie8575]

I liked the yellow-brown combo, as I think it's one that's under-used and looks nice with the right shades/tones. With all the foiling, etc., yours looks super, Rich.

I'll enjoy seeing this one together.

Charlie Larkin

[Ramfins59]

Thanks a lot Charlie. Chrysler used a lot of "unusual" color combos in the 50's. Most of them actually looked good together although they may not be to everyone's taste.

[Johnny1973]

Great paint job and BMF work Rich,I always enjoy watching your work.I cant wait to see how you finish it.

[Ramfins59]

Thank you John. I appreciate your kind comments.

[am73grand]

Rich,

This looks amazing so far! I LOVE the color combo. Keep posting I cannot wait to see it finished!!!