'57 Ford Custom Police Car.

[W-409]

And today while the white paint was completely dry, I was able to do some more masking and shoot the black color on the body as well. Again, I used a couple of Tamiya Masking Tapes and then some generic cheap "painter's tape". It's not perfect, but pretty good. While the body dries, I hope I can get the interior completed and then put the decals on.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Great to see this one back in progress. Looking really great too.

[Captain Spaulding]

Car is coming along great, really like how the paint on the body turned out.

[David G.]

The paint came out great.

David G.

[espo]

Great looking "Black & White" . From the photos it looks as if you have a sharp line between the colors. I did an Oldsmobile once and chased the colors back and forth on the door lines. 

[W-409]

Thanks guys!

On 5/4/2021 at 9:13 PM, espo said:

Great looking "Black & White" . From the photos it looks as if you have a sharp line between the colors. I did an Oldsmobile once and chased the colors back and forth on the door lines. 

That has happened to me in the past as well. Now I masked the edges with Tamiya "Masking Tape for Curves" (product number 87177) and have to recommend that masking tape for anyone. Easy to use and works great in curves as well.

[W-409]

Slowly but surely this is coming along... Today I got the firewall installed and painted the windshield wiper motor/hood latch unit with silver. A bit of Detailer's black wash and it was ready to be installed too. I also added the vacuum hoses for wipers as I read that these Fords had vacuum operated wipers. I'm not sure if they are 100% correct, but they should be fairly close anyway.

 

Next I can finish the interior and add bunch of small details to the engine bay. And body needs decals too, so stay tuned...

[charlie8575]

This is coming out beautifully, Niko.

Charlie Larkin

[doorsovdoon]

That's looking really good!

[Beamerman]

Super clean build! Great work..i like these old police cars...

[W-409]

Thanks for the kind words, they are much appreciated!

I got the interior finished. It went together really nicely, but to be honest so far I can't remember having any issues with this kit overall.

Steering wheel and steering column painted with Revell Enamel colors and for the steering wheel I used the kit supplied Ford decal.

Dashboard is painted with grey primer from spray can, clear coated with gloss clear. Then I did some detail painting, used a bit BMF and black washing to bring out details. The radio and pedals were done pretty much the same method and glued on place.

And here is the interior glued together:

I also put decals on the body. Many of these old Police Cars have pretty few decals in them, so I didn't want to overdo it either. Sheriff logos to the doors and the "Car 5" textes on front fenders were enough. Now I'll let it dry over the weekend before clear coat.

[Jim B]

Your police car is coming along very nicely.  I've built this kit a couple of times, and it's always gone together super nice.

[doorsovdoon]

That interior looks stunning!

[JPL-ACE]

I just read through this thread (mostly) as I have the 1957 Ford Custom (Revell) that I want to build like my first 1:1 car. So your car will give me inspiration and a bit of model reference. I rebuilt the 312 engine around my senior year in HS (1964 or so) so I do not need much 1:1 reference. My only complaint is the Photbucket ad pasted over every early picture. I wanted to see how you did the distributor/wiring. Looks so good. Your dash is also fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to detail it for us.

74 Malabu drag car on your website is pretty cool. 350 engine pulling wheelies? That still a 350 after all the work you did. Go Finland! PS, only Finland or is there more in Europe? Sorry to be so ignorant.

Gary,

scalemodelcars.weebly.com

[oldscool]

Very clean, crisp work going on here.

[David G.]

Excellent detail work!

David G.

[W-409]

It's been a while since my latest post here, but thanks for the kind words anyway!

Gary, Thanks, the Photobucket issue is annoying, at some point I will move all those photos into my Fotki folder and then I can get rid of that Photobucket ad. The spark plug wires are pretty simple. Pick the spark plug material that you prefer, mine is made by Scale Production but there are bunch of other good manufacturers as well. Find a perfect size drill bit for the wire and drill nine holes to the top of the distributor. Before drilling, it is important to sand the top of the distributor cap smooth. Drill also holes to the cylinder heads where the spark plugs would be and then just add the wires on place with super glue.

Yes, the Malibu has a 350 in it, built to match the NHRA Stock Eliminator rules.   The best ET the car has gone is 11.96 and 109 MPH, but hopefully we can be a bit faster next summer. The American car culture is pretty big here in Finland, but it's even bigger in Sweden. Also Norway and Denmark have some culture, but otherwise it's not that big in Europe as far as I know.

 

 

It's been a while since I've had an update. Summer went fast and I had no time to do anything with models. But now I was able to shoot a first couple of clear coats on the body of this '57. I will let it dry for a day or two and then I will shoot a couple of more clear coats. That way I have enough clear for polishing...

[espo]

Nice to see this one back on the work bench. 

[Zippi]

Nice looking cop car.  Detailing looks great.

[adamelvis]

Very clean and detailed build. Great engine.

TCB,

Adam

[doorsovdoon]

Gonna look very nice, especially with how nice and neat the interior is done.

[David G.]

The paint and decals look great!

This is going to be one sweet cruiser.

David G.

[W-409]

Thanks guys, it's been another long while since anything has happened at the bench. Just haven't had the time to build anything lately.

Now this thing is back on the bench however and my plan is to get it done. I hope I can pull it off...

Hood had some ejector pin marks on the bottom side. They were smoothed out with putty, then some prepping and it was time for primer.

 

I also started polishing the body. The roof was done first as it's the easiest part. It turned out pretty good, I just hope the black areas will turn out good, they are always tricky to get right...

[espo]

Nice to see this back on the work bench again. The paint on the roof looks great, the light makes it look like there is a little orange peel on the paint on the trunk.  

[JPL-ACE]

Nice job on the roof. It is really hard to deal with the casting marks. It is really one of the things that shows the dedication to detail for model building, IMHO. Quality work.