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Post by Duane on Oct 2, 2013 12:17:10 GMT -5
Gary...i agree with Zed !!!!!...and it's cool not to see '59 Caddy taillights used for a change !!!!! i imagine you'll do somethibng cool for the frontend too...so i'll be followin your Merc very closely !!!! very nice work so far...jump on it Son !!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2013 5:41:15 GMT -5
One Wild Merc!
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Post by lo51merc on Oct 13, 2013 10:06:02 GMT -5
Once again, Photobucket isn't getting all of the pictures I'm downloading. But, there are three that I can show you guys to bring you up to the current status of this Merc. I almost don't have to tell you what I've done in the front (but I will anyway!). Please keep in mind that it looks overall like a patchwork quilt and that the first coat of primer will fix that. I know there may be some that don't like the changes I make, and I'm my biggest critic too! One that stares me in the face is the front bumper. It's from an AMT 56 Ford, and I've modified it a bit mostly by stretching rearward on the sides and thinning them there as well. I built out the stock Merc splash pan for a nice fit to the Ford bumper. When I think I have enough parts for re-chroming, I'll send them out including the bumpers I finally chose for this model. In this view you can see that the AMT 55 Chevy headlight doors are nearly finished. I made some scoops for the sides of the hood in a traditional shape out of .015 sheet styrene. In this picture you can see the piping for the edges of the padding on the top. Also in this view is another rear bumper option, a narrowed AMT 57 Chevy rear bumper. I also included some tail pipes in the longer part of the bumper. I'm going to add a Kaiser type overrider to the bumper that I found in my bumper/grille box. (does anybody know where these come from?) I'm certainly open to your thoughts or suggestions regarding the bumpers. My options are limited but let's have your ideas anyway. Thanks as usual for your input, Gary
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Post by Duane on Oct 13, 2013 12:49:14 GMT -5
the only thing i see that doesn't look right to me is that it seems the front splash pan is a bit too long...it makes the car look nose heavy...but i imagine that you have plans to extend the frontend onto it perhaps
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Post by mercman on Oct 13, 2013 13:02:08 GMT -5
Gary the only thing better than Packard taillights is 2 sets. One mounted upside down under the other.
As for the fade away I did this many years ago to a 49. What I did was lay down a piece of masking tape, then added putty, and sanded it to shape.
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Post by Kustoms Illustrated on Oct 13, 2013 20:02:26 GMT -5
I'll be willing to bet your Kaiser overrider came out of the AMT '49 Ford Coupe kit.
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Post by lo51merc on Oct 13, 2013 21:18:03 GMT -5
Duane, I'm pretty sure you're not the only one thinking that the front bumper hangs out there, but I think that once the bumper has some chrome on it and the splash pan is body color, it'll look OK. At least I hope it will. I've been looking through some "Little Books" and I've seen similar mods done like this. I scrounged around for some other bumper options, front and rear, and I found nothing else that I can use. I'm still leaning toward the narrowed 56 Chevy rear bumper at this point. Gary
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Post by Duane on Oct 14, 2013 11:46:24 GMT -5
sounds like a plan !!!!!...i like what you've done so far...i really think this is gonna be killer !!!!
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Post by mredjr on Oct 14, 2013 16:36:06 GMT -5
Looks great so far Gary can't wait to see if finished.Elvin
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2013 6:51:03 GMT -5
Looks like a car the Green Lantern would drive
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Post by cycolacfan on Oct 25, 2013 8:52:04 GMT -5
Loving everything on this apart from that front bumper overhang, IMHO it just adds too much weight the front. Just my 2c.
If anyone has photos of a car / cars done like this - a big front oevrhang - back in the day I'd love to see them posted here for comparision purposes though.
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Post by lo51merc on Oct 25, 2013 22:17:16 GMT -5
Me too, Mike, and I've been looking. I probably spent 10 minutes looking at the front bumper/splash pan today, trying to decide what if anything I will do with it. And if I can change to something else. (I ain't got nothin' else right now)
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Post by cycolacfan on Oct 28, 2013 9:03:19 GMT -5
I don't think it needs swapping for anything, just about 10mm chopping out of the rear and moving in tighter toward the grille. Unless you're planning on hanging a Continental kit on there...?
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Post by lo51merc on Oct 28, 2013 14:59:50 GMT -5
So brutal, tsk, tsk, tsk! Just kidding! Anyway, I got rid of the overhang a few days ago. (no, NOT the one in my head!) Now I'm going to a somewhat modified stock front bumper. It seems that a lot of the Merc customs in the day had stock, or slightly modified stock bumpers. I got 'er up on four tires a few days ago to check the stance. It isn't anywhere as low as my previous Merc, but I think it looks good right where it is. I also added the vent window rear frames to the doors. Another thing I spent three days (of varying hours) on last week was the interior. I scrounged around in my miscellaneous parts box and found a seat from the sixties that fit very well widthwise in the interior bucket. I had to jack it up a few scale inches to match the stock seat. Now I know not much of the interior will be visible when the model gets finished, (I know, I know, I don't finish too many of my starts do I?) but I looked at the seat pattern and decided to make a tarp for the rear seat area to match the seat. Sooo, each rectangular panel was sanded to size (checked with a dial caliper) and glued in place seperated by a piece of .025 round styrene. the longitudinal pieces run the full length of each row. The pleats were made from .090 half round and were sanded top & bottom for a lower profile. They're all glued to a piece of .030 sheet styrene. Yeah, an awful lot of work for something you will hardly be able to see, but done is done. I obviously have too much idle time, huh! How's it looking now? Thanks for checking in. Gary
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Post by RodBurNeR on Oct 28, 2013 15:12:52 GMT -5
wow, I love the treatments! I especially love the hood. Nice!
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