I started this one while I was tinkering with my '57 Caddy coupe/hatchback build. I was really inspired by KOS' caddy build but I wanted a different look/feel to it. Both builds are slow going but I thought I'd toss up some recent progress pics to show I haven't forgotten about this one{or the other}. Along the way of the build I found I didn't like the way it was going before so I changed afew things to smooth the look out better-
-origonal nose

-new nose

-origonal tail end

-new tail end

I smoothed out the body sides for a cleaner look as well
-origonal sides

-new sides

Here's another shot of the body but that's really unchanged

Got alot done on the interior bucket...just need to make the bomber seats for it


This car will be built as a rolling road bomber and the olive drab paint is the next color to go on after I do the needed salt treatment- the reason she's silver now is because that's the underlying color coat to simulate bare metal, I'll add intermittant areas of water and table salt sprinkled on that to be able to knock those areas off after the O.D. paint goes on for a "lost paint chips" look. Yup, paint right over the salt after it dries- then rub or knock the salt off. I want her to look "war weary"{...used}.
The rims are still questionable...as in I really don't have a clue yet as to what I want, but full baby moon covers sound pretty good for this project. A bit of some kind of "cheesecake" on the hood or front fenders would add to the effect but I haven't anything picked out for that yet either.

Me like! Can't wait for progress! This looks like something I would like to build!

You're the man Bob. That is just awesome.

Thanks guys for the kind words! While life has somewhat sidelined me{got to play lumberjack...lol}...I came across another paint scheme to ponder...what do you think of natural metal, fake panel lines and rivets?
I had a link to the pic but it seems www.hankstruckpictures.com" isn't working...or at least not for me...can't easily access great models too well either for some reason and I just got IE- 9.{might be why}

Bob,
your problem may well be IE-9. I popped into that link site just fine-- didn't know what I was looking for though.
I'm watching your "bomber" build now.
-Sean.

"IE-9 might be the problem"...and here I thought it was supposed to be an answer to the problems!
Try this;
http:/www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/colorado_road_trip/day05/dsc_8583_20070
...this is an incomplete addy since it's on the page I printed out and it doesn't show all of the address - sorry. Your looking for the base silver KW with orange flames and headlights in the bumper.
I'll see if my daughter's new laptop can bring it up and I'll send the addy to my email....

Got the one....
fake panel lines and rivets on a semi

...of course "I" can't check the link, but it should work for you unless you too have IE-9.

that works. Looks pretty cool and perfect for the bomber theme. Will be quite a challenge to pull of.

I really dig what you're doing here, looking forward to the "rivet and panel" treatment

I started mapping off the panel lines the other day....this will take a while to get it to where I like it - one can't easily use a given aircraft for references to a '59 caddy for panel lines{so much for that idea-lol}.

Never is until you've done enough times that you're ready to move on to something elst, lol. Just don't overdo the panel lines and she'll be one sexy bomb

Ok, did I overdo the panel lines?




What do you think?...I didn't do the line washes yet around the doors/hood/trunk/fender skirts.

wow, outrageous!

That looks pretty cool Bob.

Thank you gentlemen...that's what I was headed for...."no rivet counting will be applied here today"!

Very cool O-D, very cool indeed !

Ok, cheesecake and decals are added-





An overcoat to seal everything is still needed as well as starting the chassis and the making of the bomber seats, oh, and a shorty windshield too.......

...for those who don't wish to lean over to read it, it says "Queen of Hearts".

Hmmm, the shark's teeth looked good in theory, even good on the car before the actual application...but now?...........

Well, tire stance and tires have been added, exhaust as well, windshield has been raked and re cut to fit and the bomber seats have been started.
I put the exhaust way out back since the lower body already had a slight hike up behind the rear wheel well - thought I'd take advantage of that!

Taililight panel is in with subtle dividers marked off

Here's the seats in my rendition of what bomber seats should look like - still need lightening holes drilled as well as seat belts.

I took the winshield {origonal} and marked up an 1/8" in back and sanded the bottom up at an angle to those marks to rake it back and bring it down as well, then re angled the sides to add to the raked look. This car was bought at a swapmeet and was already built so when I carefully took out the windshield it had two marks on it...I'm trying to polish those out and what your seeing is the 1st coat of Future over it...I think I'm going to have to strip it with glass cleaner and repolish the thing because I still see extremely minor swirl marks...not good.

Comments, questions and critiques are always welcome-

total excellence!

perfect low stance and the decals really tells the story

as you mentioned a "?" regarding the shark teeth, maybe paint it around the front wheel well utilizing the open shape of it... But if you already clear coated over it then it looks great as is!

Thanks KSO! If your talking about putting a black line in the front of the mouth to amtch the rest of the surround, that's easily done. I still "kind of" plan to flat coat the whole thing{except the rims} and try to black wash/fog in some black to slightly darken some panels - I didn't have anything handy paint wise that was close enough but not too off color - and I was sort of in a hurry I guess too.
...Swiss cheese seats anybody...think I got enough holes?

These seats, for those who wish to follow a build of these in any way, they are from the '68 mercury marauder kit as 4 matching spares for a custom interior - nice to see they're getting used as intended, huh.
I'm thinking of adding a small roll bar per each with a head rest.....have to wait for the paint to dry and see what kind of room and muse I have to work with...

I wound up stripping the Future off the winshield{1min in windex does the trick!} and will repolish it later.

Oh, and for those who are thinking I need to spend more time on my '57 caddy custom - I have been in the background. It's a real P.I.T.A.{pain in the " "} trying to fabricate one cars interior to fit anothers...it will, however, look good when I'm finally done with it.

Let's see if it opens up here- wouldn't open up for some reason on the web

Hmmm, not bad....anyone think this should be on the car this way instead, Let's hear some input people!

Excellent work Bob. I like the new sharks mouth better than the old one.

I'm with Jesper, the new mouth looks great, like it's open ready to eat some rusty old MOPAR. Before it was just smiling as a beautiful Corvette passed by !!

Keep up the great work Bob, very inspiring indeed.

That's a nice looking car.
A real eyecatcher.

That's KSO's rendition of a new sharkmouth on an editing program...so it would seem I need to get going on a new sharkmouth becuase I like it too{needs a tiny bit of tweeking though}. I simply used what decals I had and it just wasn't good enough..........
Thanks for the idea KSO!