As Joel said, that body looks great Michael. Super smooth finish on the primer and excellent details. It will be great to see it with some colour on!

Cheers, D

Progress, the body is primed and sanded. Now I've got to figure out how to paint it. I've got Mr. Color Midnight Blue and Mr. Color Flat Base, hopefully I can find a good ratio to get a weathered finish on Old Mabel.

Most of the engine is together, and painted what the bottle claimed was Ford Blue, looks very shiny and too blue, there should be more gray in the color.

Hey Mark - nice - that sled is looking good - could be a sweet vintage ride. Any chance you might do steel wheels only? No hub caps? Just a real sleeper of a ride?
Looking forward to your next post

Cheers and happy new year!
Nick

Hi again

Well, it's the end of the year (give a few hours in the UK) and my '40 Coupe decals aren't going to turn up in time, so I reckon now's the moment to bite the proverbial bullet and switch kits. It's a shame, because I really like the looks of the Coupe - but, to be sure of reaching the finishing line, I'll re-enter with the '57 Del Rio Ranch Wagon.

January is looking likely to be hectic with the start of a multi-build for Aeroscale (Hiss! Boo! ) - but I'll post my progress with the Ford at every opportunity.

Happy New Year everyone - and here's to great modelling!

All the best

Rowan

Happy New Year from HQ Southern to all of you good folks!




The '57 is a great looking car, I can't wait to see what you do with it, but you know that the decals will turn up once you hit the same stage of progress as the '40 !!




I'm kicking off a P-47 build in the next day or so as well!




Couldn't have put it better myself

Cheers, D

Nick, thanks for the idea. I was planning on the steel wheels, cast wheels weren't a thing Dad could afford in 1952. So my idea was the stock black steel wheels with the standard flat Ford hubcaps. But looking back at the '51 in the background, now I'm thinking of doing a salt chipping on the wheels, rust under flat black and the Ford hubcaps. Gonna try some panel line wash in the recessed ford lettering. Maybe even do a little rust below the lower chrome line.

Hi Damian

Yep, it'll be typical Sod's Law if that happens - but I won't mind, because I just hope they do turn up one way or another.

All the best

Rowan

Mark,
Usually the engine colors were gloss but it didn't take to long for the entire bay to get a good coating of dirt, grease, and what not. And the Ford Blue varied by year. All of these are restorations, but not one has the same shade of Ford Blue.









Joel

Joel, I see what you mean. I think I was expecting the 3rd one, but I got the second one. Oh well, I gotta think about weathering the engine bay along with the wheels.

Here's my intended victim.

I need to try out mixing Mr. Color midnight Blue and Flat Base, also want to try something to simulate the metallic brown interior finish I remember. Maybe a flat brass or a bronze.

Well if you're worried about Ford blue Mark, here is another version of one their blues from the early 1970's - Olympic Blue




And I hope you're all getting enough at the start of this year!

cheers
Michael

Mark,
I've never used a flat or gloss base but rather an overcoat of gloss or flat clear.

Joel

Joel, I originally thought about going for a color coat with the flat overcoat. But the finish on Dad's Ford, wasn't really flat. There certainly wasn't any kind of clear coat or polish on it either. It was just heavily weathered and you got this blue black residue on you if you touched the car.

I only have experience with Tamiya Flat Base as a Winter Whitewash camo for armor,

But I'm hoping any chalkiness the base leaves with the paint will resemble the finish on the old girl.

Mark,
I wish I could help you, but I've never used a flat additive. Have you tried googling it? Is there any info on the bottle that is in English? Or you could post your question on Armorama or Aeroscale?

Joel

Thanks Joel. I did 'Google it'. I should have expected the results that I got . One source is recommending 1:4 (base:paint) for eggshell and 1:6 to 1:10 for a true flat. He also was concerned about color shift when adding the base. But all of his samples were based on cutting flat base with clear gloss. Another one was recommending 1:20 to 1:10 for eggshell and 1:10 to 1:5 for true flat. Another guy tested 1:1 and 2:1 mixes. His 1:1 of Tamiya Flat Base and X-1 Black produced something matching Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black. The 2:1 mix with X-1 Black produced produced something closer to Field Gray. He also tried a 1:1 with Clear Blue which gave a milky blue. So I think the color shift is real, but it could relate to the opacity of the base color and not just the mix ratio.
Looks like I'm gonna give that paint mule a real workout. Maybe a 1:5 and a 1:10 to start with.
I've also got to try out some metallic browns for the dash. I sort of remember something like this: brown dash

Mark,
I would expect that the Flat base would mute intensity of the color.

So basically you're looking for a eggshell finish. Just mix gloss with flat clear of the same brand. When I've used my own mix, I did it 2 parts Gloss to 3 or even 4 parts Flat/Matt

Joel

Hello Everyone.

I guess I had better do a better job building in 2020.. last year wasn't that great...

Anyways here is my offering to The build.. seems like I have 3 of these, so I am going to finish it no matter how it turns out.. my last few Auto builds have not gone so well, so I'm a little gun shy.. lol..



Later...
Delby

Delbert,
Welcome to our Ford Blue Circle GM. You've still got 3 full months, so time is certainly on your side.

Nice choice with the 1957 Fairlane 500. Hope that you're going to do one of the two tone paint schemes. They sure do look mighty nice.

Joel

I've lost my mojo with the holiday break. The wife is having some family issues and I just don't feel like heading to the basement right now. Hopefully everything smooths out soon. I've never not finished a GB, even if I have to swap to a simpler build.

With a small hiatus last year I managed to finish 9 builds (mostly sci-fi).

Well things are happening all over the place here now!

Rowans decals for the '40 have left the building so he is changing up to a '57 Del Rio Wagon (review already completed).

Delbert has jumped in to the fray with another '57, for him a Fairlane 500.

Michael's Escort has a shiny new coat, beautiful bright blue!

Mark's '51 Coupe reversed into the neighbours Corsair and bent the prop!

We have lost one player, unfortunately Pasi has withdrawn due to irreversible paint issues, very sad to see the Fireball Roberts '57 unable to cross the line.

We have gained a new player, Neil (RedwingNev) from the UK has joined in! Welcome to the Blue Oval, what have you got in store for your build here?

Running update on builds

13 weeks in, approaching 20,000 views and over 440 posts
24 enlisted
14 builds in progress (+1 still looking for decals)
4 builds completed

Aussiereg (Damian) - '36 Ford 5-Window Coupe - COMPLETED
Spruslayer (Mike) - '65 F-100 Service Truck - COMPLETED
TacFireGuru (Mike) - Louisville Delivery Truck - COMPLETED
Stickframe (Nick) - IMSA Mustang - COMPLETED

jimb (James) - '48 Deluxe Convertible - Body Prep, chassis and drive train assembly
Szmann (Gabriel) - '66 F-100 Flareside - Paint Stage
PasiAhopelto (Pasi) - '57 "Fireball Roberts" NASCAR - Body Painted - withdrawn due to paint issues
md72 (Mark) - '51 Custom Coupe - Body primed, engine painted
Dixon66 (David) - 1st Generation Bronco - Parts Prep and body mods
Joel_W (Joel) - '85 Mustang Roush Body - Shell decalled and clear coated, interior and engine bay detailing
tinbanger (Richard) - '65 Mustang 2+2 Fastback - Primer
Cosimodo (Michael) - Escort RS1600 MkI 1973 RAC - Body painted, drive train assembly, interior detailing
Hwa-Rang (Jesper) - '65 Mustang 2+2 Fastback - Body Prep Work
forest1000 (David) - "Thunderbat" NASCAR - Painted, decals on, assembly pending
JClapp (Jonathan) - '15 Model T - Parts Prep
Merlin (Rowan) - '40 Standard Coupe - Chassis/Engine Painted, Decals AWOL
Merlin (Rowan) - '57 Del Rio Wagon - Reviewed and ready to hit the bench
Delbert (Delbert) - '57 Fairlane 500 - Opened and ready to start cutting
RedwingNev (Neil) - 2017 GT40 Le Mans - Sprues all over the workbench

Littorio (Luciano) - '65 Falcon Ranchero or '60 Starliner - enlisted
Ray_from_SA (Ray) - WRC Escort, Focus or Fiesta (or all 3 ??) - enlisted
betheyn (Andy) - enlisted
bluebell914 (Patrick) - 66 GT40 enlisted
heavyjagdpanzer (Bill) - Mustang "Blue Max" Funny Car - enlisted
roman (Roman) - enlisted
IronOwl (Sascha) - enlisted

For some inspiration for both Rowan and Delbert, here is a nice '57 Two Tone conversion from the same kit as Rowan's that showed up in one of my Facebook groups today.


Cheers, D

D,
Thanks once again for your excellent and complete GB update. I didn't know that Pasi dropped out due to paint issues. Last I saw was his post with the Red roof that looked darn good to me.

But we picked up a new GB member: Neil (RedwingNev) from the UK, welcome to our GB. So what are your build plans for the GB? Please post as you build. We would all love to follow along with your build.

And your '57 conversion really does look like it rolled right off the assembly line.

Joel

Thanks for the Welcome Damo and Joel. This is what I am entering with, Revell 1/24 Ford GT Le Mans.



Ever since I saw (and heard) these incredible cars at the 6 hours of Silverstone in 2017, I was hoping someone would release a kit of it. Thankfully Revell came through last year, and having spent Christmas clearing the workbench and getting back to modelling for the first time in years, this campaign gives me an excuse to build it.

Some pictures I took at Silverstone in 2018, I'll try and dig out some 2017 pics if I can.

Great choice Neil, and some excellent inspiration and reference images there! Looking forward to your progress reports!

I have updated the "State of Play" info above and on the first post on Page 1 of the thread now as well.

Cheers, D

Neil,
I'll certainly be following your build with great interest, as the Ford GT that Team Ganassi ran for the last several years was a major boost to us fans of international road and endurance racing. Personally, I love the car, and watching it run in IMSA GT2 & 3 races.

Ford built the car and entered the 1966 24 hrs of LeMans at Circuit de la Sarthe to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their 1966 1-2-3 finish.

The car on the cover of the kit box was entered in the LM GTE Pro Class which it won. A Porsche 919 Hybrid in the LMP2 class was the overall winner. But all of us Team USA fans will remember it as Ford win for sure.

So please post often with plenty of pictures as you go through the build.

Joel

Well I did have an enjoyable airbrush session. The paint flowed nicely, everything went on the way I expected. I just never thought about priming a model in rust!

I'm laying down Tamiya Red-Brown as a base coat for a salt treatment of the Midnight blue. Wish me luck.
I tried out a couple of ratios for flat base to color. The right side is 1:2 flat to color and the right side is 1:1. Both are about 50% thinner.

As expected I got a dead flat on the left but a nice semigloss on the right. Don't know if the picture shows, but there's no detail visible on the left, but the right has a good sheen and lets the panel lines peek through.

Mark, with all of the prep work you have put in I'm sure you will get a great result here. It will be really good to watch the process and see the desired result unfolding.

Cheers, D