Cars
Discuss all types of automotive modeling here.
'57 Ford Del Rio Ranch Wagon - Blue Oval
Joel_W
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Posted: Thursday, February 13, 2020 - 09:42 AM UTC
Rowan,
Glad that you've found some bench time for the Ford Wagon.

As far as the engine compartment goes, my Dad bought a 54 Ford fairlane (which I begged to be mine when the time came, just never happened), Anyway, it was a two tone White and Blue below the chrome line. The Engine compartment was completely Blue. Next car was a Glosyy all Black 1961 Ford Galaxy, and it's engine compartment was Black. The only differences between inside and outside colors was the engine compartments were Matt. Just not sure if brand new they were also glossy.

Joel
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Posted: Friday, February 14, 2020 - 09:27 AM UTC
Making good progress Rowan, looks great.
Merlin
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Posted: Saturday, February 15, 2020 - 09:00 AM UTC
Hi again

Many thanks for your personal recollections Joel.

I think they underline that, short of having a specific Del Rio to serve as a reference for my build, whichever option I go for will match some cars, but not others (I think we've now got at least 4 very plausible variations).

I wonder - perhaps the different Ford plants in the USA varied slightly in how they painted things, or there might have been changes during the production run of the vehicle?

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Tuesday, February 25, 2020 - 10:40 AM UTC
Hi again

Sorry for the total no-show lately! I'd love to blame it on other model builds, but my work at Oxfam is really the culprit, so I haven't made an progress to speak of on any kit projects (it's 10:30 pm here and I've just finished answering work e-mails, and it's been pretty much like that every day recently...)

But... tomorrow... I have a day off work! So, barring disaster, I REALLY intend to spend a good chunk of it at the workbench.

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, March 05, 2020 - 07:53 AM UTC
Hi again

Ohh dear! - my lack of progress is proof that my plans went totally out of the window!

But a total c*ck-up on my Mustang build for Eduard (i.e. complete lack of suitable paints that haven't dried-up! ) means the Ford jumps back onto the workbench tomorrow morning before I have to have to do a an extra shift at work. I just want to build some stuff!

All the best

Rowan
AussieReg
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Posted: Thursday, March 05, 2020 - 10:53 AM UTC
Rowan, there really needs to be some sort of international resolution that work cannot interfere with scale modelling time!

Looking forward to the next update, whenever it arrives!

Cheers, D
Merlin
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Posted: Saturday, March 07, 2020 - 11:34 AM UTC
Hi Damian

Well, I got a bit done, but I'm facing a couple of 7-day weeks at Oxfam covering for people either on vacation or unwell, so I don't expect to make a great deal of progress.

I was basically happy to clean up the inside of the roof, which does have a few distinct mould-lines. Admittedly, you're probably never going to see them on the finished model - but once you've spotted them, they're only going to bug you, so they've got to go.

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Monday, March 30, 2020 - 05:19 AM UTC
Hi again

Wow! It's odd reading my previous post in the light how events have overtaken everything! I've gone from 7-day weeks to enforced lock down at home.

Anyway, it's meant I've made good progress with the Mustangs I'm building for Eduard, so I'm going to switch focus back to the Del Rio a bit for a bit of variety in the next couple of days.

All the best

Rowan
AussieReg
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Posted: Monday, March 30, 2020 - 10:01 AM UTC
Hi Rowan.

Strange times indeed!

It will be good to see this one back on the bench, much as I am enjoying the P-51 epic!

Cheers, D
Merlin
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Posted: Wednesday, April 01, 2020 - 07:33 AM UTC
Cheers Damian

I think I was a bit over-optimistic in getting back to this build! Despite being officially on furlough, today was totally spent on work stuff. But, to quote Gone With The Wind - "Tomorrow is another day"!

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Sunday, April 05, 2020 - 07:59 AM UTC
Hi again

I thing I was a bit over-optimistic again! I reckon I'm running about 4 days behind where I hoped to be - but that's pretty amazing for me, because I'm usually about 4 months behind schedule!

So - tomorrow will be devoted to getting the Mustang fuselages and wings glued-up and left to cure. Then it'll be time for some Del Rio fun!

I think I'm finally getting into the swing of the lockdown. To be honest, I've grown so used to never being able to spend any sensible amount of time at the workbench, I couldn't really settle and get on with stuff even though Covid 19 has provided an opportunity. It's taken a week to get into the new mind-set.

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 - 08:17 AM UTC
Hi again

Nothing new to show yet, but I've been busy over the last few days spraying interior colours. It's a multi-tone green affair in my build and is certainly striking - although whether it would contribute to car-sickness on a long journey is another matter!

I've bought some Bare Metal foil to play with. Foiling is something I've never really experimented with properly (and I don't think I've even used any at all in probably 30 years), so this will be a great opportunity to expand my skill-set.

All the best

Rowan
AussieReg
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Posted: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 - 01:44 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I've bought some Bare Metal foil to play with. Foiling is something I've never really experimented with properly (and I don't think I've even used any at all in probably 30 years), so this will be a great opportunity to expand my skill-set.

All the best

Rowan



Great to hear that this build has made it back to your bench Rowan, although I agree with the concerns over the two-tone green interior.

You will enjoy the BMF journey. I only started using it recently and was timid at first, but it is a great weapon in the arsenal now. I have found the key requirements are a new blade (I actually keep a dedicated Xacto aside for the task), Q-tips and toothpicks for burnishing. A good tip that I picked up from Jesper is to slightly round off and fine sand the point of the toothpick so that it doesn't catch and tear the foil. Another useful tip is to use a black texta to colour the very point of the Xacto blade so that it is visible against the foil when you are trimming it.

The main thing to remember is that the foil is quite strong in itself, but very easy to peel off and doesn't do any damage to the surface, so errors are really easy to remove and re-do! Ask me how I know

Cheers, D
Merlin
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Posted: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 - 08:24 PM UTC
Hi Damian

Thanks for the tips on Bare metal foil. I'm looking forward to trying it. I must admit I'd never have thought of making the blade black to show up better - great idea!

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, April 16, 2020 - 06:56 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I agree with the concerns over the two-tone green interior.



Hi again Damian

Actually - it's a bit more than a two-tone scheme, the way I've done it. I've differentiated between the paint and vinyl surfaces - plus, of course, the carpet - making them all slightly different to create a wonderfully sick-inducing interior!

I guess one benefit of those "luxury" vinyl seat covers was they were easy to clean...

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - 03:06 AM UTC
Hi again

I need a bit of help with the engine. I want to do some basic detailing by adding ignition cables, but I can't find a diagram or clear photos to show the layout on a factory-finished car.

To make life more difficult when doing a search for photos, there were multiple engine options on the original car. The kit's engine has the distributor at the rear.

Any help would be much appreciated.

All the best

Rowan
AussieReg
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Posted: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 01:06 PM UTC
Hi Rowan.

Good to hear that you are making some progress on this build. I dug around in my archives and found this image, hopefully it helps.


Also, found this video:

https://youtu.be/Cf8rR9RiWvU

Look from about the 6-minute mark.

Cheers, D
Merlin
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Posted: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - 08:40 PM UTC
Hi Damian

That diagram is perfect - just what I need! I'm planning to add the leads today and was all set to simply guess the layout - and, looking at the diagram, I would have guessed wrong!

I watched the video a while ago. It's very informative and I'd kept the link handy - but I was still stuck as regards the ignition leads.

Many thanks and all the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 06:08 AM UTC
Hi again

Using Damian's diagram, I've added the spark plug leads using lead wire:


I want to do a bit more tinkering, but I think they definitely cheer things up and I think I got each one connected to the correct terminal OK. Thanks again Damian.

The proverbial "elephant in the room" for me is the colour of the bellhousing and transmission. Revell's instructions state Engine Orange, which (being a newbie when it comes to modelling American cars of this era) I followed without questioning them. However, a post in a forum advising somebody restoring a '57 Thunderbird states that they were unpainted.

Unfortunately, I think I'm too far down the line to safely change the colour now - so, if it is wrong, I may just have to live with it.

All the best

Rowan
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Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 06:57 AM UTC
Nice job on the ignition wires, Rowan! They look to scale and neatly distributed (pun intended).
When comes about the right colour on the engines, accessories, or interiors you can pull always the wild card: "resto mode" gets you out of the trouble. And, honestly, I kinda like that orange on the engine.

Gabriel
AussieReg
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Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 11:45 AM UTC
Always happy to help where I can Rowan! I enjoy the research process, and the rabbit-hole that inevitably opens up in front of me!

Very nice neat work on the wiring, it really adds a lot to the overall image. I really need to start doing this on my builds. What did you use for the angle plug ends at the distributor end of the leads? They look great. Are you going to add the short lead from the centre of the distributor to the ignition coil?

I found this image during my morning coffee interweb search, it's a 57 T'bird engine, and the side view shows some more layout detail.


I have also seen the transmission in engine orange, gold and bare metal, so I'm not sure that there is a strictly correct answer.

Looking forward to more progress.

Cheers, D
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 09:44 PM UTC
Hi Damian

When I first saw the gold transmissions and gearboxes I assumed it was either artistic licence, or extra bling on restored engines. But I found one reference to Mercury painting their whole engines gold at some stage in the 50s.

I will be adding some extra cabling - and I think Revell have over-simplified the fuel lines.

I woke up this morning with a bright idea on how to do a n/m rear section of the engine that won't require masking. I'll have a play before risking it for real.

More later.

All the best

Rowan
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 10:39 PM UTC
Hi again

Well, I threw caution to the wind and went straight for it without bothering to really test the idea that had occurred to me while I was asleep... and I think it's actually going to work...



I've used Goldfinger - which is basically the same sort of stuff as Rub 'n Buff. This is immediately after the first application. Once it's had a chance to dry thoroughly, I'll polish it.

After a coat of Klear and weathering with oils, I think it'll look pretty much like I'd spray-painted the finish in the first place.

All the best

Rowan
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Posted: Friday, April 24, 2020 - 06:14 AM UTC
Super job, on the engine Rowan. A bit of wiring makes a big difference.
AussieReg
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Posted: Friday, April 24, 2020 - 11:03 AM UTC
Looking good Rowan, very nice finish already on the tranny! How do you apply the Goldfinger? Is it a Q-tip deal or brush?

Cheers, D