1965 Oldsmobile 442(from an AMT '64 Olds 442) - FINISHED

[crowe-t]

I'm building a '65 Olds 442 for my friend.  It's going to be a model of his car.  I attached some pictures of his car, including the interior, engine and undercarriage.  My friend sent me an R&R Resins '65 Olds 442 and a Lindberg '67 Olds 442 to start with.  The resin kit from R&R Resins isn't that great.  The body is warped and the details aren't that accurate.  I was considering buying a MCW(Model Car World) '65 Olds 442 but by luck Round 2 just released the AMT '64 Olds 442 Hardtop kit so I decided to use that instead of the resin body. 

The '67 442's chassis, interior, engine... are all much better than the parts that come in the '64 kit so I'm modifying them to fit the AMT '64 body.

The 1:1 car has a custom frame and fuel cell.  Before the AMT '64 kit arrived I started working on the '67 kit's parts.  I cut the gas tank and rear area out of the '67 chassis and scratch built the fuel cell and surrounding frame and started making the hood scoop.  The hood is a fiberglass one with a 4 inch cowl scoop from VFN Fiberglass. 

I'll post more pictures in the next post.  I'm not sure how many I can put in a single post.

Edited October 4, 2023 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

I had a set of front seats from a Revell '85 Olds 442 that I'm using.  I modified the seats to match the seats in my friend's 1:1 442.  The '85 Olds seats already had a similar shape so it was the easiest way for me to make them.  I removed all the details on the '67 kit's rear seat and used half round rods to simulate the look of a '65 rear seat.  I had to leave a few pleats out but at this scale it won't be noticeable.  The ends of the quarter panels are re-shaped to resemble a '65.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

Since the '67 kit has the inner front wheel wells attached to the body I had to cut them out and install them in the '64.  They are much nicer than the ones attached to the '64 chassis.  The '64 chassis has the exhaust, drive shaft and rear end all molded in.  It's one part of the kit Round 2 should have re-tooled.

I attached a picture with the hood scoop laid on the hood and a resin grill/bumper from MCW.  I bought the front grill/bumper, rear bumper and tail light panel from MCW.  These parts are more accurate than the ones in the R&R Resins kit.

The '67 rear end has the sway bar molded in which doesn't look realist so I started removing it.  I'll make a new one with styrene rod.

Today I finished the hood scoop.  I glued styrene to the front of the hood to re-shape it.  It just needs some putty and sanding.  I also added the straps on the fuel cell.

Thanks for looking in.  I'll post more updates soon.

Edited November 16, 2021 by crowe-t

[NOBLNG]

Cool looking car! Looks like you’ve got a nice start on it.?

[Zippi]

Nice looking car.  Looks like you have this one figured out.  The hood scoop turned out nice.

[crowe-t]

Thanks guys!  My friend did a great job building his 442.  He even painted the hood, fenders and trunk lid himself.  He's a real talented guy.  

Edited November 17, 2021 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

I added a picture of the engine in the original post.  I forgot to add it when I first posted.

[kermn8r]

Looks like you are off to a great start. I like this body style so I'll be watching. I was wondering how you got the half rod to conform to the curve at the front of the rear seat bottom and at the top of the seat back. I eventually want to model the Red Express truck I used to own with the standard bench seat that is remarkably similar to your rear seat. The kits have the optional bucket seat & the other Dodge trucks have a different style bench seat.

[FLHCAHZ]

Cool Car!  I had a '65 F-85 with those same HD floor mats.  My 65 has louvered hood scoops from an 87 IROC.  I truly miss that car.

Cant wait to see what you build!

[crowe-t]

6 hours ago, kermn8r said:

Looks like you are off to a great start. I like this body style so I'll be watching. I was wondering how you got the half rod to conform to the curve at the front of the rear seat bottom and at the top of the seat back. I eventually want to model the Red Express truck I used to own with the standard bench seat that is remarkably similar to your rear seat. The kits have the optional bucket seat & the other Dodge trucks have a different style bench seat.

Thanks Walt!  I applied some Plastruct Plastic Weld which sets faster than thin cement on the seat and held the half round rod(s) in place until they stuck.  I used mostly 1 mm half round and some 1.5 mm for the wider pleats.  It's easier to glue it to the curved areas with a thicker cement.

Edited November 17, 2021 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

2 hours ago, FLHCAHZ said:

Cool Car!  I had a '65 F-85 with those same HD floor mats.  My 65 has louvered hood scoops from an 87 IROC.  I truly miss that car.

Cant wait to see what you build!

Thanks Chaz!  My friend is taking the HD floor mats out so I won't be including them.

Edited November 17, 2021 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

To make the crease in the hood I cut small triangular shapes into a piece of photo etch with a small file.  I used .5mm x .5mm strip styrene placed on a cutting mat and ran the photo etch triangular cut shape(2nd from the left) over it to get the shape of the crease.  Then glued the crease onto the hood.

[espo]

Beautiful looking 1:1 car and you seem to have all the right parts to replicate it. I like the Hood you put together. You mentioned the rear sway bar. Should the plastic stock not work out consider using some fine wire of the correct gauge, 

[TransAmMike]

Impressive work there Michael. Looks like the heigth of the hood is a bit lower than the real car but to me looks better.  Good job?

[crowe-t]

2 hours ago, espo said:

Beautiful looking 1:1 car and you seem to have all the right parts to replicate it. I like the Hood you put together. You mentioned the rear sway bar. Should the plastic stock not work out consider using some fine wire of the correct gauge, 

Thanks David!  Thanks for the advice about using the wire.  If the styrene doesn't work I'll use wire.

[crowe-t]

2 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Impressive work there Michael. Looks like the heigth of the hood is a bit lower than the real car but to me looks better.  Good job?

Thanks Mike!  I just measured the height of the scoop and it's exactly the height it should be.  The 1:1 scoop is 4.5 inches high.  I made the scoop 4.6 mm high.  It's hard to tell in the pictures.  The picture I posted of my friend's car is making the scoop look a bit higher.

[TransAmMike]

Well looks good. 

[crowe-t]

5 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

Well looks good. 

I appreciate that Mike!

[Andrew McD]

16 hours ago, crowe-t said:

Thanks guys!  My friend did a great job building his 442.  He even painted the hood, fenders and trunk lid himself.  He's a real talented guy.  

From the look of this project you have considerable talent yourself!  I am enjoying watching this build develop.

[crowe-t]

5 hours ago, Andrew McD said:

From the look of this project you have considerable talent yourself!  I am enjoying watching this build develop.

Thanks!  I'm having fun with this build.  It's a real nice car and I want to capture the feel of it.

[crowe-t]

I cut the clear windows out so they can be installed as 2 separate windows.  I never liked how they look inside when they are connected.

I added some styrene to the lower corners of the windshield frame to round them some more and re-scribed the frame.  The lower corners out of box aren't rounded enough.

The kit is missing some seam lines below the windshield frame that separate the fenders and windshield valance.  I scribed these in.  It shows in some of my previous pictures but I hadn't pointed this out.    

The last picture shows how the lower corners of the windshield frame looked and has no seam lines out of box.

Edited November 24, 2021 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

The lower corners of the rear window frame are rounded on the '64 kit.  They should be squared off.  I squared them and also scribed the lines that separate the rear deck filler panel from the quarter panels.  The last picture shows the lower corners of the rear window as round.  Unfortunately I forgot to take more pictures of the rear of the body before I squared off the corners and scribed the rear deck filler panel separation lines.  This is the best picture I have showing that.

Edited November 24, 2021 by crowe-t

[slusher]

Great work on your Oldsmobile. Nice idea on the mods your doing. Good to see a serious build of one of these, new kits. You have my attention and I will be following along..

[crowe-t]

20 hours ago, slusher said:

Great work on your Oldsmobile. Nice idea on the mods your doing. Good to see a serious build of one of these, new kits. You have my attention and I will be following along..

Thanks Carl!  

Everyone Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

[crowe-t]

Here's a small update.  I got a set of resin Weld Drag Lites from M.A.D. Modeling.  I drilled holes for the alternate bolt pattern and added the center caps.  I'll add the small screws around the perimeter of the rear wheels that hold the drag radials in place and possibly the valve stems.