'52 Ford Mainline Business Coupe/NYPD RMP

[SfanGoch]

I'm attempting to build a collection of cars used by the NYPD covering the years 1920-1972. Prior to 1958, all NYPD patrol cars were either 2 door coupes or sedans without rear seats. That's why, when you watch an old movie featuring police cars in NYC, you'll always hear a cop saying, "We sent for the paddy wagon" when skells needed to be transported downtown for booking. One of the first I'll be constructing will be a 1952 Ford Mainline Business Coupe. A Lindberg 1953 Ford Victoria will be the chosen victim for conversion.

I used the Vic's side trim, and sanded it flush, to fill in the recesses on the body. This method is much simpler than trying to fill in these areas with either styrene or putty.  Since the Business Coupe has a B pillar, I needed to scratchbuild the window frames. I managed this from a single piece of .040"/1mm styrene sheet by scribing out the windows and radiusing the corners to match the photo.

 

Next, I had to do something with the backlight. Using the Vic body as-is wasn't going to work since the Business Coupe's rear window is more angled upright and shorter at the base. I cut the tulip panel just behind the lower window trim and the lower window frame 8mm from the rear of the C pillar, moving the cut section forward 7mm to make the new window opening. I needed to re-radius the upper parts of the opening to, once again, replicate the 1:1 shape. Swell, I got a new rear window opening. Now, I need a new rear window. I had some 1/4 x 3/16" basswood left over from an old model railroad bridge project; so, I cut and laminated the basswood into a block and moto-tooled away away to form a buck.

The gray stuff on the buck is Magic-Sculpt two-part epoxy. I used it to adjust the curvature of the window. As you'll see, I also used Magic-Sculpt to fill in the cut on the tulip panel. It's easy to work with, carve , sand, machine and polishes glass smooth. When it dries, it's rock hard. I swear by this stuff.

I formed the rear glass by cutting a ring section from a 2 liter soda bottle, placing the section around an empty pasta sauce jar, slipping the buck between them and tightening the soda bottle section by clamping the slack with vice grips to hold everything in place. Then, I used a heat gun, set on low, to shrink the bottle plastic around the buck. High tech it ain't; but, it works! The glass was cut and trimmed and this is what it looks like in a test fit:

Fits like the proverbial glove. If I decide to do another Mainline, I'll need to redo the rear window. The height of the backlight needs to be increased about 2mm; but, I'm satisfied with the results so far. The window opening still needs some finishing. The next thing to work on will be the '53 grille, which needs heavy mods to look like a '52 type. That's what styrene tubes, rods and Magic-Sculpt were created for.  

Feel free to critique and/or criticize as you see fit. I'm always open to suggestions.

Edited June 16, 2018 by SfanGoch

[Ace-Garageguy]

Looking good. I've been wanting to do one of these too. Thanks for showing how to go about it.   

[mod3l Lover]

Yeah, this is great! I will be watching for sure!!

[SfanGoch]

In order to model a '52 ford, the grille trim needs to be changed. This is what the grille trim from the Lindberg kit looks like

 

This is is what I need:

 

Major difference requiring a major facelift. I first reshaped and modified the front end of the Vic by adding styrene sheet to fill in the area underneath the headlights. That was the easy part. Now, I had to work out a plan to replicate the round parking light bezels. I calculated that they would be 6.5 mm in diameter. Okay, now where to get 6.5 mm styrene tubing? The art supply stores around me were out of what I needed. As I was pondering my next move, I was playing around with one of these Bic mechanical pencils.

I disassembled it and found that the end of the barrel, underneath the white cap, is exactly 6.5 mm in diameter. Even better is that every part of the pencil, except for the end cap, is made from polystyrene! Lots of tubing for future requirements. So,  I disassembled two pencils,  used a diamond burr to thin the inner walls and got out the razor saw to cut two 2 mm thick rings to attach to the bumper. I beveled and polished the top edges and used the remainder of the ends as the body mounted trims. 11 mm of the bumper was removed on each side, the center bullet was drilled out and replaced with a scratched version with three blades. The grille bar was redone by filing and filling with Magic-Sculpt. The slots on the grille bar were drilled and shaped and the hood front to grille bar was also reworked. This is what it looks like at this time:

I still need to make some minor adjustments on the ends of the hood front to grille bar ends so they will be flush with the body mounted parking light trim. I also need to make and cast some clear parking light lenses

to fill in those trim rings.

Feel free to comment, critique, criticize, tell me it looks like last week's garbage or make suggestions. I'm a big boy and can handle it.  

[StevenGuthmiller]

Looks pretty good to me so far.

Have you figured out a plan for those parking lights?

I had an idea.

Find some 3 bar wheel spinners, snip off the points and glue a '58 Chevy backup light to the face.

This is, of course, to make your subject to make a mold for casting.

Something to experiment with anyway.

 

Steve

[SfanGoch]

Great idea, Steve. I'm going to pull out the AMT '58 Impala and see what I can do. I might have some extra spinners from the pile of AM Corvette Grand Sport kits in the closet. I was going to scratch the lights; but, your suggestion will be much simpler.

[cobraman]

Nice work ! I'll be watching.

[Eshaver]

I'm blown away .......

[Belugawrx]

Nice scratching going on here Joe

Got my Popcorn and cold drinks ready

[SfanGoch]

It figures that Murphy's Law would claim jurisdiction over this project at some point. I was going through the box and noticed the kit is missing one stinking tire and the rear half of the rear axle. Time to scrounge up a junk kit on ebay.

[SfanGoch]

Hokay, I didn't have any spinners to use as bases for the parking lamp lenses, per Steve's suggestion. Sooooooo, I had to go through the tedious process of making one and casting a pair. I used a '58 Impala tail light lens and glued the stem into a 3/32" OD aluminum tube. I then cut the mess down to measure 3 mm (don't you hate it when some stronzo uses both standard and metric measurements interchangeably? If I were me, I'd pop me right in the wazoo, but good, and I'm just the guy to do it.) and CA'ed three styrene fins to the tube.

Using Magic-Sculpt (No, I'm not a compensated spokesman shilling for the company. This is really great stuff!) I made a mold and used fiberglass resin to make the copies. Lemme tell you, they are small! 

This is the grille with the lenses temporarily installed.

I coated the grille with Model Master Semi Gloss Black followed with Metalizer Stainless Steel applied with a cotton swab. I don't bother with the airbrush (too much of a hassle, maaaaaaan!) because this is done to check the overall look and to highlight any imperfections I might have missed. The deal on using the swab is to dip the tip of the swab directly into the Metalizer and let the solvent evaporate completely. When it is completely dry, lightly rub the swab on the part. You'll see a gradual buildup of Metalizer on the surface. The more you rub, the brighter it gets. A trick I learned years ago is to follow up the Metalizer application by buffing the part with powdered graphite, which really imparts a realistic chrome look.

 

[modelercarl]

Great project!  Your ingenious solutions to the problems and then the detailed explanations are outstanding.  Will keep an eye on this project.

[SfanGoch]

Thanks Carl. I try to explain my approach as concisely as possible. That way, people won't think I'm making stuff up.  

[modelercarl]

1 hour ago, SfanGoch said:

Thanks Carl. I try to explain my approach as concisely as possible. That way, people won't think I'm making stuff up.  

WHAT!!  You mean people on this forum MAKE THINGS UP?  I am disappointed.....

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 6/19/2018 at 10:13 AM, SfanGoch said:

It figures that Murphy's Law would claim jurisdiction over this project at some point. I was going through the box and noticed the kit is missing one stinking tire and the rear half of the rear axle. Time to scrounge up a junk kit on ebay.

Just catching up on this one. Nice.

I've got the axle half and tire if you need 'em.

[SfanGoch]

Thanks, Bill. I know Steve at Star Models offers a resin '52 Ford Club Coupe. I just wanted to see for myself how hard it would be to convert the Lindberg body into one. So far, much easier than I expected. A '49 Ford NYPD RMP is going to be a breeze. The AMT '49 Ford straight OOB nails it. I was looking over pics of a '35 Ford 5 window Coupe and the AMT '36 kit would work with a backdated grille. Anybody know if a resin '35 Ford grille is available? I'm also on the prowl for an R&R Resin '50 Plymouth 2 Dr Sedan.

With a bit of roof surgery, it can be converted into a Plymouth Concord Business Coupe.The rub here is that R&R closed shop when the owner died four years ago and no other casters have purchased the masters and molds. This kit, like every other R&R item, is just about impossible to find on ebay, or anywhere else. That's a shame because R&R produced some very obscure and interesting subjects which are still ignored by other resin casters. Take that as more than a hint, resin dudes. BTW, if anyone has this tucked away and doesn't intend to build it, PM me. Perhaps we can work out something.

[Belugawrx]

Nice job on the front grille Joe..this Magic Sculpt stuff, think Michael's might carry it..? Is there a manufacturer name? 

[SfanGoch]

Thanks, Bruce. Wesco Enterprises manufactures the stuff. I don't believe that Michaels carries it. It seems that Canadian art supply stores only carry Apoxie Epoxy Clay which, although somewhat similar, isn't as good as Magic-Sculpt. You can order Magic-Sculpt from The Compleat Sculptor , located here in NYC. There are other art supplies that sell it; but, they sell colors other than gray and white, which are available in 1 lb. sets for around 20 bucks, in 1/2 lb. sets for the same price. Ripoff, brother. Compleat Sculptor sells all available colors as 1 lb. sets for $18.99.

[SfanGoch]

A special thanks to Chris aka "von Zipper". He had the R & R Resins '50 Plymouth. We made a deal and I received it this afternoon. Here are some pics Chris provided:

 

The roof needs to be modified to look like this

 

I'm thinking to use the chassis from the AMT '41 Plymouth Coupe. 

it'll need to be shortened 6 scale inches to give it a 111" wheelbase.

[Ramfins59]

22 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

A special thanks to Chris aka "von Zipper". He had the R & R Resins '50 Plymouth. We made a deal and I received it this afternoon. Here are some pics Chris provided:

 

The roof needs to be modified to look like this

 

I'm thinking to use the chassis from the AMT '41 Plymouth Coupe. 

it'll need to be shortened 6 scale inches to give it a 111" wheelbase.

I'd love to get one of those '50 Plymouth kits.