‘55 Nomad

[Marc Weller]

Looking for a suitable canvas for some wild paint. This one has been in my stash for 20 plus years and I’ve got some free time on my hands. Need to get the stance right. The rear is simple enough. Separate the springs from the rear axle and add some lowering blocks.

 

The front end is a little more challenging. I want to cut the coils but the upper A frame is molded to the crossmember.

 

The solution, grind off the upper A frame and fab a tubular replacement. Cut the coils and assemble!

.
 

mission accomplished!

 

[Sam I Am]

Love the stance. 

[gotnitro?]

Very cool 

[espo]

Now it sits right. Now we want to see the paint work. 

[Snake45]

Two things to fix on this body: 

1. The "cuts" for the taillights in the body are sharper than the taillight bezels. The lower forward corners have to be filled in a little. (Test-fit the parts and you'll see what I mean.) 

2. The frames in the long rear windows are about twice as wide as they should be. I've never seen anyone thin or replace these, but I'm going to on the one I'm building. 

If you're not going to use the front bumper, the front end needs some fixing, but that's another story. 

Oh, also, the headlight rims/bezels are about twice as wide/thick/fat as they need to be. 

Few if any modelers I've seen actually fix these things, but you look like you want to do a nice job, so I'm just layin' this stuff out there if you're interested. If not, just drive on. 

[Modlbldr]

Nice work on the stance. Can't wait to see what you do with the paint.

Later-

[THarrison351]

11 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Oh, also, the headlight rims/bezels are about twice as wide/thick/fat as they need to be. 

Totally agree! I substituted another couple of parts off the chrome tree and they worked perfectly. It's been too many years now and I don't remember if they were custom headlight bezels or what.

[Snake45]

8 hours ago, THarrison351 said:

Totally agree! I substituted another couple of parts off the chrome tree and they worked perfectly. It's been too many years now and I don't remember if they were custom headlight bezels or what.

Thanks for the tip! I was gonna try filing them thinner, but I'll look for those parts. 

[THarrison351]

I've been looking through some instructions from Drastic's Plastics and I think it might be the Lucas bezels with the center pin cut out and then using the stock lens. I'm going to be pulling out my model storage this week and when I run across my build I'll take a picture. The only picture I have is a side view and shows nothing.

[THarrison351]

On 5/12/2020 at 7:41 AM, Snake45 said:

Thanks for the tip! I was gonna try filing them thinner, but I'll look for those parts. 

I have discovered my Nomad. It's little worse for wear. Been in storage for almost seven years. I built it soon after it was released, it's from the ProShop series. So it's pre-decorated. Box has a copyright date of 2002, so my guess is it was built 17-18 years ago. I only added paint to detail it and some foiling. You can tell the headlight bezels are smaller. I can't tell if they are the Lucas ones, or some other part. I know it came in the kit. Also it's apparent I was using epoxy for a lot of gluing and it has aged yellow. Hope this helps

[rustybill1960]

Marc, how's it coming with the build?

 

[Marc Weller]

Making some progress. Tamiya white pearl for the lower body, HOK silver flake for the roof with some Timothy Leary inspired graphics. Gonna do more on the fenders with various colored spheres and such. I'm thinking about trying the Mission Models clear. I have urethane but I'm afraid to use it without a hood and I lack one. Too many horror stories about urethanes and lung injury. Anybody try the water based clears?

 

 

 

[Modlbldr]

Love the color and the graphics on this Marc. Perfect looking build.

Later-

[espo]

I like the paint treatment on this. The colors look good together and the treatment on the forward portion of the roof is really special looking. You asked about clear paints and Urethane concerns. I use Tamiya paints for the most part. They have a TS-13 Clear and a TS-65 Pearl Clear. I have also used Model Master #28139 Ultra Gloss Clearcoat and have had great success  with both.  I look forward to seeing how your build goes. 

[Marc Weller]

Continued the bubble theme onto the front fenders, added some yellow highlights. Gonna add clear coats next. Pretty much decided I’m going to mask and airbrush Alclad chrome on the windshield/window frames. I’ll use Bare Metal on the tailgate chrome as there are no sharp curves. Gonna use the stock engine, already weathered the chassis. Interior will be pearl white and purple. 

 

 

 

 

[Deuces ll]

??

[Marc Weller]

        I kept waiting for that geometric roof design to grow on me and it never happened. In fact it started to grate on me !!! so I sanded it off and started all over again. Did some fades on the horizontal roof beads, then decided to do some fish scales on the smooth forward part of the roof. How to create a fish scale mask? I had a bag of confetti that I bought years ago to make 1/16th scale injector blades. I glued a line of them along the edge of some thin sheet styrene and I had my mask. Using HOK purple acrylic lacquer. I'm gonna leave the pattern on the fenders, fish eggs !!! Clear coat tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Marc Weller

[Muncie]

looking good - fish scales turned out great

[Marc Weller]

Thank you Steve!

[espo]

Great idea for the fish scales mask. I kind of liked the first design but this is good also. 

[Marc Weller]

  I know it's been awhile. I haven't bailed on this project,  but I've made some major changes. The more I looked at that graphic the more I thought "fish eggs". I dunno. I like caviar on a cracker but not on a '55 Nomad. The solution (no pun intended) was a brake fluid bath and starting all over. I've been watching a ton of YouTube videos about Createx products and I have been wanting to go water based if, for no other reason, the health benefits. So here's my first attempt at a water based custom paint job. I used all Createx water based products. White Sealer Base, Pearlized White, Candy20 purple mixed with Balancing Clear, and finally, ULVS clear.  I pretty much loved everything but the ULVS and I'll probably head back to 2K for my next project. I'm just going to be super careful about safety precautions. 

   P.S. foiling this thing was too much work and I'm not done!!! Need to pick my next project with that in mind !!!

 

 

 

 

 

[rustybill1960]

Hey Marc,

What does this build look like now?

 

I like the final paint job.

[Marc Weller]

1 hour ago, rustybill1960 said:

Hey Marc,

What does this build look like now?

 

I like the final paint job.

Hey Bill,

        Thanks for checking in. I’ve most of the interior done, working on the engine. Finished tinting the glass (purple), that’s current status. Thanks for the motivation. I need to pick up the pace !

[CabDriver]

Love the revised paintjob on this one - creative way to make a fish-scale stencil too!  Smart!

[Marc Weller]

You guys are going to think I am out of my mind but, after my Riviera turned out so well I became disenchanted with the paint job on the Nomad. I particularly disliked the purple accent around the side trim. Ultimately I dropped into Autozone and picked up some brake fluid. My brakes work great but my model needed a new paint job soooooooo, after a couple of weeks we have this. The 2K clear came loose pretty easily but the Createx sealer really stuck and I wound up having to sand it off. I reprimed with Tamiya grey primer, sealed with Createx silver sealer and followed that with Createx white pearl. I was shooting for platinum pearl like the Mantaray but it turned out closer to silver than I had hoped. We'll see how the clear affects it. The roof was done with a laundry bag and Createx Candy 2o purple with candy black fades around the perimeter. If I screw up the clear this one goes in the trash can.  2o.