Do projects pick themselves? Duesenberg J

[Eric Macleod]

As many of you know,  I am in the final detail phase of building a Cord L-29. While getting ready to stage the car for some photos, I thought it would be fun to have a Duesenberg and an Auburn in some of the pictures. 

I opened the display cabinet and a Duesenberg sedan started rolling out. Trying to stop it, I missed catching this Duesenberg Roadster, and it tumbled out hitting the cement floor...hard. 

It wasn't as bad as it could have been and I was able to roughly reassemble the car inside of 5 minutes.  The bottom line is I could clean it up, glue it back together and have the car back on display in one evening. 

But should I? I have two sets of Pico's hubs to hand lace some wire wheels. The car clearly is the wrong color; SJ- 295 was the car Fred Duesenberg was driving when he had an accident that eventually was fatal. The car was obviously a very dark color, dark blue, dark maroon or maybe black. My model, clearly missed the mark there. Plus,  the paint has never been overly shiny. The radiator shell could use an upgrade and better windshield wipers would be an improvement.  

Conversely,  giving it a good cleaning then moving to another project would allow me to move on to something new. Not sure, so I'm wondering what you folks think

 

[Shardik]

I think you've already answered your own question.

[keyser]

If you can enjoy the redo, and it is simple enough to not delay other projects that are more fun, do it. I think it's a pretty model either way, but I'm such a Duesy sucker I get the OCD. Kind of a sad tribute, but cool. 

Paint, no major bodywork I see. I can't really tell in shots if you made a short chassis, but it hit floor and frame ok. 

Do something fun. 

Dash looks awesome, nice work. 

[espo]

Sounds like you're trying to talk your self into a rebuild. Since you're going to the effort to try and replicate a specific car I would do as much research as you can into the true color of that car. What ever you do please share it with us. 

[Eric Macleod]

On 6/10/2020 at 9:49 PM, espo said:

Sounds like you're trying to talk your self into a rebuild. Since you're going to the effort to try and replicate a specific car I would do as much research as you can into the true color of that car. What ever you do please share it with us. 

I have been poking around to see the correct colors of  SJ-295 when new.  The consensus is the car was a very dark color but nobody knows for sure what the color was. Barring that notion, I have been curious about what the color the car is now. I have done a lot of on-line research and a maroon car keeps coming up, though I know for sure it's a different car. How do I know? Because the car in the photo used to belong to a colleague of mine in Kalamazoo.

That said, my friend's car has always been one of my favorite Duesenbergs. It was a local car for many years and is very close to what I'm trying to create. Plus, if I ever get the opportunity (and of course the funds) I will buy it myself and bring it back to Southwest Michigan...where it belongs.

Going forward,  I have to be satisfied with  1:24 Duesenberg and have decided to repaint  and recolor the whole car, in and out, and make some much needed upgrades. That takes this from an evening project to a several week project but I will be much happier with the end product. I will keep you all posted on my progress. 

[landman]

Go ahead Eric, you can do it.

[Sam I Am]

I will follow along no matter what direction you go.

[Eric Macleod]

I decided to go ahead with a partial teardown and recolor.  I have not found a picture of the car as it appears today,  though the engine now appears to be powering a Murphy Town Car.  As nobody seems to know the original color of the car I am going with the consensus best guess: black with some sort of contrasting interior color.  Here's the project as of 11:00 this evening. 

[charlie8575]

Black with a red interior would be pretty. The dark red/maroon that a lot of leather in that era ended up being has always been a favorite of mine. Or perhaps a medium tan?

Charlie Larkin

[Eric Macleod]

Here is the progress after a good cleaning, wet sanding,  and masking.  There will be a lot of touching up to do but this is a start. As for colors,  i have obviously decided about the color of the body and fenders but I really haven't decided about the interior, though I am leaning toward Charlie's dark tan suggestion.

[Eric Macleod]

Sometimes it takes black paint...in this case to show the previously invisible cracks in both doors.  The freshly painted body is now gently relaxing in a pond of purple. 

[David G.]

It looks like you're going down the rabbit hole on this one and the hole just got deeper!

I'll be along for the ride on this one.

David G.

[Eric Macleod]

17 minutes ago, David G. said:

It looks like you're going down the rabbit hole on this one and the hole just got deeper!

I'll be along for the ride on this one.

David G.

Glad to have you along.  

I was thinking,  as I released the body for a swim that will no doubt remove all the body putty,  " I probably should have started over from scratch." Oh well...here we go.