71 Olds 442 W30 (replica of my brother in law’s car)

[jmk0303]

Steve, I am fairly new here (just posted my hello and pics of my ‘63 Galaxie 500XL build in the “introduce yourself” page). I have just read through this entire thread and I am thoroughly impressed. I love all the details and your creativity is top notch. Giving me some ideas on my current build ‘65 Lincoln convertible. Can’t wait to see the finished project. 
 

Regards, Joe

[Steve H]

On 5/28/2024 at 3:30 PM, jmk0303 said:

Steve, I am fairly new here (just posted my hello and pics of my ‘63 Galaxie 500XL build in the “introduce yourself” page). I have just read through this entire thread and I am thoroughly impressed. I love all the details and your creativity is top notch. Giving me some ideas on my current build ‘65 Lincoln convertible. Can’t wait to see the finished project. 
 

Regards, Joe

Hi Joe, welcome to the forum!  Thanks for taking the time to look through the build. It’s always rewarding to think that my builds might give someone ideas. I have certainly been inspired by, and learned from, so many here on this forum. Should have an update in the next couple of days.

Steve

[Keef]

On 5/28/2024 at 6:30 PM, jmk0303 said:

Steve, I am fairly new here (just posted my hello and pics of my ‘63 Galaxie 500XL build in the “introduce yourself” page). I have just read through this entire thread and I am thoroughly impressed. I love all the details and your creativity is top notch. Giving me some ideas on my current build ‘65 Lincoln convertible. Can’t wait to see the finished project. 
 

Regards, Joe

If you like this thread so far then you definitely have to check out the build of Steve’s 70 Cadillac ElDorado Pro Touring

 

Edited June 3, 2024 by Keef

[Steve H]

13 hours ago, Keef said:

If you like this thread so far then you definitely have to check out the build of Steve’s 70 Cadillac ElDorado Pro Touring

 

Thanks Keith!

[TheBEAUMONTGURU]

This one is turning out fantastic!.  your attention to detail is incredible.  well done!

[Steve H]

Hi all, time for a long overdue update and a quick explanation. It has been an emotional and difficult 10 weeks. My mom had a fall and has been in the hospital for 10 weeks. On April 13th my wife’s father passed away. With that, Wayne and I lost our father in law.  He was an amazing man, and is dearly missed by all that knew him. I don’t generally share too much “personal” stuff on the forum here, but wanted to acknowledge my father in laws passing here as he was a big part of my life, and even more so to Wayne. I have been building this in secret to keep it a surprise for Wayne, I really wanted Ron to see it…. Dang… RIP Ron, we miss you.

 

With all that said, I do have some progress to share. The real car is silver as you have seen. I wanted to get close to the factory colour, but was also trying to avoid using an air brush. Well, I think I painted about 30 spoons, but finally came up with a recipe that I believe is really close. The first two photos are Wayne’s car, and you can see how much the paint changes colour in direct light. There is quite a bit of white in the colour. So… here’s the recipe: grey primer, mica silver (3 coats), pearl white (2 coats), pearl clear (one mist coat), gloss clear (3 coats) All Tamiya except the final clear which is Mr Hobby. Tamiya’s pearl white is quite transparent, I knew that, and it worked in my favour here to lighten up the silver, and add a slight shade of white.

Wayne’s car:

 

before clear:

After decals, foil, and clear. The first indoor shots aren’t great so I took a couple outside as well.

I will let this cure for a week or 2, then polish it out. The colour isn’t “perfect” but I think it will be close. ?? 

Should have more to show in a week or so. As always, thanks for having a look, and all comments are welcome.

[Steve H]

39 minutes ago, TheBEAUMONTGURU said:

This one is turning out fantastic!.  your attention to detail is incredible.  well done!

Thanks DA. Inching towards the finish line slowly but surely. It has been fun pushing myself a bit with the details. I will add a bit more under the hood, but not going to get too carried away. Thanks for checking in.

[Mattilacken]

Looking great mate, as always!  Details are subtile and nice yet effective! Great work!

[Steve H]

On 6/4/2024 at 12:56 AM, Mattilacken said:

Looking great mate, as always!  Details are subtile and nice yet effective! Great work!

Thank you Anton, always appreciate you checking in. 

[Steve H]

Tire and wheel time.

This is my first time using decals for tire lettering. I’m usually a black wall guy. I posted in the Q and A section for some advice and got some great feedback. The tires were first painted with Mr Hobby gloss clear, then decals applied, after decals were dry the tires were shot with a mist coat, then medium coat of Mr Hobby super smooth matte clear. This combo gave the tires a clean, but not TOO shiny look, just what I wanted. 
 

gloss clear…

 

after matte clear

 
Wheels have been painted and detailed, including valve stems. As you can see, the tires have also been “flat spotted” which will give the car some “weight”. Some detail stuff… Wayne’s car has the valve stems lined up with the “O” so of course I thought I should do that. The centre cap Olds Rocket logo also points right at the valve stem, so…. ya, did that too. Details that will go completely unnoticed, but what the heck.

Not sure what’s happening with the camera on my phone, it’s seems to have taken on a mind of its own. Getting strange colours. New phone soon… Anyhoo

I placed an order with Fireball Modelworks, which included some nice factory front disc brake wheel backs. 

 

So I think the only thing left to do on these is some clear on the centre cap decals to seal them, then install them. Oh.. I’m going to use styrene rod instead of the kits metal pins to install the wheels.

 

That’s it for this round, thanks for looking.

[customline]

Those wheels / tires look fantastic, Steve. The body decals aren't the easiest to deal with and they look great too. It's going great!  A bit OCD on the valve stems though ?. Just kidding, I wish I could get that detailed ?.

[Volzfan59]

Not sure how I missed your updates? First my condolences on the loss of your father in law. I know that it's tough losing someone you love and respect. I think that you've really hit it on the paint. The outdoor shots look about as close as possible to me. Your wheels and tires are spot on too. I'll try to watch closer for updates.

 

Another Steve H

[Noah H.]

Looking Fantastic!

[Rattlecan Dan]

Very nice attention to detail. And the build is looking gorgeous already. Nice work.

[Butter 1]

Excellent engine and interior detailing. Very realistic.

[Steve H]

On 6/10/2024 at 6:41 AM, customline said:

Those wheels / tires look fantastic, Steve. The body decals aren't the easiest to deal with and they look great too. It's going great!  A bit OCD on the valve stems though ?. Just kidding, I wish I could get that detailed ?.

Hi Jim! I appreciate your sense of humour. The OCD thing got the better of me for sure. The whole valve stem thing … ya, no one will ever notice, but I couldn’t resist. I don’t do a lot of decal work, so thanks.

On 6/10/2024 at 7:44 AM, Volzfan59 said:

Not sure how I missed your updates? First my condolences on the loss of your father in law. I know that it's tough losing someone you love and respect. I think that you've really hit it on the paint. The outdoor shots look about as close as possible to me. Your wheels and tires are spot on too. I'll try to watch closer for updates.

 

Another Steve H

Hello Steve, thanks for the kind words. My father in law was an amazing man, honestly a better father to me than my dad was. It would have been his birthday yesterday, and we got father’s coming this weekend…?  I just saw the actual car on Sunday for the first time in months, I think the body colour is really close. Didn’t have my phone to get more photos tho.

Thanks Steve H, from, well Steve H.

 

9 hours ago, Noah H. said:

Looking Fantastic!

Thanks Noah, it’s coming along.

8 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Very nice attention to detail. And the build is looking gorgeous already. Nice work.

Thank you Donato. Hoping to get it polished in the next few days.

8 hours ago, Butter 1 said:

Excellent engine and interior detailing. Very realistic.

 

Thank Ron! Nice to hear from you.

 

I appreciate you guys checking in and taking the time to comment.

[customline]

I've got my kit sitting on the floor next to my recliner. You have inspired me to start it. Time to look it over again.......and go over your thread.....thanks, Steve! 

[Steve H]

On 6/11/2024 at 7:32 PM, customline said:

I've got my kit sitting on the floor next to my recliner. You have inspired me to start it. Time to look it over again.......and go over your thread.....thanks, Steve! 

Excellent! I look forward to seeing your take on this kit. Overall, a great kit for sure.

[Steve H]

Got the Olds polished out. 3600-12000 cloths, polishing compound, then Adam’s wax. Still a little bit of clean up along panel lines and a few other areas, but it looks decent. Not the best photos, I’ll have better ones once it’s fine tuned.

[gotnitro?]

Beautiful work! That silver paint looks so good,  and shows off the Olds curves

 

[Steve H]

On 6/14/2024 at 2:11 AM, gotnitro? said:

Beautiful work! That silver paint looks so good,  and shows off the Olds curves

 

Thanks Jeff! The silver does show the curves nicely doesn’t it. 

[Nacho Z]

Outstanding attention to detail, Steve!  Wowzers!

[m3fan]

Man Steve that’s looking real fine!
that’s going to be real hard to give up but at least you’ll always be able to make your brother in law is looking after it.

If not you can take back and be the caretaker!

Russ

[Steve H]

On 6/16/2024 at 6:54 AM, Nacho Z said:

Outstanding attention to detail, Steve!  Wowzers!

Thanks John, this is my second true “replica” build. I did a replica of my dad’s 62 Impala back in 2015, this one is definitely a step up from that build. 

 

21 hours ago, m3fan said:

Man Steve that’s looking real fine!
that’s going to be real hard to give up but at least you’ll always be able to make your brother in law is looking after it.

If not you can take back and be the caretaker!

Russ

Hi Russ! Thanks for the kind words. Surprisingly, I’m actually looking forward to giving it up. Having said that, I may build another one of these that looks similar, but with less detail. It will be in good hands with Wayne, but I might want to borrow it for a hobby show! Hope all is well sir.

[Steve H]

This time of year, bench time is always limited. But!… I thought a quick mock up was in order, a little inspiration for me to get this build wrapped up. I really like the colour, it has grown on me. One of my favourite things about these cars is the little peak of red in the inner fenders. 

just realized the hood wasn’t sitting right, it does fit well. ??

Thanks for having a look.