´64 Mercury Marauder cruiser

[Andy Oldenburg]

This AMT kit is only a level 2 and the complexity of engine, interior and undercarriage are not what I would call a serious challenge. The body and undercarriage are screwed together and I will have to work a bit to make those rough details disappear.  BUT!!!, the body is a fine and crispy part, and this Marauder has enough potential to turn into cool build. Seems like not many builders pick this kit, because the emblems and the trim are in a very good condition for a old edition mold.

Whatever, I chose to build a classy low cruiser with a few goodies. Opening doors, yup. But I also wanted to connect the bonnet to the right fender, as I have seen on videos from car shows. This is the first mock up. The wheels are from Scale Production.

Cutting out the doors was a tricky job because the rockers and vent windows are very thin. I have to hold this body like a baby to prevent the front window frame or a rocker to snap. Until now I was lucky.?

The trunk had those typical dents from the screw mounts and needed some putty.

After first sanding.

Adding the door lips with .5mm styrene.

Opening the doors means thinking 2 -3 steps ahead. Once you get too far and have forgotten an important detail, you end up ripping things apart again. I want the doors to close and fit tight, meaning I will hide magnets in the right places. But first I cut the interior door panels off the tub and made them fit to the door opening.

Next step was bending the hinges for the doors and bonnet. The rods are 1mm brass that fit smug into 3mm styrene tubes.

Gluing the hinges in place means working very precise. If I don´t get the hinges exactly into place, ripping them off again can mean ruining my build, or the doors might not close correctly. Having had my issues with loose hinges before, I roughen the slick body surface with a grinder to help the glue stick better. And I flatten and roughen the hinge tubes also for the same reason. I use a 2-part epoxy that hardens in 15 minutes.

The surprise part, of course, is: Will it WORK???? Yes is does! ??

Before I can finish the doors, I have to get the magnets placed in the right position. So the interior tub and the seats must be mocked temporarily. One magnet will be glued inside each seat with the counter magnet under the door panel. Just in time I noticed that the right seat magnet was turned wrong? and had to be plied out again.

That done, the panels were glued to the doors and the open sides were covered with 1mm styrene.

And the magnets work!

Now I could start painting. The first layer was a simple flat grey to check if I had any flaws left on the body. Well, a few minor. It was important to me that the side trim would not be flooded with paint and loose its detail. So with every paint coat I covered the trim with masking tape. The hinges need some protecting also, or else they will not fit into the tubes any more (had that on my first door build and ended up carefully scratching off 3 layers of paint).

After 2 layers of Tamiya TS-88 titanium silver I feel quite comfortable with the paint job so far. But i´m not finished yet. I will let the paint harden for a few days for the next step.

Thanks for watching so far!

[James2]

That is a fun car to customize, yours looks well on it's way.

[Moparman18064]

Really cool build up to this point. Great tutorial on the hinge process!

[LennyB]

Nice work, I always liked the look of this body style. Built a few of them back in the day. This is a good candidate for the AMT 1960 Ford Starliner chassis. I have the Super Marauder show car on my to-do list.

[espo]

Like how you opened the doors. 

[dino246gt]

Looking very good already, cool car and some cool mods!

 

[TransAmMike]

As Lenny said above, I too always thought that was a great looking car.

Your work is outstanding Andy and it's gonna be a great looking model!!

[58 Impala]

Nice work so far. Looking forward to watching your progress.

[Zippi]

Lot of good looking work going into this one.

[Steve H]

Great looking custom so far Andy. Very impressive to do all the work you did opening the doors and not crack an A pillar or rocker panel. ? Love the stance you are aiming for!! 

Cheers, Steve

[Kenmojr]

Impressive work...

[slusher]

I have too say you have some impress skill!  Model on!

[Andy Oldenburg]

Thanks everyone for your friendly response! Making progress and will show more soon!

[jmk0303]

Excellent work. Great idea with the magnet placement.

[Andy Oldenburg]

I´m finished with the body. I wanted to add a little jazz to the paint job. Not too wild, but with style. The second color is Tamiya TS-58 Pearl Light Blue, not too much a contrast in color and shade. The sides were masked and with 1mm masking tape I added a graphic texture. 

After the paint had hardened I fine sanded the masking edges with grit 2000 for a smooth surface. Next step was applying the BMF and the side trim still had its details. Unfortunately this kit comes without a decal sheet. I had sanded off some of the labels but I would have appreciated the labels for the trunk and bonnet. I had some flags to spare for the front fender, otherwise it was BMF for the rest. The finish is two layers of Molotow crystal varnish.

While waiting for the spray coats to dry, I had started with the interior. The basic color is a cream white with the contrast color the light blue for the seats and highlights. Coming without decals, this could have turned into a bland dashboard, so I printed gauges from images I had taken off the net onto gloss photo paper.  I cut the round gauge trim off the dash and glued the speedometer and round gauges with white glue. Then bent new trim from .4mm silver wire and flattened them with a pliers. The radio is also printed and with tiny crimp beads as dials.

The steering wheel is tipped to the left to match the wheel position later. The key chain is a hood lock from a photo etch set. In the meantime I have corrected the black of the steering wheel.

I replaced the kit seats for a more sporty version from my spares box. The floor is flocked with a mix of grey and a bit of blue. The pedals are manufactured from styrene sheet and square rods. The seat belts are too dark blue, but I was unable to find a lighter ribbon.

Now that the body paint job is done, I can finish the interior by completing the door panels. The window cranks are finished and waiting to be attached. The panels have received some structure in form of arm rests and handles. I will come to that next.

Thanks for watching!

[wisco8]

22 minutes ago, Andy Oldenburg said:

I´m finished with the body. I wanted to add a little jazz to the paint job. Not too wild, but with style. The second color is Tamiya TS-58 Pearl Light Blue, not too much a contrast in color and shade. The sides were masked and with 1mm masking tape I added a graphic texture. 

After the paint had hardened I fine sanded the masking edges with grit 2000 for a smooth surface. Next step was applying the BMF and the side trim still had its details. Unfortunately this kit comes without a decal sheet. I had sanded off some of the labels but I would have appreciated the labels for the trunk and bonnet. I had some flags to spare for the front fender, otherwise it was BMF for the rest. The finish is two layers of Molotow crystal varnish.

While waiting for the spray coats to dry, I had started with the interior. The basic color is a cream white with the contrast color the light blue for the seats and highlights. Coming without decals, this could have turned into a bland dashboard, so I printed gauges from images I had taken off the net onto gloss photo paper.  I cut the round gauge trim off the dash and glued the speedometer and round gauges with white glue. Then bent new trim from .4mm silver wire and flattened them with a pliers. The radio is also printed and with tiny crimp beads as dials.

The steering wheel is tipped to the left to match the wheel position later. The key chain is a hood lock from a photo etch set. In the meantime I have corrected the black of the steering wheel.

I replaced the kit seats for a more sporty version from my spares box. The floor is flocked with a mix of grey and a bit of blue. The pedals are manufactured from styrene sheet and square rods. The seat belts are too dark blue, but I was unable to find a lighter ribbon.

Now that the body paint job is done, I can finish the interior by completing the door panels. The window cranks are finished and waiting to be attached. The panels have received some structure in form of arm rests and handles. I will come to that next.

Thanks for watching!

Fantastic modeling skills Andy!!

[Andy Oldenburg]

First I have to correct a specification about the clear spray varnish I use. It is NOT Molotow, but AK crystal varnish. Very high gloss, compatible to every other paint I have used so far and dries very hard.

I have better images now of the finished body paint work as a mock up of what to expect.

I´m not quite sure yet how to treat the wheels but for the moment I guess they will receive the champagne silver of the body. A hard contrast won´t look too well.  The door panels are attached and the doors are finished now too. The cranks are home made with styrene rod, 0.5mm brass rod and crimp beads for the handles. The trim is 0.6 and 0.4mm silver plated wire.

Next to do was the undercarriage. The part in this kit has one of those completely molded boards with all the "details" and a set for metal rod axles. I will go for more and better details, meaning some heavy disruption. I cut out the complete front and rear suspension, the drive and grinded off the exhaust system. Yes, some work, but I hope that the results will reward me in the end. The cavities are covered with sheet styrene and filled with putty. The only part I could salvage was the differential.

Then came the creative part of rebuilding the rear suspension and transmission with basic styrene tubes and sheet. I will show the stages step by step.

I rebuilt the exhaust system with 2mm styrene rods and fabricated the muffler from 6mm tubes. It took a lot of bending back and forth until both sides were almost identical.

Next to do were the brake line, the fuel line and the parking brake. These are the only things I can glue to the undercarriage now.

For the front steering and suspension I stole parts off a glue bomb from my early days. I want to come close to a "real" look but have to make some sacrifices. Still, the front had to lose some plastic and adopt to the reconstruction.

Last to do was give everything some patina and make it look like a well maintained everyday car. The suspension and exhaust pipes are not glued to place yet and only mocked. I still have to bend the pipes to match the exhaust manifolds and find the correct length for the drive. So I have now started to build the engine.

Thanks for watching!

 

[Andy Oldenburg]

The engine is finished. Engines have been my favorite part on every model since I have started. I love that tiny fiddling and can get lost in attaching wires and cables. In this kit, the detailing and the number of parts of the engine are under average. I had some parts on stock so I was able to bring the engine onto a higher level. I started by replacing the single part intake manifold and headers. This Marauder kit has metal rod axles that also go through the block so I filled and puttied that hole. The pan needed some heavy cutting and crafting to make the the competed engine match with the new front suspension.

The Ford blue is sprayed, patina applied and the spark plug boots inserted.

The distributor and coil are home made. The head covers are spare parts.

The expansion tank received some detailing and the hose was replaced with a rubber tube stiffened with a wire. The 3D printed carb is from Scale Production. The brass wire will later hold the air filter.

Next I connected the spark cables and the exhaust manifolds. The various lines for fuel etc. are connected also.

The pulley wheels and the generator are cut off the standard part and modified to take a belt. The belt will be a .5mm slice off a thin rubber mat. The generator will be attached to the block with a wire pin.

Here we have the finished engine with the pulleys and belt attached. Here and there I added some 1mm printed hex nuts for added detailing.

I´m bending into the last lap now and am looking forward to get everything together. I hope that the door and the hood hinges don´t cause too much hassle while assembling. Crossing my fingers!

Thanks for watching!

[Can-Con]

Engine looks great. I think I'd have tried to find a set of Ford valve covers to use instead of the Pontiac ones but probably no one will notice.

[Sledsel]

I agree with Can-Con on the valve covers. Also the Mercury would be a rear steer, not front, but I see you modified the oil pan for clearance.

Question, what are you doing about the door jambs? I think that would have been addressed before paint.

She is looking pretty cool tho.

[Andy Oldenburg]

2 hours ago, Can-Con said:

Engine looks great. I think I'd have tried to find a set of Ford valve covers to use instead of the Pontiac ones but probably no one will notice.

Hi Steve, you got me, I´m an amateur?? If it dosn´t say FORD on it, I wouldn´t notice the difference. Pls excuse my ignorance!? Of course someone did notice... But thanks for the knowledge!

[Andy Oldenburg]

23 minutes ago, Sledsel said:

I agree with Can-Con on the valve covers. Also the Mercury would be a rear steer, not front, but I see you modified the oil pan for clearance.

Question, what are you doing about the door jambs? I think that would have been addressed before paint.

She is looking pretty cool tho.

Hi Andy,

pls note my response to Steve. I´m not that good into cars like you guys! You see a mistake like that in a second, I will probably never get there. Honestly, I have never maintained an American car, but only small Europeans back in my early days. But I have enough time to learn the differences ??

The doors are working really fine! The lips are holding them in the correct place and the magnets will keep them shut. On my other models I have done the jambs after connecting the interior tub with the body. I fill the rockers and open spaces with sheet styrene and paint them before gluing into place.

[Sledsel]

Understood about the jambs, Personally I would be scared to death to mess something up after a sweet paint job like that. You are more brave than me!!!!! LOL

As for the valve covers, I get it. Some things I am very familiar with and others not so much. For the not so much I will research pics of the subject for my own satisfaction, not that everyone has to do that it's just me.

Looking forward to the final product here. I have an off-and-on '64 Custom Mercury I am working on myself.  

[Andy Oldenburg]

So I finally finished this baby today and am VERY happy about the results. Turned out just about as I had planned. OK, I did get into minor problems that I hadn´t planned. But that´s model building, correcting the problems you brought yourself into.

After getting the engine finished it was time to attach it to the chassis to move on with the final assembly. To enhance the engine bay I manufactured some goodies. The battery received pole clamps and the brake booster lines. The relay is basically styrene and the wiper water bag is a folded piece of sheet styrene.

The wheels are from Scale Production and in this case with aluminum rims. I forgot to order disc brakes on time so I settled with washers and faked the calipers.

I didn´t like the look of the grill and since this is a custom cruiser I replaced it with aluminum grid material. Cutting out and filing the grill took some time and nerves but fortunately the frame didn´t break. The headlamps are epoxy lenses from Scale Production.

The battery had to move to the drivers side to keep away from the hinge. But I had seen this set up on the web so that was OK by me. Getting those cables in the right place needed some patience.... but it all went fine. It´s always exiting when I close the hood for the first time, hoping that my upgrading didn´t build too high. Bang! A perfect fit!

The undercarriage received some weathering for realness. This car has street mileage. The exhaust pipes didn´t turn out exactly mirrored, but it only shows at a straight angle. And yes I know, that the front suspension is NOT Ford/Mercury, but it was all I could salvage from my crate.?? Thanks for those helpful comments on my way. Looks like I can´t fool you guys!???

Last thing left to do was covering the rockers and filling the jambs. The tub is much narrower than necessary, meaning I had to fill a wider gap than in real life. I cut the matching pieces from 1mm styrene and spray painted them in the interior blue and added a bit of flock. 

A bit of polishing in the end and the doors and hood connected. I will refrain from gluing these parts to the hinges. They all work fine and if necessary it´s easy to pull them off. And those magnets really get a hold of the doors. No opening by themselves or sagging. I´m happy! What´s left to do is some neat images for the Under Glass forum and a video for YouTube.

Thanks for watching and your input on this build!

 

[rrb124@sbcglobal.net]

Great build everywhere. It even has the Marauder fender emblems! In 1964 my next door neighbor had one these he bought brand new. Your model brings back the memories. The 390 cubic engine would really go out on the open road. Way to go.