1949 Mercury

[sjordan2]

So sorry to all those who lost their buddies. Every dog I've ever had remains in my heart as a beloved family member. And I'd go absolutely nuts today without my best friend, Greta the White Miniature Schnauzer. When we had to put our Dalmatian, Sydne, out of her pain five years ago, we swore it would be a year or two before we could get another dog. But we got Greta after three months and she helped ease the sorrow tremendously.

What breed was Midnight Special? He looks like a French Bulldog in the picture.

Edited March 12, 2010 by sjordan2

[Dr. Cranky]

Thanks, Bill. Yes, Midnight was an American Staffordshire . . . or Pitbull as they are often called.

[MikeMc]

Boy this did turn into a bummer.....but as you said Virgil, he is in a better place

First Kit Kat, but as we all know it does still go on with good and bad...

I know I will think of you Virgil when I complain about my dogs hair all over my chair!

Micki a 7 year old Aussie cattle dog who was born deaf will follow me into the hobby room and fall asleep while snoring loudly!!

She is trained to respond to hand commands and does well....but not when asleep

Sorry to Hijack this Bill.

[Tumbler75]

Mr. Bill, I'm truely sorry about KitKat. I've got three cats here. My Russian Blue/Siamese Mix is 14 yrs, my Polydactol Red Tabby is 9 yrs, and our newest rescue, an American Shorthair Blonde Tabby/Siamese Mix, is 9.5 to 10 months. I know what you are going through. I've lost a couple in years past. Hope the new Kitten will weave a special Merlin style spell over your hurting heart. Virg, Sorry about your American Staffordshire as well. They might be pets, but they are our family, model muses, and sometimes li'l helpers.

Great WIP Tutorial style thread. I'm an old pro at this but as they say we always learn new things daily. Thanx my friend!

[vaughn]

Great tutorial Bill. I was thinking the other day about needing some tips on the painting and polishing etc. And at the same time I wondered if anyone had ever put together a tutorial on Builing a model from beginning to end. And bingo!!! Yours showed up !! Am I correct in understanding that you brush the acrilic floor wax on and then spray your color afterwards, 6 to 8 coats ? And no clearcoat ? And then do the polishing with the different clothes ? Getting ready to start a new build and am gonna use some of your techniques. Sorry about your cat and to everyone else also. I lost my Lab of 10 years and my cat of 14 years this past Nov. and my youngest nephew of 38 about 5 weeks ago. Loses are hard but they are enevetable. We just move on the best we can. GREAT TUTORIAL....now if I could just figure out how to post my pictures, I would be in high cotton.

[my80malibu]

Guys, I have lost my dog too. About a month ago she died in my arms while on my way to the vet. It was a terrible tradgedy and I miss her so much. I understand what it is like Not to have a greeting when I get home, or my little friend to play ball with. and all those other crazy things She used to do. At only three pounds she took up a lot of space in my world. http://public.fotki.com/Gabriel12/cafecita/

[MrObsessive]

Okay, after some selfburnout------computer crashes, and too much of life going on.............I wanted to get going again on this 'Merc! Not a real long update here, but some pics of the interior, and now a couple pics of the car on all fours.

One of the things I hate the most about old kits are their "tub" interiors! It makes painting most difficult, and since I like to use water based acrylics best for interiors----------------they simply don't brush very well for my tastes.

I decided to hack this one apart, but unfortunately when one does this, it can leave some huge gaps from the X-Acto blade such as seen here . I could have used some plastic strip to fill in the gaps, but I wanted to try something that I haven't done for many years. Make my own "plastic putty"!

Simply cut up some plastic scrap or sprue, and melt it in a jar with some liquid glue such as Ambroid or what have you.

When it melts, simply spread it on, wait 'til it dries, then sand away like you would normally do with plastic.

Here's the interior painted up and ready to put back together. I had more pics of the interior before it was painted and showing the gaps, but that might have been when the desktop took a dump and they were lost as I can't locate them now.

Even though I had a backup, if the crash happens before they're saved--------they're gone for good.

Various shades of blue were used for the colors--------going by photos I had of an original '49 that was being sold on eBay. While not 100% to the pics, I got the "feel" of what I wanted the interior to look like.

And here's the dash--------I used BMF to bring out the chrome on the bezels. Color was airbrushed on-------particularly for the top of the dash to give a semi gloss look, I sprayed at a distance to achieve this.

Here's the interior all painted and put together............

And here she is on all fours to get the stance squared away. Still have a little bit to go yet, and sometimes this is the part of the build I hate most--------------the little tedious stuff that can have a big impact on the final result! Tires and whitewalls are from The Modelhaus I was going to use on another project at one point, but decided to use them here as I hate painting wide whites!

I'm not too crazy about the gap between the trunk lid and the rear fenders----------------this won't be a show goer (AFAIK!), but that's something you want to watch out for if you ever decide to build this. If this were a full detailer like I'm apt to do, I would have made my own hinges and not used the kit ones here.

...................but I'm trying to use the K.I.S.S. method as much as possible here.

Next time I update this thread I'll give a few sneak peeks as to the final result, and then she'll be in the under glass section.

For those of you chiming in on your lost pals............it's no problem at all! I don't mind the stories as this has been a real learning thread for me as well-------it gave me a snapshot into a number of you fellas' lives.

Any questions ask away-------------------Thanks for lookin'!

Edited March 14, 2010 by MrObsessive

[Dr. Cranky]

Beautiful work, Bill. That dash board is spectacular.

[crazyjim]

Looking terrific, Bill. Thanks for the update.

[Peter Lombardo]

Bill, great job on that interior.....I really like the look of the dashboard. That looks very convincing. Boy, you can really see the difference between the old "stock" body on the AMT, gee, that has to be over 46 years old....older than most guys on the forum, and the new Revell kit. The Revell kit just looks so crisp and with the chopped top, so much more "hip". But you are sure doing the "old boy" justice. Oh, yeah, good to see you back up and running again.

[asco]

Thank You very much for updating this thread again.

I already did scare that Your Mercury has been dropped to the same place where all the other models usually end up to... To the shelf of unfinshed projects...

Great Looking Mercury indeed. Keep it going, not too much work left anymore, but it's tidious...

[Guest 85Biarittz]

Great looking build and thanks for all the tips. Will be making a run to the hobby store soon. Will be looking forward to the hopefully next tutorial.

Charles

[Mooneyzs]

Bill.... this is a great tutorial. This car is beautiful and turning out great. Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us. I have learned a few new tricks that I am going to try myself here. I love all of the pics, keep them coming

[MikeMc]

Bill.... this is a great tutorial. This car is beautiful and turning out great. Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us. I have learned a few new tricks that I am going to try myself here. I love all of the pics, keep them coming

WOWSER!!!!!! great job......The ONLY complaint I would make is that the top is not chopped!!!!

[oldscool]

Beautiful work Bill. The color fits the car very well.

oldscool

[Tony T]

The interior is fabulous, and I have learned something new with nearly every update to this thread, and I thank you for that!! I have a build with a bucket interior that I am going to cut apart, just so I can use that tip!

Thank you for picking this up again!

[Janne Herajärvi]

That looks really good Bill and thank you for those really good tips on this topic.

[rustybill1960]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, very glad all is better

Very glad to see your back on forum, was getting a bit despondent over your where-a-bouts!

I was missing your teachings very much!

I have learned much from you and your building skills!

Really digging your '49 build, as I have several of them in the wings waiting for completion!

Thank You for sharing!

Later Russ

[Ken]

I too have used at least one tip learned here, the 'glue ghosting cure' I used it on a Polar Lights funny car I started last night. Worked great on the mold lines. They did not ghost at all when I painted the body this morning. Of course, I rushed the paint and Mr. Murphy reared up and bit me in the tush. The body crazied in a bunch of spots, but not where I had used the glue... Oh well, off to buy more 400 grit sandpaper and get to work sanding... Thanks for the tutorial Bill.

[hemithunder]

Bill.

I have too agree with everybody else. Absolutely fantastic tutorial. I've learned an incredible amount from this post. I've found little tricks of my own here and there over the years to accomplish some of the results, but your ways are easier by far and your clear way of teaching is GREAT! Thank-you Very much for this build and I'll also agree you should write a book! But why only one? Take a reader poll with several models and build/write the entire build. 10, 20 pages with your clean pics and clear instructions. A life saver for our hobby! Maybe even a larger volume showing all the basics.

Drew

Edited March 17, 2010 by hemithunder

[Jon Cole]

A well deserved bump on a great tutorial! Hope Bill can update us on this!

[MrObsessive]

Hee-Hee! She's all done now Jon and sitting quietly on my shelf! Somewhere it was in the Under Glass section, but it got bumped off the board some time ago.

Here's the finished pics for those that may have missed it.....................

One Faux Pas I did was to paint the engine light blue when it should have been a lighter green. I was getting references off of a "original" '49 off the 'net-----and its engine was blue.

Oh well!

[Dr. Cranky]

Another beauty, Bill. Love the shine on that color.

[Jon Cole]

That car is sweet! Clean and... stock!

Harry, if certain threads should get pinned, I would vote for this to be included. Maybe in "How to"?

[mopar68]

Wow! So many great tips here! Thankyou very much Bill. I have been building for about 5 years now, although I would still consider myself a newbie. It's great to learn a new trick when you can, but there's a whole bunch of gems in this thread.