I cut the "B" pillar out, and filled the line between the roof and the top edge of the door. If I recall, I used J-B Weld, and then Evercoat for filler. I also added some roof material from the top of the "B" pillar down to the bottom front of the "C" pillar to get the profile of the window opening right.
The SpecCast car had a '49-'50 rear window, so I filed the opening to mimic the '51 glass. It's not done yet, as I am not satisfied with the bottom line. It has too much "straight" from side to side. Should have a gentle curve to it. That will get into the lip that is cast into the tulip panel so I'll have to rework that. It would still be several years before I would get the see the actual Hirohata car owned by Jim McNeil. That's me with my pornstache, standing by the clone that Jack Walker had, (and recently sold)
I taped the hood on to keep it steady, then molded on a front hood lip from leftover plastic sprue, shaped it, worked it, then cut it loose so it now had the upper grill shell attached.
The Cadillac Sombreros came from Modelhaus. I miss being able to order their nice resin cast stuff! The Lincoln tail lights came from Altered States. They offered a lot of really cool resin cast custom and hot rod stuff ... also miss them. The grill is made from one of the bars of a 3 bar custom grill. I can't be sure, but I think it came in the AMT 49 Ford coupe kit? There'a an extra one laying in front. The back grill, which on the real car was a steel center piece from a '51 Ford, was cut out of the custom two-bullet grill that came in the AMT '49 Mercury. The two curved outer grills that house the parking lights are sourced from a 1/25th Maisto '57 Corvette, if I remember. They will need some work, filing, fitting. As-is, they are too thick, heavy looking to match the grill. IF they don't work, I'll use some parts from the old AMT Custom Competition Grilles And Bumpers pack. That the 'silver' looking curved piece and another one that's still attached to the sprue.
The tail lights were 1/25th scale, so I had to file them down on the back side to look better on the SpecCast car, which is an ODD scale, as you will see in the next post. I filed the back edge of the fins flat to as to accept the Lincoln lens. I incorrectly have the lenses setting at the top edge of the bumper so I'm going to have to add a small V shaped strip. It'll move the lenses up a little, and have a hint of mint green body between the tail light and the bumper. In the top photo, you'll see that I added a strip of styrene rod and molded it into the bottom edge of the deck lid.
And this is what I mean about some company releasing exactly what I was trying to create. Danbury Mint release this beautiful replica of the Hirohata Merc. I've got two. I'm going to dis-assemble one and paint it the way it was "found" in Jim McNeil's garage, as covered by Pat Ganahl (I miss) in Rod and Custom Magazine (I also miss). The side by side shot shows the difference in Danbury's 1/24th verses SpecCast's whatever scale.
When I get back on this project, I'll still need to fabricate the Buick side trim, the '52 Chevy teeth in the quarter scoop, the framework around the hardtop side glass, the rear glass, (sheet of clear styrene) and the trim around the rear glass. Then I can do the same thing to finish a Hirohata conversion of a 1/18th Ertl Chopped Merc that I also started back in the early 90's. Hopefully I can find the box with that in it and post pics next DieCast Tuesday. If you have the car you probably know, but the skirts are removable on the Danbury Merc.
@Sancho LOL, yeah, for about 30 years. Work hours severely limited my scale auto passion from '95 to last year. I'll post a few other old die cast conversion projects in the coming weeks. It's been fun digging them out and renewing the interest, but I can't afford to retire right now, so will need to become employed again soon. Hopefully I'll land somewhere that will allow me the time to complete a few of these projects.
Dang dude! Secret modeler in our midst! Nice work! Like you, I haven't built anything in more years than I can count, but @Sancho will tell you, that hasn't kept me from collecting. Hoping for a nice long retirement to get back on models and finish the full scales. LOL
No secret @drdave it's right there on my profile page. I've had that same "collection" disease since I was a kid. Used to have to sneak my latest purchase from the "dime store" in the back door and down the basement steps. I had waaaay too many when I moved in 2015 and sold off most of the ones that I knew I just wouldn't get around to, that weren't kustoms or, at least, kustom bait material.
It took me 4 days to find my 1/18 scale Hirohata Mercury conversion. It was down at the bottom of a storage tote. Unfortunately the grill parts were not in there. I'll remake them if I can't find them. This started as a green version of the American Graffiti Merc. Already chopped, but with a poor rear window, just like the quickie movie chop. The other distracting feature of the model is the hideous front bumper. It's not close to accurate. Looks like a couple of farm truck bumper ends with a recessed center section that is waaaay too wide. If I can fix those, I can deal with other changes.
Like the SpecCast Merc I posted last week, this model came chopped with a "B" pillar. I cut that out, ground off the rain gutters and attached the top and "A" pillar portion of the door frame to the roof. I molded that in with J-B Weld to start, then Evercoat as a filler. I reshaped the profile until it looked right to my eye. The signature chrome window channel still needs to be created.
The SpecCast Merc came with the door dip removed. The Ertl Merc did not, so I filled the metal off to crate a pleasing flow from the front fender across the door. The quarter panel DID have the stock line between the upper and lower sections. So I had to grind out a little triangular section between the door and the new styrene lower panel that I added. This lets that line continue into the front of the scoop. I also rounded the lower rear door corners. Additionally, I took my Dremel and ground down a narrow channel into the front of the scoop. This is where I will have to fab some '52 Chevy teeth like the real car. She's pretty rough yet ... lots of filing, filling, sanding, smoothing etc ...
Wheel covers and whitewalls are from an Ansen or other brand '49 Cadillac Convertible. They are OK, but I would prefer to have a resin cast set off of a Best Of Show Cadillac 4 door Sedan. You can see I did a little grinding to make a channel at the top of the wheelwell. I'll lay a section of round wire in there and mold it into a slight fender lip.
Here's that hideous front bumper. The parts on the right are from the old AMT 1/25th custom and competition bumpers and grilles pack. They have just the right thickness and a little curved end that I will use them to make the custom parking light wrap-arounds. The big round ends will obviously be cut off.
The picture above shows where I ground out a slot for the parking light sections to tuck into the grill opening. Sure wish I could find the parts I already made for this. I had sourced a grill out of a toy Merc that had buttons on the top of the roof that, when pushed, would make engine rev noises, or squealing tires. It was about 1/20th scale. The grill was a larger version of the two-bullet grill bar that came in the 1/25 AMT '49 Merc kit. You'll also notice that I made the signature Hirohata hood lip. I still have to cut it loose so the grill cavity opens with the hood. Since I was getting rid of the front bumper, I had to make another and the pan behind it. Simple sheet styrene and I've built up a little of the grill opening with Evercoat. Tail lights will come from a Road Signature '52 Lincoln Capri. Hopefully I can resin cast them so I don't have to ruin a whole car just for the taillights.
The bumper was sourced from a Miasto '56 Chrysler. Close enough to the shape I wanted but with bumper guards located too far towards the ends. So I cut them off, backed the now gaping holes with sheet styrene and filled the top with Evercoat. There was no indent in the center so I filled that area down flat. It got thin in the edge leaving a hole on each side of where the license plate goes. No problem, as the shortened Merc bumper guards that I'll need to make, will cover those holes.
Like the SpecCast car, I had to modify the rear window opening to get closer to a '51 back glass. Simple file and grind until it looks right. Still needs a little work in my eyes. I also did it to a second diecast that I was building into a replica of my own custom '51 Merc.
Here's a little better shot of the grinding done for the scoop. I used sheet styrene to attempt to build the lower quarter panel and fenderskirt. After attaching it to the diecast body, I made a couple of relief cuts at the front and back of the skirt. I'll come back and mold a lip across the bottom of the skirt, scribe a line and fill those cut areas. The used a quite thin sheet for the quarter panel. I'm afraid that when it comes time to sand and paint it will have too much give, so beefed it up by adding a thicker styrene to the backside of the skirt.
Since I mentioned the 2nd Merc to replicate my former Merc, here's the few changes I've gotten to. Slanted the "B" pillars, filled the gas door, filled the stock tail light holes to be modified later, and started to shape some rear gravel guards that most people remove, I kind of like them. Obviously, I'll need to replicate the Hirohata style hood lip on this model too.
The Jalopy Journal
